Bruce Gary is best remembered as the drummer of ’80s power pop band, the Knack. A drummer from an early age, eventually found himself playing on the road with Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor and Carla Bley. In 1978, he joined up with Doug Fieger, Burton Averre and Prescott Niles in the Knack. Their debut album, Get The Knack included the song “My Sharona” which became a massive era-defining hit thanks in part to Gary’s instantly recognizable opening drum beat. The album eventually went on to sell over six million copies. The group broke up in 1982 and Gary went on to perform on records by the likes of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Sheryl Crow and John Lee Hooker. He also worked as a producer, working with such acts as the Ventures. Bruce Gary died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 55.
Like his older brother Buddy Guy, Phil Guy was one of blues’ true greats. Born in Louisiana, he too was a guitarist who eventually settled in Chicago and became synonymous with the sound that bears its name. While in Chicago he played with such greats as Junior Wells before establishing his own recording career in the ’80s and ’90s. Guy died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 68.
Blind Willie McTell (Born William McTier)
May 5, 1898 (or 1901 or 1903) – August 19, 1959
Blind Willie McTell was an influential blues singer and guitarist during the ’20s and 30s. He played a form of blues that found an audience right between country and urban, or Piedmont blues. McTell began his career by busking during the mid ’20s which lead to his being signed by RCA Victor in 1927. During a career in which he recorded nearly 150 songs, McTell played on the road extensively and recorded for several labels, oftentimes using different names like Blind Sammie, Hot Shot Willie, or Willie Glaze. By the late ’40s, McTell was suffering from diabetes and alcoholism and therefore not able to earn much of a living. In 1956, he was found playing for quarters on the streets of Atlanta by a local record retailer who invited him into his shop to play into a tape recorder. Those recordings were eventually released as his final recordings. Blind Willie McTell died of a stroke on August 19, 1959.
Although his recording career remarkably spanned roughly one year, Robert Johnson is considered by many to be the most influential blues artists of all time. And although his entire catalog of recordings fill just two compact discs, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #5 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. His minimal recording output couldn’t deny the considerable vocal, guitar-playing and songwriting talent he possessed. And that fact that not much is known about his history coupled with the fact that only two photographs of him even exist, add to a legend that is as big as any in popular music. Even the most respected historians of music could, at best, find sources who claimed they heard “this” or “that” about Johnson’s life in and around Clarksdale, Mississippi. A popular legend has it that he went to a darkened Mississippi crossroad with his guitar and met a man representing the devil who tuned his guitar and played a few songs on it, there bequeathing Johnson phenomenal guitar skills in exchange for is soul. True or not, Johnson has been called the “grandfather of rock ‘n roll,” a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has been cited as a direct influence on the likes of Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Jeff Beck to name just a very few. Robert Johnson’s death is as mysterious as his life,with the most popular, though disputed story being that he drank whiskey that had been laced with strychnine by the jealous husband of a woman Johnson is said to have flirted with at a juke joint. He allegedly died a slow and painful death from the poison a few days later, at the age of just 27. A further testament to the overall mystery surrounding Johnson’s life is the fact there are three separate tombstones said to mark his place of burial.
Jerry Wexler was best known as a music producer who was responsible for some of the greatest music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He also coined the phrase “rhythm and blues” while he was editor of Billboard magazine before he became a partner of Atlantic Records in 1953. While at Atlantic he either produced or signed some of the all time greats of popular music. That list includes Wilson Pickett, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers. He retired from the music business in the late ’90s, and passed away of congestive heart failure in 2008.
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Bruce Gary is best remembered as the drummer of ’80s power pop band, the Knack. A drummer from an early age, eventually found himself playing on the road with Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor and Carla Bley. In 1978, he joined up with Doug Fieger, Burton Averre and Prescott Niles in the Knack. Their debut album, Get The Knack included the song “My Sharona” which became a massive era-defining hit thanks in part to Gary’s instantly recognizable opening drum beat. The album eventually went on to sell over six million copies. The group broke up in 1982 and Gary went on to perform on records by the likes of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Sheryl Crow and John Lee Hooker. He also worked as a producer, working with such acts as the Ventures. Bruce Gary died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 55.
