Died On This Date (March 15, 2008) Stuart Nevitt / Shadowfax
themusicsover Stuart Nevitt
March 1953 – March 15, 2008
Stuart Nevitt was the drummer and founding member of Shadowfax. Formed in 1972, Shadowfax was named after Gandalf’s horse in Lord of The Rings and would be the first band signed to the world-renowned Windham Hill Records. A world beat instrumental band from Chicago, they are considered one of the premier groups in the New Age genre and won a Grammy for Folksongs for a Nuclear Village in 1988. The band called it quits after co-founder, Chuck Greenberg died in 1995. Nevitt continued performing and recording until his death on March 15th, 2008 of complications from diabetes and heart disease.
Cherie DeCastro was one-third of the original trio of singing siblings, the DeCastro Sisters. Formed while still young schoolgirls, they liked to think of themselves as the Cuban Andrews Sisters. In 1947, the trio sang on the premiere telecast of Los Angeles’ first television station, KTLA, and did it again to celebrate the station’s 50th anniversary in 1997. Their 1947 performance was on the first television broadcast west of the Mississippi River. That same year, the DeCastro Sisters made a memorable appearance in the popular film, Copacabana. During the ’50s, the DeCastro Sisters began making records and became a popular concert draw in Las Vegas. Their 1954 single, “Teach Me Tonight,” sold over 5 million copies. Cherie DeCastro died of pneumonia on March 14, 2010. She was 87 years old.
There isn’t enough room here to list the world-class artists who have recorded or covered songs written by the great Doc Pomus. From 
Mary Ann Ganser was one of the four singers in the ’60s girl group, the Shangri-Las. She, along with identical twin, 
If you’ve been to the Hollywood Bowl in the past decade or so, you’ve likely been welcomed by the familiar voice of Mark Ferber. It was he you heard announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Hollywood Bowl.” But Ferber did more than just that. Over the passed 45 years, Ferber was what has been called an “unsung hero” of the venue. He was he who helped keep annoying airplanes from flying overhead during performances, and it was he who made the performers feel at home. Ferber was just 14 when he was first hired as an errand runner at the storied venue, eventually rising to the position of production supervisor and special events manager. Mark Ferber was 60 when, on March 14, 2010, he died of injuries he suffered in an accidental fall.