Died On This Date (December 18, 2011) Johnny Silvo / Folk Singer
themusicsover Johnny Silvo (Born John Woods)
1936 – December 18, 2011
Johnny Silvo was a folk singer who fronted the Johnny Silvo Folk Four during the late ’60s. The group also included Sandy Denny who went on to bigger fame with Fairport Convention. Silvo continued entertaining crowds and making records until recent years. He passed away on December 18, 2011. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Thanks to Paul Bearer for the assist.
Ralph MacDonald was an in-demand percussionist and hit songwriter who could count two of the biggest R&B songs of the ’70s as his own. Growing up in a musical family in Harlem, New York, MacDonald first picked up the steelpan as a youngster. By the time he was 17, he had already played his first big gig at a local Harry Belafonte show. He continued on with Belafonte for the next ten years until parting ways in 1971. MacDonald soon became one of contemporary music’s most in-demand session players, performing on countless R&B, jazz and disco records. The list of those he recorded with includes George Benson, Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffett, Carole King, Average White Band, the Brothers Johnson, 
Warren Hellman was a successful private equity investor whose Hellman & Friedman rose to become a multi-billion dollar firm. He was also a philanthropist and music junkie who founded AND funded San Francisco’s popular Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. A banjo player himself, Hellman launched the Golden Gate Park event in 2001 to an audience of just 13,000. Since then, it has swelled to be one of the world’s greatest music events, drawing as many 500,000 each year over two days. And the best part, it is FREE to attend as Hellman’s gift back to the city. The inaugural festival presented just four acts on the main stage and another five on its second. Performers included Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and 
Sean Bonniwell was the founder and front man of the influential ’60s garage band, the Music Machine. Initially called the Ragamuffins when formed in 1965, the group quickly changed their name and went on to help define a fuzzy offshoot of psychedelic rock that would eventually lead to punk rock and what is known today as garage rock. In 1966, the Music Machine released their debut album, (Turn On) The Music Machine which included the Top 20 hit, “Talk Talk,” and its follow-up single, “The People In Me.” The group soon disbanded with Bonniwell going on to secure a deal with Warner Bros. Records as Sean Bonniwell Music Machine. He released what would essentially be the Music Machine’s last album in 1967, and put out one last album as T.S. Bonniwell on Capitol Records before retiring from the music business. After reportedly selling everything and driving around the United States for a number of years, Bonniwell released his autobiography, Talk Talk (later re-released as Beyond The Garage) in 1996. He returned to music in 2000 as a guest vocalist on the debut self-titled album by the Larksmen. Sean Bonniwell was 71 when he passed away on December 17, 2011. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Jennifer Miro was a keyboardist and singer who played in the pioneering San Francisco punk band, the Nuns. Formed in 1975, the band, which included Alejandro Escovedo and Jeff Olener, brought on Miro who had grown tired of playing in a local Doobie Brothers cover band. The band quickly found its audience with the Bay Area’s underground punk lovers, and on January 14, 1978, they found themselves opening for the Sex Pistols‘ final concert at the legendary Winterland Ballroom. For a brief time, the Nuns were managed by