Influencial "Beatle" Related Artists Who Passed Away The Same Year John Lennon Did
Influencial "Beatle" Related Artists Who Passed Away the Same Year John Lennon Did.
The 28th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination is approaching. As we did with George Harrison, your humble correspondent thought it would be interesting to see who else passed away in the same calender year as Lennon. You might be surprised.
1) Larry Williams: D: 1-7-1980 COD: Gunshot wounds. B: 5-10-35, LA, California. Larry was a singer, songwriter and rock & roller. The Beatles, especially Lennon, loved his material. So much so, the band performed three of his songs for years in the clubs of Hamburg and Liverpool; "Slow Down," "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy." The Beatles finally recorded both of these latter songs on 5/10/65. As this blog has mentioned a number of times before, "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" was the last cover song ever recorded by the Beatles.
2) Montovani: D: 3-29-80 COD? B: 11-15-05 Venice, Italy. Known for his lush orchestral arrangements of many artists, Montovani hit it big releasing entire albums of orchestral Beatles hits for middle class parents and their parents. When considering strings for "Yesterday," Paul McCartney was worried the arrangement might sound to Montovani-ish.
3) Bert Kaempfert: D: 6-21-80 COD: Lung Cancer B: 10-16-23 Hamburg, Germany. Kaempfert occupies a crucial spot in Beatles history and folklore. He was a well known producer, musician and arranger in Germany during and after the time the Beatles were in Hamburg. He had a couple of international hits such as "Wonderland at Night" and "Strangers in the Night." Word got out about the raucous Fabs and Kaempfert actually came to see them. He soon thereafter offered to record the band. The song they did was "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan. One thing led to another and Brian Epstein found the band through that single and rest is history. How odd that Bert would die just a few months before Lennon.
4) John Bonham: D: 9-25-80 COD: Asphyxiated on vomit after an all night drinking binge. B: 5-31-48 Bromwich, England. Bonham was the legendary drummer for Led Zeppelin, one of the great bands of all time. Most polls taken then and now still rank Bonham as the greatest drummer in history. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin knew each other well and occasionally socialized. Led Zeppelin was the band that replaced the Beatles as England's "Most Popular Band" in a poll taken after the Beatles quit. In 1978, Paul McCartney organized the (eventual) Grammy winning "Rockestra Theme" extravaganza and among the musicians playing in the all star band was Bonham and fellow Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones.
Kaempfert was a life long smoker much like George Harrison. His cancer death was very similar to what would befall Harrison years later. Kaempfert was 56 at the time of his death, George was 58. These of course are what we would call "natural" deaths as opposed to Lennon's assassination. Either way, they were all terrible losses.
By John Haberstroh (Bassist for BeatleTracks) Find us at www.beatletracksband.com
The 28th anniversary of John Lennon's assassination is approaching. As we did with George Harrison, your humble correspondent thought it would be interesting to see who else passed away in the same calender year as Lennon. You might be surprised.
1) Larry Williams: D: 1-7-1980 COD: Gunshot wounds. B: 5-10-35, LA, California. Larry was a singer, songwriter and rock & roller. The Beatles, especially Lennon, loved his material. So much so, the band performed three of his songs for years in the clubs of Hamburg and Liverpool; "Slow Down," "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy." The Beatles finally recorded both of these latter songs on 5/10/65. As this blog has mentioned a number of times before, "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" was the last cover song ever recorded by the Beatles.
2) Montovani: D: 3-29-80 COD? B: 11-15-05 Venice, Italy. Known for his lush orchestral arrangements of many artists, Montovani hit it big releasing entire albums of orchestral Beatles hits for middle class parents and their parents. When considering strings for "Yesterday," Paul McCartney was worried the arrangement might sound to Montovani-ish.
3) Bert Kaempfert: D: 6-21-80 COD: Lung Cancer B: 10-16-23 Hamburg, Germany. Kaempfert occupies a crucial spot in Beatles history and folklore. He was a well known producer, musician and arranger in Germany during and after the time the Beatles were in Hamburg. He had a couple of international hits such as "Wonderland at Night" and "Strangers in the Night." Word got out about the raucous Fabs and Kaempfert actually came to see them. He soon thereafter offered to record the band. The song they did was "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan. One thing led to another and Brian Epstein found the band through that single and rest is history. How odd that Bert would die just a few months before Lennon.
4) John Bonham: D: 9-25-80 COD: Asphyxiated on vomit after an all night drinking binge. B: 5-31-48 Bromwich, England. Bonham was the legendary drummer for Led Zeppelin, one of the great bands of all time. Most polls taken then and now still rank Bonham as the greatest drummer in history. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin knew each other well and occasionally socialized. Led Zeppelin was the band that replaced the Beatles as England's "Most Popular Band" in a poll taken after the Beatles quit. In 1978, Paul McCartney organized the (eventual) Grammy winning "Rockestra Theme" extravaganza and among the musicians playing in the all star band was Bonham and fellow Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones.
Kaempfert was a life long smoker much like George Harrison. His cancer death was very similar to what would befall Harrison years later. Kaempfert was 56 at the time of his death, George was 58. These of course are what we would call "natural" deaths as opposed to Lennon's assassination. Either way, they were all terrible losses.
By John Haberstroh (Bassist for BeatleTracks) Find us at www.beatletracksband.com
John, check your math, 28 years ago...
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