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:
November 02
● Joe Byrd / (Joseph Hunter Byrd Jr.) → Avant garde composer, musician, and pioneer in experimental music in the 60s through his band, the United States of America, which fused psychedelic rock and electronica with radical political lyrics on a lone, critically-acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful album, followed with a second album recorded in 1968 by new group The Field Hippies and utilizing early synthesizers and a vocoder for backward vocals, went on to arrange others’ music, compose film scores, TV jingles, and synthesized music for various side projects, form a klezmer band and release two albums of traditional Jewish folk music in the 90s, taught music history and theory at a California college in the 00s and collaborated with others in various projects until dying suddenly from undisclosed causes on 11/2/2025, age 87.
● Donna Jean Godchaux / (Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay) → Session backing vocalist on two Number 1 hits, Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves A Woman” (#1, R&B #1, 1966) and Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” (#1, AC #4, 1969), and on other singles and albums before joining the Grateful Dead in 1972 and becoming the only woman to ever be officially billed as a Grateful Dead bandmember, sang backing vocals for Robert Hunter and in the Jerry Garcia Band before splitting amicably from the band in 1979, spent the next decades in various Dead spinoffs and tribute bands, and fronting her own bands, elected to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2016, died in hospice care from cancer on 11/2/2025, age 78.
November 03
● Victor Conte / (Victor Conte Jr.) → Bass guitarist in a brief stint with horn rock Tower of Power, appeared on the We Came to Play! album and “Lovin’ You Is Gonna See Me Thru” (R&B #98, 1978), later founded Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) to market sports nutrition products, including undetectable, banned performance-enhancing steroids used by professional sports stars such as Barry Bonds and five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones, served time in prison on conspiracy and money laundering charges in 2005, started a legitimate nutrition company after release and ran the firm until dying from pancreatic cancer on 11/3/2025, age 75.
November 05
● Gilson Lavis / (David Leslie Gilson Lavis) → Touring drummer for American bands in the UK in the 70s, including Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Dolly Parton, answered an ad and joined New Wave synth-pop Squeeze in 1976, suffered from alcoholism during the band’s initial run on the UK charts, including “Cool For Cats” (UK #2, 1979), “Up The Junction” (UK #2, 1979) and 11 other UK charting singles by 1982, regained sobriety and reunited with Squeezein 1985 for another seven years, fell of the wagon and was fired from the band in 1992 but accepted a hand-up from former bandmate Jools Holland and played with him in his groups the Jools Holland Big Band and Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra for the next 30 years, died from head trauma after a fall at home on 11/5/2025, age 74.
November 10
● Richard Darbyshire / (Richard Simon Darbyshire) → Blue-eyed soul singer and guitarist for Brit dance-pop-funk Living In A Box, the group charted eight singles in the UK between 1987 and 1989, including “Living In A Box” (#17, UK #5, 1987), before splitting in 1990 over differences in direction, enjoyed a moderately successful solo career with three albums in 15 years but found more success as a songwriter for a range of artists, including The Temptations, Lisa Stansfield, and Level 42, ran songwriting workshops in London with his wife before dying from undisclosed causes on 11/10/2025, age died 65.
November 11
● Cleto Escobedo III / (Cleto Valentine Escobedo III) → Pre-teen neighborhood friend of comedian Jimmy Kimmel, played saxophones in several Las Vegas bands and toured with Paula Abdul and Marc Anthony before forming Cleto and The Cletones, which became the house band for late-night TV variety show Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its first broadcast in 2003 until his death in an L.A. hospital from complications of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver on 11/11/2025, age 59.
November 15
● Hilly Michaels / (Michael Hillman) → Drummer alongside a young Michael Bolton in 60s pop-rock band Joy, then did session work in New York in the 70s for Dan Hartman, John Mellencamp, Ellen Foley and others, plus drums on quirky pop-rock Sparks‘ Big Beat album in 1976, toured with Sparks frontmen, brothers Russell and Ron Mael, and appeared with them in the film Rollercoaster (1977), released two solo albums in the early 1980s, Calling All Girls (1980) and Lumia (1981), worked with other artists as a producer and marketing manager in later years, died from an unspecified form of cancer on 11/15/2025, age 77.
November 17● Alice Kessler / (Alice Kaessler) → With identical twin sister Ellen in the inseparable song-and-dance team the Kessler Twins, starting at age 11 in the Leipzig Opera’s child ballet program in postwar Germany and continuing a stint at the Lido cabaret in Paris in the 50s, appeared regularly on American TV music variety shows in the 60s, including The Ed Sullivan Show and the Red Skelton Show, and had small roles in a dozen films, mostly German and Italian, largely retired in 1986 and lived with her sister outside Munich, suffered a stroke in October 2025 and died together with Ellen in an assisted suicide with a doctor and lawyer present on 11/17/2025, age 89.
