Goodbye to Michael Stanley at the age of 72.
Michael Stanley may never have hit the highest heights of rock stardom, but in Northern Ohio, there was no one larger.
Stanley's biggest national hit came in 1980 with "He Can't Love You", which was a staple of very early MTV and hit 33 on the charts and 1983's "My Town" slid into the top 40 three years later, but Stanley was biggest of all in Cleveland.
Stanley was bigger than any act that you can name and his popularity continued even as the Michael Stanley Band transitioned to spots in other bands, Stanley maintained his regional star by hosting Cleveland's version of PM Magazine from 1987-90 and then moving to radio from 1990 until last February when his health issues were too large to continue to talk four hours every day.
While Stanley had bigger hits and songs that he was better known for, there is only one Michael Stanley song that defines him and his music to me.
Stanley cut a recording for the Cleveland Cavaliers entitled "Tonight's the Night" and the Cavaliers would play that at the end of each home game during the Richfield Coliseum era when the Mark Price/Brad Daughtery teams were making playoff runs and I remember so vividly that song blaring after the Cavaliers won game seven of the 1992 Eastern Conference semi-finals over Boston.
That was the final game of Larry Bird's career, which also was the end of the Celtics run of great teams and I associate that game with the Michael Stanley Band with the memories of those teams in Richfield.
Holly Gleason's tribute to Stanley covers far more ground than this at Variety.
Goodbye to Mary Wilson at the age of 76.
A founding member of the Supremes, Wilson was part of the Supremes both with and without Diana Ross and had hits in the same time frame with the group.
The Supremes with Wilson finished with twelve number one singles and were part of the initial class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Wilson performing as both a lead and backup singer at different times and songs during the group's heyday.
Wilson was also involved with the creation of the Music Moderniztion Act in 2018, which cleared up royalties and copyrights for music from before 1972 for streaming and other technologies which were not even thought of when the music was created.
Goodbye to Bruce Kirby at the age of 95.
The veteran character actor may be best remembered for his many appearances on the 70s NBC detective drama Columbo, but his appearances in television and film are too many to recall.
Kirby also was the store owner in "Stand by Me" and was the father of the late actor Bruno Kirby, who appeared in several films including "Good Morning Vietnam" before his death in 2006.
Goodbye to Rennie Davis at the age of 80.
The Vietnam-era activist was a leader in the anti-war movement and involved in the leadership of the SDS in the 60s.
Davis was part of the "Chicago Seven" which pops up every few years in pop culture when a film (it seems like there have been several made ranging from documentary to docudrama to cartoon) is created covering the 1968 Chicago riots at the Democratic Convention and the ensuing trial a year later.
Davis became a follower of the Divine Light Mission and would become a venture capitalist and lecturer on meditation among other holistic topics.
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