Chris Puma
DOB Unknown – September 20, 2009
Chris Puma was the founding guitarist for New York City band, Candiria. Formed in 1992, the band was a quick hit with the local scene due to their unique blending of punk, funk, hip-hop and jazz. Puma stayed with the band through 1997 and can be heard on their first album, Surrealistic Madness. Chris Puma passed away on September 20, 2009. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Gram Parsons (Born Cecil Connor)
November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973
Gram Parsons was a highly influential singer-songwriter who helped launch what would later be called country rock and then alt-country or Americana. Parsons began playing the guitar as a teenager to escape a less than ideal home life. The first group he played with, the Shilohs, were a folk band in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. When the band broke up, he and other Boston area folk musicians formed the International Submarine Band with whom he began to develop a sound the borrowed the best from country, folk and rock. They enjoyed moderate success, primarily getting airplay on the up-and-coming progressive radio stations. In 1968, Parsons was asked to join the Byrds as a replacement for David Crosby and Michael Clarke. He started on keyboards but soon switched to guitar, helping guide the group down a more country rock path. Parsons left the Byrds in the summer of 1968. He joined back up with the Byrds’ Chris Hillman soon after to form the Flying Burrito Brothers whose debut, The Gilded Palace of Sin would be a direct influence on the likes of the Eagles, Dwight Yoakam and later, Wilco and Ryan Adams. By the early ’70s, Parsons was working as a solo artist while recording and performing with good friend, Emmylou Harris. It was during this period that Parsons’ inner demons were taking control in the form of substance abuse. He was also spending more and more time in an area he had become fond of, Joshua Tree National Monument in the desert outside of Los Angeles. He liked to go there and take LSD while searching for UFOs. It was during one of these trips that Gram Parsons apparently overdosed on morphine and alcohol and died at the age of 26.
Earl Palmer
October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008
Earl Palmer was a session drummer with a resume that reads like a who’s who of popular music. He has been called the “most recorded drummer in history.” Over a career that spanned over 50 years, Palmer played on hit recordings by the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra, Rick Nelson, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, Neil Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, B.B. King, Randy Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and many many more. Palmer was recognized for his incomparable contribution to rock ‘n roll by being the first session musician elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Earl Palmer passed away in 2008 at the age of 83.
Clyde “Red” Foley
June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968
Red Foley was one of country music’s most popular performers during the ’40s and ’50s. He sold upwards of 25 million records during his career, and his “Peace In The Valley” was the first gospel record to be certified a million-seller. Known as Mr. Country Music, Foley became part of the Grand Ole Opry’s radio program in 1946, and a decade later, he successfully transitioned to television. After performing during two Grand Ole Opry shows in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Red Foley died of heart failure in his sleep later that night. He was 58 years old.
Roc Raida (Born Anthony Williams)
May 17, 1972 – September 19, 2009
Roc Raida was a DJ / Turntablist primarily known for his work with the X-Ecutioners, a crew of New York DJs who gained popularity in the ’90s. They collaborated with many hip hop greats including Cypress Hill and Kool G Rap. In 2002, the X-Ecutioners released Built From Scratch on Loud Records. An innovator on the turntable, Raida worked on recordings by the likes of Big Pun and Buckshot LeFonque with Branford Marsalis. On September 19, 2009, DJ Roc Raida died of cardiac arrest that was attributed to an accident he suffered while training in Krav Magna several weeks earlier. He was 37.
themusicsover