February 2010

Died On This Date (February 7, 1995) Billy Jones / The Outlaws

Billy Jones
November 20, 1949 – February 7, 1995

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Billy Jones was a founding guitarist for popular Southern rock band, the Outlaws.  You can hear Jones’ outstanding guitar work on such classic ’70s records as “There Goes Another Love Song” and “Green Grass & High Tides.”  The Outlaws’ guitar driven country rock made them just as vital to the growth of  Southern rock as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band were.    Jones left the Outlaws in 1981 and reportedly kept a very low profile until word surfaced that he killed himself with a gun shot to the head on February 7, 1995.  He was 45 when he died.

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Best of The Outlaws - Green Grass and High Tides (Remastered) - The Outlaws

Died On This Date (February 7, 1999) Bobby Troup / Popular Jazz Musician & Actor; Wrote “Route 66”

Bobby Troup
October 18, 1918 – February 7, 1999

bobby-troupBobby Troup was a producer, jazz pianist and songwriter who penned one of pop music’s most lasting songs.  He was also an actor who is familiar to many for his starring role in the popular ’70s drama, Emergency!.  He played Dr. Joe Early opposite his wife, Julie London.  In 1946, he wrote “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66,” which was first popularized by Nat King Cole, and later recorded by the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Cramps, Depeche Mode, Tom Petty and the Replacements to name just a few.  As a producer, Troup recorded future wife, London’s “Cry Me A River,” which sold over a million copies.   Troup made several of his own albums during the ’50s and ’60s, and even though they are considered a vital part of the history of West Coast Jazz, they never sold significantly.    Bobby Troup died of a heart attack on February 7, 1999.  He was 80 years old.

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Bobby Troup

Died On This Date (February 7, 1959) Guitar Slim / New Orleans Blues Great

Guitar Slim (Born Eddie Jones)
December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959

guitar-slimGuitar Slim was a New Orleans blues singer and guitarist whose “The Things That I Used To Do” is considered one of the most important records to the birth of rock ‘n roll.  Slim learned to play the guitar as a child while working the cotton fields of Mississippi.  After serving in the military during WWII, Slim began to build a local following due to his dynamic live shows.  He was one of the first to wear outlandishly colorful outfits while sometimes dying his hair to match.  And he is likely the first to commonly roam through the audience attached to a long guitar chord.  On occasion he’d even walk out the front door of the club and literary stop traffic while playing a solo.  He was also one of the earliest users of distortion in his playing.  In 1954, he released his biggest hit, “That Thing That I Used To Do,” which was later covered by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy.  Slim’s version was produced and arranged by a young Ray Charles.   Just five years later, Guitar Slim died of pneumonia at the age of 32.

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Sufferin' Mind - Guitar Slim

Died On This Date (February 7, 2000) Big Pun / First Latino Rapper To Go Platinum

Christopher “Big Pun” Rios
November 9, 1971 – February 7, 2000

big-punBig Punisher, or Big Pun, was a Puerto Rican-American rapper who exploded out of the South Bronx during the latter part of the ’90s.  He first lent his vocal talents to recordings by the Beatnuts, and more famously, Fat Joe, before launching his solo career on Loud Records in 1998.  His debut album, Capital Punishment, went to #5 on the Billboard album charts and earned him a Grammy nomination.  It was also the first rap album by a solo Latino rapper to sell over a million copies.  Unfortunately, health issues cut his life tragically short just two years later.  It was no secret that Big Pun was considered obese, which factored in to his premature death by heart attack and respiratory failure at the age of 28.

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Capital Punishment - Big Punisher

Died On This Date (February 7, 2009) Blossom Dearie

Blossom Dearie
April 29, 1926 – February 7, 2009

Blossom Dearie was a bebop jazz vocalist and pianist who became popular during the 1950s.  After a brief time working in New York City, Dearie moved to Paris in 1952 and formed a vocal group.  She made her first recordings in France before moving back to the United States in the late ’50s.  She soon signed to Verve Records who released her first six albums.  Dearie’s popularity began to grow in the U.S. thanks in part to regular early appearances on television’s The Today Show.  She also recorded a song that became popular from it’s use in a Hires Root Beer ad campaign.  Over the course of her long career, she released many popular albums  for the biggest jazz and pop labels in the industry.  Dearie continued to be a popular club draw in New York City and London well into the 2000s.  Later generations were exposed to her songs thanks to placements in such films as The Squid and the Whale and Kissing Jessica Stein.  Blossom Dearie was 84 when she passed away on February 7, 2009.

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