Bassist & Singer James Dewar Dies Following A Stroke As A Result Of "Medical Error."

Queen Frontman Freddie Mercury loses battle with AIDS November 1991

It is difficult to express in words just how upset I was when Freddie died. I never knew the man, of course, but despite that he played an important part in my life. I well remember sitting in my student bedsit playing Sheer Heart Attack at the maximum volume I could get away with without upsetting the landlady. I loved that album, and those before it and after it, but especially that album. Killer Queen was the track that did it for me, every time, Freddie's vocals, Brian May's exquisite guitar solo, brilliant lyrics, I still go weak at the knees when I think of it.
When the student grant would stretch to it I would go to see the boys live, they were quite a "heavy" rock band in those days and packed a terrific punch with such songs as Seven Seas Of Rye, Brighton Rock, March Of The Black Queen, etc. As they matured over the years, so did I. There was a synergy there and Queen were hardly ever off my playlist, (no MP3 players then, I mean an actual list).
To be fair, many of the tragedies I have written about in "RockBottoms" have touched me at a very personal level and, as I say in my introduction, I write about them with respect and due deference. This is never more so than with this piece about the singer I loved the most. I really do put him up there with Robert Plant, Paul Rogers, et al.
So, to business, Freddie was only 45 when he died at his home in Kensington, London. The cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS, the disease with which he has since become associated by way of the charity set up in his honour, The Phoenix Freddie Mercury Trust, which funds research into the disease.

Over 5 million people have, so far, seen the Queen tribute musical "We Will Rock You" which features 32 Queen hits and receives standing ovations at almost every performance. If you are a Queen fan you need to see this and we have arranged a great deal with West End Theatre Breaks for you to consider:





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Who Was The Fifth Beatle?

Not a straightforward one this. The Beatles did in fact have 5 members at an early stage in their career when they were playing primarily in Hamburg, Germany. The five were Stuart Sutcliffe, (Bass), Pete Best, (Drums), Paul McCartney, (Guitar/Vocals - later switching to bass), George Harrison, (Guitar) and John Lennon, (Guitar/vocals). On that basis then, both Sutcliffe and Best have been cited as the "fifth Beatle" but until the band returned from Germany in 1961 they were a five-piece in any case so the question of "who was the fifth Beatle" is irrelevant. Following Sutcliffe's departure Paul switched to Bass and the band became a four piece with Best continuing as drummer for a short while. Best was finally replaced by Ringo Starr in 1962, just before they hit the big time, and so could be considered the fifth Beatle on that basis. Unfortunately Stuart Sutcliffe died from a brain hemorrhage shortly after leaving the band.
A totally different slant was put onto the matter by John Lennon when he suggested that, in fact, their manager Brian Epstein was effectively the fifth Beatle. However, irrespective of how crucial epstien was in securing the record contract that the Beatles needed so badly and making them famous, Epstein never contributed to the band as a musician and must, therefore, be excluded.

Def Leppard Guitarist Steve Clark Dies 1991 Aged Only 30

Def Leppard had more than its fair share of tragedy, many people will be aware of drummer Rick Allen's terrible road traffic accident in which he lost his left arm. Ace guitarist Steve Clark was not a founder member but joined the band in 1978 following an audition in which it is said he performed Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" in its entirety, without accompaniment.
Steve was, therefore, playing with Leppard during its commercially most successful period in the 1980's in which saw the release of such epic albums as Pyromania, (later certified as Diamond with 10 million copies sold), Hysteria and High n' Dry.
The success, however, took its toll on Steve and he became a heavy drinker. In 1991 he was spending some time away from Leppard when he was found dead at his London home. Steve's death was attributed to an overdose of Codeine and high levels of alchohol together with Valium and Morphine. He was buried in Sheffield, his home town and that of most of his band mates.

 

Def Leppard Drummer Loses Arm In Road Accident

One-armed drummers are rare but Rick Allen sets a high standard for others to meet, should any appear to take up the challenge.
Allen was only 15 when he auditioned for, and got, the job of drummer with Sheffield based rock band Def Leppard.

Dimebag Darrell Shot dead On Stage 2004

Darrell Lance Abbott was a guitarist with Pantera, a groove metal band he formed in 1981 with his brother Vinnie Paul. In addition to his work with Pantera, Abbott also played with his brother in another band, Damageplan and it was during a Damageplan concert that he met his death at the hands of gunman Nathan Gale.
The gig was underway at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus Ohio when Gale fired shots from his Beretta handgun killing Dimebag and three others. Gale was subsequently shot and killed by a police officer attending the scene.
There is confusion as to Gale's motive for the murder of Dimebag with one theory being that he believed Dimebag to have stolen some of his songs. This theory has largely been discredited however and it seems that Gale was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed that the band could read his mind and steal his thoughts.

