The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #88525 Message #1661185
Posted By: Azizi
03-Feb-06 - 01:40 PM
Thread Name: happy? – Feb 3 (The day music died)
Subject: RE: happy? – Feb 3 (The day music died)
This might be of some use to you, Abby:
Reading this post, I remembered that the young R&B singer Aliyah also died in a plane crash, and that caused me to wonder what other singers/musicians had died in plane crashes. So I googled that and found this link:
singers/musicians air crash victims
-snip-
Among the singers/musicians listed are:
Aaliyah: Age 22
(born: Aaliyah Haughton, New York 16 January 1979; died Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas 25 August 2001
AIR CRASH VICTIMS
Aaliyah: Age 22
(born: Aaliyah Haughton, New York 16 January 1979; died Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas 25 August 2001) ,
Aaliyah was at the forefront of the Nineties' mainstream acceptance of R&B which now sees acts like Destiny's Child and 3LW go straight into the US and UK pop charts. A teen idol who scored her first transatlantic hit with "Back and Forth" in 1994 at the age of 15 and remained a chart presence for the next seven years, she went on to model for the fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and made her acting début last year opposite the Chinese martial arts legend Jet Li in the film Romeo Must Die... The rhythm 'n' blues singer was killed in a plane crash after a video shoot in the Bahamas. She was 22.
NASSAU, Bahamas (CNN) -- The small aircraft that crashed...on the island of Abaco, killing singer Aaliyah and eight others, was overloaded by hundreds of pounds, officials said Thursday. The extra weight -- and the way in which it was distributed -- most likely contributed to the plane's crash shortly after takeoff, said John Frank, executive director of the Cessna Pilots' Association...Immediately after the crash Saturday at Marsh Harbour airport, airport employees told CNN that baggage handlers and the pilot of the Cessna 402 had complained before takeoff that the aircraft was overloaded with luggage, but the passengers insisted on taking everything with them. Aaliyah (Limited Edition)
Books: Aaliyah: An R&B Princess in Words and Pictures by Kelly Kenyatta
Aaliyah: More Than a Woman by Christopher John Farley
Aaliyah by Tim Footman
The Bar-Kays':
Jimmy King(b.1949; guitar), Ronnie Caldwell (b. 1948; organ), Phalin Jones (b. 1949; saxophone),
and Carl Cunningham (b. 1949; drums). The Bar-Kays were employed as Otis Redding's backing group on tour, and the tragic plane crash in 1967, which took his life, also claimed King, Caldwell, Jones and Cunningham. James Alexander, who fortuitously missed the flight, put a new line-up together with Ben Cauley, the sole survivor of the accident.
Big Bopper: Age 29
(b. Jape Perry Richardson, 24 October 1930, Sabine Pass, Texas, USA, d.3 February 1959).
After working as a disc jockey in Beaumont, Richardson won a recording contract with Mercury, releasing two unsuccessful singles in 1957. The following year, under his radio monicker The Big Bopper, he recorded the ebullient Chantilly Lace, a rock 'n' roll classic, complete with blaring saxophone and an insistent guitar run. Backed with the satiric The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor, the disc was a transatlantic hit. The follow up, Big Bopper's Wedding underlined the singer's love of novelty and proved popular enough to win him a place on a tour with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. On 3 February 1959, a plane carrying the three stars crashed, leaving no survivors.
David Box: Age 22
(b. Harold David Box, Sulphur Springs on 11 August 1943; d. 23 October 1964)
After the death of Buddy Holly, the Crickets used various lead singers on their records. One was David Box who sang lead on the Crickets' recording of "Peggy Sue Got Married"...The song was among the last Cricket singles to be issued on Coral - and one of the very best released after Buddy died...David also worked with local band Buddy and the Kings. Buddy Groves vocal/guitar, Carl Banks bass and Bill Daniels presumably on drums. Daniels was a qualified pilot and the quartet hired a Cesna Skyhawk 172 to take them to a gig in Harris County on . The plane crashed nose first and overturned on the return flight. There were no survivers.
