THEY ALSO SERVED

DETROIT TECHNO artist and DJ KELLI HAND (below, b.1964) was inspired by the DJ-ing of Larry Levan in New York’s Paradise Garage and the house sounds of Chicago and her hometown. Adopting the name K-HAND, she began releasing tracks in 1990, later forming her own Acacia Records imprint. She also recorded for the Warp, Studio !K7 and Tresor labels. A pioneering female presence in a male-dominated milieu, in 2017 she was declared First Lady Of Detroit by council decree.

IRON BUTTERFLY DRUMMER RON BUSHY (b.1941) laid down the beat for the hard-psych San Diego rockers who broke through with 1968’s single In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – originally a 17-minute organ-heavy monster jam with a lengthy Bushy solo on the multi-million-selling LP of the same name. After a 1971 split, they reformed regularly, the line-up always featuring Bushy. He finally bowed out in 2015, making one last appearance in 2018.

SAX/FLUTE player DENNIS ‘DEE TEE’ THOMAS (b.1951) was a founder member of jazz-funk band Kool & The Gang. Formed in the mid-’60s and signing to New York label De-Lite in 1969, by ’74 they were in the US pop charts with three singles off 1973 LP Wild And Peaceful (Funky Stuff, Jungle Boogie and Hollywood Swinging, the first of nine US R&B Number 1s). In the mid-’70s, hiring singer James ‘JT’ Taylor led to more commercial highs with Top 10 hits Ladies Night, Too Hot and US Number 1 Celebration. On July 4, 2021 they played the ‘Opening of America’ Hollywood Bowl concert after Covid lockdowns. It was DT’s farewell performance.

ALABAMA COUNTRY VOICE RAZZY BAILEY (below, b.1939) played with Daily Bread and The Aquarians before recording the love-powered country-soul radio hit (and Northern soul choice) I Hate Hate in 1974. After his songs were picked up by Dicky Lee, Bailey started having solo hits, scoring five Number 1s on the country charts, the last of which was 1981’s She Left Love All Over Me. He also ran Razzy’s Hit House studio outside Nashville, and released a final LP, Damned Good Time, in 2009.

DRUMMER GARY ‘CHICKEN’ HIRSH (b.1940) played with Country Joe and the Fish from 1967 to 1969. A self-proclaimed beatnik who took pride in his expulsion from art school, Hirsh was credited with finessing the audienceparticipation ‘Fish Cheer’ (“gimme an F-U-C-K”) and was, reputedly, instrumental in popularising the rumour that banana peel was an effective marijuana substitute. Hirsh later sold art supplies, painted, and played jazz, reuniting with Country Joe McDonald when the mood took him.

VOICE COACH TONA DE BRETT (b.1931) tutored names including Adam Ant, Rick Parfitt, Lush, Annie Lennox, Bananarama, Rick Astley, Paul Young and, as remembered in a scene from the 1980 Sex Pistols film The Great Rock’N’Roll Swindle, Johnny Rotten.

JAZZ BASSIST and producer PETER IND (b.1928) was playing on the Queen Mary in 1949 when he met pianist Lennie Tristano, who introduced him to New York’s jazz scene. Uxbridge-born, Ind relocated in 1951, playing with Tristano, Lee Konitz, Paul Bley and others; he later moved into production, working with Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan and more, engineered for Verve and Atlantic, and recorded solo. After returning to Britain in 1966, he ran the Wave label and studio, opened Hoxton’s Bass Clef and Tenor Clef jazz clubs, and played into his nineties.

SINGER-SONGWRITER POWELL ST. JOHN (b.1940) played folk blues in Austin, Texas – in the Waller Creek Boys, his bandmate was one Janis Joplin – before forming his rock band The Conqueroo. Asked by electric jug player Tommy Hall, Powell wrote five songs, including Kingdom Of Heaven and Slide Machine, for psychedelic renegades

He

The 13th Floor Elevators. also played with Mother Earth, while his songs would be recorded by Joplin, Doug Sahm, Boz Scaggs and Roky Erickson among others. Later in life, “psych savant” Powell recorded with Elevators personnel.

PRODUCER

CHUCKY THOMPSON (b.1968) played percussion for Chuck

Brown before becoming one of the Bad Boy label’s Hitmen team. A multi-instrumentalist, he worked on albums by Notorious BIG, Mary J Blige and Faith Evans, adding classic spins to hip-hop and R&B. He also worked with TLC, New Edition and Nas, ran his own ChuckLife label, and was working on a film about Washington’s go-go scene when he died.

NASHVILLE-BORN session ace KENNY MALONE (b.1938) played on such well-known songs as Dolly Parton’s Jolene, Crystal Gayle’s Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue and Dobie Gray’s Drift Away. Yet the drummer, whose individual style utilised hands, brushes and other percussion elements as well as sticks, had a wider sessionography which included dates for

Johnny Cash, John Prine, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Wanda Jackson, Johnny Paycheck, Dan Auerbach, Kurt Vile and many more. Still working into his eighties, he also played jazz and Christian music.

ESSEX-BORN falsetto vocalist BOB FISH (left, b.1949) sang with Mickey Jupp before joining multi-voiced rock’n’roll/ R&B/doo wop revisitors Darts in 1976. He sang lead on Come Back My Love and It’s Raining, both Number 2 hits in 1978. Disillusioned, he left in 1980, released two solo 45s, moved into management and reinvented himself as an autoharp player. He reunited with Darts in 2006. Geoff Brown and Ian Harrison