DIed On This Date (July 17, 2010) Fred Carter Jr. / Country Music Legend
themusicsover Fred Carter, Jr.
December 31, 1933 – July 17, 2010
Fred Carter, Jr. was a highly respected studio musician, producer and composer who has played on some of the biggest hits from legends like Roy Orbison, Muddy Waters, the Band and Waylon Jennings. The list of songs on which he played include Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay,” Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” As a songwriter, he’s been recorded by the likes of Chet Atkins and Dean Martin. He was also the father of country star, Deana Carter, with whom he also worked. Fred Carter, Jr. was 76 when he died from complications of a stroke.
Kelly Johnson was, most famously, lead guitarist and sometime lead singer for Girlschool, arguably the first major all-female heavy metal band. Formed in 1977 out of the ashes of London’s Painted Lady, Girlschool released a series of classic metal albums and played in front of huge crowds alongside the likes of Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Saxon and the Scorpions. Having recorded on four albums, Johnson left Girlschool in 1983 to move to Los Angeles. She reunited with the band in 1993 and stayed through 2000, around the time she learned she had spinal cancer, of which she died in 2007.
Rick Garberson was the drummer for Akron, Ohio based post-punk band, the Bizarros, who formed in early 1976. Hailing from the city that gave us Devo, Pere Ubu and Chrissie Hynde, the Bizarros were an integral part of the scene and were in fact, the first local band to be signed by a national label, Mercury imprint, Blank Records. Garbeson died of carbon monoxide poisoning on July 15, 1979.