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:
January 01
● Wayne Osmond / (Melvin Wayne Osmond) → Founding member, multi-instrumentalist and baritone vocalist in family-oriented light pop-rock sibling group The Osmonds, first with four brothers and later adding younger brother Donny and sister Marie, the group scored ten Top 40 hits in the 70s, including “One Bad Apple” (#1, 1971) and were staples on pop music variety shows into the 80s, then on the oldies circuit through the 10s, recovered from brain tumor surgery in 1997 but lost hearing, continued touring with his siblings until a 2012 stroke compromised his mobility, died from complications of a stroke on 1/1/2025, age 73.
January 03
● Brenton Wood / (Alfred Jesse Smith) → R&B/soul-pop vocalist with a trifecta of Top 40 hits in 1967, “Gimme Little Sign” (#9, 1967), “The Oogum Boogum Song” (#19, 1967) and “Baby You Got It” (#34, 1967), plus a Top 40 near-miss with “Some Got It, Some Don’t” (#42, 1968), released 17 further soul-pop singles from 1968 to 1978 with only two charting hits before largely dropping from the limelight to tour and occasionally release new music, paused a farewell tour – ,em>Catch You On The Rebound: The Last Tour – in May 2024 for health reasons and died at home on 1/3/2025, age 83.
January 07
● Peter Yarrow → Alongside Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, one-third of the seminal folk-pop trio Peter, Paul & Mary as tenor vocalist, guitarist and occasional songwriter (co-wrote “Puff (The Magic Dragon),” #2, 1963), the group had seven Top 20 albums and twelve Top 40 hits from 1961 to 1969, ending with a final single “Leaving On A Jet Plane” (#1, 1969), later co-wrote “Torn Between Two Lovers” (#1, 1978) for Mary MacGregor and produced three TV specials based on “Puff (The Magic Dragon),” championed progressive and social causes from the earliest days of the PPM trio and continued to do so well-after the group split in 1970, joined the other two for occasional reunions before Travers’ death in 2009 and with Stookey for a few years in the 10s, contracted bladder cancer around 2020 and died at home from the disease on 1/7/2025, age 86.
January 10
● Sam Moore / (Samuel David Hicks) → Tenor half of the highly successful and critically acclaimed (but fractious) R&B/soul duo Sam & Dave, the two charted 17 singles between 1966 and 1974, including “Hold On I’m Coming (#21, R&B #1, 1966) and “Soul Man” (#2, R&B #1, 1967), never spoke to Prater again after their second breakup in 1981, launched a solo career in the 80s and beat his drug addictions, recruited Joyce McRae as his wife and manager, became an advocate for artists’ rights and royalties, released a solo album Pretty Good Lovin’ in 2002 that was originally recorded in 1971, appeared with a number of other top acts over the decades and continued to record and perform solo and in one-off gigs with others until 2023, died shortly after an unspecified surgical procedure on 1/10/2025, age 89.
January 13
● Buck White / (H. S. White) → Plumber by day and musician by night, formed his own band in the 60s and became patriarch of country/bluegrass family band The Whites in the 70s, playing mandolin alongside his daughters Sharon (guitar) and Cheryl (bass) on a string of hit singles in the 80s, including “Hangin’ Around” (Country #9, 1982), the group performed for decades and won a Grammy award for the album Salt Of The Earth (2007), a collaboration with son-in law Ricky Skaggs, with whom The Whites performed regularly and who produced much of their 80s hit work, was the oldest living member of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry on his death after a long period of declining health on 1/13/2025, age 94.
January 16
● Toby Myers / (Jeffrey Glenn Myers) → Bass guitarist and member of Indianapolis-based funk rock Pure Funk and successor pomp-rock band Roadmaster from 1971 to 1982, thereafter joined John (Cougar) Mellencamp’s backing band and played on ten albums and dozens of singles through 1999, including Scarecrow (#2, 1985) and “Cherry Bomb” (#8, MSR #1, 1987), left to raise his son and operate an Indianapolis recording studio and rehearsal space until his death from cancer on 1/16/2025, age 75.
January 20
● Bob Kuban / (Robert Kuban) → Catholic secondary school music teacher and student band director with a side gig as drummer and frontman for St. Louis-based one hit wonder horn-rock octet The In-Men, the surprise hit “The Cheater” (#12, 1966) led to an appearance on American Bandstand and inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s permanent display on one hit wonders, continued to perform with various incarnations of the band as an opening act for major artists appearing in St. Louis and at private parties into the 10s, suffered a stroke and died a short time later on 1/20/2025, age 84.
