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:
March 01
● Joey Molland / (Joseph Charles Molland II) → Guitar, vocals and songwriter for Brit power pop Badfinger (“Come And Get It,” #7, 1970) from 1969 through 1974 and in various incarnations of the band for the next four decades, in the early 70s moonlighted as a session musician with members of The Beatles on their solo projects, enjoyed a moderately successful solo career with several singles and six albums, the last LP, Be True To Yourself in 2021, was the sole surviving member of the classic 70s lineup of Badfinger on his death from complications of diabetes on 3/1/2025, age 77.
● Angie Stone / (Angela Laverne Brown) → Pioneer hip hop star in the 70s turned R&B/smooth soul singer in the 90s, co-founded The Sequence (“Funk You Up,” R&B #15, 1979), the first all-female rap group, in 1978, then joined urban soul-pop Vertical Hold (“Seems You’re Much Too Busy,” R&B #17, 1993) in the 90s, followed by a successful 25-year solo career singing laid-back, sultry neo-soul on seven R&B Top 20 albums, including The Art Of Love & War (#11, R&B #1, 2007), plus 16 charting singles through 2019, wrote hits for Mary J. Blige and D’Angelo and had a sideline career acting in films, on TV and on stage, including the role of Big Mama Thornton in Chicago in 2002, was returning to her Atlanta home from an Alabama performance when killed in a car accident on 3/1/2025, age 63.
March 03
● Beau Dozier / (Beau Alexandrè Dozier) → Songwriter, musician, music and TV producer, son of legendary Motown songwriter/producer Lamont Dozier, wrote “I Cry For You” (1986) for Ben E. King at age 7, appeared on albums by Snoop Dogg, Ice-T and others during his latter teens, wrote and produced many dozens of records for top artists during the 00s, including “Anything” for JoJo (R&B #8, 2007), hired in 2011 by TV music show American Idol to develop new talent, died from a reported heart attack on 3/3/2025, age 45.
● Herb Greene / (Herbert Bower Greene) → Professional photographer who befriended many of the 60s counterculture figures in San Francisco and created a deep chronicle of the psychedelic rock scene in the Bay Area, first through his close association with the Grateful Dead and later with top-line acts including Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Quicksilver Messenger Service, his award-winning work appeared on numerous album covers, in magazines and in three volumes authored and published in the 90s, died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer on 3/3/2025, age 82.
March 04
● Roy Ayers → Jazz-funk-soul (and proto-rap) master vibraphonist, composer and bandleader, leading figure in the electrification of jazz and creation of jazz-rock fusion and “The Godfather of Neo-Soul” through his band, Roy Ayers Ubiquity (“Running Away,” Dance #14, R&B #19, 1977) and as a sideman for dozens of jazz and funk luminaries since the 60s, his 1976 song “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” has been sampled over 200 times by numerous top hip hop artists, continued to perform live until 2023, died in a hospital after a long illness on 3/4/2025, age 84.● Harry Elston / (Harry James Elston) → Vocalist in Ray Charles‘ early 60s backing group The Hi-Fi’s, then in 1968 co-founded sunny pop-soul vocal quartet The Friends Of Distinction, sang lead on their big hit “Grazing In The Grass” (#3, R&B #5, 1969) and harmony vocals on five other charting hits by 1971, after dissolution in 1976 left the industry but returned in 1990 to revive TFOD with groupmate Floyd Butler, the project was shelved when Butler died of a heart attack in April 1990, went forward with a new TFOD quartet and toured in changing lineups until a few years before his death from undisclosed causes on 3/4/1025, age 86.
March 06
● Brian James / (Brian Robertson) → Guitarist for pioneering, first wave punk quartet The Damned, wrote their 1976 single, “New Rose,” which became the first British single by a punk rock band and appeared on Damned, Damned, Damned, their debut LP and the first British punk rock album, left in late 1977 for several gigs before co-founding goth-punk Lords Of The New Church in 1981, co-wrote “Open Your Eyes” (MR #27, 1982) and most of their other songs before disbandment in 1989, stayed busy for the next decades with five solo albums, one-off projects such as supergroup Racketeers, The Damned reunions and fronting The Brian James Project, died from undisclosed causes on 3/6/2025, age 70.
