2010

Died On This Date (April 18, 1996) Bernard Edwards / Chic

Bernard Edwards
October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996

bernard-edwardsBernard Edwards was a bass player and prolific producer.  In the mid ’70s, Edwards formed Chic, a disco group that had a massive hits with “Le Freak” and “Good Times.”  Edwards went on to produce hits for some of pop music’s biggest names throughout the ’80s and ’90s.  That list includes Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Power Station, Robert Palmer, Debbie Harry, Johnny Mathis, and Duran Duran.   While in Tokyo for a concert in 1996, Edwards became ill.  He was found dead in his hotel room.  Cause of death was determined to be pneumonia.

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Died On This Date (April 18, 2010) Devon Clifford / Drummer For You Say Party! We Say Die

Devon Clifford
DOB Unknown – April 18, 2010

Devon Clifford at left. Photo by Photo by Kathryn Gaitens

Devon Clifford was the drummer for popular Canadian dance punk band, You Say Party! We Say Die!.  Formed in 2004, the band quickly built a solid following throughout Canada thanks in part, to their dynamic shows.  They released a handful of albums and built upon their base along tours of the U.S., the U.K., and Germany.  While playing a show in Vancouver on April 16, 2010, Devon Clifford suffered an apparent brain hemorrhage and collapsed on stage during the band’s sixth song.  After members of the audience called 911, Clifford was rushed to an area hospital where he slipped into a coma and was placed on life support.  Clifford was 30 years old when he passed away two days later.



Died On This Date (April 17, 2009) Sable Starr / 1970s Super Fan and Scenester

Sable Starr (Born Sable Shields)
1958 – April 17, 2009

sable-starrFollowing in the tradition of Miss Pamela, Sweet Sweet Connie and Cynthia Plaster Caster, Sable Starr loved rock music and at times the rock musicians that moved her.  She ruled ’70s Los Angeles and no doubt left many a-broken heart in her wake.  Some may refer to her as a “groupie” but Starr transcended that by being part of a select club who have been memorialized in song.  Iggy Pop’s “Look Away,” written about Johnny Thunders’ relationship with Starr includes the lines, “I slept with Sable when she was 13 / Her parents were too rich to do anything / She rocked her way around L.A. / ‘Til a New York doll carried her away / Look away Look away.”  By the time Sable was in her early teens, she was holding court in Hollywood’s hippest spots, from Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco to the Whiskey a Go-Go; from the Rainbow to the Sunset Hyatt.  She befriended the likes of Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, David Bowie and Johnny Thunders with whom she moved to New York around 1973.  What she thought was to be a long life with Thunders quickly fell apart mostly due to his escalating drug use.  Their  relationship ended with her slitting her wrist and being brought to Bellevue.  She was soon living back with her parents in Los Angeles.  She eventually dropped out of the scene, went back to school and lived a mostly “normal” life.  In later years, Starr moved to Las Vegas and worked as a dealer at a casino.  She died of cancer on April 17, 2009 at the age of 51.



Died On This Date (April 17, 2008) Danny Federici / Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Danny Federici
January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008

Danny Federici was one of the foundations of Bruce Springsteen’s legendary E Street Band.  Backing Springsteen, his organ fills can be heard in many of popular music’s greatest songs.  He has been by Springsteen’s side both live and on record since the late ’60s.  But it was Federici who actually gave Springsteen one of his earliest jobs when he asked him to join his band, Child.  Springsteen later, of course, asked Federici to join his own band which would eventually become the E Street Band.   Federici made a handful of his own albums during the E Street Band hiatus of the ’90s.  In November of 2007, it was announced that Federici would be taking a medical leave from to band to pursue treatment for melanoma.  He passed away because of the cancer on April 17, 2008.  Longtime E Street Band mate Clarence Clemons died on June 18, 2011 following a stroke.

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The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen