Died On This Date (December 6, 2011) Barbara Orbison / Widow Of Roy Orbison
themusicsover Barbara Orbison (Born Barbara Jakobs)
1951 – December 6, 2011
Barbara Orbison is best remembered as the longtime wife of rock ‘n roll pioneer, Roy Orbison. She was also a successful entrepreneur, producer and music publisher. Born in Germany, Barbara Jakobs was just 17 when on July 21, 1968, she met her future husband when he was on tour in Leeds, England. Although Roy was nearly twice her age, the pair married the following year. The couple raised three sons and stayed together until Roy passed away in 1988. During the ’80s, Barbara managed Roy’s career and was instrumental in the revival of his career, serving as Executive Producer for the popular television concert special, Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night, which featured among others, Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and Jackson Browne performing alongside Roy. After Roy died, Barbara took over his business dealings and successfully kept his music and image alive for generations to come. Barbara also owned Still Working Music, a publishing company in Nashville, and was very active in philanthropic causes. Barbara Orbison was 60 when she passed away on December 6, 2011 – 23 years to the day after Roy passed away. Cause of death was attributed to cancer.
Jane Scott was, simply put, a rock critic’s rock critic. For 50 years, she covered nearly every major concert that came through Cleveland, Ohio for the city’s major daily, the Plain Dealer. Born in Cleveland, Scott graduated from the University of Michigan and served in the U.S. Navy before taking up a career in journalism. In March of 1952, just three days after Cleveland DJ, Alan Freed put on what has been called the world’s first rock concert, Scott was hired by the Plain Dealer to cover local society events. In 1958, she took over a column that was aimed at what now would be called “tweens,” and soon morphed it into one of the world’s first rock columns. Scott’s earliest major rock story came in 1964 when she covered the Beatles‘ first show at Cleveland’s Public Hall. She soon found herself covering the band’s tour through Europe. When the Fab Four returned to Cleveland in 1966, it was Scott who scored one of Paul McCartney’s first American interviews ever. By her retirement in 2002, Scott estimated that she had been to over 10,000 concerts, and along the way she earned the love, friendship and respect from everyone from Mick Jagger to Jim Morrison to David Bowie to Bob Dylan. So beloved by the rock community, it took her 80th birthday celebration in 1999 to reunite the Raspberries. And to help celebrate the occasion, Glenn Frey of the Eagles sent a note saying “Jane, you never met a band you didn’t like,” while 
Kevin Kavanaugh was a New Jersey keyboardist who is perhaps best remembered for his many years playing alongside John Lyon in his legendary band, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. Kavanaugh can be heard on the Jukes’ outstanding This Time It’s For Real, Hearts Of Stone, and I Don’t Want To Go Home albums. In Kavanaugh’s early days as a musician, it was Bruce Springsteen who inspired him to look for a band that would command the same adulation from its audience. It wasn’t long before he was actually playing with Springsteen, in his Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom, and eventually in the Jukes. In 1982, Kavanaugh played on Little Steven’s first album away from Springsteen, Men Without Women. After leaving Southside Johnny in the early ’90s, Kavanaugh continued to play with numerous Jersey Shore bands like the Bobby Bandiera Band, High Voltage Brothers and Cats On A Smooth Surface, the so-called house band of Asbury Park’s storied Stone Pony club. Kevin Kavanaugh passed away on June 4, 2011 following a long illness.
