Died On This Date (March 8, 2012) Jimmy Ellis / Lead Singer Of The Trammps; Had Huge Hit With “Disco Inferno”

Jimmy Ellis
DOB Unkown – March 8, 2012

Jimmy Ellis is best remembered the lead singer for the popular disco group, the Trammps.  Formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972, the R&B outfit first flirted with success with their unlikely cover of “Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart,” a song originally made famous by Judy Garland some 30 years earlier.  The following year, they released “Love Epidemic,” widely considered their first disco song.  In 1976, they put out what would become their signature tune, “Disco Inferno,” a high-energy dance number that went on to help define the disco era.  The song wasn’t initially a big hit, but when it was re-released as part of the Saturday Night Fever film and soundtrack in 1978, it hit the mainstream and landed at #11 on the pop charts.  The song then took on a life of its own as it was played in heavy rotation at discotheques around the world and virtually every disco-themed party ever since.  Its celebratory refrain can still also be heard at most major sports arenas around the US.   It has also been covered by the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner.  In 2005, “Disco Inferno” was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame.  The Trammps’ other hits included “The Night The Lights Went Out” and “Disco Party.”   Jimmy Ellis was 74 when he passed away in a nursing home on March 8, 2012.

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The Trammps

Died On This Date (March 8, 2012) Bugs Henderson / Texas Blues Great

Buddy “Bugs” Henderson
1943 – March 8, 2012

Bugs Henderson was a Dallas, Texas area blues great who, for the better part of the past 50 years has been playing the kind of electric blues that keeps the crowds on their collective feet.  Henderson was just a teenager working in a local record store when he would sneak out of his house to check out the latest bands performing in nearby roadhouses.  By 1966 he was playing in a band, Mouse and the Traps, who scored a regional hit with “Public Execution.”  By the early ’70s, Henderson was an in-demand studio player while establishing himself as a local draw on the stage.  Over the years, he either opened for, or shared the stage with the likes of the Allman Brothers, Leon Russell, Freddie King, Ted Nugent, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, and B.B. King.   Bugs Henderson died from complications of liver cancer on March 8, 2012.  He was 69.

Thanks to Harold Lepidus for the assist.

 

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Bugs Henderson