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:
May 01
● Jill Sobule / (Jill Susan Sobule) → One hit wonder 90s indie folk-pop singer and songwriter with the groundbreaking, gay-themed novelty MTV hit “I Kissed A Girl” (#67, Modern Rock #20, 1995), issued ten studio albums from 1990 to 2018, including two financed by crowdfunding, and performed in various TV, stage and film programs and collaborative gigs until dying in a house fire on 5/1/2025, age 66.
May 05
● James Baker / (James Lawrence Baker) → Aussie rock drummer and important figure in the country’s garage and punk rock scenes over five decades and associations with multiple groups in Perth and Sydney, including co-founding legendary Hoodoo Gurus in 1979, co-wrote the band’s debut single, “Television Addict” (1977) and others but left before the band reached the U.S. with “Come Anytime” (Alt #1, AUS #27, 1989), later did stints with blues-rock Beasts of Bourbon, hard rock The Dubrovniks, protopunk The Scientists and his own band, Painkillers, from 2005, inducted into the Western Australian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Australian Recording Industry Association as a member of the Hoodoo Gurus in 2007, diagnosed with liver cancer in 2015 but continued to perform and record until dying from the disease on 5/5/2025, age 71.
May 09
● Johnny Rodriguez / (Juan Raul David Rodriguez) → Troubled youth, 19-year-old parolee and the first widely popular Mexican-American country singer and songwriter, scored 15 straight Country Top 10 hits to start his career in 1973, among them “Ridin’ My Thumb To Mexico” (#70, Country #1, 1973) and five other Country #1 hits, issued a total of 44 charting singles between 1973 and 1996, married Willie Nelson’s daughter Lana for seven months in 1995 and stood trial but was acquitted of murder in 1998, largely faded from view after 2000 but issued his first live album, Live From Texas in 2012, died in hospice care on 5/9/2025, age 73.
May 10
● Larry Lee / (Larry Michael Lee) → Co-founding multi-instrumentalist and songwriter for county-rock Ozark Mountain Daredevils, co-wrote and sang lead vocals on the group’s biggest hit, “Jackie Blue” (#3, CAN #2, 1975), left after ten years in 1982 to pursue a solo and songwriting career in Nashville, wrote music for Alabama and Juice Newton, and gigged with Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, issued two albums with former OMD bandmates and fronted Brit-pop cover bands into the 10s, died from undisclosed causes on 5/10/2025, age 78.
● Skip Johnson → Lighting director, production manager and tour manager with numerous rock artists, among them Prince, Bette Midler, Yes, The O’Jays and Jefferson Starship, married Starship frontwoman Grace Slick in 1976 and endured a drug and alcohol-infused marriage until divorcing in 1994, worked as a concert promoter and lighting director in the Philadelphia area until dying from cancer on 5/10/2025, age 73.
May 11
● John Edwards / (Jonathan Edwards) → R&B/soul singer on Midwest regional circuits in the 60s and early 70s with one big hit, “Careful Man” (R&B #8, 1974), joined Grammy-winning Motown Records and later Atlantic soul group The Spinners in 1977 for their last two of seventeen Top 40 hits, the medley “Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl” (#2, R&B #6, 1980) and “Cupid” (#4, R&B #5, 1980), performed with the group until a debilitating stroke sidelined him in 2000, died from unspecified causes on 5/11/2025, age 80.
May 13
● Billy Earheart / (William Thaxton Earheart III) → Founding member and keyboardist for Grammy-winning Southern rock Amazing Rhythm Aces (“Third Rate Romance,” #14, Country #11, CAN #1), left the Aces in 1985 to join Hank Williams Jr.‘s Bama Band for 21 years and work sessions for other top artists on nearly 200 albums, reunited with the Aces in 1994 and continued to tour and record into the 10s, died from an unspecified form of cancer on 5/13/2025, age 71.
