Died On This Date (April 20, 2012) Bert Weedon / Influential English Electric Guitarist

Bert Weedon
May 10, 1920 – April 20, 2012

Bert Weedon was a popular British guitarist during the 1950s and 1960s.  Although he leaned more easy listening that rock, he was a direct influence on the likes of Brian May, Keith Richards, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townshend – many of whom learned to play from his Play In A Day tutorials.  Weedon was just 12 when he decided he wanted to be a professional musician, and by his late teens, he was already fronting his own band and sharing the stage with Stephane Grappelli and George Shearing.  During the ’50s, he played in the BBC Show Band, played on several early British rock and roll records as a session man, and accompanied American stars when they played in London and beyond.  In that capacity, Weedon performed with Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Judy Garland, to name a few.  Bert Weedon was 91 when he passed away on April 20, 2012.

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Once More With Feeling - Bert Weedon

Died On This Date (November 24, 1991) Freddie Mercury / Queen

Freddie Mercury (Born Farrokh Bulsara)
September 5, 1946 – November 24, 1991

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Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Freddie Mercury would become one of rock’s most beloved and dynamic performers as the lead singer of Queen.  When Mercury was 17, he and his family fled Zanzibar to London due to the Zanzibar Revolution.  Mercury had been performing in bands since his school days, and he wasn’t about to stop when he got to London.  When he graduated from college in the late ’60s, he played in a handful of bands until he joined up with Brian May and Roger Taylor and later John Deacon, in what would soon be called Queen.  The band became one of the biggest musical acts during the ’70s and ’80s thanks in part to Mercury’s operatic voice and jaw dropping showmanship.  One show in particular, Queen’s comeback of sorts during the Live Aid concerts of 1985, has been called the greatest live performance in the history of rock music.  Mercury wrote many of the band’s biggest hits, including “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “We Are The Champions,” “Killer Queen,” and arguably their greatest, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”  In the spring of 1987, Mercury was reportedly diagnosed with AIDS, though it wouldn’t be officially announced publicly until November 23, 1991.  Freddie Mercury died the next day of bronchial pneumonia as a result of AIDS.

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A Night At the Opera - Queen

Died On This Date (November 3, 2002) Lonnie Donegan / The King Of Skiffle

Anthony “Lonnie” Donegan
April 29, 1931 – November 3, 2002

lonnieLonnie Donegan was one of the most popular performers of the ’50s and early ’60s skiffle scene of the UK.  Skiffle was a raved up version of traditional folk, blues, jazz and country influences from the US. British Invasion bands like the Beatles rose out of the skiffle scene and claim Donegan as a direct influence. Donegan began playing guitar at the age of 14, and in 1952, he formed his first band, the Tony Donegan Jazz Band.  He switched to “Lonnie” a few years later and began playing in bands that were evolving into skiffle music by adding such instruments as banjo and washboard.  His first recording was a 1956 rave up of Lead Belly’sRock Island Line” which became a massive hit, selling in excess of three million copies.  Donegan continued to release UK high-charting records into the early ’60s, but his sound never really caught on in the U.S.  He struggled to stay relevant during the ’70s and ’80s even with such fans as Elton John, Brian May and Ronnie Wood paying tribute to his work.  His last shots of major exposure came in 2000 when he appeared on Van Morrison’s acclaimed The Skiffle Sessions album, and peformed at the Glatonbury Festival.  On November 3, 2002, Lonnie Donegan, 71, suffered what would be his final of at least three heart attacks in his later years, this last one being fatal.

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King of Skiffle - Lonnie Donegan