Died On This Date (June 30, 2011) Ron “Byrd” Foster / Drummer For The Silencers; Roy Buchanan
themusicsover Ron Foster
DOB Unknown – June 30, 2011
Ron “Byrd” Foster was a respected Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rock drummer who made significant contributions to the sound of such bands as the Silencers, Iron City Rockers, and Red Hot & Blue. He also played and sang on a handful of Roy Buchanan’s albums during the mid ’70s. Foster was still in high school when he was hired on by a local band to go on the road for the summer. He soon landed a gig with local blues rock band, the Igniters. After his run with the Igniters, Foster played with Buchanan and by the time new wave was taking hold in the US, he found himself playing in Silencers whose claim to fame is that their video for “Peter Gun/Remote Control/Illegal” aired on the very first broadcast day of MTV in 1981. He later played with Joe Grushecky in Iron City Rockers as well as several other bands over the next two decades. During the ’90s, Foster moved to Florida where he worked as a session drummer. During the 2000s, he battled diabetes, cirrhosis, and ultimately, cancer. On June 30, 2011, Ron “Byrd” Foster died of liver cancer. He was 61.
Benton Flippen was an influential fiddle player who was one of the last surviving notable old-timey musicians of his generation. Born into a long line of musically talented Flippens and raised in northeast North Carolina, Flippen first learned to play the banjo as a youngster, but switched to the fiddle after hearing one of his uncles play. His first regional band of note was the Green Valley Boys. During the late ’60s, he joined Camp Creek Boys, and eventually, the Smokey Valley Boys, with whom he played until 1985. The latter earned numerous awards and accolades during Flippen’s tenure. He was also a respected composer, having penned such tunes as “Fiddler’s Reel,” “Benton’s Dream,” and “Smokey Valley Breakdown.” Flippen continued to draw sizable crowds well into his golden years, even as recently as 2008 when he headlined an Old Time music convention at the age of 88. Benton Flippen was 90 when he passed away in hospice care on June 28, 2011.
Mike Waterson was an English musician and singer-songwriter who, along with his siblings and brother-in-law performed as the popular folk group, the Watersons. Formed as a skiffle band in the early ’60s, the group moved into a more traditional folk sound as the decade moved on. In 1965, they released Frost and Fire which was named Album of the Year by Melody Maker. They soon became one of the most influential bands of the British folk revival. The Watersons went on to release several more critically acclaimed albums over the next two decades (they broke up in 1968 and reformed in 1972). Away from the group, Waterson worked solo and performed or recorded with his sister, Lal Waterson, Blue Murder, Peter Bellamy, and James Yorkston to name a few. He continued to perform as recently as September 2010. Mike Waterson died of cancer on June 22, 2011. He was 70.