Syd Barrett - The Diamond Shines No More

Barrett was the founder member of Pink Floyd and was responsible for penning their first four singles,

Marc Bolan dies in car crash 1977.

Glam rock icon, guitarist and poet Marc Bolan died on 27th September 1977. He had been a passenger in a car driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones, (Marc couldn't drive, despite owning several cars), when it hit a tree.

At least, that's what most people were led to believe. However, following the release in 2012 of Lesley Anne Jone's Biography of Marc Bolan, entitled "Ride a White Swan: The Lives and Death of Marc Bolan" we learn that, whilst Marc certainly died that night, in his Mini as reported, it was not directly as a result of hitting a tree.

For all those years, since the accident occurred in 1977 up until the publication of Jones' book in 2012, it was believed that Marc Bolan was killed when his car hit a sycamore tree. It is now revealed however that Marc was actually killed when his Mini collided with a steel-reinforced fence post.

Whereas before we had all believed he had been crushed to death in the mini, the book reveals that, in fact, he had suffered a terrible head injury caused by one of the bolts used on the fence.

All of this detail becomes even more poignant after the somewhat belated interviews given by an eye-witness to the crash, a singer called Vicky Aram. Vicky had, apparently, been invited to accompany Marc and his entourage back from a party they had all been attending, in order to discuss various musical projects. As she had her own car, she followed them, thereby avoiding a direct involvement and possibly much worse, in the fatal crash.

Aram was at the scene seconds after the impact and is reported to have seen everything that happened. As a result, we now know the full story.

The crash was, of course,  a tragic accident, made even more tragic by the fact that Marc Bolan was, at the time of his death, only 29 and at the peak of his career. Admired by many, idolised by many more, Bolan had, I'm sure, much more to offer.

By the time of his death he had already transformed his persona from that of a poet for whom music was played mainly as an accompaniment to the words, to a full-blown rockstar with a catalogue of successful hits and a glam-rock image that many others emulated.

As we now approach the start of the fortieth year since his death, the memory of Marc Bolan as a talented icon who no doubt still had much to offer, I'd like to raise a glass to Fee Warner, the founder of the T Rex Action Group, who purchased bought the land on which the "fatal" sycamore tree stands in order to prevent it from being felled and still, with help form other volunteers, still preserve it to this day.

Steve Peregrin Took chokes to death on cocktail cherry

Steve Took, real name Stephen Ross Porter, was a founder member of Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan and  played with Bolan from 1967 until 1969 when he was fired for excessive drug and alcohol abuse.
 He worked in several bands after leaving Trex, including Pink Fairies and Shagrat and as a solo artist.
Took died on 27th October 1980 aged 31, apparently as a result of choking on a cocktail cherry although it is believed that morphine, magic mushrooms and alcohol may have also played a part.

Drummer Cozy Powell dies in high-speed car crash

5th April 1998.

Eric Clapton's Son Falls To His Death

Eric Clapton's career was strewn with difficulties, mainly due to periods of dependancy on Heroin, Cocaine and other substances but the man they once called God was resilient and managed to deal successfully with all of these.

Clapton had built a reputation for himself in the 60's with such bands as the Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers but it was his brief, but massively successful, allegiance with virtuoso bassist, singer and songwriter Jack Bruce and legendary drummer Ginger Baker that established him as a superstar.

In 1991 however, shortly after the death of Stevie Ray Vaughn in a plane crash whilst touring with Clapton, his son Conor died after falling from a window in a New York apartment belonging to a friend of the child's mother.

Conor was just 4 years old at the time of his death.

Eric later wrote, in conjunction with Will Jennings, the song "Tears In Heaven" in memory of Conor, which, along with the "Unplugged" album on which it appeared, won six Grammy Awards.

Death Of An Urban Spaceman - Viv Stanshall

Viv Stanshall, real name Victor Anthony Stanshall, became famous in the 1960's as a founder member of the "Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band".
The Bonzos were a busy and well liked band that was very difficult to categorise but which performed a unique combination of Trad Jazz, Pop and anarchic comedy.
They appeared on televison in a show entitled "Do Not Adjust Your Set" in the 1960's.

Viv did not cope so well after the Bonzos split up in 1970 and, despite being busy, found refuge in alcohol and drugs, mainly Valium, which he took to combat panic attacks.

He was found dead by firefighters attending a blaze at his home, a third floor flat in London's Muswell Hill. The fire is reported to have happened on Sunday 5th march 1995 although some accounts say it was on the 6th.

Recommended Bonzo Dog reading, listening and other goodies:

The Strange Case Of Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac & The Children Of God

One of the sixties most successful bands, Fleetwood Mac had more than their fair share of Rock Bottoms. The most notorious of these concerns their brilliant lead guitarist and vocalist, Peter Green.

