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themusicsover

Musician Rock Singer

Died On This Date (February 14, 2010) Lee Freeman / Co-Founder Of Strawberry Alarm Clock

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Lee Freeman
November 8, 1949 – February 14, 2010

Lee Freeman is best remembered as a founding guitarist and co-lead singer for ’60s psychedelic rock band, Strawberry Alarm Clock.  Formed in Glendale, California in 1967, the band scored a handful of charting hits, including their biggest, “Incense and Peppermints.”  Freeman was still in high school when, in 1965, he co-founded and sang lead for local garage band, Thee Sixpence.  Within a couple of years, the group evolved into Strawberry Alarm Clock, a name chosen to pay tribute to the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever.” “Incense and Peppermints” took a bit longer than most singles to become popular, but by the time it did, it propelled the group’s debut album to #11 on the Billboard charts.  It ended up being their only album to chart.  Over the next couple of years, they shared the bill with the likes of the Who, Country Joe & The Fish, the Beach Boys, and Jimi Hendrix.  Strawberry Alarm Clock disbanded in 1971, but reunited permanently in 1982.  In recent months, Freeman and the group were working on new material for potential release on a label owned by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.   Lee Freeman died on February 14, 2010 following a long struggle with cancer.  He was 60.

Thanks to Bryan for the help

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Strawberry Alarm Clock

Country Musician Radio Singer Songwriter

Died On This Date (February 13, 2002) Waylon Jennings / Country Music Icon

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Waylon Jennings
June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002

waylon-jenningsWaylon Jennings was a hugely influential country singer, songwriter and musician who was one of the pioneers of the genre’s “outlaw” movement of the ’70s.  Jennings learned to play the guitar and formed his own band before he even hit his teen years.  One of Jennings’ first jobs in music was as a disc jockey at a local Texas radio station.  It was there that he met an up-and-coming rockabilly singer named Buddy Holly.  Before long, Jennings was playing bass in Holly’s band.  On February 3, 1959, Jennings career path suffered a tragic setback when Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens all perished in a plane crash while they were on tour of the Midwest.  The accident, which has been memorialized as “the day the music died,” almost claimed Jennings’ life as well.  At the last minute Jennings gave up his seat to Richardson who hadn’t been feeling well.  As the musicians were boarding the plane, Holly quipped to Jennings, “I hope your ‘ol bus freezes up.”  Jennings’ retort, “Well, I hope your ‘ol plane crashes” haunted him for the rest of his life.   Jennings took a hiatus from performing and moved to Arizona where he went back to DJ’ing.  By the mid ’60s, he was making music again.     As he began building a following, Jennings met resistance from the Nashville music community for in part, not using the usual session players for his records.  Jennings was adamant that he would only use his traveling band in the studio.  And the rock edge to his music fell outside what was perceived as the “Nashville Sound,” a more slick country-pop.  This “outlaw” movement began to take hold as fellow country men like Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson who preferred to hang on to country’s honky tonk roots.   Over the course of his career, Jennings released a series of top-selling and influential country records.  That list includes Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Live, Are You Ready For The Country Lonesome, On’ry and Mean, Good Hearted Woman, and Dreaming My Dreams.  His collaborations with the likes of Nelson, Jessi Colter, the Highwaymen and the Outlaws were critically and commercially acclaimed as well.  Jennings stayed active through the ’90s even as his health began to fail due to diabetes.  On February 13, 2002, the disease claimed Waylon Jennings’ life.  He was 64.

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Honky Tonk Heroes - Waylon Jennings

Early Rock Musician Producer Record Label Rock Singer Songwriter

Died On This Date (February 13, 2010) Dale Hawkins / Rockabilly Pioneer; Wrote “Suzie Q”

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Delmar “Dale” Hawkins
August 22, 1936 – February 13, 2010

Dale Hawkins was a singer, songwriter and guitarist who launched his career in Louisiana during the mid ’50s.   He was one of the earliest to take the rock and rockabilly of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly and marry it with the deep Louisiana blues he grew up hearing around him.  It was the birth of swamp rock that would later reach the masses thanks to the likes of Elvin Bishop and Creedance Clearwater Revival.  In 1957, Hawkins released “Susie Q,” a single that took up both sides of the record.  It peaked at #27 on the singles chart but was eventually recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.  The song has been since covered by the likes of the Rolling Stones, Gene Vincent, Johnny Rivers, the Velvet Underground, Bruce Springsteen, and most famously, Creedance Clearwater Revival in 1968.  Hawkins was reportedly the third artist ever to perform on American Bandstand and the first white person to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.  During the late ’50s,  he hosted his own dance show for NBC-TV, The Dale Hawkins Show.  Later, he worked as a producer and label executive, most notably for RCA Records.  He began working as a social worker during the late ’80s.  In 2006, Dale Hawkins learned he had colon cancer which would be the ultimate cause of his death on February 13, 2010.  He was 73 years old.

Thanks to Ed Hardy for the assist.

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Dale Hawkins

Jazz Musician Singer

Died On This Date (February 13, 2008) Henri Salvador / French Cabaret Singer

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Henri Salvador
July 18, 1917 – February 13, 2008

henri-salvador

Henri Salvador was a French Cabaret singer who dabbled in different genres of music throughout his 50+ year career.  He often performed French pop, Jazz, Brazilian, and even children’s songs.  In 1956, Salvador released what is believed to be the first French rock ‘n roll songs, but under an alias, Henry Cording.  On February 13, 2008, Henri Salvador died of a ruptured aneurysm.  He was 90 years old.

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Room With a View (Chambre avec vue) - Henri Salvador

Blues Musician Singer

Died On This Date (February 13, 1941) Blind Boy Fuller / Piedmont Blues Great

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Blind Boy Fuller (Born Fulton Allen)
July 10, 1907 – February 13, 1941

blind-boy-fuller

Blind Boy Fuller was a singer and guitarist who was a practitioner of what is known as Piedmont blues, a finger picking style of guitar playing that is not dissimilar in sound to the music made by ragtime pianos.  Blind since his late teens, Fuller mostly earned his living playing on either the streets, house parties, or outside the local tobacco warehouses.  It is not known how Fuller lost his sight.  In 1935, he was given his first recording contract and went on to make more than 120 recordings over the next five years.  Later, he made a series of records with the great Sonny Terry.  Blind Boy Fuller was 33 when he died as a result of an infected bladder and liver failure on February 13, 1941.  It is believed that heavy alcohol consumption may have played a role in his death.

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Truckin' My Blues Away - Blind Boy Fuller

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