Musician

Died On This Date (July 4, 2003) Barry White / Soul Icon

Barry White (Born Barrence Carter)
September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003

BarryA young Barry White was going down a wrong path when he heard Elvis Presley on the radio while serving four months in prison for burglary.  He was seventeen at the time, and music became his salvation.   After leaving gang life behind, White became a successful songwrither, producer, arranger and performer.  In 1969, White hit gold by producing a group called Love Unlimited Orchestra.  A string of hits followed, with their “Love’s Theme” hitting the top of the pop charts in 1974 becoming, arguably, the first disco hit ever.  White’s rich bass voice would become synonymous  with all that was sexy in the ’70s and beyond.  Hits like “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Baby” and “Never, Never Give You Up” followed and endeared him to fans thanks to his romantic blend of soul and orchestra.  His career slowed down somewhat during the ’80s and part of the ’90s until he was introduced to a whole new generation thanks to an animated appearance in a 1993 episode of The Simpsons.  A handful of hits followed throughout the ’90s, as did numerous placements of his songs on popular television shows, including Alley McBeal on which he appeared twice.  He was awarded two Grammys for 1999 release, Staying Power.  White was plagued with health problems in his later years due in part to high blood pressure.  He suffered a stroke in May of 2003 and passed away two months later.  He was 58.

What You Should Own

Barry White: All-Time Greatest Hits - Barry White

Died On This Date (July 4, 2009) Drake Levin / Paul Revere & the Raiders

Drake Levin (Born Drake Levinshefski)
August 17, 1946 – July 4, 2009

drakeDrake Levin is best remembered as the guitarist for ’60s rock band, Paul Revere & The Raiders, America’s answer to the British Invasion.  Levin was part of the band from 1963 to 1966, when he was drafted into the army.  However, Levin was able to secure a position in the National Guard which allowed him to record with the band on weekends.  Levin can be heard on the original recordings of such early Raiders hits as “Kicks” and “Steppin’ Out.”  Levin died in his home after a long battle with cancer.  He was 62.

What You Should Own

Paul Revere & The Raiders - The Complete Columbia Singles (feat. Mark Lindsay) - Paul Revere & The Raiders

Died On This Date (July 4, 2009) George Fullerton / Fender Guitars

George Fullerton
March 7, 1923 – July 4, 2009

fullertonGeorge Fullerton was a long time employee of Leo Fender, of Fender Guitar fame.  Hired early on, Fullerton first worked in repair for Fender’s early guitars and amps.  As Fender developed such models as the innovative Stratocaster and Telecaster, it was Fullerton’s job to figure out a way to mass produce them at an economical price.  Where Fender designed the guitars, Fullerton created the machines that could mass produce them.  George Fullerton died of congestive heart failure at the age of 86.

Died On This Date (July 3, 1971) Jim Morrison / The Doors

Jim Morrison
December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971

Member of the 27 Club

As the charismatic front man for the Doors, Jim Morrison exemplified all that is rock music. In life and in death, his impact on popular culture cannot be denied. Moving to Los Angeles in 1964, Morrison enrolled in UCLA’s film school where he met Ray Manzarek. The following year they formed the Doors with Robbie Krieger and John Densmore. In 1967, the Doors signed with Elektra Records and were soon invited to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show where Morrison’s use of the lyric “higher” instead of “better” maddened Sullivan enough to forever ban them from the show. If anything, that only added momentum to the Doors’ ascent, and by the time of their second release, they were one of the most popular bands in the world. The Doors continued to record several now-classic rock albums and blow away concert audiences along the way. By 1969 though, Morrison’s physical appearance had dramatically changed…the once leather-wearing rock god was now a husky bearded mountain-of-a-man more closely resembling a lumberjack than a rock star. And his performances were becoming more erratic as well. One concert in Miami ended with a warrant out for Morrison’s arrest on indecent exposure charges after he tried to incite a riot out of the crowd. He was later exonerated of those charges. Morrison moved to Paris in April of 1971 with long-time companion Pamela Courson. On July 3, 1971, Courson found Morrison dead in his bathtub, but under French law, no autopsy was conducted. The coroner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play and ruled it heart failure. Of course, there have been numerous articles and books written about Morrison’s mysterious death. Some say suicide, while others claim that Courson was responsible either accidentally or intentionally. While still others believe he staged the whole thing and is alive and well somewhere.

What You Should Own

The Doors - The Doors

Died On This Date (July 3, 1969) Brian Jones / The Rolling Stones

Brian Jones
February 28, 1942 – July 3, 1969

brian-jonesMember of the 27 Club

Brian Jones was a multi-instrumentalist who is most famously known as founding member and guitarist for the Rolling Stones.  By the age of 17, Jones was already adept at the clarinet and saxophone and had taken up the guitar.   While in high school, Jones got his then 14 year-old girlfriend Valerie Corbett pregnant and was forced to leave the school in shame.  When he announced to Corbett that he wanted her to have an abortion, she refused and broke up with him for good.  After the child’s birth, Corbett gave him to an infertile couple who apparently never learned  the identity of the boy’s father.  Corbett later married a friend of Jones.   By the early ’60s, Jones was in London where he became immersed in he local blues scene, playing with the likes of Alexis Korner, Jack Bruce and Bill Wyman.  In a short time, he was forming the nucleus of what would become the Rolling Stones who played their first gig on July 12, 1962.   When the group eventually began recording, it was Jones’ exceptional abilities on various instruments that would help define the Rolling Stones sound.  As the band’s fame and fortune grew, tension between Jones and the other members followed the same trajectory.  By all accounts, his growing addiction to various drugs and alcohol didn’t help.  By the summer of 1968, Jones was barely contributing to the band’s recordings, his final participation being on Beggars Banquet before parting ways the following year.  By all appearances, his life was on a downward spiral due to his drug dependency, his estrangement from the band that he had created, as well as his growing legal and financial troubles.  On the night of July 3, 1969, Brian Jones was found unconscious (and perhaps dead) at the bottom of his swimming pool.  As expected, there are many theories about the mysterious death of Brian Jones. Was it suicide?  An accident?  Did his bad heart or liver simply give out as the coroner stated?  Or was he perhaps murdered by a worker at the house?  Years later, that builder, Frank Thorogood allegedly confessed to the murder on his deathbed.  Although that “confession” was made to one-time Rolling Stones driver, Tom Keylock, many doubt its validity since there were no witnesses to the “murder” or the “confession.”

What You Should Own

Aftermath - The Rolling Stones