Died On This Date (April 1, 2009) Duane Jarvis / Respected L.A. Singer Songwriter
themusicsover Duane Jarvis
August 22, 1957 – April 1, 2009
Duane Jarvis was one of those great talents that should have been more famous than they were. Although Jarvis was born in Oregon, both Los Angeles and Nashville like to claim him as their own as well. Much more than a superb singer and songwriter, Jarvis was also a master of the guitar, mandolin and bass. Over the years he has worked with the Divinyls, Rosie Flores, Dave Alvin, John Prine, Victoria Williams, Dwight Yoakam, M. Ward, and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. Duane Jarvis died of cancer on April 1, 2009.
Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the assist.
What You Should Own
Zombies founding member and guitarist Paul Atkinson passed away from liver and kidney disease on April 1, 2004. He was 58. While the Zombies failed to take off like so many other British Invasion bands of the early 1960s, their songs like “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “Time Of The Season” will forever be remembered as key moments in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. And no worthy collection of psychedelic rock song is complete without “Time Of The Season,” which didn’t even become popular until long after the band had broken up in 1967. Atkinson went on to work for RCA Records as an A&R Rep where he was credited for signing Abba, Mr. Mister, Judas Priest and Bruce Hornsby.
Known as the “King of Ragtime,” Scott Joplin took banjo and piano music out of the brothels and raised it to a true art form. Born in Texas to a former slave father, Joplin tought himself how to play on a piano of a local white family. He was soon studying under a German instructor. All of these experiences helped him develop a sound that was truly unique. In 1899, his “Maple Leaf Rag” was published and went on to become one of the most popular instrumentals of all time, a true American standard. Another of his tunes, “The Entertainer” turned a new generation on to his music and helped spark the ragtime revival of the mid ’70s. Featured in the Paul Newman/Robert Redford film, The Sting, the song started receiving heavy airplay which helped its opening to become on of the most recognizable in pop music history. Joplin was just 48 when he died of what has been reported as the result of syphilis.
Selena Quintanilla was a Texas-born Tejano star who was quickly becoming a worldwide superstar when her life was tragically cut short. Known simply as Selena, she began building a following within the Spanish-speaking community in and around the Houston area in the mid ’80s and by 1987, she was at the top of her field when she won Best Female Vocalist at the Tejano Music Awards which she would continue to rule over the next several years. Signed to EMI Records in the States, Selena was soon being groomed to cross over much the same way Gloria Estefan had before her. By the early ’90s, Selena was approaching superstar status, designing her own clothing line, opening boutiques in Texas and appearing in Spanish novellas and alongside Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway and Marlon Brando in Don Juan DeMarco. In 1994, her Amor Prohibido was nominated for a Grammy, and she began work on an English language album. And by 1995, she was drawing upwards of 65,000 to her concerts in Texas. Around this time, her family discovered that Yolanda Saldivar, the president of her fan club and manager of one of her clothing stores was embezzling from the company. After being fired, Saldivar agreed to meet Selena at her hotel in Corpus Christi to return some financial paperwork. Instead, Saldivar shot Selena in the back as she was exiting the room. She died later that day.