Green had served his musical apprenticeship with such bands as John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and had established himself as a master of the craft of Blues Guitar. It is said that BB King himself once declared Green to be the “only one that brings me out in the cold sweats”.

Green’s success came with strings attached however, as he became more and more uncomfortable with the trappings of success. He wrote and performed the one of the band’s most successful singles “Albatross” which reached the top of the UK single charts in February 1969. 

Fame and fortune followed, as most rock stars would wish for, but Green wanted none of it, at one point trying to convince his fellow band members that they should give their money away.

The events which led to Green leaving the band were more complex though, and remain the subject of controversy. In March 1970 Fleetwood Mac had arrived at Munich in Germany where they were touring and were met by members of a commune, (highfisch commune).

It seems that Peter was taken to the commune where he jammed with other musicians and, it has been suggested, was given large quantities of strong drugs, probably LSD.

Whatever happened at that time, and it is unclear as to the fine details, Peter didn’t seem the same afterwards and soon after he left Fleetwood Mac and, to all intents and purposes, disappeared from the music scene altogether.

During his years away from the business, Peter was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and was treated in psychiatric hospitals with various treatments including the highly unpleasant electroconvulsive therapy. His condition did not improve very much and he was arrested in 1977 for threatening his accountant with a shotgun, an incident which resulted in his being once again confined to a psychiatric hospital.

Finally, however, with the help of a very supportive family and some good friends, he did begin to emerge as a musician again in the late 1970’s. His brother Michael was particularly supportive and helped Peter to secure a recording contract in 1979 with the PVK label. 

It is said that he also made an appearance on Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk” album which was released that year although his contribution, (to the song “Brown Eyes”) was not credited.

Since then, Peter has toured extensively, first with his band “Splinter Group” and subsequently “Peter Green & Friends” and he remains active to this day.

Fleetwood Mac has been a massively successful enterprise spanning 5 decades but not without it’s problems. Peter’s departure and subsequent illness apart, they have had numerous problems to deal with including the disappearance of guitarist Jeremy Spencer during a tour of the USA in February 1971.

It transpired that Jeremy had joined a religious movement, the “Children Of God” and would not be playing with the band any more. Fleetwood mac were able to complete the tour however as Peter Green agreed to stand in for a limited time until a replacement was found. 

Please see the following posts for more details of this and other Fleetwood Mac RockBottoms.

• Jeremy Spencer disappears and joins religious group
• Never work with children, animals or your spouse!
• Will the real Fleetwood Mac please stand up

Books about Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac MP3 Downloads

Fleetwood Mac CD's DVd's & other goodies

 

Please be aware that should you kindly purchase any of my recommended items I would receive a (very) small commission which I use to fund my research. Thank You.

Steve Marriott - Killed In House Fire

Steve Marriott was a notable singer, guitarist and songwriter who swept to fame in the 60s with the Small Faces, a band he formed with Kenny Jones, Ronnie Lane and Ian Mclagan and subsequently had even greater success with Humble Pie.

Steve was held in high esteem for his powerful voice and skills as a guitarist. He died on the morning of 20th April 1991 in a blaze at his country cottage, believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette. Firemen who found his body salvaged most of his guitars and other equipment but it was too late for Steve who had succumbed to smoke inhalation whilst trying to escape the blaze.

Although Steve had, what many would consider to have been, a successful career he never really achieved financial stability, due mainly to poorly negotiated record deals both with the Small Faces and beyond. this has another poignant twist with regard to his friend and band mate Ronnie Lane, whose story you can see here.

For more about Steve and his career please visit the Small Faces/Faces and Humble Pie pages where you will also find my recommended listening and reading. Marriott was only 44 at the time of his death and is one of several prominent musicians to die in fires.

See also Viv Stanshall.

Books about Steve Marriott and the Small Faces



Steve Marriott, Small faces & Humble Pie MP3 Downloads

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Fatal Aircrash 1977

Several members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed in a light aircraft accident in 1977.

Lynyrd Skynrd were formed in 1964, by school friends Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, and Gary Rossington as the Noble Five and, after several name changes, became Lynyrd Skynyrd, in 1970. The name is an adaptation of Leonard Skinner, a P.E teacher at the school attended by the three founding members of the band, who was disliked because of his enthusiasm for enforcing a policy which banned long hair on boys at the school.

By the mid 1970’s Lynyrd Skynyrd were enjoying considerable success. Their album Street Survivors had only just been released when, whilst travelling by chartered aircraft to the next venue on their tour, they were involved in a fatal air accident.

Three members of the band, (Ronnie Van Zant, Cassie Gaines & Steve Gaines), were killed along with the pilots and one of their road managers, Dean Kilpatrick. Other passengers, including band members and road crew, were seriously injured.

