- Hans Weber
- November 1, 2024
The Very Thought of You: Musicians we Lost in 2023
The last week of the year for many, is a joyous maelstrom of cheer, overeating and goofing off among most of the gainfully employed. But for media folk, it’s time to reflect and find some semblance of celebrating and summing up the last 51 weeks, most importantly, when it comes to commemorating the careers of the recently departed creative forces in the arts.
For many of us, losing music figures might have been the biggest losses of all. Whether they were iconic in our youth and post-adolescence or just artists we were somewhat familiar with, these people deserve note.
Most musical icons this year didn’t die young and stay pretty like the ranks of the legendary and notorious. Precious few of 2023’s deaths were of immediate over indulgence. In fact, many of these folks’ most amazing achievement was surviving as long as they did given their track records of bad behavior in the past and generally, as seen in their autobiographies.
This isn’t everybody of course, but these are the biggies whose cultural contributions we can’t let pass. So, in no particular order, here are notable musician passings — with ages and places of death — in 2023.
TONY BENNETT (96, Manhattan)
An incredible jazz balladeer for 70 plus years, warmer and rounder in tone than Sinatra and more assertive than Nat King Cole, Bennett was one of those artists who never went out of style by dint of sheer skill and unearthly timbre. Bless Lady Gaga for keeping him working until his mind and body gave out. He was an American treasure.
BURT BACHARACH (94, LA)
Co-author of more standards than can be listed here with Hal David, BB was a brilliant writer whose ability to craft non-innocuous pop classics is a gift rarely bestowed upon anyone. To these ears, his songs for Dionne Warwick define orchestral ballads like no one else, especially the timeless “Walk On By.”
JEFF BECK (78, East Sussex UK)
The “middle man” of the holy Yardbirds guitar triumvirate (bookended by Clapton and Page), Beck was a remarkable virtuoso and a human sound effects machine, his arsenal of screeches, bleeps and slurs immediately recognizable. But unlike his two compadres, his soloing tended to be short and sweet. One of the fathers of metal and fusion, both.
DENNY LAINE (79, Naples, FL)
Moody Blues vocalist and guitarist at their outset and the singer of their first (and best) hit, “Go Now,” Lane was also lead singer of Ginger Baker’s Airforce and Paul McCartney’s likable foil in Wings for almost a decade. He made more than a few excellent solo folkish rock records not unlike his near namesake, Ronnie Lane.
DAVID CROSBY (81, Santa Ynez, CA)
Co-founder of two of the most influential bands of all time, the jangling Byrds and the Cali soft rock CSN (and occasionally Y), The Cros -as he was known- sported a notorious dichotomy: when he opened his mouth to sing, he was rock’s greatest harmony vocalist perhaps ever, but when he used same to opine, got himself in a world of trouble, gadfly-wise. He was the unlikely soul of Laurel Canyon.
GORDON LIGHTFOOT (84, Toronto, Canada)
Author of a handful of folk and folk rock standards most notable “Early Morning Rain” and “If You Could Read My Mind,” Lightfoot was one of the most distinct singers to ever top the charts, with an otherworldly Northern brogue and pinch-throated baritone. A softie he was not; “Sundown” was tougher than half the rock hits of the early 70’s, easy.
FLOYD SNEED (80, unkown)
In an era of showoffs with trap kits big enough to sublet, Sneed, Three Dog Night’s drummer kept simple, perfect pockets for the brassy trio of singers. His groove in “Mama Told Me Not To Come” is textbook.
WAYNE SHORTER (87, Los Angeles)
Jazz sax player and composer of many standards like “Footprints,” his sound was rich and robust. He was stand-out, especially in his time with Art Blakey and Miles.
TINA TURNER (83, Zurich, Switzerland)
A career trajectory like no other, period, Tina and ex-husband Ike Turner were stars on the Chitlin Circuit, then the Rock and Roll Revival era and the music they made alone is enough to put her on the legend list. But after escaping her abusive marriage to Ike, and vanishing into nearly complete obscurity she came back stronger, joining forces with electronic whiz boys British Eletronic Foundation (B.E.F.) and restarting her career with an Al Green cover. As the 80’s went on, tsunami Tina came into her own, transforming herself into a hit making machine, virtually owning pop and easy listening radio and inspiring one of the best biopics of all time.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON (80, Los Angeles)
The co-founder of The Band, he was the inventor of Americana. Period.
JIMMY BUFFETT (76, Sag Harbor, NY)
Anyone who says that “easy listening” and “weirdo” can never occupy the same space must have slept through this dude’s career. A blissed out caricature of the indolent beach-bound lush, Buffett wrote best sellers and sold out baseball stadiums and his only competition, loyal fans-wise, were the Dead. Absolutely and positively an enigma untethered to the radio and the charts, he made “Margaritaville” a state of mind.
