We note with sadness the following contributors to rock and pop music of the 50s through the 80s – the BEST music ever made! – who passed on last month:
October 04
● Ike Turner, Jr. → Son of Ike Turner Sr. and adopted son of Tina Turner, spent his childhood with housekeepers while the two parents were on tour, later became his mother’s occasional sound engineer, managed his father’s Bolic Sound Studios and produced his Grammy-winning final album Risin’ With The Blues (2006), was estranged from his mother and in prison on drug charges when she died in 2023, suffered from serious health issues in later years and died from kidney failure on 10/4/2025, age 67.
October 07
● Ian Freebairn-Smith → Former 50s folk-pop group singer turned session backing vocalist on TV theme songs in the 60s, including Batman, MASH, and Gilligan’s Island, arranged Barbra Streisand’s “Evergreen” (#1, AC #1, 1976), the theme song to the hit film A Star Is Born (1976), as well as scores for TV shows Cagney & Lacey and Magnum P.I. in the 80s, plus arrangements on albums by Liza Minelli, Harry Nilsson, Jeff Beck and others, died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on 10/7/2025, age 93.
● Speedy Sparks / (Miller Vidor Spark< Jr.) → Texas-based rock, blues, and Tex-Mex music bassist in several Austin bands in the 70s, then joined Grammy-winning Tejano rock Texas Tornados in the late 80s and played with bandleader Doug Sahm on his solo albums through the 90s, fronted his own band and continued to perform into the 10s, was named to the Texas Music Legend Hall of Fame in 2020 and died from undisclosed causes on 10/7/2025, age 79.
October 08
● Maury Baker / (Maury A. Baker) → Percussionist and keyboardist from a family with a deep Vaudeville music background, joined early prog rock Ars Nova for one album in the late 60s before appearing with Janis Joplin’s backing band at Woodstock 1969 and on two albums before her death in 1970, turned to session work in the 70s and recorded with Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Van Morrison and dozens of other top artists over several decades, wrote the liner notes to Frank Zappa’s CD Little Dots in 2016, died in his sleep on 10/8/2025, age 82.
● Terry “Buzzy” Johnson / (Isaiah Samuel Johnson, Jr.) → Baltimore native guitarist, songwriter and baritone vocalist in a local singing group before joining R&B/doo wop legends The Flamingos at age 18 and arranging the vocals and music for most of the group’s early hits, including “I Only Have Eyes For You” (#11, R&B #3, 1959), recruited to Motown Records in 1964 as an arranger and worked with the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Supremes, among others, returned to touring in the 80s as frontman for Terry Johnson’s Flamingos and continued until 2024, along the way entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 2001, issued two indie singles in 2017 and died in Las Vegas from unspecified causes on 10/8/2025, age 86.
October 10
● Joe Dera / (Joseph Dera) → Dutch immigrant whose early 70s interview of rocker Robert Palmer for his New Jersey community college newspaper landed a job as press agent for Palmer, which led to a long and fruitful career as publicist, public relations manager and close advisor to a long list of top rock and pop artists, most notably Paul McCartney (for 20 years), David Bowie, Pink Floyd, as well as the BBC, Hard Rock Café, Live Aid and Woodstock ’99, retired to an historic home in Mississippi in 2016 and died there from unspecified causes on 10/10/2025, age 74.
● John Lodge / (John Charles Lodge) → Bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist and songwriter for Brit prog rock then pop-rock The Moody Blues, wrote “Ride My See-Saw” (#61, UK #42, 1968) and co-wrote “Gemini Dream” (#12, CAN #1, 1981), among others, issued two solo studios albums in the 70s and one each in 2015 and 2023, continued to perform with The Moody Blues through 2019, along the way producing music for others and f
● Tommy Price / (Thomas Price) → Rock drummer with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts for over 28 years from 1986, otherwise led a journeyman career with stints drumming for Billy Idol, Blue Öyster Cult, Scandal, and others, plus session work for several dozen artists, including The Psychedelic Furs and Mink DeVille, co-founded a short lived rock band, Price/Sulton in 1987 with longtime friend Kasim Sulton and fronted his own band, releasing albums in 2002 and 2007, died from unspecified causes on 10/10/2025, age 68.
October 13
● Donnie Weaver / (Donnie Sylvester Weaver) → Lead vocals and keyboards for one hit wonder, blue-eyed soul The O’Kaysions and the big crossover hit “Girl Watcher” (#5, R&B #6, 1968), joined the group at age 12 in 1959, earned a college degree in the late 60s, taught high school math and later became a successful computer programmer, all the while writing songs and appearing with his bandmates in various reunions and oldies circuit performances, died from undisclosed causes on 10/13/2025, age 79.
October 14
● Dick Addrisi / (Richard Addrisi) → With his older brother, Donhalf the less-than-successful pop vocal duo The Addrisi Brothers with “Cherrystone” (#62, 1959) and several minor hits in the 60s and 70s, the pair later found great success as a songwriting team, penning dozens of hit songs, including the pop standard “Never My Love”, a hit for The Association (#2. 1967) and many others, including the brothers themselves with an AC #20 version in 1977, the song is recognized as the 2nd most-played song of all time on US radio and TV, largely retired after his brother’s death in 1984 and spent his remaining years out of the limelight, died from unspecified causes on 10/14/2025, age 84.
