In Memoriam: Anita Pointer (1948 – 2022)

Anita Marie Pointer (January 23, 1948 – December 31, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter, best known as a founding member of the vocal group the Pointer Sisters.

She and her sisters found fame in 1973, when the Anita-led “Yes We Can Can” reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1974, Pointer’s writing talents helped the group make music history when “Fairytale” became a hit on the country music charts and enabled The Pointer Sisters to become the first black female group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. “Fairytale” won the group its first Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group, and a Grammy Nomination for the Best Country Song of the year in 1975.

In February 2020, Anita released the book, “Fairytale: The Pointer Sisters’ Family Story” which was co-written with her brother, Fritz Pointer. The book chronicles the Pointer family origins and history as well as finding themselves as young black women in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Civil Rights and Black Power movement of the late 1960s. As well, it describes the difficulties and successes they encountered throughout their career and shares their chart history, discography and other surprises along the way. Throughout the book, family members also share their memories of the Pointer family history including Bonnie who passed in June 2020. The book earned positive reviews upon release.

Pointer was married several times and had one child. In December 1965, at age 17, Pointer married David Harper. They had a daughter, Jada Rashawn Pointer, born April 9, 1966. They divorced later in 1966. Her daughter inspired one of the Pointer Sisters’ most popular songs, “Jada,” written by the group and released on their debut album in 1973. In October 1981, Pointer married Richard Gonzalez. Pointer and Gonzalez later divorced.

Pointer’s older brother, Aaron Pointer, was an MLB player and later NFL referee. Her cousin, Paul Silas, was an NBA player and head coach.

In October 2021, Pointer was supposed to be a contestant on season 6 of The Masked Singer, as part of a duet with her sister Ruth, who revealed that Pointer had not performed because she was dealing with an illness.

Pointer died from cancer at her home in Los Angeles on December 31, 2022, at the age of 74. Her daughter Jada died of cancer aged 37 in 2003. Her sister June died in 2006 due to cancer.

In Memoriam: Rick Anderson (1947 – 2022)

Rick Anderson, (1947 – 2022) the co-founding bassist of the Tubes who was with the band for a half-century and played on “She’s a Beauty,” “Talk to Ya Later” and “White Punks on Dope,” has died. He was 75.

The band said in a statement that Anderson died December 16 but did not give a cause or other details. “We lost our brother on 12/16/22,” the Tubes wrote on social media (see the Instagram post below). “Rick brought a steady and kind presence to the band for 50 years. His love came through his bass. RIP.”

Anderson played on all of the band’s albums from its 1975 debut to 1996 and continued to tour with them until 2022. His bass can be heard on the group’s lone pop hit, “She’s a Beauty” — which hit the Top 10 in 1983 — along with such classic rock tracks as “Talk to Ya Later,” “White Punks on Dope,” “What Do You Want from Life?” and “Don’t Touch Me There.” (Ctsy Deadline)

In Memoriam: Terry Hall (1959 – 2022)

Terence Edward Hall (March 19, 1959 – December 18, 2022) was an English musician and the lead singer of the Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas.

He released two solo studio albums and also collaborated with many artists including David Stewart, Bananarama, The Lightning Seeds, Sinéad O’Connor, Stephen Duffy, Dub Pistols, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, D12, Tricky, Lily Allen and Shakespears Sister.

Hall had a brief romantic relationship with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Gos in 1980. They co-wrote the song “Our Lips Are Sealed”. Hall had two sons with his first wife, Jeanette Hall, and another son with his second wife, Lindy Heymann.

Following a suicide attempt in 2004, Hall was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Hall died after a brief illness at the age of 63.

In Memoriam: Martin Duffy (1967 – 2022)

Martin Bernard Duffy (May 18, 1967 – December 18, 2022) was an English keyboardist who originally played with Felt and most famously with Primal Scream.

Duffy died at the age of 55. The cause of death was given as a brain injury suffered after a fall at his home in Brighton.