After the crash the album Street Survivors became the band's second platinum selling album reaching No. 5 in the U.S. album chart. The original cover sleeve for Street Survivors had featured a photograph of the band members engulfed in flames. Out of respect for those who died in the accident MCA Records withdrew that version of the cover and replaced it with an alternative image of the band against a plain black background. When the deluxe CD version of the album was released some thirty years later, the original "flames" cover was used once again.

Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded after the tragedy but have since reunited, (in 1987), and are still performing today albeit with only one member of the original lineup.

Guitar Bands - They'll Never Catch On!

The man who turned down the Beatles, claiming that guitar bands were unlikely to last, no doubt regretted his decision. However, the "Fab Four", as they became known sometime later, were, like many bands before and since, rejected many times before successfully being signed by xyz.

The incident referred to actually too place in xxxx at the offices of Decca records ad is often referred to as "The Decca Incident".

By this time, the band's manager, Brian Epstein, had been relentlessly plugging away at the task of finding the Beatles a record contract and had been repeatedly rejected.

There are more Beatles rock bottoms here.

See also Joe Meek, who also turned down the Fab Four.

Smoke On The Water -Money in the Bank!

Deep Purple’s most famous number, and the most often played guitar shop riff in the history of music, is in fact an account of a terrible fire that destroyed a building in Montreux, Switzerland, where the band were booked to record an album.

The album, (Machine Head), got made eventually when the band found an abandoned hotel to hole up in for a few days, along with a mobile recording studio owned by the Rolling Stones, but the ill-fated building did not fare so well. 

The Casino was destroyed and had to be completely rebuilt, re-opening again in 1975.

In fact it was Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention who were playing at the Casino De Montreux on the night of the fire, the 4th December 1971. A fan fired a flare gun into the roof space of the building causing the blaze. 

Purple's song refers to the fan as "some stupid" and the smoke on the water was the smoke from the blaze being reflected in the water of Lake Geneva beside which the Casino building was situated.

Below you will see the Celebrated Rockbottoms Store where you can get track listings and further details on each recommendation. If you purchase from this store you will be helping to fund my research as I do receive a small commission.

Fairport Convention Fatal road Accident 1969

Fairport Convention were one of the most influential and successful bands to emerge in the late 1960's and, despite many changes in their lineup, continued to release superb quality work for decades after that. The band still performs to this day and, if you haven't guessed it yet, are one of my personal favourites.

On 11th May 1969, following a gig at the Mothers in Birmingham the band were being driven home in their van. Their road manager Harvey Bramham was at the wheel when the vehicle left the road and went down an embankment close to a service station on the M1 motorway.

One of the passengers, Jeannie Franklyn, (girlfriend of guitarist Richard Thompson), died at the scene and the band's young drummer Martin Lamble died from his injuries later in hospital. Martin was just 19 when he died. The other occupants were injured, in some cases quite seriously.

By a quirk of fate however, the band's singer, the wonderful Sandy Denny, was not in the van that night, having accepted a lift from her then boyfriend Trevor Lucas. Unfortunately though, Sandy's luck did not last and she herself died tragically young in an accident - follow this link to find out more about that.

After a period of doubt the band decided that they would continue and recruited a new drummer,  Dave Mattacks, to replace Martin. Soon afterwards they released their masterpiece album, "Liege & Lief" paving the way for decades of success albeit interspersed with inevitable periods of inactivity and lineup changes.

Sandy wrote a song for her album "the Northstar Grassman & The Ravens" entitled "Late November" which was partly inspired by the death of Martin Lamble. this was released in 1971.

Recommended Listening

One of our truly great British bands with a career spanning six decades and still going strong. Fairport suffered an almost terminal setback following a tragic road accident in May 1969 in which drummer Martin Lamble was sadly killed along with band member Richard Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn. After a recovery period however they decided to continue and enjoyed huge success.

Selecting albums to recommend from their extensive catalogue is difficult but I would have to begin by saying "Liege and Leaf" (released in 1969), is widely regarded as being one of their most important works and is a good place to start, including as is does, such great tracks as "Come All Ye", "Farewell Farewell" and "Matty Groves" . Other highlights include Unhalfbricking, (1969) and What We Did On Our Holidays, (also 1969) and the band's eponymous first album, Fairport Convention, (released 1968), is also well worth a listen and is the only one recorded with original vocalist Judy Dyble before Sandy Denny took over the reins.

There are many compilation albums to choose from but to really get a flavour of this great band I strongly recommend that you listen to Unhalfbricking, as it includes so many truly great tracks such as Sandy's "Who knows where the time goes?", a terrific version of Dylan's "Percy's Song", "Si tu doir partir" and "A Sailor's Life." There are a number of books about Fairport Convention, many are out of print but those listed below are readily available.

Below you will see the Celebrated Rockbottoms Store where you can get track listings and further details on each recommendation. If you purchase from this store, or click on any of the tastefully selected ads on my site, you will be helping to fund my research as I do receive a small commission.