Songwriter

Died On This Date (August 18, 2010) Kenny Edwards / Guitarist In Linda Rondstadt’s Stone Poneys

Kenny Edwards
February 10, 1946 – August 18, 2010

With Linda Ronstadt

Kenny Edwards was a folk-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who is best remembered as a founding member of the Stone Poneys along with Linda Ronstadt and Bob Kimmel.  Formed in 1965, the group helped pave the way for the popular “Laurel Canyon” sound of ’70s country rock.  Their 1967 album Evergreen, Volume 2 included the hit single, “Different Drum,” which helped set up Ronstadt’s wildly successful solo career.  Even though the group’s recording career lasted just 15 months, they remarkably, released three full albums.  After the Stone Poneys parted ways, Edwards formed the moderately successful Bryndle, then went solo, and collaborated with the likes of Karla Bonoff, Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, Brian Wilson, and Don Henley.  In 1974, Edwards and Ronstadt again joined forces to release one of her most popular albums, Heart Like A Wheel.  They continued to work together for many more years.  Kenny Edwards passed away on August 18, 2010.  He was 64 and had been battling prostate cancer.

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Evergreen, Vol.2 - The Stone Poneys

Died On This Date (August 17, 1993) Phil Seymour / Dwight Twilley Band

Phil Seymour
May 11, 1952 – August 17, 1993

Phil Seymour was a singer, songwriter and musician who gained a following during the new wave era thanks to such power pop classics as “Precious To Me” as well as “I’m On Fire” from his days fronting the Dwight Twilley Band.  Seymour grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he met Dwight Twilley, another aspiring musician at a 1967 screening of the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night.  The struck up a friendship and a musical partnership that would eventually get them signed to Shelter Records who in 1975, released their first single, “I’m On Fire” which reached #16 on the Billboard singles chart.  They would record just two classic albums together before Seymour went of on his own.  Before the release of the first of his two solo albums, Seymour did session work, playing drums on power pop icons 20/20’s debut album, as well as singing backing vocals on Tom Petty‘s “American Girl” and “Breakdown.”  During the early ’80s, Seymour released two albums, Phil Seymour (featuring “Precious To Me”) and Phil Seymour 2 before the death of label head, Neil Bogart derailed his record company as well as Seymour’s career.  In 1984, he joined the Textones, a Los Angeles band fronted by Carla Olson that was alt-country twenty years before the genre had a name.  Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with lymphoma not long after recording an album and touring with the band.  Phil Seymour died as a result of the cancer at the age of 41.

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Phil Seymour - Phil Seymour

Died On This Date (August 16, 1938) Robert Johnson / Blues Icon

Robert Johnson
May 11, 1911 – August 16, 1938

Member of the 27 Club

Although his recording career remarkably spanned roughly one year, Robert Johnson is considered by many to be the most influential blues artists of all time.  And although his entire catalog of recordings fill just two compact discs, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #5 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. His minimal recording output couldn’t deny the considerable vocal, guitar-playing and songwriting talent he possessed.  And that fact that not much is known about his history coupled with the fact that only two photographs of him even exist, add to a legend that is as big as any in popular music.  Even the most respected historians of music could, at best, find sources who claimed they heard “this” or “that” about Johnson’s life in and around Clarksdale, Mississippi.  A popular legend has it that he went to a darkened Mississippi crossroad with his guitar and met a man representing the devil who tuned his guitar and played a few songs on it, there bequeathing Johnson phenomenal guitar skills in exchange for is soul.   True or not, Johnson has been called the “grandfather of rock ‘n roll,” a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has been cited as a direct influence on the likes of Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Jeff Beck to name just a very few.  Robert Johnson’s death is as mysterious as his life,with the most popular, though disputed story being that he drank whiskey that had been laced with strychnine by the jealous husband of a woman Johnson is said to have flirted with at a juke joint.  He allegedly died a slow and painful death from the poison a few days later, at the age of just 27.  A further testament to the overall mystery surrounding Johnson’s life is the fact there are three separate tombstones said to mark his place of burial.

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Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings - Robert Johnson

Died On This Date (August 16, 2008) Ronnie Drew / The Dubliners

Ronnie Drew
September 16, 1934 – August 16, 2008

ronniedrew
With DJ Jamie Coon. Photo by BP Fallon

Best remembered  as the front man of  the Dubliners, Ronnie Drew was a world renowned Irish folk musician and singer.  He formed the group in the early ’60s and soon they were one of Ireland’s most popular folk bands thanks to many shows throughout the pubs and hotels in Dublin and beyond.  Drew left the group in the mid ’90s and found a new audience thanks to collaborations with the likes of Dropkick MurphysU2’s The Edge, the Pogues and Christy Moore.  He died after a long struggle with cancer on August 16, 2008.  He was 73.

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The Dubliners