Bee Gee Robin Gibb died yesterday, aged 62, after a prolonged struggle with cancer. His twin brother, Maurice, died in 2003, with elder brother, Barry, now the only living member of the group. All 3 were born on the Isle Of Man, before their family moved to Manchester, and eventually emigrated to Brisbane, Australia in 1958.
One of the greatest bass guitarists in the history of black music, Memphis born Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, died in his sleep yesterday, following a gig the previous night with Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd at Tokyo’s Blue Note nightclub.
Before I headed off on tour I pulled out my recently acquired copy of Bob Dylan's autobiography 'Chronicles: Volume One' (2004), which I'd specifically earmarked for this trip. However, on my connecting flight from Manchester to London I realised that rather than packing it in my hand baggage, as intended, I must have put in my suitcase, so, with my luggage checked through to Hong Kong, when I arrived at Heathrow I went into WH Smith to see if I could find something else to read on the journey. I was really looking forward to the Dylan book, so, when I saw it on the shelf I decided to get another copy, and pass the spare one on somewhere along the way.
Los Angeles born Blues / Rhythm & Blues / Soul singer, Etta James, regarded as one of the great American vocalists, died yesterday, aged 73. Neither of her 2 most celebrated recordings, ‘At Last’ (1960) and ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ (1968) were British hits, and, although I was a big Soul music fan at an early age, devouring the singles my older brother and sister had bought, there was nothing by Etta James, so this wasn’t a name I became aware of until later down the line.
Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest sportsman of the 20th Century, and certainly one of its foremost historical figures, is 70 years old today. The much loved former heavyweight boxer was labeled a big mouth when he started out, and nicknamed the ‘Louisville Lip’. When he fought the fearsome champion, Sonny Liston, for the World heavyweight title in February 1964 the majority of people expected him to be well and truly shut up, but he upset all the odds and beat the man regarded as ‘invincible’ by many boxing critics. Ranting from the ring directly after the fight he came out with one of his best-remembered quotes:
The issue of racism is well and truly back in the news following recent events - the Stephen Lawrence trial, the murder of Anuj Bidve, an Indian student in Salford, the ‘My Tram Experience’ YouTube clip, the Suffolk ‘gollywog in the window’ case, the Diane Abbott ‘divide and rule’ tweet, and, of course, a whole series of football related incidents, which have blown-up to a level that few could have envisaged when I made my ‘Racism In English Football’ post just a few months ago, at the end of October
The acclaimed American photographer, Eve Arnold, died last week at the grand old age of 99. Best known for her photographs of Marilyn Monroe (taken over a 10 year period), especially those on the set of her final film, ‘The Misfits’ (1961), she had unrivalled access to the movie icon with her shots, often candid, capturing the human side of the Hollywood legend.
Very pleased to inform you that all 12 episodes of Random Influences are now available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, downloadable for free from iTunes...
Seminal British Disc-Jockey Sir Jimmy Savile died today, two days before his 85th birthday. Leeds born Savile claimed to be the first DJ to use two turntables, in the late 40’s. Although this remains disputed, there’s no doubt that Savile was a pioneer when it came to playing records in dance halls, most notably in his home city and across the Pennines in Manchester.
Without ever properly considering this question I’ve heard myself instinctively tell people, on more than one occasion, that mine is ‘Double Barrel’ by Dave & Ansil Collins, which claimed the top spot on the UK chart for 2 weeks in May 1971, when I was 11. Like everyone else, I assumed Dave & Ansil were brothers, but Dave was Dave Barker, who’d had previous success in Jamaica as a solo artist working with the great producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. For ‘Double Barrel’ he’d been brought into the studio by another producer, Winston Riley, and asked to add a talking voice to Ansil’s backing track (Ansil was really Ansell, also sometimes credited as Ansel – I’ll stick to the spelling on the single I owned). Dave was encouraged, as he told Lloyd Bradley in ‘Bass Culture’, to “t’ink big like some big giant man. Like Hercules or James Bond, Double-O-Seven, or somet’ing”. Taking up the challenge he toasted the unforgettable line “I am the magnificent, I'm backed by the shack of a soul boss most turnin' stormin' sound o'soul…”
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