● Barry Poss / (Barry Lyle Poss) → Canadian-born musician, record producer, music entrepreneur and co-founder of roots music Sugar Hill Records in 1978, the label ultimately issued eight Grammy-winning albums by scores of varied bluegrass and Americana folk acts from Dolly Parton to Jewel Kilcher and Doc Watson, sold the business to Welk Music Group in 1998, ran that company and its Sugar Hill subsidiary until 2015, battled cancer late in life and succumbed to the disease on 5/13/2025, age 79.
May 15
● Terry Draper / (Terry Edward Draper) → Canadian drummer, keyboardist and songwriter for prog/art rock Klaatu, co-wrote the hit song “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft” (#62, CAN #45, 1976) and several others, following break-up in 1982 became a roofing contractor and restaurateur, returned to music in 1997 as a solo artist and refined the progressive pop sound created in the 70s, issued 21 albums from 1997 to just before his death from on 5/15/2025, age 73.
● Charles “Buddy” Strouse / (Charles Louis Strouse) → Tony-winning composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to acclaimed Broadway musicals Bye Bye Birdie (1960), Applause (1970), Annie (1977) and over 30 others, plus film scores, songs for artists from Frank Sinatra to Jay-Z (sampled the Annie song “Hard Knock Life” in 1998), and “Those Were The Days” (1971), the theme song to the TV sitcom All In The Family, continued to pen musicals into the 10s and died from undisclosed causes on 5/15/2025, age 96.
May 16
● Tony Haselden / (Anthony Steven Haselden) → Guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of country-rock LeRoux, wrote the band’s lone Top 40 hit, “Nobody Sais It Was Easy,” (#18, 1982) and played in LeRoux for over 40 years while enjoying a parallel career as a Nashville songwriter, wrote #1 hits for George Strait (“You Know Me Better Than That,” County #1, 1991) and Keith Whitely (“It Ain’t Nothin’,” Country #1, 1990), plus dozens of other charting singles for numerous top country acts, issued a final LeRoux album in 2020 and died from undisclosed causes on 5/16/2025, age 79.
● John Gladwin / (John David Gladwin) → Guitar, vocals, co-founder and frontman for English medieval-revival, acoustic progressive folk group Amazing Blondel, led the band from formation in the 60s thru four studio LPs, all the while staying true to their minimalist, Edwardian roots music, left in the early 70s to form his own prog-rock Englishe Musicke, teach guitar and build a hunting preserve, occasionally resurfaced for gigs and Blondel reunions, died in a nursing home from complications of dementia on 5/16/2025, age 77.
May 17
● Roger Nichols / (Roger Stewart Nichols) → Multi-instrumentalist composer of numerous rock and pop hit records over a long career from the 60s through the 10s, among them “We’ve Only Just Begun” (#2, AC #1, 1970) for The Carpenters (originally composed for a TV commercial but heard by Richard Carpenter and rejigged for a soft pop single), “Out In The Country” for Three Dog Night (#15, AC #11, 1970) and “Times Of Your Life” (#7, AC #1, 1975) for Paul Anka, also enjoyed a parallel solo recording career with five albums from 1968 to 2012 and three compilation sets in the late 10s, died from pneumonia on 5/17/2025, age 84.
May 19
● Chris Hager / (Christopher Randolph Hager) → Guitarist and co-founding member in 1977 of San Diego glam metal Mickey Ratt, left just after the group relocated to L.A. in 1981 and morphed into RATT, joined heavy metal Rough Cutt and played with the band through the 80s, from then gigging in various metal bands including Sarge and Woop & The Count before rejoining Rough Cutt for tours in 2016, owned and operated a computer network support business in San Diego for many years, died from undisclosed causes on 5/19/2025, age 67.
May 20
● Mark Greene → Lead vocalist for short-lived R&B vocal group The Moments (“Not On The Outside,” #57, R&B #13, 1968), the group dissolved in late 1968 and relaunched as Ray, Goodman & Brown, rejoined his former Moments bandmates as The Leaders for a brief time before launching a solo career, joined RG&B in 1992 after Harry Ray’s death, acquired the rights to The Moments name in 2000 and fronted the group until just before dying from unspecified causes on 5/20/2025, age 72.