● Ellen Kessler / (Ellen Kaessler) → With identical twin sister Alice in the inseparable song-and-dance team the Kessler Twins, starting at age 11 in the Leipzig Opera’s child ballet program in postwar Germany and continuing a stint at the Lido cabaret in Paris in the 50s, appeared regularly on American TV music variety shows in the 60s, including The Ed Sullivan Show and the Red Skelton Show, and had small roles in a dozen films, mostly German and Italian, largely retired in 1986 and lived with her sister outside Munich, died together with Alice in an assisted suicide with a doctor and lawyer present on 11/17/2025, age 89.
November 19
● Walt Aldridge / (James Walton Aldridge Jr.) → Lead singer, guitarist, chief songwriter and producer for county-rock The Shooters in late 80s, the band charted seven country singles in three years, including “Borderline” (Country #12, 1988), thereafter worked as a producer, songwriter and session musician at renowned Fame Recording Studios in Alabama for 17 years, wrote Country #1 hits for Travis Tritt (“Modern Day Bonnie And Clyde,” Country #1, 2000) and Heartland (“I Loved Her First,” Country #1, 2006) among more than 50 other Top 40 hits for a broad range of artists, from Lou Reed, to Wilson Pickett to Reba McEntire, died from undisclosed causes on 11/19/2025, a week after his 70th birthday.
November 20
● Mani / (Gary Mounfield) → Bassist for “Madchester” guitar pop-rock The Stone Roses from 1987 to dissolution in 1996, played on both of the band’s albums and fourteen charting singles, including “One Love” (Alt Rock #9, UK #4, 1990), joined Scottish jangle pop/dance fusion Primal Scream in 1996 as full-time bassist for five albums and sixteen charting singles through 2011, including “Country Girl” (UK #5, 2006), left Primal Screen to rejoin former Stone Roses bandmates in 2012 and toured with the group until 2017, collapsed at home and died in an ambulance from undisclosed causes on 11/20/2025, age 63.
November 21
● Jellybean Johnson / (Garry George Johnson) → Drummer, guitarist, songwriter and key figure in the development of the Minneapolis funk-soul-pop sound in the 80s and 90s, co-founded soul-funk Flyte Time in 1973 and its successor group funk-rock The Time (“Jungle Love,” #20, R&B #6, 1984) in 1981, both groups having close associations with superstar Prince, did session work and produced hits for New Edition, Mint Condition and others, remained active into the 20s, appeared in the Grammy Salute to Prince in 2020 and founded the Minneapolis Sound Museum in 2022, collapsed at home and died in a hospital on 11/21/2025, age 69.
November 24
● Jimmy Cliff / (James Chambers) → Choirboy turned Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, bandleader, actor and major figure in bringing ska and reggae music to a global audience, starred in the film The Harder They Come (1972), the first major commercial film from Jamaica, and sang the title track and other songs from the film, including “You Can Get it If You Really Want” (#103, UK #2, 1971), continued to record and tour through the 00s and occasionally appeared in movies, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 and issued a final album, Refugees, in 2022, suffered a seizure and died from subsequent pneumonia on 11/24/2025, age 81.
November 26
● Judy Cheeks → R&B/soul singer with a lone charting single in the 70s, “Mellow Lovin’” (#65, R&B #53, Dance #10, 1978) but eight other charting singles, including two Dance Club #1s, from 1988 to 1996, toured with Ike & Tina Turner as an Ikette for backing vocals, wrote songs and did session work for Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Boney M and others, appeared in various movies and TV programs, issued eleven solo studio albums, the last in 2020, and continued to release collaborative singles until just before dying from undisclosed causes on 11/26/2025, age 71.
● Andrew Lauder / (Andrew Justus Lauder) → Record company executive with a long career as founder, co-founder or senior manager at multiple labels, including Liberty Records and United Artists in the 70s, and independent labels through the 80s and 90s, over the years signed acts as diverse as psych-pop the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, krautrock Amon Düül II, pub rock Brinsley Schwarz, jam band Gov’t Mule and punk rock The Stranglers, among many others, continued to release music on his own labels in the 00s but largely dropped from sight after 2010, published an autobiography, Happy Trails, in 2023 and died from undisclosed causes on 11/26/2025, age 78.
November 29
● Chubby Tavares / (Antone Lee Tavares) → With four of his Cape Verdean-American brothers, vocals in R&B/funk-disco Tavares and eight Top 40 hits, including “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel” (#15, R&B #3, 1976) and “More Than A Woman” (#32, R&B #36) from the Grammy-winning soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever, performed with the group for over 64 years and issued two solo albums , one each in 2018 and 2022, before retiring in 2023 due to declining health, died at home from undisclosed causes on 11/29/2025, age 81.