January 21
● Garth Hudson / (Eric Garth Hudson) → Canadian master multi-instrumentalist with classical roots, became enamored with rock ‘n’ roll as a teen before joining Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks on keyboards, the group (minus Hawkins) became Bob Dylan’s backing band in 1966 and then seminal roots rock The Band (“Up On Cripple Creek,” #25, CAN #10, 1969), infused The Band’s simple folk-rock with layers of keyboards and other instruments, his Lowery organ in particular (best represented by the Bach-infused lead in to studio and live versions of 1968’s “Chest Fever”), after The Band dissolved in the late 80s, enjoyed 30 years as an in-demand contributor to Van Morrison, Emmylou HarrisThe Call and many others, issued his first solo album in 1980, a second in 2001, and an all-star tribute LP, Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration Of The Band in 2010, as well as collaborating with others in jazz, blues, rock and pop projects over the years, was the last surviving original member of The Band on his death in a nursing home on 1/21/1025, age 87.
● Elliot Ingber → Journeyman guitarist with a long list of gigs, starting with surf-rock The Gamblers (with future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston) in the early 60s, a brief stint with Frank Zappa’s The Mothers Of Invention, then co-founded psych-rock Fraternity of Man (“Don’t Bogart That Joint,” 1968), played with Canned Heat for one album in 1969, joined Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band in the 70s, after that worked at varying times over 30 years with ex-The Mothers Of Invention band The Grandmothers, Lowell George & The Factory, Little Feat, The Grandmothers and Fraternity reformations, and several stints with Frank Zappa in the 90s and 00s, issued a lone solo album The The The The in 2001, died from undisclosed causes on 1/21/2025, age 83.
January 22
● Barry Goldberg / (Barry Joseph Goldberg) → Blues-rock keyboardist, composer and record producer, in the 60s played with The Butterfield Blues Band, future rock star Steve Miller, his own Barry Goldberg Reunion and co-found blues-rock The Electric Flag, later produced or co-produced albums and tracks by Bob Dylan, Percy Sledge, James Cotton and others, did session work for Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, Flying Burrito Brothers, Ramones, Super Session (Mike Bloomfield, Stephen Stills and Al Kooper), among others, in the 90s and 00s issued several solo albums or with bands he fronted and wrote songs for others, collaborated with Stephen Stills and many others in various music projects and recordings, including documentaries featuring Chicago blues artists, issued a final solo CD in 2018 and died in a hospital from complication of lymphoma on 1/22/2025, age 83.
January 24
● Jane McGarriggle / (Laury Jane McGarrigle) → Author, songwriter, musician and older sister of Canadian folk duo Kate & Anna McGarrigle, played on many of the sister’s albums, backed them on tour, produced their album Love Over And Over (1982), and managed their business for most of their career, also wrote or co-wrote folk songs for others and film scores, co-authored a family memoir, Mountain City Girls (2015) with Anna, and served on the boards of two national Canadian songwriters organizations for many years, died from ovarian cancer on 1/242025, age 83.
January 26
● Gary Grier → R&B/soul-pop session singer and member of several vocal groups in the Detroit area until recruited in 1993 to a latter-year line-up of R&B soul legends The Contours (“Do You Love Me,” #3, R&B #1, 1962), performed with the group for the next 30 years until The Contours disbanded for good after a 2022 concert, died from undisclosed causes on 1/26/2025, age unknown.
January 30
● Marianne Faithfull / (Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull) → Sweet voiced British Invasion pop singer with four UK Top 10 hits in the mid-60s, including “As Tears Go By” (#22, 1964), former paramour of Mick Jagger and subject of several Rolling Stones‘ songs, co-wrote “Sister Morphine” with Jagger and Keith Richards and released it as a non-charting single in 1969, descended into drug addiction and homelessness in the 70s but reappeared in 1979 with a deeper, raspy voice and the New Wave-ish album Broken English (1979), another release in 1987, Strange Weather, shifted to cabaret-style blues, jazz and show tunes, and the following three-plus decades featured ten more critically-acclaimed albums, frequent stage and film appearances, and vocal contributions to other artists’ projects, suffered from ill health for most of her last 10 years and died from unspecified causes on 1/30/2025, age 78.
