Goodbye to Ronnie Spector at the age of 78.
Spector came to prominence in 1963 as the lead singer of the Ronettes, who placed nine songs in the Billboard Top 100 and five in the top forty between 1963 and 1966.
The Ronettes (and Spector) are most often remembered for their hit "Be My Baby", which reached number two in 1963 and has been used in many films since its release.
Spector made a comeback in the 80s with a cameo singing her line from "Be my Baby" in Eddie Money's smash hit "Take Me Home Tonight", including one memorable night on Late Night with David Letterman where Spector clearly stole the show from Money.
Nesmith, one of the four Monkees of television and musical fame, was well-known for more than just his stint in the made-for-television band.
Nesmith was a multi-millionaire for a non-Monkee related reason (his mother invented liquid paper), won multiple millions from PBS over home video rights to some projects that included Ken Burns's "The Civil War". had a chance to run MTV which he turned down because he was running his own production company that started a music video show before MTV in "Pop Clips", won a Grammy award for video of the year, and was a successful songwriter before the Monkees as it was Nesmith that penned the Linda Ronstadt classic "Different Drum".
All of that AND The Monkees!
As a Monkees fan (Yet not fanatic), Nesmith and Micky Dolenz were my favorites watching as a preschooler (The Monkees TV series were in syndication by then), and I think that I liked his knit cap!
I found Nesmith so interesting that I am cutting some of this short to have material for a future Forgotten Superstars post.
Goodbye to Ron Franklin at the age of 79.
Franklin worked for ESPN from 1987 to 2011 as one of their top play-by-play voices for their college football and basketball games and was ESPN's announcer for their top game of the week on Saturday nights until being fired in 2011 for comments made off the air to Jeanine Edwards and a 2005 on air incident with comments to Holly Rowe.
Franklin never returned to sports television and while his comments in a work environment weren't going to be tolerated in this era but I did miss his solid and to the point work in the booth.
Goodbye to Peter Scolari at the age of 66
Scolari had a long resume on Broadway and in Hollywood but is most remembered for his role as yuppie lawyer Michael Harris on the 80s version of "Newhart" and for the two year run of "Bosom Buddies" with co-star Tom Hanks as two men living in an all-women complex forced to dress as women for the lower rent.
Scolari would work several times with Hanks in cameo roles, would win an Emmy for his guest spot on HBO's "Girls" in 2016, and would have a small recurring role in "Gotham" as well as taking over for Rick Moranis as the star in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" franchise.
Goodbye to Lisa Brown at the age of 67.
Brown, a longtime soap opera actress, was best known for her roles on "As the World Turns" and as "Nola Reardon" on the "Guiding Light".
Brown served as an acting coach in recent years both in soaps and out but I'll always remember her as "Nola" as my late Aunt Edna was a passionate viewer of Guiding Light and had the habit of calling the show by the name of the character that seemed to be the most important to her at the time.
Brown's run on the show from 1980-85 was at the same time as my middle school and high school years and Edna would more often than not refer to the show as "time for Nola" or I have get whatever done so that I can see "Nola".
Lots of good memories...
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