THEY ALSO SERVED

CONVOY KING C.W.

McCALL (below, b.Billie Dale Fries, 1928) was working at an Omaha advertising agency when, in 1973, he devised his truck-driving alter-ego for a series of award-winning bread adverts. As a recording artist, in 1976 he scored US Number 1 and global hit Convoy, a speed limit protest novelty which cashed in on the CB radio craze and inspired Sam Peckinpah’s 1978 movie of the same name. He was later elected mayor of Ouray, Colorado. ACCRINGTON-BORN SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE (b.1934) was a modernist composer who abjured indulgences like melodic accessibility, but his capacious oeuvre, embracing chamber, orchestral and choral works, was widely revered. He gained an international reputation with works like dense, electronically-punctuated 1986 opera The Mask Of Orpheus, which the rarely reticent composer himself described as “perhaps the most complex work of art ever made”. He later explored a quieter, if still austere melancholy. FRONTMAN and keyboard player DAVID ‘KUBIE’ KUBINEC (b.1948) played Hamburg with The Pieces

Of Mind before forming World Of Oz, whose whimsical 1968 single The Muffin Man was a hit in Europe. After his 1974 solo LP Day Of The Madman, Kubinec joined Mainhorse before fronting Andrew Loog Oldham affiliates The

Rats, whose 1974 45 Turtle Dove looked set for success. His 1978 solo LP Some Things Never Change was produced by John Cale, and featured Chris Spedding on guitar.

VOCALIST RE STYLES

(below, b.Shirley Macleod, 1950) sang with San Francisco’s transgressive glam rockers The Tubes from 1976’s Young And Rich album to 1979’s Remote Control. Also credited with on-stage choreography and costume design, the Dutch-born singer had previously modelled for Playboy and acted in Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain (1973) and Sun Ra’s Space Is The Place (1974). Post-Tubes, she appeared in 1980 film Xanadu and released 1983 solo single, The Nuclear Beauty Parlor. REGGAE LUMINARY NATTY WAILER

(b.Nathaniel Ian Wynter 1954) was a regular at Bob

Marley’s home and studio at 56 Hope Road, Kingston, in the early ’70s. For nine years until Marley’s death, Wynter rehearsed and toured with The Wailers as assistant chef and auxiliary keyboardist, and was a member of the late-’80s Wailers line-up. As part of Bunny Lee’s house band

The Aggrovators, Wynter appeared on LPs including 1975’s King Tubby Presents The Roots Of Dub. Later, he relocated to Wexford in Ireland and led the Reggae Vibes, who released Lifted (2000) and Destiny (2013). SINGER SUSAN JACKS

(b.1948) began singing with her husband Terry (of Seasons In The Sun fame) in 1968. As The Poppy Family they had Canadian hits including 1969’s Number 1 Which Way You Goin’ Billy, also a US Number 2 and UK Number 7. The group name was dropped in 1972 and her marriage ended the following year; she later recorded solo and raised awareness for organ donation initiatives. EARTH, WIND & FIRE sax player ANDREW WOOLFOLK (b.1950) played with the band from 1973-93, appearing on hits including September, Shining Star and Boogie Wonderland. He also

played with Level 42, Deniece Williams, Stanley Turrentine

and Phil Collins, and on albums by his bandmate and high school friend Philip Bailey. In 2000 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of EW&F.

LOS LOBOS founder member FRANCISCO

GONZÁLEZ (b.1953) started the East Los Angeles Chicano mainstays, recalled his bandmates, for the purpose of “playing Mexican music for our mothers.” He sang and played mandolin with the group from 1973-76, leaving before they released their first LP. He later played the Vera Cruz Mexican harp and helped found handmade strings partnership Guadalupe Custom Strings. DUBLIN-BORN SINGER CON

CLUSKEY (b.1935) sang lead with Irish vocal trio The

Bachelors, enjoying their first hit with

1962’s Charmaine, under the eye of Decca’s Dick Rowe. The first Irish group to have a UK Number 1, with 1964’s American-influenced Diane, the same year’s I Believe sold over a million. They also appeared on films and TV. Though third member John Stokes left acrimoniously in 1984, Con and his brother Dec continued on, releasing their 77th album Stripped Down Bachelors in 2017.

TEXAS BLUESMAN GUITAR

SHORTY (below, b.1934) cut his debut, Irma Lee b/w You Don’t Treat Me Right with Willie Dixon in 1957, aged 17. Thereafter, Ray Charles invited Shorty to join his touring band, which led to gigs with Sam Cooke and Shorty’s hero Guitar Slim, whose energetic stage presence he emulated, in turn inspiring the young Jimi Hendrix to set fire to his guitar. Shorty didn’t make an album until 1989, but 10 more followed, including late-career success with 2004’s Watch Your Back. SWELL frontman DAVID

FREEL (b.1958) formed his San Francisco indie/psych group in 1989. John Peel picks, they released albums on Rick Rubin’s Def American label and Beggars Banquet (1998’s For All The Beautiful People featured PJ Harvey foil Rob Ellis on drums). Freel later released music as Be My Weapon, Wendell Davis and Triple Dead Heat, and ran the Vinyl On Demand bespoke lathe-cut record business in Oregon. His Swell bandmate Monte Vallier wrote he disliked being on-stage: “He only wanted to write songs… to create atmosphere and convey moods.”

Jenny Bulley, Ian Harrison and David Sheppard