Stephen Canaday: Age 55
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Former Ozark Mountain Daredevils member Stephen Canaday was killed Saturday (Sept. 25, 1999)
when the vintage airplane in which he was riding crashed into a vacant house in Nashville. Witnesses to the crash attempted to perform CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Canaday, 55, but he died en route to a local hospital. Canaday's companion in the plane, computer/software programmer Rick Loudermilk, 52, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigating officials could not immediately determine the cause of the crash but said Canaday may have been shooting low-level aerial photographs from the North American SNJ-5, a single-engine training plane from the World War II era... Canaday, 55, joined the Ozark Mountain Daredevils in 1977. More recently, he had worked at a Nashville photographic-supply store and as a tour manager for country singer Lee Roy Parnell and Nashville folk-rocker Marshall Chapman. -- Brian Mansfield
Bill Chase: Age 39
(b. 1935; d. 9 August 1974, Jackson, MN)
In 1974, Chase chartered a plane to take him and three band members to a performance in Jackson, MN. The weather was bad with a low ceiling, and the airport in Jackson had little communications equipment. The plane went down, but was not found until the next day. There were no survivors. - Dick Cooper Chase's entire band lost their lives: (BILL CHASE, JOHN EMMA, WALLY YOHN and WALTER CLARK).
Patsy Cline: Age 30
(b. Virginia Patterson Hensley, 8 September 1932, Gore, near Winchester, Virginia, d. 5 March 1963).
Patsy's manager, Randy Hughes, was the son-in-law of Cowboy Copas. In 1963 Randy flew Patsy to Kansas City for a benefit for the widow of a country disc jockey who had died in a car crash. The return journey was hampered by storms and poor visibility. On 5 March 1963 Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Randy Hughes were killed when their plane crashed in swamped woodlands in Camden, Tennessee, 85 miles from Nashville. Identification was difficult as only Patsy's shoulders, the back of her head and right arm were in one recognizable piece. Another country star, Jack Anglin, of the duo Johnny And Jack, was killed on the way to her funeral. Patsy's single at the time of her death was, ironically, Leavin' On Your Mind.
Link to: Patsy Cline: Original Keys for Singers: Piano/Vocal: (Sheet Music)
Cowboy Copas: Age 49
(b. Lloyd Estel Copas, 15 July 1913, near Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, d. 5 March 1963).
Copas was raised on a small ranch and taught himself the fiddle and guitar before he was 10 years old. His son-in-law, Randy Hughes, also managed Patsy Cline and all three were killed, along with Hawkshaw Hawkins, in a plane crash on 5 March 1963. A few weeks later, Copas had a posthumous country hit with a record ironically entitled Goodbye Kisses.
Jim Croce: Age 30
(b. 10 January 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 20 September 1973).
Originally a university disc jockey, Croce played in various rock bands before moving to New York in 1967 where he performed in folk clubs. By 1969, he and his wife, Ingrid, were signed to Capitol Records for APPROACHING DAY. The album's failure led to Croce returning to Pennsylvania and taking on work as a truck driver and telephone engineer. Meanwhile, he continued with songwriting and, after sending demo tapes to former college friend and New York record producer, Tommy West, Croce secured a new deal with the ABC label. Croce's second album, YOU DON'T MESS AROUND WITH JIM, provided him with a US Top 10 hit in the title track and, along with Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) helped establish Croce as a songwriter of distinction. In July 1973, he topped the US charts with the narrative Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Exactly two months later, he died in a plane crash at Natchitoches, Louisiana. when the chartered Beechcraft D-18 snagged the top of a pecan tree during take-off. link to buy: Jim Croce Complete
John Denver: Age 53
(b. Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., 31 December 1943, Roswell, NM,
d.12 October 1997, CA).