October 16
● Klaus Doldinger / (Klaus Erich Dieter Doldinger) → Multiple award-winning German jazz-rock fusion saxophonist, composer and bandleader best known as the founder and frontman for five-decade fusion ensemble Passport, and for composing the soundtracks to Das Boot (1981) and The NeverEnding Story (1984), and the long-running German TV series Tatort (1970), started playing in the mid-50s with others in jazz bands and with his own groups in the 60s, introduced the world to German jazz with the internationally acclaimed album Jazz Made In Germany (1963) and a follow-up album, Doldinger Live At The Blue Note Berlin (1963) and two other solo albums before starting Passport, which released 31 albums over the decades, the latest in 2020, continued to create music from his home studio outside Munich until his death after a short, unspecified illness on 10/16/2025, age 89.
● Bob Franke → Folk singer and songwriter with over 200 published songs and ten studio albums in a fifty-plus year career, performed in coffee houses, concert halls and large venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, taught songwriting workshops in the 90s, received praise and admiration from those who covered his songs (including Peter, Paul & Mary) but never achieved the commercial success of some of his contemporaries, relocated to Guatemala in mid-2025 and was hit by a speeding motorcycle while crossing the street outside his new home, died from a heart attack just days into recovery on 10/16/20256, age 78.
● Ace Frehley / (Paul Daniel Frehley) → Influential hard rock guitarist and vocalist, first as co-founder of campy hard/glam-rock Kiss (“Detroit Rock City,” #7, 1976) from 1973 through 1982 – with a solo album and hit song “New York Groove” (#13) in 1979 – then as frontman for hard rock Frehley’s Comet and two studio albums from 1984 to 1988, and as a solo act from 1989 until rejoining Kiss in 1996, toured and recorded with the band until 2002, resumed solo touring and issuing solo albums in 2009, with a final release, 10,000 Volts in 2024, fell in his home studio in September 2025 and spent three weeks on a ventilator with brain bleeding before dying on 10/16/2025, age 74.
● Jack White / (Horst Nussbaum) → German professional “fussball” (football, or soccer) player turned moderately successful pop music singer in the late 60s and early 70s, and later an award-winning, highly respected producer of “schlager music” (Europop) with over 2,500 song credits, either as writer or producer or both, none more successful than his self-penned “Looking For Freedom” which became a huge international hit for David Hasselhoff after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, retired from the music business in 2014, married his fourth wife in 2015, fathered their son in 2019 (at age 78) and their daughter in 2023 (at age 83), died by suicide in his Berlin home 10/16/2025, age 85.
October 19
● Anthony Jackson / (Anthony Claiborne Jackson) → Jazz and pop electric bass virtuoso guitarist credited with developing the 6-string bass guitar now in use worldwide, in addition to session work for Billy Paul (“Me And Mrs. Jones,” #1, R&B #1, 1972) at age 20, The O’Jays (“For The Love Of Money,” #9, R&B #3, 1974) at age 21, and dozens of other singles over several decades, plus appearances on over 400 albums by R&B, soul, jazz and pop artists until declining health forced retirement in the late 10s, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease and recent strokes on 10/19/2025, age 73.
October 22
● Dave Ball / (David James Ball) → Multi-instrumentalist electronic musician and producer best known as half of the New Wave synth-pop duo Soft Cell, the group charted six Top 10 hits in the UK and one big hit in the US, “Tainted Love” (#8, UK #1, 1982), played with musical partner Marc Almond from 1978 to 1984, then off and on for the ensuing forty years, during breaks forming electro-dance The Grid (“Swamp Thing,” UK #3, 1994) and other short-lived groups, producing music for others and participating in several collaborations, completed a final Soft Cell album, Danceteria, in mid-2025, suffered from various ailments in later years and died in his sleep on 10/22/2025, age 66.
October 24
● Marcie Michelle Free / (Mark Edward Free) → As Mark Free, rock vocalist and lead singer for Carmine Appice’s heavy metal King Kobra for two albums in the mid-80s, then in newly formed hard rock Signal in the late-80s for one album, co-founded hard rock Unruly Child in 1990, came out as a trans woman and, as Marcie Free, spent the next 30 years in various incarnations of the band, as a solo artist, as a backing vocalists on albums by folk-rock David Crosby, Latino-pop Julio Iglesias, and girl group Venus & Mars, and for periods outside music, died from natural causes on 10/24/2025, age 71.
October 29
● Pierre Robert / (William Pierre Robert) → San Francisco rock radio DJ in the late 70, decamped to Philadelphia when his station changed to country music format and became a 40-year fixture in the Philly market at WMMR, one of the oldest and longest “progressive rock” stations in the US, programmed weekday live shows with special music features, interviews with rock stars and local artists, and blocks of listener requests, all of which held his audience through profound changes in radio broadcasting through the decades, signed a contract extension with WMMR in early 2024 but was found dead in his home from undisclosed causes on 10/29/2025, age 70.
