THEY ALSO SERVED
ELECTRONIC ARTIST MIRA CALIX (above, b.Chantal Passamonte, 1970) worked in the press department at Warp Records, and began her recording life with the label with 1996’s Ilanga EP: her electro-acoustic works included LPs, sound installations, theatre scores and internationally-presented public art. Her last album, absent origin, was released in November. “She pushed the boundaries between electronic music, classical music and art in a truly unique way,” said Warp.
FOLK SINGER-SONGWRITER PETE ST. JOHN (B.1932) spent time in North America before returning home to Dublin in the ’70s. He would reflect upon the changes the city had undergone in story and portrait songs tinged with nostalgia and loss: The Rare Ould Times became an Irish standard recorded by The Dubliners among many others, while the ballad The Fields Of Athenry has been adopted as an Irish football and rugby anthem.
BASSIST BERT RUITER (b.1946) joined Amsterdam’s yodelling prog rockers Focus in 1971, playing on 1973’s US Top 10 and UK Number 20 hit Hocus Pocus, and UK Number 4 hit Sylvia. He appeared on all Focus LPs from Focus 3 to Focus Con Proby; after the group’s split in 1978, he played with Dutch hitmakers Earth And Fire, worked as a producer and songwriter, and took part in Focus reunions.
VOCALIST AND PERCUSSIONIST DEREK HUSSEY (right, b.1957) – also known as ‘Derek The Draw’ – worked in film effects before assuming the role of Ian Dury’s minder. After Dury’s death in 2000, the ‘Bona Fide Geezer’ took over as vocalist for The Blockheads, playing live and appearing on the re-formed group’s albums including 2003’s Where’s The Party and 2017’s Beyond The Call Of Dury.
GEORGIA GUITARIST BARRY BAILEY (b.1948) was a founder player with the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Formed in 1970, they hit biggest with 1978’s US Top 10 Champagne Jam, and had six US Top 30 singles. They also played the White House lawn at the request of President Jimmy Carter. Suffering from MS, Bailey retired from the band in 2006.
COMPOSER PHILIP JECK (b.1952) was alerted to the possibilities of turntablism after attending NY’s clubs in the late ’70s, and began creating his own ghostly, looped “sound with record-players” in the early ’80s. Also a visual artist, he created soundtracks for the stage and art installations, and released 11 solo LPs, many on the Touch label. His collaborators included Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit, David Sylvian and Gavin Bryars.
BALTIMORE JAZZ PIANIST JESSICA WILLIAMS (b.1948) showed unusual musical talent from a young age and was said to have had a synaesthesiac’s ability to see music in colour. As a teenager, she collaborated with drummer Philly Joe Jones in New Jersey, before moving to the West Coast in 1976, where she played with Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and others. A virtuoso, prolific player who often utilised electronics, her releases Nothin’ But The Truth (1986) and Live At Yoshi’s Vol. 1 (2004) were both Grammy-nominated.
A&R MAN CALVIN MARK LEE (b.1937) met David Bowie in London in 1967 while working as head of promotions for Mercury Records. Instrumental in getting him signed, he also introduced Bowie to future wife Angie, wore a light-reflecting plastic bindi on his forehead (inspiring Ziggy’s frontal-lobe “astral sphere”), lent Major Tom his silver jacket and called Space Oddity “a real trip!” in his press release. Lee also held a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Berkeley in California.
GUITARIST MIKE CROSS (b.1965) co-founded Detroit rockers Sponge in 1992. Heavy but not abrasive, they were ripe for alt-rock radio play, and 1996 LP Wax Ecstatic yielded two US Top 20 hits before the band departed Columbia for 1999’s New Pop Sunday. Mike and his bassist brother Tim both left the group in 2001, but re-joined for a good-natured reunion at the 2018 Detroit Music Awards. In 2021, Cross’s most recent band, MC Roads, released an EP entitled No Nostalgia.
JOURNALIST GAVIN MARTIN (b.1961) was a fearless free spirit, even by the standards of the music press in the late 20th century. A teenage fanzine editor in his native Belfast, he joined NME in 1980, a singular, questing and vivid voice unswayed by fashion or consensus opinion. At NME, Uncut, and the Daily Mirror, he wrote passionately and incisively about a wide range of music. Courageously, too; his heroes – most notably Van Morrison – were never above his criticism, or unstinting moral rigour.
PIONEERING MC SKIBADEE (below, b.1975) was a fast-chatting British Jungle MC who started out on pirate radio and became a familiar voice at live drum & bass events. He collaborated with MC Det on the hip-hop/ Jungle 2 x Freestyle project, appeared on Dillinja’s Top 40 single Twist ’Em Out in 2003, and worked with D&B tag team SaSaSaS: his other collaborators included Bryan G, DJ Hype, Shy FX and T-Power. Goldie hailed him as “one of the greatest to ever do it.”