Rock

Died On This Date (August 27, 1967) Brian Epstein / Managed The Beatles

Brian Epstein
September 19, 1934 – August 27, 1967

Although he also managed among others, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and Gerry & the Pacemakers, Brian Epstein is best remembered as manager of the Beatles.  Many give him credit for the early success of the band.  Epstein first met the Beatles after the Cavern Club show on November 9, 1961.  By late January of 1962, Epstein was officially the band’s manager.  He helped facilitate many of the band’s earliest successes, but by January of 1966, the Beatles decided not to renew their contract which was due to expire the following year.  Epstein was notoriously addicted to drugs, and on August 27, 1967, he died of what was ruled and accidental overdose.  He was 32 years old.  In later years, Paul McCartney claimed that “if anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian.”  And John Lennon once said that Eptstein’s death was the beginning of the end of the Beatles.



Died On This Date (August 26, 2005) Denis “Piggy” D’Amour / Voivod

Denis D’Amour
September 24, 1959 – August 26, 2005

Denis D’Amour was the guitarist for Canadian thrash metal band, Voivod who were one of the first Canadian thrash bands to gain popularity outside of Canada. They, along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax were ushered in the thrash metal movement of the mid ’80s. Trained in classical violin, D’Amour later switched to guitar, later adding more of a King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Rush approach to his unique guitar playing. D’Amour was diagnosed with colon cancer in the summer of 2005. Having progressed at an alarming rate, surgery was not an option, so D’Amour died as a result of the cancer on August 26, 2005 at the age of 45.

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Dimension Hatröss - Voivod

Died On This Date (August 26, 2000) Allen Woody / Allman Brothers; Gov’t Mule

Douglas Allen Woody
October 3, 1955 – August 26, 2000

Allen Woody was a bass player best remembered for his work with the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule.  Woody joined the Allman Brothers when they reunited in 1989.  He played on such albums as Seven Turns, Shades Of Two Worlds, and Where It All Begins.    In 1994, Woody and Warren Haynes formed Gov’t Mule, first as an Allman’s side project, then as a full-fledged band in 1997.  Woody died of a heroin overdose on August 26, 2000.

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Seven Turns - The Allman Brothers Band

Died On This Date (August 25, 1995) Arnie Treffers / Long Tall Ernie & the Shakers

Arnie Treffers
February 15, 1947 – August 25, 1995

Arnie Treffers was the main songwriter and lead singer of Netherlands rock band, Long Tall Ernie & the Shakers who became local favorites in the mid ’70s.  The band’s sound fell somewhere between Elvis Presley and the Sweet.  These days their recordings are prized by collectors around the world.  Treffers died of lung cancer on August 25, 1995.



Died On This Date (August 25, 2000) Jack Nitzsche / Iconic Record Producer

Bernard “Jack” Nitzsche
April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000

jack

Jack Nitzsche was a respected arranger, composer, producer and session musician who was involved in many of the greatest west coast pop recordings of the ’60s and ’70s.  His first significant contribution to pop music came in 1955 when he co-wrote “Needles And Pins” with Sonny Bono.  The song was a hit for Jackie DeShannon and was later recorded by the Searchers, Cher and the Ramones.  By the early ’60s, Nitzsche was working as an arranger for Phil Spector,  orchestrating the celebrated “wall of sound” on hits like Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep Mountain High.”  Nitzsche was also part of the famed Wrecking Crew, a group of studio musicians that included Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, and Hal Blaine.  Much like their Motown counterparts, the Funk Brothers, the Wrecking Crew were the faceless band behind many ’60s pop hits coming out of Los Angeles.  They could be heard on records by the likes of the Monkees and the Beach Boys. Nitzsche also worked on classic recordings by the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Graham Parker and Willy DeVille to name a few.  During the ’70s, Nitzsche created the music for several motion pictures including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Starman, 9-1/2 Weeks, and An Officer And A Gentlemen, for which won the best song Oscar for “Up Where We Belong.”  Jack Nitzsche died of cardiac arrest at the age of 63.

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Jack Nitzsche