● Troy Seals / (Troy Harold Seals) → Country-pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and session musician, released two unremarkable solo albums in the 70s, best known as a cousin of Jim (Seals & Crofts, “Summer Breeze,” #6, 1972) and Dan Seals (England Dan & John Ford Coley, “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight,” #2, AC #1, 1976) and as a Nashville-based songwriter, wrote or co-wrote six Country #1 hits for Conway Twitty, “I’ve Got A Rock And Roll Heart” for Eric Clapton (#18, 1983), three Country Music Association Songs of the Year, and more than seventy other mostly country hit singles in the 70s and 80s, retired in the 00s and died from unspecified causes on 3/6/2025, age 86.
March 07
● D’Wayne Wiggins / (D’Wayne Patrice Wiggins) → R&B and blues guitarist, producer, composer and community activist, founded R&B/dance Tony! Toni! Toné! with his half-brother, Raphael Saadiq and their cousin, Christian Riley, the trio scored twelve R&B/Hip Hop Top 10 hits (including five #1s) from 1988 to 1996, after breakup in 1997 founded Grass Roots Entertainment and signed and managed Destiny’s Child – the most successful girl group of all time – and produced Alicia Keys, India Arie, Jamie Foxx and others, reformed Tony! Toni! Toné! in 1998 to 2018, and again in 2023 for a short tour, died from bladder cancer on 3/7/2025, age 64.
March 10
● Stedman Pearson / (Stedman Pearson, Jr.) → With siblings Denise, Doris, Lorraine and Delroy, vocals for Brit family R&B/dance-pop quintet Five Star, the British pre-fab answer to The Jackson 5, scored fifteen UK Top 40 singles from 1985 to 1988, including “Can’t Wait Another Minute” (#41, Dance #5, UK #7, 1986), before the star faded and the quintet splintered following a bankruptcy, continued to appear as a trio with Denise and Lorraine in the early 00s, then as a duo with Denise until abandoning Five Star in 2008 for other business opportunities, teaching dance and performing on UK talent shows, died from complications of diabetes on 3/10/2025, age 60.
March 11
● Bob Rivers / (Robert Rivers) → Radio personality for various FM stations in the Northeast before moving to KISW-fm in Seattle in 1989, starting a legendary 25-year run as a morning show host and dominant force in the market, The Bob Rivers Show’s “morning zoo” format featured classic rock music, a supporting cast of characters, irreverent humor, and self-written and -produced musical parodies, the latter leading to the creation of the Twisted Tunes brand of humorous remakes of popular songs, particularly with the five volume, holiday themed Twisted Christmas LPs from 1988 through 2002, retired from broadcasting in 2014 after 42 years behind the microphone, inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2023, and died from esophageal cancer on 3/11/2025, age 68.
March 13
● J. B. Moore / (James Biggs Moore III) → Billboard magazine ad salesman turned music producer and composer, and key figure in the mainstreaming of hip hop music in the late 70s and early 80s, co-wrote and produced several songs for rap pioneer Kurtis Blow, including “The Breaks” (#87, R&B #4, 1980) and “Basketball” (#71, R&B #29, 1985), and the comedy/parody song “Rappin’ Rodney” by Rodney Dangerfield (#83, 1984), died from pancreatic cancer on 3/13/2025, age 81.
March 16
● Jesse Colin Young / (Perry Miller) → Mid-60s Greenwich Village folk singer and songwriter, co-founded folk-rock The Youngbloods and sang lead on the 60s anthemic “Get Together” (#5, 1969), left in 1972 for a 50-year solo career, including LPs Song For Juli (#51, 1973) and Songbird (#26, 1975) plus several charting singles of breezy, jazzy light rock, suffered from chronic Lyme disease and quit performing in 2012 but returned four years later and issued a final album, Dreamers, in 2019, died at home from undisclosed causes on 3/16/2025, age 83.
March 18
● Bob Harvey / (Robert Brian Harvey) → Co-founding member and original bassist for psychedelic rock pioneers Jefferson Airplane, sacked in less than six months and replaced by Jack Casady when his acoustic stand-up bass no longer fit the group’s electric rock sound, returned to his pre-Airplane bluegrass group, Slippery Rock String Band and later formed psychedelic pop Holy Mackeral with singer/songwriter Paul Williams, spent the 70s and ensuing decades gigging in multiple bands, including performances with local musicians near his Ohio home until just a few years before dying from undisclosed causes on 3/18/2025, age 90.
