DARRYL MORDEN: 1958-2011

[Rob Durkee]

Dear AT40 Friend,
It is with tremendous sadness that I report that Darryl Morden died of cancer Friday night, February 25, 2011. He was 52.

Darryl was one of the brightest most creative writers I've ever met in my life. I remember in late 1992 receiving the CD single of "In The Still Of The Night" by Boyz II Men on the Motown label...and how the label messed up with the song-writer credit. The label said the song was written by "C.Porter" as in Cole Porter.

Granted, Porter did write a song with that title but this was a different song with the same title. When I called Motown to correct the mistake, I was pretty much blown off. So...I contacted BMI, which in turn alerted the attorney of the proper song-writer, Fred Farris of the Five Satins, about the mistake. The attorney called me in only about 15-20 minutes and, ironically, said he went through the same song-writing correction about Fred Parris when "In The Still Of The Night" made it onto the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack LP.

Anyway, Shadoe Stevens would go on to report how we corrected this song-writing mistake. And, in true Darryl Morden-written style, Shadoe said this was an example of "truth, justice and the American Top 40 way."

As Shadoe noted in a Facebook message board posting, "Darryl was one of the greatest, most creative, and funniest people I ever worked with and I'd hoped to do it again."

[at40petebattistini]

Rob,
This is indeed sad news. I had an opportunity to meet Darryl once, some 12-15 years ago. And I can't believe it's been that long. Of course it was a very memorable experience, especially discovering his fascination with Star Trek.

While researching and reviewing the 80s book, occasionally I came across something that was used in a show (artist or stretch story, etc.) that I swore was inspired by Darryl. For example, in the July 26, 1986 program, Casey played an excerpt of "God Save The Queen" by the Sex Pistols. (In the show, Casey noted that the Sex Pistols and Chic were the origin of the sound of Duran Duran.) It was an AT40 show that I'd heard for the first time while reviewing material for the book. And I thought, in a very positive way, "The Sex Pistols? On American Top 40??? I'll bet Darryl Morden was the driving force behind this." The writing and production of the show then was always first rate, and the story, though a bit quirky, fit perfectly into the program. Recently Matt Wilson identified that the time period was in fact one where Darryl was very active in program writing although I don't know with 100 percent certainty that Darryl brought the Sex Pistols to the AT40 table.

But from what I remembered about that one-time meeting with him, it just made sense to me based on his personality. He had a charasmatic edge that rode the line. And of course he'll be missed.

[jdelachjr2002]

Feb 26, 2011 14:32:36 GMT -5 Rob Durkee said:

Dear AT40 Friend,
It is with tremendous sadness that I report that Darryl Morden died of cancer Friday night, February 25, 2011. He was 52.

Darryl was one of the brightest most creative writers I've ever met in my life. I remember in late 1992 receiving the CD single of "In The Still Of The Night" by Boyz II Men on the Motown label...and how the label messed up with the song-writer credit. The label said the song was written by "C.Porter" as in Cole Porter.

Granted, Porter did write a song with that title but this was a different song with the same title. When I called Motown to correct the mistake, I was pretty much blown off. So...I contacted BMI, which in turn alerted the attorney of the proper song-writer, Fred Farris of the Five Satins, about the mistake. The attorney called me in only about 15-20 minutes and, ironically, said he went through the same song-writing correction about Fred Parris when "In The Still Of The Night" made it onto the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack LP.

Anyway, Shadoe Stevens would go on to report how we corrected this song-writing mistake. And, in true Darryl Morden-written style, Shadoe said this was an example of "truth, justice and the American Top 40 way."

As Shadoe noted in a Facebook message board posting, "Darryl was one of the greatest, most creative, and funniest people I ever worked with and I'd hoped to do it again."

[at40petebattistini]

Here's an all-too-brief obituary for Darryl, which recognizes his notoriety with syndicated radio shows.

themusicsover.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/darryl-morden/