Goodbye to Brian Wilson at the age of 82.
The tortured genius of The Beach Boys has a case as the most well-rounded career of any one person in rock/pop history, with his contributions as singer, musician, songwriter, and producer, all at the top of the industry.
Wilson's achievements are too lengthy to be listed, but he's easily among the most influential musicians of all time.
Goodbye to Bobby Sherman at the age of 81.
Sherman was the person who returned "teen idols" to prominence after the genre died off in the mid-sixties when he starred on ABC's show "Here Comes The Brides" and sang several pop hits that reached the Billboard Top Forty, with two (Little Woman and Julie Do Ya Love Me) reaching the top five and two more (Easy Come Easy Go and La La La) hitting the top ten in 1969 and 1970.
Sherman's star was shortly eclipsed by that of David Cassidy. Sherman's show "Getting Together" was a spinoff from a Sherman appearance on the Partridge Family, which must have caused teenaged girls of the time to spontaneously combust.
Getting Together was canceled after one season, and Sherman's career peak was over.
Goodbye to Lou Christie at the age of 82.
Christie hit number one on the charts with 1965's "Lightning Strikes" and later added top fifteen hits "Rhapsody in the Rain" and "Gonna Make You Mine".
The Pittsburgh native was known for his falsetto voice, and his record label wanted to move him into acting as a Frankie Avalon-like beach movie star, but Christie didn't want that role.
My favorite Lou Christie moment is in the film "Waiting For Guffman" when someone trying out for community theatre decides to use "Lightning Strikes" as his tryout song and predictably botches it.
Goodbye to Michael Madson at the age of 67.
The veteran actor and brother of actress Virginia Madsen, Madsen appeared in over 300 productions in film or television, most often in tough guy roles.
My favorite Madsen role was as "New York Knights" outfielder Bartholmew "Bump" Bailey, a player on the take that dies smashing into an outfield wall attempting to catch a flyball in 1984's "The Natural"
No comments:
Post a Comment