THEY ALSO SERVED

BLUES man JIMMY

JOHNSON (below, b.1928) was one of the last of the original generation of blues musicians that migrated to Chicago from the Mississippi cotton fields. A late starter at 28, he was mentored by Otis Rush, Freddie King and Jimmy Dawkins.

After two decades as a sideman to a who’s who of blues and soul, he finally stepped out in 1977 with his first LP. Still active at 93, he was doing weekly lockdown sessions on guitar and keyboards. His brother was blues and R&B singer

Syl Johnson. SONGWRITER BEVERLY

ROSS (b.1934) met her co-writer Julius Dixon at the Brill Building. They went on to pen Dim, Dim The Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere) for Bill Haley & His Comets in 1954, while their 1957 collaboration Lollipop would become a pop standard. She later co-wrote The Girl Of My Best Friend (for Elvis Presley) and Candy Man (for Roy Orbison), before meeting Phil Spector in 1960. When Spector reused a riff of theirs for Ben E. King’s 1961 hit Spanish Harlem, her sense of betrayal was such she quit her career, later writing her memoir I Was The First Woman Phil Spector Killed.

BIRMINGHAM-born pianist

MICK FOWLER (b.1948) joined psych-pop-blues band Grapefruit, formed under the auspices of the Apple label around songwriters John Perry and George Alexander (older sibling of George, Malcolm and Angus Young). Recruited after Grapefruit’s Beatles-assisted launch had stalled, he played on ’68 LP Around Grapefruit and 1969’s Deep Water, later joining the proggier Fynn McCool on keyboards and lead vocals. Fowler later recorded jingles in the Bahamas, won an Emmy for his sound mixing for the CSI TV show and played Hawaiian music with his family.

INDIAN FILM SINGER LATA

MANGESHKAR (b.1929), born Hema Mangeshkar in the central Indian state of Indore, was an international star of Indian cinema music, voicing many hundreds of films for which actors would lip-sync to her recorded vocal. With an impressive four-octave range, she was famed for her interpretive abilities, she recorded in many languages for composers including RD Burman and

AR Rahman, and was older sister of Asha

Bhosle, the equally beloved playback singer of Cornershop’s Brimful Of Asha renown. The song also namechecks Lata. VANCOUVER-born bassist

KERRY CHATER (b.1945) played in The Progressives with members of Iron Butterfly before joining the California-based band that would become Gary Puckett & The Union Gap in 1966. The group had five US Top 10s – 1968’s Young Girl was a UK Number 1 – and released four LPs before Chater left in 1970. He went on to write musicals and release two solo albums before finding success as a songwriter, his co-credits including US country Number 1s for Alabama, George Strait and Reba McEntire. GUITARIST and singer MIKE

RABON (b.1943) played in The Buckaroos, The Mutineers and then Oklahoma’s British-invasion-influenced rockers the Five Americans, who found success in the US and Canada: in 1965 I See The Light was a Top 30 hit in both countries, while 1967’s 45 Western Union went Top 5 (it also appeared in 2001 Tom Cruise movie Vanilla Sky). The group split in 1969 after recording four albums: Rabon went on to record solo

and with

Choctaw and Gladstone,

later working in education.

BASSIST GEORGE OBAN

(b. unknown) co-founded British reggae legends Aswad in 1975 and took his final bow on Horace Andy’s Midnight Rockers (see page 86). A staple of producer Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound label, Oban appears on recordings by New Age Steppers, Dub Syndicate and African Head Charge and more. After he departed Aswad in 1979, Oban recorded a self-titled LP with Motion. His other credits include Burning Spear, Janet Kay and The Red Crayola. DRUMMER WILLIE

LEACOX (below, left, b.1947) worked as a session drummer in California before joining the live and studio band of soft rockers America in 1973. He first appeared on 1974’s Holiday, the first of five of the band’s LPs produced by George Martin.

After the band’s hit-packed ’70s and successful early ’80s, Leacox stayed on until 2014. He also played with Silverado, Mickey Rooney

Jr. and Iain Matthews.

GALICIA-born MIGUEL

VICENS DANUS (b.1943) played bass with Madrid group Los Bravos, whose debut single Black Is Black was a Top 5 hit in the US and Britain in summer 1966. After the band split in 1971, Danus took part in several reunions, and, buoyed by Quentin Tarantino using the group’s 1968 45 Bring A Little Lovin’ in his 2019 movie Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood, released a series of new Los Bravos songs in 2020 and 2021. Gigs were planned for this month. ENTREPRENEUR JAMAL

EDWARDS (b.1990) founded music platform SB. TV in 2006, focusing on videos for grime talents including Dizzee Rascal and Wiley. The online channel later gave early coverage to such musicians as Ed

Sheeran and Emeli Sandé.

Also a rapper (as SmokeyBarz), last year he began DJing as Jamal Artman. Active in philanthropic works in west London, he was awarded an MBE in 2015.

LOUISIANA rock’n’roller KING LOUIE BANKSTON

(left, b.1973) played with meagrelyrecorded cults The Royal Pendletons from 1991 until 1999. His other vehicles included The Persuaders, Bad Times (with Jay Reatard and Eric Oblivian), The King Louis One-Man Band, The Missing Monuments, 10-4 Backdoor and

The Exploding Hearts.

Ian Harrison, Jenny Bulley and Gianluca Tramontana