JIM GORDON (77, Vacaville, CA)
Session drummer and heir to Hal Blaine’s throne as in-studio beat-keeper best known (musically) as the chassis beneath “Layla,” “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” and “Jump In The Fire” among hundreds of others, Gordon was as also the in-person drummer of Derek and the Dominoes, Traffic and Delaney and Bonnie. His personal life was about as horrific as can be imagined and best left to those who wish to seek it out.
DWIGHT TWILLEY (73, UNKNOWN)
The cherubic Okie power pop fella/peer of Tom Petty was also the voice of “Girls” and “I’m On Fire.”
SEYMOUR STEIN (80, Los Angeles)
The founder of Sire Records signed almost every influential act in the world between 1975 and 2005. He heard genuine talent wherever he looked, be it the punk-rock founding Ramones, the hyper-collegiate Talking Heads, the tough chick AOR of the Pretenders and the chart ruling, hit-making factory called Madonna, to name a few. Add to them, the successes of The Smiths, English Beat, the Cult and Depeche Mode, and his genius lives on in party playlists for eternity.
TOM VERLAINE (73, New York City)
Co-founder of Television, perhaps the ultimate cult band given that side-one of their debut album Marquee Moon is the greatest album side in history (and went nowhere near gold although it has been in print for 46 years). Bright and abrasive was his singing and guitar playing style, and Verlaine’s influence on musicians as disparate as David Byrne to The Edge, was unmistakable.
SINEAD O’CONNOR (56, London)
On record, she was a wild and unpredictable vocalist of unparalleled verve, while in person and career, she was a tornado whose unflinching honesty wrecked her commercial path. But let’s face it–she was damned right. That those who were determined to bury her never apologized is pathetic and cowardly–two things she never, ever was.
TERESA TAYLOR (60, unknown)
Percussionist of the Butthole Surfers and star of the film Slackers, Taylor also known as Teresa Nervosa, and she was a groundbreaker.
SPOT (71, Sheboygan Wisconsin)
A producer for Black Flag, Husker Du and others, Spot was kindly, affable and generous. Almost hard to believe that he spun the knobs for such intense musical infernos.
DIX DENNEY (66, Los Angeles)
The local guitarist for the Weirdos and Thelonious Monster was known to be lantern-faced, serious and pretty quiet, which made him an unlikely punk rock hero from the first wave. But given the waves of roar he unleashed, he was actually perfect.
GEORDIE WALKER (64, Prague)
This dapper gent’s guitar was the driving force in Killing Joke, arguably, one of the first bands to marry distorted power chords to modern dance beats. Tough and grooving at the same time, what a genius idea!
JUSTINE COVAULT (56, Boston)
Founder of Red On Red Records and the epitome of the “tough girl with a heart of gold” Covault was the engine of Boston’s music scene.
LEON HUGHES SR (92, Los Angeles)
The last surviving member of the original Coasters, the tenor vocalist was hilarious even when not cracking wise.
SHANE MACGOWAN (65, Dublin)
Yes, it’s a miracle that he made it into a sixth decade given his propensity for chemical/alcohol abuse. But MacGowan was also a singer of keen incision and a writer of the wryly observed, with both the Pogues and Popes. The ultimate outcast, he was fitting as an Irishman in London.
MARK HOWARD JAMES (62, East Orange, New Jersey)
Better known as “DJ Mark the 45 King,” so nicknamed for his ability to dig beats off obscure 45’s and his enormous grooves, James was also Queen Latifah’s producer and the creator of the soundscapes under “Stan” and “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).”
TOM SMOTHERS (86, Santa Rosa, CA)
Half of the Smothers Brothers, the deceptively subversive (I mean, we are talking clean cut) comedy duo whose battles with CBS over Vietnam War commentary ended them up on a blacklist of sorts. His schtick was to play dim but he was an astute, engaging man whose interactions with musicians (he smashed a guitar with the Who and introduced Moby Grape at Monterey Pop) overshadowed the face that he was musical talent himself.
SCOTT KEMPNER (69, Connecticut)
The rhythm guitarist of the Dictators and Del Lords was a starry eyed lover of rock and roll like no other. His life, as Lou Reed would have said, was saved by it, even if he (and Lou) left the earth way too soon.
MARS WILLIAMS (68, Chicago)
The sax player for the Psychedelic Furs and the Waitresses had created one of the most eternal three note hooks in music history; the latter’s holiday classic “Christmas Wrapping.”
MIKE MARTT (67, Huntington Beach CA)
The guitarist and singer who co-founded local roots-punk treasures Tex and the Horseheads, and played for axe for Thelonious Monster, Martt might not be the most famous musician on this list, but L.A. he earned a lot of respect on local stages and on record. An opinionated, cantankerous yet adored and adorable scene maker for over 40 years in Southern California, he was author of perhaps the ultimate 80’s American Indie track, “Clean The Dirt.” (Look it up). Complex and simple simultaneously, Martt was the epitome of literate Orange County punk.
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