Every year. in January, at the end of my summer break, there’s a list of great musicians who’ve died while I was away drinking white wine in the sun. Perhaps it’s down to the northern winter, or holiday season is not kind to musical people.
Thom Bell
This season, we lost Thom Bell, the legendary music producer and arranger who drove the rise of Philadelphia soul in the late 60s and early 70s, who created dozens of hit records for the Philadelphia International Records label.
Thom was one of those old school record industry blokes with golden ears and a gift for lifting bands and singers to dizzying heights.
Terry Hall
We also farewell Terry Hall, lead singer of The Specials, a band that put the UK city of Coventry on the map and raised a very stylish voice against the cruelties of Britain under Thatcher.
Terry died in December – he was 63.
Guitar great, Jeff Beck rose to fame alongside the British blues bands of the 1960s, such as the Yardbirds. Jeff was deeply immersed in the blues, but he went on to explore just about everything and every style you could coax out of a guitar.
Like many of the bluesmen that inspired Jeff in his younger years, Jeff was an omnipresent guitarist and influence on generations of players and music lovers. His seminal mid-70s album, Blow By Blow, is one of the most important records in my musical voyage of discovery.
And, at the end of November, we lost my favourite singer, Christine McVie, one of the finest blues voices ever heard.
Christine started in a band called Chicken Shack, joining Fleetwood Mac in 1969 to get some time with her husband, John McVie, the Mac in Fleetwood Mac.
She wrote and sang some of their finest songs, timeless melodies delivered with the backing of one the great bands. The 70s/80s Fleetwood Mac was a powerhouse, its rhythm section driving what seemed like an endless flow of era-defining hit records.
And then, we lost David Crosby and Renée Geyer. We’ll remember them next time.