One of America's most popular performers during the '70s, Denver's rise to fame began when he was 'discovered' in a Los Angeles night club. He initially joined the Back Porch Majority, a nursery group for the renowned New Christy Minstrels but, tiring of his role there, left for the Chad Mitchell Trio where he forged a reputation as a talented songwriter. One of his compositions, Leaving On A Jet Plane, provided an international hit for Peter, Paul And Mary, and this evocative song was the highlight of Denver's debut album, RHYMES AND REASONS. He continued to enjoy a high profile throughout the rest of the decade and forged a concurrent acting career with his role in the film comedy OH, GOD with George Burns. However, although Denver became an unofficial musical ambassador with tours to Russia and China, his recording became less prolific as increasingly he devoted time to charitable work and ecological interests. A San Francisco television station reported that Denver may have crashed while trying to switch from one fuel tank to another. Both tanks were empty, KRON reported. Denver was killed instantly in the crash of the Long-EZ experimental airplane he was piloting on October 12 , in Monterey Bay shortly after take off. Denver, an experienced pilot, had taken delivery of the Y-shaped, futuristic looking plane just a day before the crash. link to: John Denver Books
Jane Dornacker: Age 39
Tubes
(b. 10/1/47, d. 10/22/86, NYC, NY)
Jane sang with the Tubes (wrote and sang their quasi-hit "Don't Touch Me There"), and the performance-art group Leila and the Snakes (late '70s San Francisco - also featuring Pearl Harbor of Explosions fame)... well regarded standup comedienne, played Nurse Murch in the movie "The Right Stuff," mostly SF Bay Area centered but moved to New York City in the early '80s to do radio. She was killed in a helicopter crash over the Hudson River while doing a live traffic report. An audio clip of the broadcast is available at http://www.ohms.com/kyuu7.htm. ~Evan Hulka
Carlos Gardel: Age 44
(Born in France 11 December 1890; Died: 24 June 1935)
Buy Gardel music here Carlos Gardel arrived in Buenos Aires at the age of two. As a young man he became known in the clubs and cafés of the barrios (districts) in Buenos Aires, establishing a famous folk singing duo with José Razzano. But it was in the 1920s, when he began to specialize in tango singing, that he rose to extraordinary fame...[Gardel was one of 17 killed when two Ford Tri Motor airplanes collided in midair over Medellin, Columbia. ~John Kremer] An orgy of grief swept from New York to Puerto Rico, and a woman in Havana suicided. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body made the journey to its final resting place in a Buenos Aires cemetery, traveling via Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro. Instantly immortal and preserved forever young, his enduring fame is measured by the oft heard Argentine expression 'Gardel sings better every day'. Sixty years after his death, a devoted following keeps the legend blazing, playing Gardel's music daily, placing a lit cigarette in the hand of the life-sized statue which graces his tomb and keeping his few films in circulation. ~Lizandro Llancafilo
Bill Graham: Age 60
Promoter
Bill Graham was the P.T. Barnum of rock and roll, an unparalleled showman who forever revolutionized the symbiotic relationship between artists and audiences. A catalyst behind the rise of the San Francisco psychedelic scene of the late 1960s, he almost single- handedly pioneered the business of concert promotion, his fusion of theatricality and professionalism introducing new standards in sound, lighting and stage design. Famed for mixing acts of various musical and racial backgrounds on his bills, Graham nurtured the careers of superstars and cult favorites alike, his influence extending from small club dates to stadium tours and festivals; despite no musical talent of his own, he remains one of the truly seminal figures of the rock era...On the night of October 25, 1991, he and Bill Graham Presents staffers Steve Kahn and Melissa Gold were killed in a helicopter accident; a free concert dubbed "Laughter, Love and Music" soon followed in their honor, headlined by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Santana, Aaron Neville and comedian Robin Williams. At the time of his death, Graham was 60 years old. -- Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide. To buy Bill Graham Presents: My Life inside Rock and Out
Hawkshaw Hawkins: Age 41
(b. Harold Franklin Hawkins, 22 December 1921, Huntingdon, West VA, d. 5 March 1963).
In 1942, he performed on radio in Manila when stationed in the Phillippines. After his discharge, he signed with King Records and did well with Sunny Side Of The Mountain, which became his signature tune. In 1948 he became one of the first country artists to appear on network television. He had US country hits with Pan American, I Love You A Thousand Ways, I'm Just Waiting For You and Slow Poke In 1963 Hawkins released his best-known recording, Justin Tubb's song Lonesome 7-7203. The song entered the US country charts three days before Hawkins died on 5 March 1963 in a plane crash which also claimed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. Lonesome 7-7203 was his only number 1 record in the US country charts. His wife, country singer Jean Shepard, was pregnant at the time and their son was named Harold Franklin Hawkins II in his memory. Barnes and Noble on Hawkins
Buddy Holly: Age 22
(Charles Hardin Holley, 7 September 1936, Lubbock, Texas, d. 3 February 1959).
