Artie Shaw, Luther Vandross among music's losses

12/16/2005 11:11 PM, Reuters


Here is a look at some of the notable artists who died in the past year.

Swing-era clarinetist/bandleader ARTIE SHAW, 94, died December 30, 2004, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. By some accounts, Shaw sold more than 100 million records during his career as a performer/composer/arranger. His first million seller came in 1938 with a swing makeover of Cole Porter's usually languid "Begin the Beguine." Shaw's theme song, the minor-mode, noir wail "Nightmare," also sold 1 million copies. His lifelong conviction that art should trump commerce led him to walk away from his career several times. In 1954, he put down the clarinet for good, although he later returned to the music scene as a bandleader.

Singer/songwriter JIMMY GRIFFIN, 61, January 11 in Nashville. Best-known for his work with 1970s soft rock act Bread, Griffin gained acclaim as a songwriter with cuts recorded by Rudy Vallee, Ed Ames, Lesley Gore, Bobby Vee and others. Following the breakup of Bread in 1977, Griffin formed many other groups, the most successful of which was the Remingtons, who scored a top 10 country hit.

Songwriter/drummer JIM CAPALDI, 60, January 28 in London. Capaldi was a member of British rock act Traffic from its formation in 1967 until it disbanded in 1974. Traffic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Capaldi released his first solo album in 1972. He remained in demand as a musician/writer, working with such artists as Bob Marley, Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton.

R&B singer TYRONE DAVIS, 66, February 9 in Chicago. A major figure in Chicago R&B history, Davis had three No. 1s on the Billboard R&B chart between 1968 and 1975: "Turn Back the Hands of Time," "Can I Change My Mind" and "Turning Point."

Country singer/songwriter SAMMI SMITH, 61, February 12 in Oklahoma City. Smith took the Kris Kristofferson-penned "Help Me Make It Through the Night" to No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. The Grammy-winning tune was one of 37 singles for Smith on the country chart between 1968 and 1986.

Broadway baritone JOHN RAITT, 88, February 20 in Los Angeles. Raitt appeared as Billy Bigelow in the original 1945 production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Carousel." As Sid Sorokin in "The Pajama Game," Raitt starred in the 1954 Broadway production and the 1957 film version opposite Doris Day. In 1995, Angel released "John Raitt: The Broadway Legend," which included three duets with his daughter, Bonnie Raitt.

Singer/songwriter CHRIS LEDOUX, 56, March 9 in Casper, Wyo. LeDoux became country music's standard-bearer for songs of the American West. By some estimates, he has sold 14 million albums, many of which were bought at rodeos and by mail order. His influence on a generation of young country singers became evident in 1989 when Garth Brooks name-checked LeDoux in his debut single, "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)"; Brooks' current hit, "Good Ride Cowboy," is a tribute to LeDoux.

Crowded House drummer PAUL HESTER, 46, March 28 near Melbourne, Australia. Hester played in several small bands before joining New Zealand group Split Enz in 1983. He and Split Enz singer Neil Finn formed Crowded House in 1985 with bassist Nick Seymour. The group became one of Australia's most successful bands in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Pianist/composer JOHNNIE JOHNSON, 80, April 13 in St. Louis. Johnson wrote several hits with longtime collaborator Chuck Berry, including "Roll Over Beethoven" and "No Particular Place to Go," both of which reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Berry's hit "Johnny B. Goode" was a tribute to Johnson. Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Popular Tejano singer LAURA CANALES, 50, April 16 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Canales made her recording debut in 1973 with Los Unicos and then joined seminal group El Conjunto Bernal for a short stint. In 1981, she formed Laura Canales & Encanto. The title track from their debut CD, "Si Vivi Contigo," was her first major hit.

Jazz musician PERCY HEATH, 81, April 28 in Southampton, N.Y. His gentle, swinging bass underpinned the Modern Jazz Quartet for more than 40 years. During the late '50s and early '60s, MJQ's recordings on Prestige and Atlantic were commercially successful. When the MJQ went on the first of several breaks in the 1970s, Percy and his brothers Albert (a drummer) and Jimmy (a tenor saxophonist) formed the Heath Brothers. Heath returned to the MJQ when it regrouped in 1980 and stayed in the bass chair until 1994.

R&B singer/songwriter LUTHER VANDROSS, 54, July 1, in New Jersey. Blessed with a silky voice that seduced not only millions of fans but also noted collaborators such as David Bowie and Aretha Franklin, Vandross was considered the premier soul balladeer of his generation. He had suffered a stroke shortly before the release of his final, Grammy-winning album "Dance With My Father."

Four Tops member RENALDO "OBIE" BENSON, 60, July 1 in Detroit. He also co-wrote the landmark Marvin Gaye tune "What's Going On?"

Singer/songwriter/guitarist JOHN HERALD, 65, July 19 in West Hurley, N.Y. In 1958, Herald co-founded the Greenbriar Boys, the New York-based bluegrass band that became mainstays of the Greenwich Village folk scene. Herald's tunes were recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary, Linda Ronstadt and Maria Muldaur.