March 20
● Eddie Adcock / (Edward Windsor Adcock) → Five-string banjo virtuoso and acoustic guitarist with a six decade career spanning traditional bluegrass music of the 50s to the innovative “new grass” movement of the late 70s and beyond, member of the “classic” lineup of legendary Country Gentlemen in the 60s, met his future wife, Martha, in 1973 and recorded and performed with her as a duo or in various bands for over 30 years, had deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in 2008 to correct hand tremors that affected his playing ability, suffered from multiple chronic health issues in his last years and died on 3/20/2025, age 86.
March 21
● Larry Tamblyn / (Lawrence Arnold Tamblyn) → Co-founding member, occasional lead vocals and keyboards for seminal garage rock/proto-punk The Standells, their one big hit “Dirty Water” (#11, 1966) became a garage rock standard, appeared in several 60s feature films, and enjoyed anthem-status in the City of Boston and environs, where the band performed the song at Fenway Park prior to a 2004 World Series game, continued to tour and perform as frontman for the group into the 10s, died from undisclosed causes on 3/21/2025, age 82.
March 22
● Andy Peebles / (Robert Andrew Peebles) → Nightclub DJ in the 60s and early 70s before joining BBC Radio Manchester in 1974, moved up to BBC Radio 1 for a 1978-1992 career as an on-air personality, including presenting fifteen Top of the Pops shows in the early 80s, was the last person to interview John Lennon just two days before Lennon’s October 1980 murder, the interview became the subject of a 2020 documentary, Lennon’s Last Weekend, returned to local BBC stations in the 90s and broadcast until retiring from Smooth Radio in 2013, died unexpectedly from undisclosed causes on 3/22/2025, age 70.
2025 ● Paul Wagstaff → Guitarist for Madchester electro-dance club septet Paris Angels, “Perfume” (UK #55, 1990), then Happy Mondays, “Stinkin Thinkin” (Dance/Club #1, 1992) and Black Grape, “In The Name Of The Father” (UK #8, 1995)
March 23
● Kevan Staples / (Kevan Murray Staples) → Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and co-founder and core member, with Carole Pope, of groundbreaking Canadian avant-garde rock band Rough Trade, co-wrote all of the group’s songs, including the provocative, sexually ambiguous “High School Confidential” (CAN #12, 1980)) about unrequited lesbian lust, the duo released five other charting singles before splitting in the late 80s, thereafter composed movie and TV soundtracks, and reunited with Pope several times over the decades, died from cancer on 3/23/2025, age 75.
March 25
● Terry Manning / (Terry Don Manning) → Recording engineer and producer, musician and photographer, played in local rockabilly bands in West Texas as a teenager, including a gig with legendary Bobby Fuller, moved to Memphis in the late 60s and joined the Stax Records studio team that played on and produced the Staple Singers “I’ll Take You There” (#1, R&B #1, 1972) and dozens of other soul hits, from there went on to a 40-year career producing some of rocks most iconic albums by a wide-range of top-tier artists from Al Green to Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top, also worked at Ardent, Abbey Road and Compass Point studios at various times, released several solo albums, the last in 2025, before dying from an accidental fall at home in El Paso, Texas, on 3/25/2025, age 77.
March 26
● Tim Gorman / (Timothy Gorman) → Keyboardist and session musician for multiple acts in diverse genres, including jazz (Tom Costner), R&B (The Spinners), Celtic (Alasdair Fraser) and rockabilly (Duane Eddy), played on The Who’s It’s Hard LP (1982) and subsequent tour, plus three other The Who albums, joined Jefferson Airplane in 1989 for their reunion album and tour, which led to a spot in Jefferson Airplane alum Paul Kantner’s band Wooden Ships, which in 1992 became a new incarnation of Jefferson Starship, issued three solo albums in the 90s and 00s, played on the soundtrack to the film Titanic (1997)and other, similar film and TV projects, suffered a years-long battle with cancer and died from the disease on 3/26/2025, age 72.
March 29
● Richard Chamberlain / (George Richard Chamberlain) → TV actor and teen idol portrayer of the fresh-faced lead role in the TV series Dr. Kildare (1961-66), simultaneously enjoying a brief but successful MOR/pop singing career with eight charting singles in the early 60s, including “All I Have To Do Is Dream” (#14, AC #6, 1963) and “Theme From Dr. Kildare (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight” (#10, AC #4, 1963), continued to appear on various TV series as a guest star, in TV films in leading roles, and on Broadway through the 10s, won three Golden Globe awards and several others over the decades, died in Hawaii from complications of a stroke on 3/29/2025, age 90.