Holly was one of the first major rock 'n' roll groundbreakers, and one of its most influential artists. Holly was an initial inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. On the afternoon of 1 February his tour played in Green Bay, Wisconsin but an evening show was cancelled owing to bad weather. The 2 February date at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa went ahead. It was following this show that Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper chartered a small plane to take them to the next date in Moorhead, Minnesota, rather than travel on the tour bus, which had a defective heater and had previously broken down several times. Owing to the snowy weather the plane crashed minutes after takeoff, killing all three stars and the pilot. (The tour actually continued after their deaths, with Bobby Vee, Jimmy Clanton and Frankie Avalon filling in). Death certificate / C.A.B. Accident Investigation Report Front page of newspaper for sale / To read more link to:
Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography of Buddy Holly by John Goldrosen, John Beecher (Contributor)
Behind the Music: The Day the Music Died by Martin Huxley, Quinton Skinner --(Buddy Holly book)
The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens --by Larry Lehmer
Walter Hyatt: Age 46
Uncle Walt's Band
(B. 1950 , D. May 11, 1996)
Former Austinite Hyatt was one of the unfortunate souls aboard the Valujet flight that crashed into the Everglades. The 46 year-old singer-songwriter, who had been living in Nashville since the mid-'80s, was best known as the titular center of Uncle Walt's Band, the early '70s combo featuring Hyatt, Champ Hood and David Ball. Hyatt was an inspiration to, among others, Lyle Lovett, who returned the favor in 1989 by producing Hyatt's "King Tears" album for MCA. Hyatt's most recent album, "Music Town," is on Sugar Hill Records; proceeds from the sale of that record (as well as two Uncle Walt's Band reissues) will benefit Hyatt's wife and three daughters. Donations in his memory should be sent to the Second Presbyterian Church, c/o Hyatt Family Fund, 3511 Belmont Blvd., Nashville, TN 37215. ~By Jason Cohen
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ronnie Van Zant:
(d. 20 October 1977)
With their tally of gold discs increasing each year and a series of sell-out tours, the band suffered an irrevocable setback in late 1977. On 20 October, Van Zant, Steve Gaines, his sister and backup singer, Cassie and manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed in a plane crash en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (The twin-engine Convair 240 plane short of fuel crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS). Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkenson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. That same month, Lynyrd Skynyrd's new album STREET SURVIVORS was withdrawn as the sleeve featured a macabre design of the band surrounded by flames. To read more link to: Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Oral History
Dino Martin: Age 35
(Born: July 20, 1953 in Encino, CA ,Died: March 21, 1987 in Mount San Gorgonio, CA)
Entertainer Dean Martin's son Dino Martin, who as member of '60s pop group Dino, Desi and Billy had a hit called "I'm a Fool," killed in the crash [while flying] an Air National Guard [Phantom Fighter] jet in California's San Bernardino Mountains. ~Washington Post
Glenn Miller: Age 40
(Born: Mar 1, 1904 in Clarinda, IA, Died: Dec 15, 1944 in English Channel)
Jim Croce: Age 30
(b. 10 January 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 20 September 1973).
Otis Redding: Age 26
(September 1941, Dawson, Georgia, USA, d. 10 December 1967)
and
The Bar-Kays':
Jimmy King(b.1949; guitar), Ronnie Caldwell (b. 1948; organ), Phalin Jones (b. 1949; saxophone),
and Carl Cunningham (b. 1949; drums). The Bar-Kays were employed as Otis Redding's backing group on tour, and the tragic plane crash in 1967, which took his life, also claimed King, Caldwell, Jones and Cunningham. James Alexander, who fortuitously missed the flight, put a new line-up together with Ben Cauley, the sole survivor of the accident.