British R&B singer LONG JOHN BALDRY, 64, July 21 in Vancouver. Baldry, whose nickname was attributed to his 6-foot-7-inch height, was one of the founding fathers of British rock'n'roll in the early 1960s. He played with influential British bands Blues Incorporated and Cyril Davies' R&B All Stars. He later fronted the Hoochie Coochie Men, which included Rod Stewart. Baldry scored a No. 1 U.K. hit with the ballad "Let the Heartaches Begin" in 1967.

R&B singer/songwriter/Chi-Lites member EUGENE RECORD, 64, July 22. He was best-known for writing the smooth soul group's biggest R&B/pop crossover hits in the early 1970s, "Have You Seen Her" and "Oh Girl." Record's warm tenor, sweet falsetto and penchant for breaking mid-song into spoken verse became hallmarks of the Chi-Lites' romantic sound.

Jazz musician ELI "LUCKY" THOMPSON, 81, July 30 in Seattle. Thompson played with the bop era's greats, including Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. His composition "Blue 'n' Boogie," featured on Miles Davis' 1954 hard-bop album "Walkin'," became a jazz standard.

Musician IBRAHIM FERRER, 78, August 6 in Havana. Ferrer, a little-known singer who had already retired, catapulted to fame with "Buena Vista Social Club," which has sold more than 6 million units worldwide since its 1997 release. His solo album "Buena Vista Social Club Presents . . . Ibrahim Ferrer" sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. In 2004, Ferrer won a Grammy Award for "Buenos Hermanos," but the U.S. government would not grant him a visa to receive the award.

Mississippi bluesman "LITTLE" MILTON CAMPBELL, 70, August 4 in Memphis. Little Milton wrote and recorded the widely covered blues anthem "The Blues Is Alright." He was 18 when he began recording with Ike Turner for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. In 1961, after an A&R stint with Bobbin Records, Little Milton moved to Chess Records, where he scored the No. 1 R&B hit "We're Gonna Make It" on Chess subsidiary Checker in 1965. He cut four additional top 10 hits at Chess before heading to Stax Records in the 1970s. In 1984, he joined Malaco Records.

Jazz bassist AL MCKIBBON, 86, August 5 in Los Angeles. One of the last great string bass players from the bop era, McKibbon performed with such jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. He moved to New York in 1943 after bandleader Lucky Millinder hired him. There, he played with such leading jazz figures as saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. McKibbon moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and played in the staff orchestras of CBS and NBC and on albums by Frank Sinatra, Randy Newman and Sammy Davis Jr. He is also featured on Davis' "The Complete Birth of the Cool" recordings.

Acclaimed fiddle virtuoso VASSAR CLEMENTS, 77, August 16 outside of Nashville. Known to some as the "Miles Davis of bluegrass," Clements began performing with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys when he was just 14, becoming a regular member of the legendary group in 1949. Clements' work on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's groundbreaking 1972 multi-artist album, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," was a milestone in a career that spanned more than five decades.

Bluesman R.L. BURNSIDE, 78, September 1 in Memphis. Burnside first recorded with Arhoolie Records in 1968. His appearance in the 1991 documentary "Deep Blues" and on the 1992 Atlantic soundtrack album earned him wider attention in the United States. He became a cult hero with the crossover collaboration for Matador, "A Ass Pocket of Whiskey," with underground rock act Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 1996.

Singer/guitarist CLARENCE "GATEMOUTH" BROWN, 81, September 10 in Orange, Texas. Brown's best commercial success came in the United States after he signed with Rounder Records in the 1980s. His "Alright Again!" for the label earned him a best traditional blues recording Grammy Award in 1982. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1999.

Singer/songwriter/producer WILLIE HUTCH, 59, September 19 in Dallas. In 1970, producer Hal Davis asked Hutch to help complete the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." It became a multiformat No. 1 hit, as did a subsequent collaboration with the quintet, "Never Can Say Goodbye." Hutch also logged production credits on Motown albums by the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, among others. His pinnacle as an artist was 1975's "Love Power," which peaked at No. 8 on the R&B chart.

Jazz singer/pianist SHIRLEY HORN, 71, October 20 in Cheverly, Md. Long critically respected, Horn became an unlikely star in her 60s with a series of albums for Verve Records in the 1990s. Accompanying herself at the piano, Horn and her trademark vocal style became a major influence on such younger jazz singer/pianists as Diana Krall and Norah Jones. Horn was nominated for nine Grammy Awards in the last decade and won for best jazz vocal performance in 1998 for her album "I Remember Miles," dedicated to Miles Davis.

Musician LINK WRAY, 76, November 5 in Copenhagen. In a career that spanned six decades, Wray made his mark with a piercing guitar sound that paved the way for punk and heavy metal. Credited with inventing the power chord and pioneering distortion by punching holes in his amplifier, Wray is best-known for his 1958 instrumental single "Rumble" and for "Raw-Hide," recorded with his band, the Wraymen.

Singer/songwriter CHRIS WHITLEY, 45, November 20. The Texas-reared artist, best known for the tune "Living with the Law," recorded for Columbia, ATO and Messenger Records, which in July released his 11th album, "Soft Dangerous Shores." A new release, "Reiter In," will appear next year.

Reuters/Billboard