Primal Scream released a statement that included “We re all so sad … Martin was the most musically talented of all of us. (He) could play piano to the level where he was feted not just by his peers in British music, but old school master American musicians such as James Luther Dickinson, Roger Hawkins, David Hood (and) producer Tom Dowd”. Charlatans singer Burgess said “(he) stepped in to save the Charlatans when we lost Rob – he played with us at Knebworth and was a true friend. He toured with me in my solo band too – he was a pleasure to spend time with”.

In Memoriam: Shirley Eikhard (1955 – 2022)

Shirley Rose Eikhard (November 7, 1955 – December 15, 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Although moderately successful in Canada as a performer in her own right, she had her greatest Canadian and international success as a songwriter for other artists, most notably as the writer of Bonnie Raitt’s 1991 hit “Something to Talk About”.

Eikhard was born in Sackville, New Brunswick. Her mother, June Eikhard (born Marguerite Cameron in Moncton) began her musical career with her husband, Eikhard’s late father, bassist Cecil Eikhard, in the 1950s when both parents were members of a small local band, the Tantramar Ramblers. Her mother, June, released her debut album, Canada’s First Lady of the Fiddle, in 1959, and was the first woman to participate in the Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers’ Contest.

At age 13, following her debut performance in Cobourg, Eikhard successfully auditioned for the Songwriter’s Workshop at the 1969 Mariposa Folk Festival where she played alongside Joni Mitchell, Ian & Sylvia, and Bruce Cockburn. Two years later, when she was 15, her song “It Takes Time” was recorded by Anne Murray and became a hit in Canada. The song was also recorded by Kim Carnes for her 1971 album Rest on Me.

In 1972, Earl Ball of Capitol Records was alerted to her growing reputation and signed her to the label. She released her first album, Shirley Eikhard, which was moderately successful and won Eikhard two Juno Awards for Country Female Artist of the Year at both the Juno Awards of 1973 and the Juno Awards of 1974.

In 1981, Emmylou Harris recorded Eikhard’s “Good News”, later also releasing a version of Eikhard’s “Maybe Tonight”.

Anne Murray had wanted to record Eikhard’s “Something to Talk About” in 1985, but the song was rejected by her producers; despite the song not being on Murray’s album, it was still titled Something to Talk About. In 1991, Bonnie Raitt recorded the song and released it as the lead-off single for her album Luck of the Draw. The biggest chart hit for both Eikhard and Raitt, the song had significant airplay throughout the 1990s. The song earned Raitt a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1991, with the album earning Raitt a second Grammy that year. In Canada, “Something to Talk About” earned Eikhard a Juno nomination as Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1992, and later a SOCAN Classics award.

In 2020, Eikhard was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for “Something to Talk About”.

Eikhard died of cancer in Orangeville, Ontario on December 15, 2022, at the age of 67.

In Memoriam: Dino Danelli (1944 – 2022)

Dino Danelli (July 23, 1944 – December 15, 2022) was an American drummer. Danelli was best known as an original member and the drummer in the rock group The Young Rascals. He has been called “one of the great unappreciated rock drummers in history”. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 with the (Young) Rascals.

Born into an Italian American family in Jersey City, New Jersey, Danelli was a jazz drummer by training. He had played with Lionel Hampton and (by 1961) was playing R&B in New Orleans. He returned to New York in 1962 with a band called Ronnie Speeks & the Elrods. He also worked at times with such legendary performers as Little Willie John. Danelli met Eddie Brigati (a pickup singer on the local R&B circuit), and Felix Cavaliere (a classically trained pianist) in 1963. Later that year, Danelli and Cavaliere traveled to Las Vegas to try their luck with a casino house band. They remained there until early 1964, but then ventured back to New York City.

Danelli died on December 15, 2022 at a rehabilitation facility in Manhattan after a period of declining health.

