THEY ALSO SERVED
DRUMMER FLOYD
SNEED (below, b.1942) played with Tommy Chong’s band Little Daddy & The Batchelors in Vancouver before moving to LA where he joined Three Dog Night in 1968. After seven US Top 20 LPs and 11 Top 10 singles, three of them chart-toppers, he left in 1974 to form the band S.S. Fools. He later played with Ohio Players, Chuck Negron and, in the ’80s, a re-formed Three Dog Night. JOURNALIST JANE SUCK (b.unknown, Jane Jackman) was an urgent, speedy, confessional and accusing punk voice at Sounds in 1977 and 1978, during which time she was part of the abortive punk band The Moors Murderers (she was also reputed to have thrown a typewriter through a window in the weekly’s office). She later changed her pen name to Jane Solanas and wrote for NME in the ’80s. GUITARIST and songwriter JEFF BLACKBURN
(b.1946) formed short-lived supergroup The Ducks with his friend Neil Young and Moby Grape’s Bob Mosley, playing club gigs in Santa Cruz in 1977. Blackburn also co-wrote Young’s My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue). DETROIT ROCKABILLY JOHNNY POWERS (b.John Pavlik, 1938) chose his nom de guerre from a PowerHouse chocolate bar. Originally a country singer, his output included ’57 rock’n’roll pick Long Blond Hair and his 1959 single With Your Love, With Your Kiss/ Be Mine, All Mine released on Sun. He later worked with Motown artists and had interests in publishing, studios and production. He continued to perform, releasing a collaboration with George Clinton in 1995. ZIMBABWEAN mbira dzavadzimu player STELLA
CHIWESHE (below, b.1946) grew up listening to American country singers like Jim Reeves in what was then white-ruled Rhodesia. In 1966 she persuaded a great-uncle to teach her the thumb piano used to summon the spirits of ancestors in traditional Shona ceremonies, a role not only exclusively male at the time but outlawed by the white authorities. After Zimbabwean independence in 1980, Chiweshe, already famous at home, found an international audience for her hypnotic story-songs, accompanying her percussive playing in a low, expressive voice.
SONGWRITER CARL
D’ERRICO (b.1938) co-wrote ’60s hits including No Excess Baggage for The Yardbirds and It’s My Life for The Animals, later covered in epic style by Bruce Springsteen. Born in Philadelphia, he punted songs at the Brill Building before landing a job at Columbia-owned publisher, April-Blackwood, where he shared a basement and wrote with Neil Diamond. His screen credits include the soundtrack to Ken Burns’ documentary The Vietnam War. DIRECTOR BRUCE
GOWERS (b.1940) was famed for his dramatically lit film for Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, quickly put together so that the band could avoid miming on Top Of The Pops. Later video credits included Prince, Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones. Having relocated to America, Gowers’ high-profile work included directing Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin at Bill Clinton’s inauguration ceremony, and the hugely successful series American Idol. GUITARIST, songwriter and journalist RICK SANDERS (b.1947) was the founder and lead guitarist of the spoken-word folk group The Occasional
Word, whose 1969 debut The Year Of The Great Leap Sideways was released on John Peel’s Dandelion Records. He also played on albums by Bridget St John and Mike Hart’s Mike Hart Bleeds, and was a music journalist, penning the first biography of Pink Floyd in 1976. He also played solo and with The Scaffold. KEYBOARD player DEAN
DAUGHTRY (below, b.1946) was a founding member of Southern rock band Atlanta Rhythm Section and co-writer of their two biggest hits, 1977’s So In To You and Imaginary Lover in 1978, the year they were invited by President Jimmy Carter to play his son Chip’s 28th birthday at the White House. Prior to ARS, Daughtry played with The Candymen, who frequently backed Roy Orbison, and Florida act Classics IV, who had Top 10 hits with Stormy and Traces in the late ’60s. “For 49 years he never missed a gig,” wrote the ARS in a statement. R&B singer GORDY
HARMON (b.1944) was a founding member of The Whispers in 1963 in the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts. The group moved to the Bay Area in 1966 at the invitation of Sly
Stone. Harmon left The Whispers in 1973 following an injury to his larynx. During his time with the group, they released three albums but would find wider success without him with 1979 hit And The Beat Goes On and 1987’s Rock Steady. PRODUCER GARY SMITH
(b.1958) played in the band Lifeboat before cofounding Boston studio Fort Apache. His late-’80s/early’90s credits included Pixies’
Come On Pilgrim, Throwing
Muses’ House Tornado, The Chills’ Submarine Bells and
Juliana Hatfield’s Hey Babe,
plus LPs by The Feelies, Pylon, Billy Bragg and Blake Babies. His managerial charges included Natalie Merchant and Tanya Donelly.
BLIND PIANO TUNER MARSHALL
TUCKER (b.1924) gave Southern
rockers The Marshall Tucker Band
their moniker when they found his name inscribed on a key in a rehearsal room in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1972. In time the band would thank him in person. “He was a very nice guy who had our best interests at heart,” singer Doug Gray told the Spartanburg Herald Courier. Jenny Bulley, Chris Catchpole and Ian Harrison