Died On This Date (July 25, 1995) Charlie Rich / Legendary Country Singer

Charlie Rich
December 14, 1932 – July 25, 1995

Nicknamed “The Silver Fox,” Charlie Rich was a Grammy-winning country singer who had string of hits in the early ’70s.  Although his career started back in the late ’50s, it wasn’t until 1973 that he scored his two huge country and pop chart-topping hits with “Behind Closed Doors,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.”  Perhaps the reason for his “late-blooming” was that the world wasn’t quite ready for his eclectic sound until someone came up with the genre, “countrypolitan,” and suddenly he fit right in.  But Rich’s popularity was short-lived partly due to his erratic behavior and problems in his personal life, likely due to his excessive drinking.  He floundered through the next couple of decades, trying, but never being able to get anything substantial going again.  In July of 1995, Rich was traveling home from his son’s concert in Mississippi when he came down with a severe cough.  After a doctor sent him on his way with antibiotics, Rich continued the drive home until he found a place for he and his wife to spend the night.  Rich died in his sleep that night of what was later determined to be a blood clot in his lung.  He was 62.

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Behind Closed Doors - Charlie Rich

Died On This Date (July 25, 1984) Big Mama Thornton / Blues Legend

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton
December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984

Big Mama Thornton gave the world two of the greatest songs in rock history, “Hound Dog” and “Ball and Chain.”  And they  would become signature songs for two of America’s biggest rock icons.  Just starting out in the early ’50s, Thornton, along with producer Johnny Otis, worked up a hard electric blues version of “Hound Dog” which was given to her by the songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller.  Her’s being the first recording of the song, she sat at the top of the R&B charts for seven weeks.  Elvis Presley rocked the song up a bit three years later, sending his career into the stratosphere.  Unfortunately, Thornton’s career didn’t take the same path.  She worked consistently throughout the ’50s and ’60s, but was never able to duplicate the success of “Hound Dog.”  And while her career was on an upswing in late ’60s, she wrote and recorded “Ball and Chain” for Arhoolie Records.  The song found its way to the great Janis Joplin who added her own sass to it on stage at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, a watershed moment in her career.  Sadly though, Thornton was again unable to capitalize on the success.  As the year’s progressed so did Thornton’s abuse of alcohol.  By the early ’80s, the once “Big Mama” was but a shadow of herself, weighing less than 100 pounds.  She died of heart and liver problems on July 25, 1984.

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Hound Dog: The Peacock Recordings - Big Mama Thornton

Died On This Date (July 25, 2003) Erik Brann / Iron Butterfly

Erik Brann
August 11, 1950 – July 25, 2003

Although best known as a guitarist for Iron Butterfly, Erik Brann actually started his musical journey on violin, being chosen for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s child prodigy program when he was very young.  But in 1967, when he was just 16,  Brann’s career took him in an entirely different direction when he joined Iron Butterfly, just in time to play guitar on their 16-minute masterpiece, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” considered by many to be the world’s first heavy metal song.   Brann’s tenure in the band lasted barely two years when he reportedly left the business in 1969.  Brann resurfaced a few times over the next few decades to take part in various reincarnations of the Butterfly, but the group were never able to achieve any sort of success.  On July 25, 2003, Erik Brann died of a heart attack while working on his first solo album.

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Iron Butterfly

Died On This Date (July 25, 2008) Johnny Griffin / Tenor Sax Great

Johnny Griffin
April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008

Known as the “Little Giant,” Johnny Griffin was a tenor saxophonist of the bop and hard bop idioms of jazz.  Griffin began playing music while in school, and was playing in a band with T-Bone Walker while still in high school.  Shortly after graduation, he joined Lionel Hampton’s band.  He was just 17.  In 1956, he began recording a series of landmark jazz albums for the storied Blue Note label.  Over the course of his career, he has played or recorded with such icons as Art Blakey, Wes Montgomery, Nat Adderley, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane.  Johnny Griffin died of a heart attack just four days after what would be his last concert.  He was 80 years old.

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A Blowin' Session (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition Remastered) - Johnny Griffin


Died On This Date (July 25, 1989) Steve Rubell / Co-founder of Studio 54

Steve Rubell
December 2, 1943 – July 25, 1989

At left with Ian Schrager
At left with Ian Schrager

Steve Rubell was a New York business man who teamed up with friend Ian Schrager to open Studio 54, the Mahanttan nightclub that became the epicenter of the ’70s disco phenomenon.  The disco opened in April of 1977 and quickly became the late night destination of the rich and famous.  It would not be unusual for one to bump into the likes of Elton John, Liza Minnelli, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Warren Beatty, Cher, John Lennon or Steve Buckingham. On many nights, Rubell would stand at the front door and randomly decide who could enter based on their looks or wardrobe.   Two years after the club opened, Rubell and Schrager were charged with tax evasion and other charges and were later convicted and sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison.  After his release from prison, Rubell opened another club and a hotel, but nothing ever matched the excitement of Studio 54.  In 1985, he discovered he had AIDS which likely had a hand in his death from hepatitus on July 25, 1989.