Died On This Date (October 20, 2009) Liam Maher / Singer For Flowered Up
themusicsover Liam Maher
DOB Unknown – October 20, 2009
Liam Maher was the lead singer for Flowered Up, a London based rock band who achieved some success during the early ’90s. Oft compared to Happy Mondays or the Stone Roses, Flowered Up released a handful of records between 1990 and the band’s break-up in 1993. Their most popular singles were “It’s On” and “Weekender.” Aftet the group disbanded, Maher reportedly battled drug addiction. He resurfaced in the early 2000s and signed to the Poptones label. He had yet to release any records. Liam Maher, 41, died in his home on October 20, 2009.
What You Should Own
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.
Kazuhiko Kato was a singer, songwriter and producer whose career began in the mid ’60s as the member of the Folk Crusaders, a Japanese psychedelic folk rock band. The band’s 1967 debut single, “Kaettekita Yopparai (I Only Live Twice)” which was written by Kato, sold over a million copies and is considered one of Japan’s most successful records of the era. Following the break up of the Folk Crusaders, Kato began working as a producer, contributing to hit albums by several Japanese rock artists, his most significant being Sadistic Mika Band, a ’70s rock band formed by he and his wife. The band found moderate success outside of Japan, even appearing on BBC’s popular Old Grey Whistle Test television program in 1975. Kato spent his later life writing and composing for other artists, video games and film soundtracks. His body was found hanging in a Japan hotel room on October 17, 2009, dead at 62. Police discovered a suicide note nearby.