In Memoriam: Bertha Barbee-McNeal (1940 – 2022)

Bertha Barbee-McNeal, co-founder of the Velvelettes died December 16, 2022

From Flint, Michigan, where she was a child prodigy who was adept at playing both piano and organ. And her love of music led her to the music school at Kalamazoo’s Western Michigan University. While there, Barbee-McNeal and Mildred Gill formed The Velvelettes, recruiting Gills’s sister Carolyn and friend Betty Kelly, as well as Bertha’s cousin Norma Barbee. Their singing around campus caught the attention of Robert Bullock, nephew of Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr, who signed the group 1962.

The Velvelettes recorded several tracks on the label in 1963, none of which caught on with radio. But a break came in 1964, when up and coming songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield was assigned to the group, and the result of the collaboration was “Needle In A Haystack,” a Billboard chart hit, and the group’s signature song. They followed with the moderate hits “He Was Really Sayin’ Something,” “Lonely, Lonely Girl Am I” and “These Things Will Keep Me Loving You” before the members parted ways in 1967. They briefly reunited in the late 80s to record a handful of songs on Ian Levine’s Motorcity label.

Barbee-McNeal went on to obtain a Masters Degree in music education at Western Michigan University, and taught in the Kalamazoo public school system, while also raising her family. She was noted in the community for her private piano lessons but also for her work helping to train the voices of many young aspiring artists. Barbee-McNeal received the Western Michigan University College of Education and Human Development Alumni Society Golden Apple Award in 2004.

The Velvelettes were an American singing girl group, signed to Motown in the 1960s. Their biggest chart success occurred in 1964, when Norman Whitfield produced “Needle in a Haystack”, which peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 27 in Canada.

In Memoriam: Charlie Graci (1936 – 2022)

Charles Anthony Graci (May 14, 1936 – December 17, 2022), known professionally as Charlie Gracie, was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. His biggest hits were “Butterfly” and “Fabulous”, both in 1957.

Gracie’s father encouraged him to play the guitar. His musical career started at the age of 16 when he appeared on the Paul Whiteman television show in 1952. Gracie performed at weddings, local restaurants, and parties, and on local radio and television. He also won regional talent contests. Charlie graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1952.

The owner of Cadillac Records, Graham Prince, heard one of Gracie’s early radio performances, contacted the young musician and signed him to a recording contract. This association yielded the single “Boogie Woogie Blues” backed with “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter”. The record led to Charlie’s first appearance on Bob Horn’s American Bandstand television program, four years before Dick Clark became the host. After cutting two more singles for Cadillac, including one called “Rockin’ ‘n’ Rollin'” in 1952, Charlie moved on to 20th Century Records, where he put out another four sides. The discs he made embraced a wide variety of styles: jump blues, gospel, and country boogie with the influences of Big Joe Turner, B.B. King, Louis Jordan, Roy Acuff, and Hank Williams.

Gracie died in Philadelphia on December 17, 2022, at the age of 86. He was married for over 60 years to his wife Joan. They had two children, a son and a daughter.

In Memoriam: JJ Barnes (1943 – 2022)

James Jay Barnes (November 30, 1943 – December 10, 2022) was an American R&B singer and songwriter.

He recorded several singles, starting in 1960. His early releases including “Just One More Time” and “Please Let Me In”, on the record labels Mickay and Ric-Tic, had relatively little success, but were subsequently picked up as Northern soul favorites in the UK. He was later signed to Motown Records, where he contributed as a songwriter but did not have any recordings released as a singer. Some of his Motown material has subsequently been released on the A Cellarful of Motown! compilation album series.

Barnes was a member of the Holidays, a trio which also included Edwin Starr and Steve Mancha. They had a #7 R&B hit in June 1966 with “I’ll Love You Forever” (#43 in Canada). Barnes’ biggest hit single came in 1967 with “Baby Please Come Back Home” on the Groovesville label, which, like many of his records, he co-wrote. The song reached No. 9 on the US Billboard R&B chart, and No. 25 in Canada. However, subsequent singles on a variety of labels, including covers of “Black Ivory” on Today/Perception Records, failed to repeat the success.

