THEY ALSO SERVED

DJ and Balearic beat pioneer

JOSÉ PADILLA (below, b.1955) made famous the chillout genre with a series of mix compilations named after the San Antonio bar where he was resident DJ, Café Del Mar. He’d moved to Ibiza in 1975 and would sell bootleg tapes of the crossgenre sets he designed to accompany the sunset views. The first official Café Del Mar compilation in 1994, which he curated, began one of the most successful series of comps ever. He also recorded solo and DJ’d internationally.

FOUNDER of LA’s Slash Records, BOB BIGGS

(b.1946) nurtured the city’s unique strand of punk, championing bands like X, Germs and The Blasters. Founded in 1978 as a spin-off of his neighbour’s failing punk fanzine, Slash’s first release was Lexicon Devil, a 7-inch by the Germs. In 1980, Los Angeles by X gave Biggs’s label its first nationwide success. In ’83, Violent Femmes’ self-titled debut became a million-seller. That year, a distribution deal with Warner Bros saw success beyond punk with Los Lobos. After selling Slash to London Records, Biggs stayed on to oversee huge success with Faith No More.

LIVERPOOL music mainstay HAMBI HARALAMBOUS (b.1951) played in post-punks Tontrix with future members of Adam & The Ants and A Flock Of Seagulls, and with Wayne Hussey signed to Virgin with Hambi & The Dance. His Pink Studio attracted local talents including Dead Or Alive, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Black; later, his Pink Museum hosted recording sessions by Oasis, The La’s, Arctic Monkeys and more. He also worked in film production, creating on-stage visuals for the reformed OMD.

SINGER DYAN BIRCH

(below, b.1949) worked in Brian Epstein’s NEMS outlet in Liverpool before forming Arrival, whose 1970 hit singles included Friends (Number 8) and I Will Survive (Number 16). The group later morphed into multi-vocalist white soul band Kokomo, who found acclaim on the mid-’70s London pub rock scene and were engaged by Bob Dylan to work on his troubled 1976 LP Desire. Unable to make a breakthrough Kokomo split in 1977. Birch’s session credits included

Marianne Faithfull,

Bryan Ferry,

Manfred Mann, Dana Gillespie, Alvin Lee, Tom Robinson and Ian Dury. From 2008 she would take part in Kokomo reunions.

FLAUTIST and saxophonist

JON GIBSON (b.1940) was an early practitioner of minimalism on pioneering works by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, La Monte Young, and Philip Glass, whose Ensemble he co-founded. Of Gibson’s mastery of circular breathing, Glass wrote, “the music wouldn’t have happened” without it. He also regularly played with Moondog, and later collaborated with Arthur Russell, Harold Budd, Merce Cunningham and others. He also made solo LPs and worked in visual art.

TENNESSEE drummer WS ‘FLUKE’ HOLLAND

(b.1935) was originally a bassist, but switched to percussion to play with Carl Perkins in 1954 (his nickname owed to his career’s serendipitous path). Playing on Perkins’ 1955 recording of Blue Suede Shoes, as well as for Roy Orbison, Billy Lee Riley and others, Holland was also present for the ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ session of Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley at Sun Studios in December 1956. In 1959 he first played in Cash’s band, and would remain there, on-stage and in the studio, until the Man In Black’s retirement from touring in 1997.

DRUMMER VIOLA SMITH

(below, b.1912) played in her family’s orchestra in Wisconsin before she and her reeds-playing sister Mildred formed the all-woman Coquettes band: in 1942 she wrote a piece in Down Beat arguing that female players were the equals of men. She later joined the Hour Of Charm Orchestra, gained the nickname “the female Gene Krupa”, performed with Ella Fitzgerald and played at Harry S Truman’s Presidential inauguration. Later projects included Viola And Her Seventeen Drums and The Kit Kats. Last year, Jazz Journal reported she still occasionally played in groups in Cosa Mesa, California.

OUTLAW country singer JERRY JEFF

WALKER (b.1942) was an itinerant busker until he formed folk rockers Circus Maximus in New York in 1967. After that group failed to ignite, he went solo, and cut his most famous composition, Mr Bojangles, in 1968: the song of a homeless alcoholic tap dancer would be turned into a hit by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and was later covered by Sammy Davis Jr, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan and many more.

Successful on the US country charts from ’75 to ’78, the then-Austin, Texas-resident Walker later founded his own Tried & True imprint to release his music. His last album was 2018’s It’s About Time.

DRUMMER and vocalist

DAVE MUNDEN (b.1943) was a founder member of Dagenham group Brian Poole And The Tremeloes, who famously saw off The Beatles at an audition for Decca in 1962. Hitting Number 1 with their cover of The Contours’ Do You Love Me in 1963 and, after Poole left, Silence Is Golden in 1967, the band remained Top 10 prospects until 1970. Munden stayed with the group, a ’70s hiatus apart, and would become its longest-serving member. He later reunited with former bandmates for live shows, but retired in 2018,

citing knee issues. EDINBURGH voice JACKIE DENNIS (b.1942) – AKA ‘The Kilted Choirboy’

– was discovered by comedy duo Mike and Bernie Winters in 1958. He hit Number 4 with his debut 45 La Dee Dah, following with a Top 30 cover of The Purple People Eater. He appeared on Perry Como’s TV show and in Las Vegas, and retired from music in the later ’70s.

Jenny Bulley and Clive Prior