A Tribute to the Wonderful Musicians we have lost.
Spencer Davis (July 17, 1939 – October 19, 2020) was born Spencer David Nelson Davies, and was a Welsh multi-instrument musician and founder of the Spencer Davis Group. Spencer Davis was born in Swansea, South-West Wales, and began learning to play the accordion and harmonica at the age of six. He attended Dynevor School and was very good at languages. When he was 16 he moved to London and started working for the UK Government…
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Johnny Nash (August 19, 1940 – October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1972 classic hit “I Can See Clearly Now”. He was primarily a reggae and pop singer and was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston. Johnny Nash was born was born John Lester Nash Jr. in Houston, Texas, and sang in the choir at Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in South Central Houston as…
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Eddie Van Halen was born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) and was a Dutch-American musician, songwriter and producer. He was the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded in 1972 with his brother, drummer Alex, bassist Mark Stone, and singer David Lee Roth. He was well known for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with…
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Mac Davis (January 21, 1942 – September 29, 2020) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. During his early career wrote for Elvis Presley, providing him with the hits “Memories”, “In the Ghetto”, “Don’t Cry Daddy”, and “A Little Less Conversation”. A subsequent solo career in the 1970s produced hits such as “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me”. Scoot Mac Davis was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, the son of Edith Irene…
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Helen Reddy (October 25, 1941 – September 29, 2020) was an Australian-American singer, songwriter, author, actress, and activist. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria, to a show-business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on radio and television and won a talent contest on the television program, Bandstand in 1966; her prize was a ticket to New York City and a record audition, which was unsuccessful. Helen Reddy pursued her…
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Tommy DeVito, born Gaetano DeVito (June 19, 1928 – September 21, 2020) was an American musician and singer, best known as a founding member, vocalist, and lead guitarist of rock band the Four Seasons. Tommy DeVito was born on June 19, 1928 in New Jersey, United States, the youngest of nine children in an big, traditional Italian-American family. At 8 years old, he taught himself to play his brother’s guitar by listening to country music on…
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Lee Kerslake (April 16, 1947 – September 19, 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. Lee Kerslake was born in Dorset, England, and at the age 11, he began playing drums and got his first professional gig with the Gods in 1969, going on to record three albums with the band. He…
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Frederick Nathaniel “Toots” Hibbert (December 8, 1942 – September 11, 2020) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music. Toots Hibbert’s 1968 song “Do the Reggay” is widely credited as the start of the genre name reggae. His band’s album True Love won a Grammy Award in…
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Ronald Nathan Bell (November 1, 1951 – September 9, 2020) was a composer, singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, saxophonist and co-founding member of Kool & the Gang. The band recorded nine No. 1 R&B singles in the 1970s and 80s, including its No. 1 pop single “Celebration”. The group is honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ronald Bell sadly died at his home in the United…
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Bruce Alan Williamson Jr. (September 29, 1970 – September 6, 2020) was an American R&B and soul singer and a one-time lead singer for The Temptations In August 2020, Bruce Williamson was diagnosed with COVID-19 after having recovered from gall bladder surgery. The Temptations Bruce Williamson died tragically died on September 6, 2020, in Las Vegas from complications of COVID-19, three weeks before his 50th birthday. Check out the Temptations on Amazon more to follow…