Here at The Second Disc, we're shocked and saddened by the passing of Eric Carmen at the age of 74. With The Raspberries and such indelible songs as "Go All the Way," "Let's Pretend," and "I Wanna Be with You," Carmen gave powerful voice to young love and lust; as a solo artist, he brought classical flourishes to the pop chart with "All by Myself" and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again." He went on to define the '80s as much as he had the '70s with such enduring hits as "Hungry Eyes" and "Make Me
In Memoriam: Steve Lawrence (1935-2024)
I can't remember when I first heard the voice of Steve Lawrence - or, for that matter, which voice of Steve Lawrence I first heard. Maybe it was as a child, spinning my mom's old Columbia 45 of "Go Away, Little Girl," the 1962 smash written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and sung by a smitten young man, his voice sweetly tender. Perhaps it was a few years later as I discovered the original cast recording of Golden Rainbow, a quintessentially brassy, swingin' '60s musical in which Steve (a few
In Memoriam: Chita Rivera (1933-2024)
You've got to learn how not to be/Where you are/The more you face reality, the more you scar/So close your eyes and you'll become a movie star/Why must you stay where you are? As Aurora, the dark vision of fantasy and title character of Terrence McNally, John Kander, and Fred Ebb's 1992 musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, Chita Rivera cast a powerful spell. Since her Broadway debut as an ensemble dancer in the 1950 production of Guys and Dolls - billed as Conchita del Rivero, shortened from
In Memoriam: Melanie Safka (1947-2024)
Melanie Safka, known the world over simply as Melanie, tapped into a deep well of emotion with the powerful anthem "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and skated into listeners' hearts with "Brand New Key." Though the singer-songwriter's U.S. hits dried up by the early 1980s, she continued to write and record in her disarming and often happily quirky style. A voice of the Vietnam generation, Melanie was content to transport audiences back to the Woodstock era while always authentically speaking
In Memoriam: Jimmy Buffett (1946-2023)
As the son of a son of a sailor/I went out on the sea for adventure/Expanding the view of the captain and crew/Like a man just released from indenture... As the self-described son of a son of a sailor, Jimmy Buffett took to the seas for adventures beyond his wildest dreams. He recorded his first album for Andy Williams' Barnaby label in 1970, but that album, Down to Earth, would sell a reported 324 copies in its initial outing. Buffett soon traded earth for water and embarked on a voyage
In Memoriam: Robbie Robertson (1943-2023)
Storyteller, songwriter, guitarist, musicologist, singer: throughout a career spanning the 1950s through the present day, Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson wore many hats. The Toronto-born musician joined his first band in 1956 and attracted the attention of Ronnie "The Hawk" Hawkins in 1959. Hawkins liked what he heard, and recorded two of the teenaged Robertson's songs in 1959. Before long, he was playing in Hawkins' band alongside fellow Canadians Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson,
In Memoriam: Tony Bennett (1926-2023)
The air was thick with anticipation at Radio City Music Hall. The date was August 3, 2021 and Tony Bennett was set to take the Great Stage with his friend and confidante Lady Gaga for the first of two farewell performances. It was his 95th birthday. A 6,000-strong crowd, mostly masked and uncomfortably shoulder-to-shoulder, jammed the theatre's lobby for a final chance to see one of the twentieth - and twenty-first - century's greatest voices live. The announced time on the ticket came and
In Memoriam: Tina Turner (1939-2023)
Today, the name of Tina Turner will be on everyone's lips. The magnetic dynamo with the powerfully raspy voice, instantly identifiable stage moves, and indomitable spirit has died at the age of 83. Yet, like most everything else in her extraordinary life and career, even her name was hard-won. Born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee, she began singing with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm in 1957. The volatile bandleader rechristened her Tina Turner, reportedly choosing the first name