● Michael Tretow / (Bo Michael Tretow) → Swedish musician, audio engineer, record producer and composer best known for working with pop-rock ABBA over 14 group albums from the early 70s through 1994’s Thank You For The Music, plus individual member’s solo projects, key figure in the development of the “ABBA sound” of harmony vocals and upbeat pop rock (“Waterloo,: #6, SWE #3, UK #1, 1974), also issued nine solo albums and the hit single “Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot” (SWE #1, 1981), composed several advertising jingles for Swedish national radio and TV, died from unspecified causes on 5/20/2025, age 80.
May 22
● James Lowe / (Thaddeus James Lowe) → Founding member, guitarist and lead singer for 60s psych/garage rock The Electric Prunes (“I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)),” #11, 1967) and two other charting singles, later became an audio engineer and producer for Todd Rundgren, glam-rock Sparks, and other rockers, left the music industry in the 70s for a career producing TV programs but returned for occasional Prunes reunions, reformed the group in 1999 for two decades of touring on the oldies circuit, died from natural causes on 5/22/2025, age 82.
May 25
● Simon House → Classically-trained violinist and keyboardist best known for three stints with English space rock Hawkwind (1974-1978, 1989-1991, and 2001-2003), in the intervals working with David Bowie’s band, in multiple collaborations with various rock artists, and on his own solo releases, ultimately appearing on nearly 70 albums released from 1969 through 2018, died from undisclosed causes on 5/25/2025, age 76.
● “Chicago Mike” Sumler / (Michael Sumler) → Flashy-dressing vocalist in Chicago R&B group Power Pac, joined soul/funk Kool & The Gang (“Celebration,” #1, R&B #1, 1980) in 1985 as wardrobe coordinator and valet, eventually adding the role of crowd energizer with pre-show dancing and prancing before the band took the stage, toured extensively with The Gang and occasionally sang backing vocals until 2015, was in the process of opening an Atlanta concert venue when killed in a car accident on 5/25/2025, age 71.
May 26
● Rick Derringer / (Richard Dean Zehringer) → Rock guitar virtuoso and record producer with a long and varied career, co-founded 60s pop-rock The McCoys (garage-rock classic “Hang On Sloopy,” #1, 1965), then joined hard rock Edgar Winter Group, playing guitar on and producing “Free Ride” (#14, 1973) and the instrumental “Frankenstein” (#1, 1973), issued over twenty albums as a solo artist (“Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo,” #23, 1974) and as a frontman for his own groups, became an in-demand session guitarist and appeared on albums by Steely Dan, Alice Cooper,Led Zeppelin and many others, produced albums for artists as diverse as Peter Frampton, Barbra Streisand and Cyndi Lauper, wrote “Real American,” the theme song for wrestler Hulk Hogan, which ended up in the campaign soundtracks for Presidents Obama and Trump, underwent triple bypass surgery in March 2025 but was hospitalized two months later with complications and was removed from life support on 5/26/2025, age 77.
May 28
● Al Foster / (Aloysius Tyrone Foster) → Modern jazz and jazz-fusion drummer whose masterful groove anchored the rhythm for multiple groups over a 60 year career, beginning with hard bop and swing music in the mid-60s, followed by a 14-year stint with Miles Davis Group’s fusion and psychedelic funk of 70s, left Davis in the mid-80s and spent three decades keeping the beat for acoustic jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins and others as a session and touring musician, released eight albums as a frontman, his last in 2019, continued to perform until a few years before dying from a “serious” but unspecified illness in his New York City apartment on 5/28/2025, age 82.
May 29
● Al Clausen / (Alf Faye Heiberg Clausen) → Multi-instrumentalist composer for TV and film, started as a copyist in L.A. the 60s, worked on “Come On Get Happy,” the theme song to The Partridge Family program, and later the music director for the Donny & Marie show from 1976 to 1979, best known for scoring for scoring or orchestrating soundtracks to more than 30 feature films and TV shows, including The Naked Gun (1982) and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), and particularly as sole composer of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1990 to 2017, when he was dismissed and later sued on the grounds that his firing was age-related, suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy after 2020 and died from the disease on 5/29, 2025, age 84.
