Died On This Date (November 18, 1972) Danny Whitten / Neil Young; Crazy Horse
themusicsover Danny Whitten
May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972
Danny Whitten was a guitarist who is best remembered for his work with Neil Young and Crazy Horse. He also was a talented songwriter whose “I Don’t Want To Talk About It” was a hit for both Rod Stewart and Rita Coolidge. Born in Columbus, GA, Whitten eventually moved to San Francisco where he would end up co-founding a band that would end up being called the Rockets. The band struggled to find its place in the music industry when in 1969, they found themselves playing at the Whiskey A Go-Go. One particular night, someone in the club took notice and approached the band to see if they would be interested in jamming with him. That person was Neil Young, and before long, he invited the core of the band, Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, to record with him. It was during the early sessions that they said goodbye to the Rockets and became forever known as Crazy Horse. Whitten’s contributions to Neil Young and Crazy Horse can be heard on such landmark albums as Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After The Goldrush, Tonight’s The Night, and Crazy Horse’s self-titled debut of 1971. It has been said that the sound this band created with Young heavily influenced the grunge sound of the ’90s. Unfortunately, Whitten was struggling with a heroin addiction at the time and his abilities were becoming impaired. Young’s poignant “The Needle and the Damage Done” is reportedly about Whitten. By 1972, Whitten’s addiction was so strong that Young had to fire him from the band. In November of that year, Young bought Whitten a ticket to Los Angeles and gave him money for rehab. Sadly though, Whitten died of an overdose shortly thereafter. He was 29.
What You Should Own
Alan Hull was the lead singer and primary songwriter for British folk rock band, Lindisfarne. Formed in 1970, Lindisfarne had a handful of UK hit singles including, “Lady Eleanor,” “Meet Me On The Corner,” and “Fog On The Tyne.” Hull stayed active with different formations of Lindisfarne through the ’70s and then continued on basically as a solo artist up until his death. Alan Hull, 50, died suddenly of heart thrombosis while working on a new album.
Jacques Morali was a French record producer who achieved fame and fortune by creating, producing, and branding the Village People who were arguably the flash point of disco’s crossover during the mid ’70s. While working in a record store during the early ’70s, he began to hear the early records of dance and what would soon become disco, and immediately fell in love with it. He moved to the United States and found work at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia so he could be near the Philly Sound he had learned about in France. While there, he co-produced or co-wrote songs for several albums by the Ritchie Family. While visiting a gay disco in New York’s Greenwich Village, Morali took note of the various manly male stereotypes, and thus the concept of the Village People was born. He put the group together and landed a deal with Casablanca Records. Between 1977 and 1979, he produced a string of hits with the Village People. That list includes such disco staples as “Macho Man,” “YMCA,” and “In The Navy.” During the late ’70s and early ’80s, he produced nearly 70 disco albums. But soon the disco craze would die as fast and as hard as it had burst on to the scene, and Morali all but disappeared from the music industry. Jacques Morali was 44 when he died of AIDS on November 15, 1991.