In Memoriam: Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023)
We mourn the loss of troubadour Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023). Lightfoot's songs pierced the heart, springing from the folk tradition but with one foot in the pop realm as they pondered love, loneliness, nature, and history. His warm, burnished baritone was like that of an old friend, reassuring and wise. The Ontario native was a Canadian national treasure but his music belonged to the world; part of the secret to his success was his richly diverse musical background. By his teenaged years,
In Memoriam: Harry Belafonte (1927-2023)
Can a song truly make change? In an increasingly complex, divided and uncertain world, it's a fair question that has no easy answers. As a child, though, I can tell you I believe the answer was yes. After all, there was Harry Belafonte's "Turn the World Around." It's funny to think that a song from one of Belafonte's final studio albums - far removed from the unprecedented success of 1956's Calypso, the first LP claimed to sell a million copies - and one that didn't even get a considerable
In Memoriam: Seymour Stein (1942-2023)
Just Say Yes. None other than Bugs Bunny himself was featured on the cover of Sire Records' 1987 promotional release, the first in a series of collections spotlighting the label's wealth of musical riches. Long before Warner Bros. said "yes" to Sire, though, the company was a scrappy independent thanks to the vision of its co-founder, Seymour Stein. The music mogul who spearheaded the careers of Madonna, Ramones, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, and countless others died yesterday at the age of
In Memoriam: Burt Bacharach (1928-2023)
"I have a bridge to write." Summer 2021: I had gently clasped Burt Bacharach's hands as I thanked him - not for the first time, but for the last - for composing the melodies which had long enriched my heart. He politely accepted the compliment, his voice barely above a whisper, and quickly excused himself, disappearing into the California sunset. The reason for his exit was simple: there was more music to write. It was announced this morning that Burt passed away at the age of 94. At the
In Memoriam: David Crosby (1941-2023)
And it appears to be a long time, such a long, long, long, long time before the dawn... Few songs have captured the zeitgeist of the times as well as David Crosby's "Long Time Gone." First aired on Crosby, Stills, and Nash's eponymous debut, the ballad expressed the malaise, the anger, the disappointment, and the turbulence of the late 1960s with thunderous bass, furious guitar, and cascading harmonies. "Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness/You got to speak your mind, if you
In Memoriam: Jeff Beck (1944-2023)
Almost two months ago to the day, on November 12, 2022, Jeff Beck took the stage at Reno, Nevada's Grand Sierra Resort. Performing with his friend Johnny Depp, Beck ran through a setlist of fan favorites and covers. The guitar virtuoso made every song his own, with razor-sharp precision, an elegant tone, and a spellbinding touch. Little did anyone in attendance know that the concert would be Beck's last. After a short battle with bacterial meningitis, Jeff Beck has passed away at the age of
In Memoriam: Thom Bell (1943-2022)
Yesterday, Philadelphia soul architect Thom Bell passed away at the age of 79, leaving an extraordinary legacy of music for such artists as The Delfonics, The Stylistics, The Spinners, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Deniece Williams, and Elton John among his greatest and most enduring accomplishments. TSD's Joe Marchese got to know Thom in the last few years of his life, and shares his memories of, and an interview with, the legendary producer and songwriter. "Hello?" I picked up the
In Memoriam: Christine McVie (1943-2022)
Many words have already been typed to memorialize Christine McVie, the stalwart Fleetwood Mac singer/songwriter/keyboardist who died November 30 after a brief illness. But really, it was right there in the name all along: before that fateful marriage to John McVie, she was born Christine Perfect. How she'd live up to that name over time. McVie, a founding member of the British blues band Chicken Shack, joined her bass-playing husband in Fleetwood Mac in 1970, a year after they were wed.
