Died On This Date (October 20, 1997) Henry Vestine / Canned Heat
themusicsover Henry “The Sunflower” Vestine
December 25, 1944 – October 20, 1997
Henry Vestine is best remembered as a guitarist for boogie blues rock band, Canned Heat. His original tenure with the band ran from 1966 to 1969. Prior to that, he played in Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. He was one of rock music’s unsung guitar heroes, ranking in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list. Vestine, along with childhood friend and fellow music junkie, John Fahey, was responsible for finding a hospital-ridden Skip James in 1964 and helping him re-launch his career during the folk revival. In later years, Vestine did session work and toured with a reformed Canned Heat. While in Europe at the end of such a tour in 1997. Henry Vestine died of a heart failure at the age of 52.
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Glen Buxton is best remembered as the founding guitarist of Alice Cooper’s original band. Formed while they were still in high school, the band was initially called the Nazz, but since Todd Rundgren already had a band of the same name, they switched it to Alice Cooper, with the former Vincent Furnier taking the name as his own. Buxton co-wrote several of Cooper’s hits, including “School’s Out,” “Elected,” and “I’m Eighteen,” while playing lead guitar on seven Alice Cooper albums. He drifted from Cooper in the ’80s, playing an occasional gig with local musicians. Glen Buxton died of pneumonia at the age of 49.