THEY ALSO SERVED

DEEJAY TRINITY (below, b.Wade Brammer, 1954) took his name from the hero of two popular Italian comedy western movies. After working the Kingston soundsystems, he recorded singles from 1974, and broke through with his 1977 reggae hit Three Piece Suit. With its references to bedsprings and diamond rings, it paved the way for dancehall, though Althea & Donna’s similar-sounding Uptown Top Ranking was the bigger chart success. Trinity recorded regularly into the ’80s, released vocal material as Junior Brammer, and later appeared at revival shows. His brother was deejay Clint Eastwood.

GUITARIST and keyboardist DENNY FREEMAN

(b.1944) moved from Dallas to Austin, Texas in 1970. He was soon playing the blues with The Cobras. Another of that group’s guitarists was Stevie Ray Vaughan: over the ensuing years, Freeman would play with Vaughan and his brother Jimmy, as well as WC Clark, James Cotton, Albert Collins, Otis Rush and Junior Wells. In the ’90s he joined Taj Mahal’s Phantom Blues Band, and from 2005 to 2009, Bob Dylan, appearing on 2006’s Modern Times. He also collaborated with Percy Sledge, Blondie and Doyle Bramhall; his solo albums included Twang Bang and

A Tone For My Sins.

SAXOPHONIST and cor anglais player SONNY SIMMONS (b.1933) released 1963’s The Cry! and ’68’s Firebirds with flautist Prince Lasha. Spoken of as highly as Ornette Coleman, Simmons played with Eric Dolphy, Sonny Rollins, and on his 1966 ESP-Disk debut Staying On The Watch, trumpeter

Barbara Donald, whom he married. The 1970s brought divorce, depression and homelessness. He was rediscovered busking in the ’90s. His prolific second act included over 20 albums as bandleader and collaborations with Horace Tapscott, Anthony Braxton and the Cosmosamatics quartet.

PRODUCER and musician RODION ROSCA

(below, b.1953) founded the group Rodion G.A. in Cluj, Romania, in 1977. In revolutionary defiance of the communist dictatorship, he mixed tape experimentation, drum machines and ad hoc keyboards with rock. Unable to release records, the group played live and made radio and TV appearances but fell dormant in 1989. His first international LP release was 2013’s The Lost Tapes: Live dates and further archival collections followed. Last year he collaborated with Mark

Stewart and others in a fundraiser for French avant-garde broadcaster Radio Mulot.

KEYBOARDIST RALPH SCHUCKETT (b.1948) was described by Carole

King as “a very talented cat”. As well as the first three King albums, his early credits include The Monkees’ Porpoise Song and David

Blue’s 1966 Elektra debut. In 1973 he joined Todd

Rundgren for A Wizard, A True Star, Todd and Initiation, becoming a member of Rundgren’s Utopia until 1975. He later worked in production and A&R before turning to TV and film scores, including Pokémon.

ATTORNEY/“dope lawyer” BRIAN ROHAN (b.1936) defended numerous ’60s counterculture figures including Ken Kesey and the Grateful Dead, whom he got off drugs charges following a 1967 raid in San Francisco. As a music lawyer, Rohan negotiated the Dead’s 1966 contract with Warners, and represented acts from Janis Joplin to Motörhead. Herb Caen, columnist for the SF Chronicle, reported that Rohan punched David Geffen at a 1977 Grammy Awards party and was applauded by onlookers including Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt and Leonard Cohen.

COLUMBUS, Ohio guitarist BOB PETRIC (b.1964) formed Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments with former Great Plains singer Ron House in the late ’80s. Following a handful of singles, the band’s ’95 debut album, Bait And Switch was released on Rick Rubin’s Onion Records. They released two further albums for Rockathon Records, the label run by Robert Pollard from Dayton, Ohio neighbours Guided By Voices, with whom they also toured. Petric also played with Girly Machine.

PRODUCER ETHEL GABRIEL (below, b.1921) played trombone and started a dance band aged just 13. While studying music she began working for RCA Victor as a part-time record-packer in New Jersey. Self-motivated and capable, she later became the first major label female producer and, from 1959, made the budget Camden label a success with easy listening albums such as the Living Strings series and bargain covers sets, overseeing big-sellers for Roger Whittaker and Perry Como. After she retired from RCA in 1984, she was defrauded by the infamous ex-US Treasury Secretary Robert B. Anderson.

SONGWRITER, guitarist and producer QUINTON CLAUNCH (b.1921) formed Alabama opry alumni The Blue Seal Pals in 1943. Moving to Memphis, he played on sessions for Charlie Feathers, Carl Perkins and Wanda Jackson for his friend Sam Phillips’ Sun label. Claunch co-founded Hi Records in 1957, and in 1964 he co-founded soul label Goldwax, producing and composing for James Carr and Spencer Wiggins among others. His songs were covered by Wanda Jackson, Percy Sledge, The Beatles, and more.

WEST COAST singer-songwriter RUSTY YOUNG (b.1946) played pedal steel on Buffalo Springfield’s

Last Time Around in 1967. The same year he and Richie Furay formed Poco with George Grantham and Jim Messina, setting the template for the Eagles with sweet vocal harmonies, laidback sound and well-crafted songs such as Young’s Rose Of Cimarron and Number 1 hit Crazy Love. In 2017 Young released his solo debut, Waitin’ For The Sun, the same year as Poco’s 50th anniversary reunion.

WIGAN-born songwriter BARRY MASON (b.1935) spent time in Columbus, Ohio as a young man. Back in the UK from 1960, he wrote for Jimmy Page and The Merseybeats, and hit his stride from 1967, often in the company of co-writer Les Reed, penning hits including Tom Jones’ Delilah, Engelbert Humperdinck’s

The Last Waltz, Edison Lighthouse’s Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), plus others for Elvis, Charles Aznavour, Rod Stewart, and more. Mason also co-wrote Leeds United’s Marching On Together (Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!) in 1972.

Jenny Bulley and Ian Harrison