June – July Roll Call – R I P

Hi there team. Time to have a look at who in the entertainment / arts world that have left us over the last two or three months.

Thankfully it’s not a long list but some important names are on here.

Here we go and in no particular order we’ll start with writer Cormac McCarthy.

The Pulitzer prize wining author penned such works as The Road and No Country For Old Men. The latter turned into a hit movie starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. The film won four Academy Awards, including best picture.

The Road was also turned into a hit movie.

His works were not everyone’s cup of tea. One report said McCarthy was both revered and criticized for his brutally violent, morally ambiguous, often bleak novels in which men were pitted against primal forces, books that read like a sock to the jaw numbed by a slug of whiskey.

Movie and TV actor Treat Williams died after being involved in a motorcycle accident.

Treat Williams movie credits include “The Eagle Has Landed,” “Prince of the City,” “Once Upon a Time in America,” “The Late Shift,” “127 Hours” and “Run Hide Fight.” His TV credits include some banger shows including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Chicago Fire,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Blue Bloods,” “White Collar” and “The Simpsons.”

One musician who was not a household name but played an important role backing many stars was Jim Gordon.

The multi instrumentalist (drums were his favourite) backed all sorts of artists in the studio and on the road from The Everly Brothers to The Beach Boys to Helen Reddy (he played drums on I Am Woman)  to Joe Cocker (The Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour) to Steely Dan to Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominoes.

Sadly Jim Gordon’s music career came to an abrupt end when he murdered his mum. Only after his arrest for the murder was Gordon properly diagnosed with schizophrenia. The alarm bells had been ringing long before this. Oh so sad.

Tina Turner. What do we say?  What a life story, talk about rags to riches back to complete stoney broke after escaping the clutches of that awful piece of work Ike Turner to being one of the biggest stars of rock n roll.

Tina passed away after suffering a long illness. She quit while she was at the top to live a peaceful reclusive life in her new home of Switzerland. She was, Simply The Best.

The last week or so we’ve seen some big names go. Tony Bennett passed recently at the ripe ol’ age of 96, just a couple of days before his 97th birthday.

Bennett started working life as a singing waiter (would anyone do that today?) way back in the day to become one of the finest exponents of The American Songbook.

One of the most important tributes came some years ago from the one and only Frank Sinatra.  “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business ”

Bennett knew hard times but came back to be top of his game with his Unplugged and Duets albums. Duets features collaborations with  Barbra Streisand, Sir Paul McCartney, John Legend and Carrie Underwood.  He went on to record the album Cheek To Cheek and Love For Sale with Lady Gaga.

Just recently we’ve lost one of the founding members of The Eagles, Randy Meisner.

The singer, songwriter from the mid west USA came through the ranks to eventually land with what became The Eagles. His role,  play bass and provide the high range harmonies.

Take It To The Limit was his signature song for the band.

However Meisner suffered ill health and faced some inner demons. In his latter days with the band he eventually had a gutsful and quit after the Hotel California tour.

The Eagles said on their official Facebook page Meisner died from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band. His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit,’” the band said in a post.

Also just recently we lost Sinead O’Connor aged 56. (Nothing Compares 2 U)

At time of writing it’s not known the cause of death but it’s been reported that Sinead struggled with mental health issues over the years particularly after the death of her teenage son last year.

Just recently we lost Paul Reubens, the actor who created the hugely popular character Pee-wee Herman. Have you seen Pee-wee’s Big Adventure or Big Top Pee-wee or more recently Pee-wee’s Big Holiday?

Ruebens died in hospital in Los Angeles after battling cancer for 6 years.

There is a bright side to all of this.  Sir Mick Jagger celebrated his 80th birthday recently with a celebrity wing-ding in London and there is talk that the Stones will soon record a new album with original bass player Bill Wyman.