In Memoriam: Jerry Lee Lewis (1935-2022)
To the uninitiated, the biography of Jerry Lee Lewis in 2022 read like a list of rock tropes so basic you can't believe they all happened to one man. Born to a poor Louisiana family that included a lot of famous Southerners (including cousins Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart), Jerry Lee's parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano and hoped he would honor the Lord in song. What they got instead was a firebrand, whose boogie-woogie sensibilities galvanized and scandalized the
In Memoriam: Anita Kerr (1927-2022)
Tennessee native Anita Kerr (born Anita Jean Grilli) was only in her early twenties when her eight-voice choir achieved a spot on WSM Radio, venerable home of the Grand Ole Opry. Her weekly broadcasts led to a call to join "Mr. Country Music," Red Foley, in the recording studio for "Our Lady of Fatima." Foley's tune became a No. 16 Pop hit in 1950, and from there, Anita Kerr's career took off to the stratosphere. The Second Disc has just learned of the
In Memoriam: Angela Lansbury (1925-2022)
Whether playing amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher, freewheeling Mame Dennis, nefarious Eleanor Iselin, witch-in-training Eglantine Price, or gentle teapot Mrs. Potts, Dame Angela Lansbury imbued every role of her career with fierce commitment, emotional authenticity, and high spirits. Five Tony Awards, three Drama Desks, an Olivier, six Golden Globes, a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, three Oscar nominations, and a whopping eighteen Emmy nominations barely scratch the surface of
In Memoriam: Brooks Arthur
Brooks Arthur was always the coolest guy in the room...but he was also the nicest. A gentle giant of the music business, the producer-engineer died yesterday - but not before cementing a legacy of some of the most enduring sounds in pop history. The Brooklyn native born Arnold Brodsky grew up alongside such friends as Neil Sedaka, Carole King, and Neil Diamond, all united in their dreams of making it big across the bridge in Manhattan. While in high school, he worked in the mailrooms of
In Memoriam: Loretta Lynn (1932-2022)
On her 2016 album Full Circle, Loretta Lynn openly pondered, "Who's gonna miss me when I'm gone?" Today, upon the pioneering singer-songwriter's death at the age of 90, that answer was abundantly clear. Tributes poured in from Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, and LeAnn Rimes, as well as from The Grand Ole Opry, The Country Music Association, and The Country Music Hall of Fame. Carole King, one of many artists outside of the country genre to
In Memoriam: Lamont Dozier (1941-2022)
We at The Second Disc are not musicians. Well - I don't want to speak for Joe, but outside of an enthusiastic karaoke night every now and again, I am not a musician. But I obviously think of what it takes to mix brain power and artistic expression so brilliantly in the creation of a song, as well as the struggles that every artist faces when trying to "make it." Earning a living is one thing, sure, but so is the magic of connecting with a friend or a stranger through a song of your own creation.
In Memoriam: Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022)
Olivia, we honestly love you. Sandy, the good girl of Rydell High. Kira, the Olympian muse who inspires the roller disco paradise, Xanadu. Livvy, the girl singer who dreams of the big time but must first take to the cosmos. Olivia Newton-John was all of these and more. The singer who sweetly asked "Have You Never Been Mellow" and implored us to get "Physical" in the 1980s' longest-charting Number One was a dedicated activist for environmental and animal rights, and a courageous advocate
In Memoriam: Monty Norman (1928-2022)
Every songwriter dreams of that one hit that catches on with audiences of every size and shape. If you're lucky, you might write a few that just never leave the popular consciousness. But even just one that's big enough can really make magic - and it's quite easy to argue they don't get much bigger than the one well-known theme by Monty Norman, the British composer who died Monday at the age of 94. When you hear it - slinky chords, bold brass hits and a razor-sharp guitar lick - it won't
In Memoriam: Frank Ursoleo of Iconoclassic Records
Frank Ursoleo, a longtime music industry professional who founded reissue label Iconoclassic Records, died unexpectedly last week (May 5). The recently reactivated label has posted a touching tribute to him, which you can read above. Jeremy Holiday, Iconoclassic's vice president of business development and artist services, was effusive - both in our recent interview and in other conversations - in his praise of Ursoleo as a friend, mentor and music lover guided by tastes, instinct and
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 7
- Next Page »