Died On This Date (October 6, 1985) Nelson Riddle / Respected Band Leader
themusicsover Nelson Riddle
June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985
Nelson Riddle was an orchestra bandleader who was hired by Capitol Records in 1950 to arrange for their stable of the era’s great vocalists. While at Capitol, Riddle worked with Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin and Keely Smith. During the ’60s and ’70s, Riddle worked primarily in film and television, arranging and scoring the Batman series, and such films as Ocean’s Eleven, Robin and the Seven Hoods, and The Great Gatsby, for which he won an academy award. During the ’80s, Riddle worked with Linda Ronstadt’s popular and critically acclaimed series of pop standard albums. His work as arranger, earned him two Grammys. Nelson Riddle died of liver ailments in 1985. He was 64 years old.
What You Should Own
Eddie Kendricks was a co-founder of the Motown hit-making vocal group, the Temptations. It is his falsetto voice that can be heard on such classic songs as “Just My Imagination,” “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” and “Get Ready.” He also scored a #1 single as a solo artist with 1970’s “Keep On Truckin.'” Kendricks’ run with the Temptations was from 1960 until he went solo in 1971. The ’70s were hit and miss as far as his career went. After “Keep On Truckin,” he had a few minor hits. The ’80s found him reuniting with the Temptations a couple of times and finding a new audience thanks to some help from Hall & Oates who invited him to sing with them on a live album and a couple of television events including Live Aid. In 1991, the same year that fellow Temptation, 
One-time popular KHJ radio personality, Lloyd Thaxton became the host of his own pop music television show during the 1960s. The Lloyd Thaxton Show began as a local Los Angeles show only in 1961, but once it went into national syndication in 1964, it became the highest rated musical variety program on television for nearly a decade. Over the course of its run, the show featured such guests as Bobby Vee, the Byrds, 
Mike Alexander was the founding bassist for English thrash metal band, Evile. The group originally formed in 2000 as a cover band called Metal Militia, and then morphed into Evile in 2004. They soon signed to Earache Records and are now considered the spark of the current thrash metal revival. Over the years they’ve shared the stage with the likes of Machine Head and Megadeth. They released their debut album for Earache in 2007 and their second in September of 2009. While touring to promote the new album, Mike Alexander collapsed the morning after a show in Sweden. He was taken to a local hospital where he died of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 32.
