2009 Deaths!

[RNH]

Hi, everyone! I know it has been a long time since I have written on the board. I have been rather busy these past 1 1/2 years.

But now I am back and ready to start writing again!

I will begin by writing on a topic I started several years ago---usually about this time---by remembering the musicians we lost during the year.

For 2009:
- Michael Jackson (the headliner, of course)
- Richard "Sky Saxon" Marsh, leader of The Seeds (same day MJ died, June 25!)
- Estelle Bennett of The Ronettes
- Randy Cain of The Delfonics
- Fayette Pinkney of The Three Degrees
- Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon
- Dewey Martin of The Buffalo Springfield
- Bob Bogle of The Ventures
- Tom Grumley, steel guitarist of The Buckaroos
- Mary Travers of Peter, Paul, & Mary
- Bud Shank, jazz saxophonist
- Kelly Groucutt of ELO

And for those of fans of 50's music and earlier:
- Huey Long of The Ink Spots
- Gale Storm
- Billy Lee Riley
- Nancy Overton of The Chordettes
- Al Alberts of The Four Lads
- Johnny Carter of The Flamingos + The Dells
- Al Martino (actually 50's, 60's, + 70's for him!)

This is, of course, a partial list. So feel free to add more names!

Happy New Year!

[donwa001]

Additional deaths in 2009:
- Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Jimmy Boyd ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" - #1 in 1952)
- Dan Seals of England Dan & John Ford Coley
- Stephen Gately of Boyzone
- James Gurley of Big Brother and the Holding Company
- Eric Woolfson of The Alan Parsons Project

[mstgator]

This is a stretch since she's not really known as a musician, but the late Brittany Murphy sang on Paul Oakenfold's 2006 dance smash "Faster Kill girl thingycat". *

* Pussycat

[RNH]

- Les Paul (how did I miss that one?!)
- Soupy Sales (anyone remember "The Mouse"?)
- Patrick Swayze

[caseyfan100]

Larry Knechtel passed away earlier this year. He played the piano and arranged the Simon
and Garfunkel classic Bridge Over Troubled Water and won a Grammy for it. He also was the
guitar man on the Bread song The Guitar Man, and played keyboards for Susan Dey on the
Partridge Family #1 I Think I Love You.