Died On This Date (July 30, 2015) Lynn Anderson / Country Great
themusicsover Lynn Anderson
September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015
Lynn Anderson was a very popular country singer who had several hits during the ’70s and ’80s. Her biggest hit was 1970’s “(I Never Promised You) A Rose Garden,” a Joe South penned song that hit #3 on the US Pop Charts and did nearly as well around the world. Anderson had more than 50 Top-4o hits and hit #1 on the Country Charts twelve times. She was nominated for seven Grammys and was awarded one for Best Female Country Performance in 1971. In 1974, she became the first woman to headline and sell out Madison Square Garden. Anderson took a break in 1980, but returned strong in 1983 with a Top 10 Country duet with Gary Morris, “You’re Welcome To Tonight.” She continued to record and perform live well into the 2000s – one of her biggest crowds came in 2009, when she performed at Coachella’s sister festival, Stagecoach. Her most recent release was a Country Gospel album, Bridges, which came out digitally in June of 2015. Lynn Anderson was 67 when she died of a heart attack.
What You Should Own
Joan Sebastian was a Mexican singer-songwriter who counted at least 1000 compositions as his own. Over the years, his songs have been made into hits by the likes of Vicente Fernandez, Rocio Durcal and Pepe Aguilar. Sebastian was just a seven-year-old boy living in rural Guerrero when he first began writing songs. As a teen, his mother sent to live in a monastery where he strongly considered a life as a priest, but after enrolling in a seminary, he decided he wanted a career in music. During the late ’60s, Sebastian met actress and singer Angelica Maria who not only asked him to write songs for her, but encouraged him to write songs for himself to record. By 1974, he was living in Mexico City where he recorded his debut album, Pedro Parrandas to modest local acclaim. During the ’90s, Sebastian landed a role in the popular Mexican soap opera, Tu y Yo, but still worked hard to further his music career. In 2000, he released Secreto de Amor which became a smash in Mexico, the United States, and beyond. In the U.S. alone, it sold over 4 million copies and earned him multiple Grammys. He went on to become the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy history. In 1999, Joan Sebastian was diagnosed with bone cancer. Although he battled it into remission a handful of times over the next several years, it ultimately took his live on July 13, 2015. He was 64.
Charanjit Singh was a multi instrumentalist from Mumbai, India, who, during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, found his calling playing guitar and synthesizer on numerous Bollywood soundtracks. In 1982, he released Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat to little fanfare. But when it was reissued in 2010, it was embraced by the acid house community who acknowledged Singh as a pioneer of the genre. The sound he created clearly had an influence on the likes of Aphex Twin and Ceephax. Charanjit Singh was 75 when he died in his sleep on July 5, 2015.
Wendell Holmes was the guitarist, pianist and vocalist for the legendary gospel, R&B, and blues band, the Holmes Brothers. Formed in 1978, the trio built a legion of loyal followers thanks to their heavenly harmonies and overall sound that was once described by the New York Times as “deeply soulful, uplifting and timeless.” Formed in Christchurch, Virginia, the Holmes Brothers moved to Harlem during the ’80s to try their luck in the city’s blues clubs. They signed their first record deal in 1989 and went on to release 12 albums, including three that landed in the top five of the Billboard Blues Album charts. The list of artists they recorded with includes Joan Osborne, Willie Nelson, Peter Gabriel, and Van Morrison. In 2014, they received an National Endowment For The Arts National Heritage Fellowship. Wendell Holmes died from complications due to pulmonary hypertension. He was 71.