On the recommendation of his friend Edwin Starr, Barnes moved to England in the 1970s, becoming popular. Starr had arranged for Barnes to appear on a series of shows, which led to him signing a deal with Contempo Records. He became a favorite artist of the UK Northern soul scene, and performed frequently in the UK. Early recordings from Barnes, such as “Please Let Me In” and “Real Humdinger”, were re-released in the UK on the Tamla Motown label to cater for the buyers of Northern soul records.

In the 1970s, Contempo Records released seven singles and an album, Sara Smile from Barnes, all without chart success. In the 1980s, he released five more records including a version of the Northern soul favorite by Frank Wilson, “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)”, and he recorded with producer Ian Levine in the 1990s.

His song “Chains of Love”, originally the B-side of his 1967 hit “Baby Please Come Back Home”, achieved further renown when it was covered by the Dirtbombs on their Ultraglide in Black album in 2001.

Barnes died on December 10, 2022, at age 79.

In Memoriam: Jet Black (1938 – 2022)

Brian John Duffy (August 26, 1938 – December 6, 2022), professionally known as Jet Black, was an English drummer and founding member of punk rock/new wave band The Stranglers. He last performed with the band in 2015, and officially retired in 2018.

His second wife, Helena, left him following several arguments over the Stranglers rehearsing in their home during the early days of the band.

Black had no contact with former Stranglers singer Hugh Cornwell after he left the band in 1990. According to Cornwell’s 2004 autobiography, when he telephoned Black to announce his resignation, the latter’s response was simply “OK, fine.” In 2014, he confirmed in a newspaper interview with the Oxford Times that he did not keep in touch with Cornwell. He most recently lived in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, where he reportedly designed and built wooden furniture.

Black died at his home in Wales on December 6, 2022, at the age of 84. Reacting to the news, Cornwell said: “We shared a special period of our lives when we strived to become professional musicians. We were immediately drawn to one another, he had a singular sense of purpose that I identified with. The Stranglers’ success was founded on his determination and drive.”

The Stranglers

The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the UK punk scene.

Formed as the Guildford Stranglers in Guildford, Surrey, in early 1974, they originally built a following within the mid-1970s pub rock scene. While their aggressive, no-compromise attitude had them identified by the media with the emerging UK punk rock scene that followed, their idiosyncratic approach rarely followed any single musical genre, and the group went on to explore a variety of musical styles, from new wave, art rock and gothic rock through the sophisti-pop of some of their 1980s output. They had major mainstream success with their 1982 single “Golden Brown”. Their other hits include “No More Heroes”, “Peaches”, “Always the Sun”, “Skin Deep” and “Big Thing Coming”.

The Stranglers’ early sound was driven by Jean-Jacques Burnel’s melodic bass, but also gave prominence to Dave Greenfield’s keyboards. Their early music was also characterised by the growling vocals and sometimes misanthropic lyrics of both Burnel and Hugh Cornwell. Over time, their output gradually grew more refined and sophisticated. Summing up their contribution to popular music, critic Dave Thompson later wrote: “From bad-mannered yobs to purveyors of supreme pop delicacies, the group was responsible for music that may have been ugly and might have been crude – but it was never, ever boring.”

In Memoriam: Christine McVie (1943 – 2022)

Christine Anne McVie (July 12, 1943 — November 30, 2022) was an English musician, and the vocalist and keyboardist of Fleetwood Mac, which she joined in 1970. She also released three solo albums. Her direct but poignant lyrics focused on love and relationships. AllMusic described her as an “Unabashedly easy-on-the-ears singer/songwriter, and the prime mover behind some of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits.” Eight of her songs including, “Don’t Stop”, “Everywhere” and “Little Lies”, appeared on Fleetwood Mac’s 1988 Greatest Hits album.

In 1999, McVie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. The same year, after almost 30 years with the band, she opted to leave and lived in semiretirement for nearly 15 years. She released a solo album in 2004. In September 2013 she appeared on stage with Fleetwood Mac at the O2 Arena in London, before rejoining the band in 2014 prior to their On with the Show tour.

In 2006, McVie received a Gold Badge of Merit Award from Basca, now The Ivors Academy. In 2014, she received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and was honored with the Trailblazer Award at the UK Americana Awards in 2021. She was also the recipient of two Grammy Awards.

When McVie married John McVie in 1968, Peter Green was best man. Instead of a honeymoon they celebrated at a hotel in Birmingham with Joe Cocker, who happened to be staying there, before going off with their own separate bands. The couple divorced in 1976, but remained friends and maintained a professional partnership. During the production of Rumours she had an affair with Fleetwood Mac’s lighting engineer, Curry Grant, which inspired the song “You Make Loving Fun”. From 1979 to 1982, she dated Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. McVie married Portuguese keyboardist and songwriter Eddy Quintela in October 1986. Quintela and McVie collaborated on a number of songs together including “Little Lies”. They divorced in 2003, and Quintela died in 2020.

During the height of Fleetwood Mac’s success in the 1970s, McVie resided in Los Angeles in a house that had previously been owned by Joan Collins and Elton John. In 1990, she moved to a Grade II-listed Tudor manor house in Wickhambreaux, Kent, to which she retired after leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998, and worked on her solo material. For years, McVie found inspiration in the home’s country setting, not only writing songs there, but restoring the house. However, after rejoining Fleetwood Mac in 2014, McVie began spending more time in London, and put the house on the market in 2015.

McVie died in hospital at age 79 on November 30, 2022, after suffering an illness.

In Memoriam: Irene Cara (1959 – 2022)

Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress. Cara sang and co-wrote the song “Flashdance… What a Feeling” (from the film Flashdance), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984. Cara is also known for playing the role of Coco Hernandez in the 1980 film Fame, and for recording the film’s title song “Fame”. Prior to her success with Fame, Cara portrayed the title character Sparkle Williams in the original 1976 musical drama film Sparkle.

Cara was born in New York City, the youngest of five children. Her father, Gaspar Escalera, a factory worker and retired saxophonist, was Puerto Rican, and her mother, Louise, a movie theater usher, was Cuban-American. Cara had two sisters and two brothers. At the age of three, Irene Cara was one of five finalists for the “Little Miss America” pageant. She began to play the piano by ear, studied music, acting, and dance seriously, and began taking dance lessons when she was five. Her performing career started on Spanish-language television, professionally singing and dancing. She made early TV appearances on The Original Amateur Hour (singing in Spanish) and Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. In 1971–1972, she was a regular on PBS’s educational program The Electric Company, as a member of the show’s band, The Short Circus. As a child, Cara recorded a Latin-market Spanish-language record and an English Christmas album. She appeared in a major concert tribute to Duke Ellington which featured Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr., and Roberta Flack.

Cara married stuntman and film director Conrad Palmisano in Los Angeles in April 1986 and they divorced in 1991.

Cara died at her home in Largo Florida on November 25, 2022, at the age of 63.

In Memoriam: Danny Kalb (1942 – 2022)

Danny Kalb (September 9, 1942 – November 19, 2022) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was an original member of the 1960s group the Blues Project.

In 1965, Kalb formed the Blues Project with Steve Katz, Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld and Tommy Flanders. Flanders later left the band and was replaced by Al Kooper. They recorded three albums, played frequently at the Cafe Au Go Go and at Murray the K’s last “submarine race-watching” spectacular at the RKO 58th Street theater in New York, and made several concert tours, disbanding in 1971. In 1965 the Blues Project performed an eleven-minute rendition of Muddy Waters’s “Two Trains Running” in electronic form, with Waters in the audience. When asked what he thought of it, Waters said, “You really got me.” Kalb later said, “If I’d dropped dead at that point on the spot because of what we thought of Muddy Waters, then my life would have been well spent.” Personality clashes, drugs and the 1960s lifestyle took their toll on the band. Katz and Kooper left to form Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Howard L. Solomon (Cafe au Go Go owner and promoter) wrote in a 1999 email to Kalb’s Webmaster, “Danny Kalb … is up there with the best of all blues legends … His work for me at Cafe’ au Go Go was amazing … I’ve worked with the greatest of all time and he is at the top … Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall, Zappa, all greats, but Danny will emerge in the top 5.”

In 1968 he released Crosscurrents with Stefan Grossman. He was fairly quiet for the next twenty years, but joined Al Kooper for a Blues Project reunion, recorded at the Bottom Line in 1996.

In the 21st century, Kalb has performed solo acoustic gigs, played acoustic and electric music with the Danny Kalb Trio, including Bob Jones on acoustic bass and Mark Ambrosino on drums and occasionally performed with Stefan Grossman and Steve Katz and with his brother Jonathan Kalb. The Danny Kalb Trio recorded I’m Gonna Live the Life I Sing About (Sojourn) in 2008, which received critical acclaim in the blues media. This was followed in 2013 by Kalb’s first double-CD. Moving in Blue, also on the Sojourn label, featuring various sidemen and guest artists. With this album he parlays the full range of his musical interests and creativity. Due to ongoing health issues, Kalb was no longer able to perform.

Kalb continued to play the vintage early 1960s Gibson J-200 with which he began his career. He also used a Mexican-made Martin acoustic-electric and a Greco Les Paul-style electric guitar. His solo projects included Livin’ with the Blues (Legend 1995), All Together Now(self-released 2002), Live in Princeton (self-released 2003), and Live in Brooklyn (self-released 2006). Crosscurrents, the 1968 LP with Stefan Grossman was re-released as CD in 2006 and a new CD, Played a Little Fiddle, was released in 2007 by Kalb, Katz and Grossman.

Kalb died on November 19, 2022, at the age of 80.

In Memoriam: Keith Levene (1957 – 2022)

Julian Keith Levene (July 18, 1957 – November 11, 2022) was an English musician who was a founding member of both the Clash and Public Image Ltd (PiL). While Levene was in PiL, their 1978 debut album Public Image: First Issue reached No 22 in the UK album charts, and its lead track “Public Image” broke the top 10 UK singles chart.

Levene was born and raised in London, and although initially influenced by progressive rock his musical taste changed after meeting fellow Clash founder Mick Jones. His punk and post punk guitar sounds have been described as “both melodic and discordant, sonorous and violent”.

Levene died from complications of liver cancer at his home in Norfolk on November 11, 2022, aged 65. He was described in the BBC’s obituary as “one of the most influential guitarists of all time… [who helped] pioneer an angular post-punk sound that is still regularly cited”.

In Memoriam: Mick Goodrick (1945 – 2022)

Mick Goodrick (June 9, 1945 – November 16, 2022) was an American jazz guitarist who spent most of his career as a teacher. In the early 1970s, he worked with Gary Burton and Pat Metheny.

An Elvis fan, Goodrick began studying guitar in his pre-teens and was performing professionally a few years later. When he was sixteen, he became interested in jazz at a Stan Kenton Band Camp. He attended the Berklee School of Music from 1963–1967. He taught at Berklee, then spent a few years touring with Gary Burton. After returning to Boston, he settled into a career largely as an educator.

Goodrick has had many notable students, including Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, Julian Lage, John Scofield, Lage Lund, Mike Stern, Avner Strauss, and Rale Micic. His first book, The Advancing Guitarist, is an instruction manual for guitarists of all styles. He has also written a series of books addressing the intricacies of harmonic voice leading.

Goodrick worked with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra during the 1980s and early 1990s, with Jack DeJohnette in the late 1980s, and with Steve Swallow in the late 1990s. He performed in a duo with Pat Metheny at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2005 and with Wolfgang Muthspiel at the Jazz Standard in 2008.

Goodrick died on November 16, 2022, at age 77, from Parkinson’s disease.