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 02
● Ken Tobias / (Kenneth Wayne Paul Tobias) → Canadian pop-rock singer-songwriter best known for writing the hit “Stay Awhile” (#7, CAN #1, 1971) for soft rockers The Bells, started as a cast member in a Nova Scotia-based nationally syndicated music variety program in the late 60s and recorded duets with future star Anne Murray, moved to Toronto in the 70s as a backing musician, started a music publishing firm for his songs, issued twelve charting singles through 1978 and eight solo albums through 2008, mentored younger musicians and performed in local bands in his native New Brunswick from the 90s until his death from brain cancer on 10/2/24, age 79.
October 05
● Nell Smith → Canadian musician and fan of hard rock The Flaming Lips who, starting at age 10, attended Lips concerts wearing a parrot costume, eventually noticed by bandleader Wayne Coyne and invited to sing with the band, recorded the album Where the Viaduct Looms (2021) at age 14 as lead vocalist with backing music by The Lips, was working on a solo album for release in 2025 but died in an automobile accident on 10/5/2024, age 17.
October 06
● Johnny Neel / (John Allen Neel) → Nashville-based, blind-from-infancy bandleader and session keyboardist, frontman for blues-rock Johnny Neel Band in the 70s and session musician for dozens of rock and country artists in the 80s, best known as a member of The Allman Brothers Band in the 90s and co-writer of four songs on the group’s career-reviving Seven Turns album (#53, 1990), including “Good Clean Fun” (Mainstream Rock #1, 1990), released a dozen solo albums through 2012 plus two with jam band Gov’t Mule in the 00s, in between recording with various collaborations and his own groups, died from heart failure on 10/6/2024, age 70.
October 07
● Cissy Houston / (Emily Drinkard) → R&B/soul singer in early 60s gospel-soul family group The Drinkard Singers, then fronted soul-pop The Sweet Inspirations (“Sweet Inspiration,” #18, R&B #5, 1968) and sang backing vocals for Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross and others over several decades, started a Grammy-winning solo career in 1970 with “Think It Over” (Dance/Club #5, 1978) and two Grammy-winning soul-gospel albums, Face To Face (1997) and He Leadeth Me (1999), mother of pop-R&B superstar Whitney Houston and aunt of Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, nurtured her daughter’s launch to stardom in the 80s and performed with her on several occasions before Whitney died in 2012, continued to perform into the 10s and died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on 10/7/2024, age 91.
● Jack Ponti / (Giacomo Pontoriero) → Musician, songwriter, record producer, manager, and label executive, starting as a bandmate of Jon Bon Jovi in a 70s rock band, then turned to production and songwriting, wrote songs for Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Nelson and others in the 90s, managed neo-soul star India Arie and soul-pop Boyz II Men in the 00s, founded or led several record labels and production companies during the 00s and 10s, died from undisclosed causes on 10/7/2024, age 66.
October 13
● Libby Titus / (Elizabeth Jurist) → Singer/songwriter with two unnoticed solo albums in 1968 and 1977 but with multiple credits as a writer and co-writer of numerous pop hits, including the now-standard “Love Has No Pride” by Linda Ronstadt (Adult Contemporary #23, 1973), worked with Burt Bacharach in the 70s, provided backing vocals for Martin Mull, Bonnie Raitt and others, mother of singer Amy Helm (b. 1970) with then-partner Levon Helm, produced albums with and for Dr. John and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan and had relationships with both, co-founded the New York Rock And Soul Review with Fagen and married him in 1993, died from undisclosed causes on 10/13/2024, age 77.
October 17
● Mitzi Gaynor / (Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber) → Hollywood musical singer, dancer and actor, appeared in more than a dozen films in the 40s and 50s, best known for starring in South Pacific (1958) and singing on the film’s soundtrack album (#1, 1958), shifted to TV in the 60s and appeared between The Beatles’ two sets on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 along with multiple music TV specials through the 00s, recorded two solo albums, enjoyed two decades of shows in nightclubs and Las Vegas showrooms, and wrote a featured column for The Hollywood Reporter magazine, was one of the last surviving actors from the “Golden Age” of the Hollywood musicals on her death from natural causes on 10/17/2024, age 93.
October 20
● Barbara Dane / (Barbara Jean Spillman) → Acclaimed folk, blues and jazz singer and guitarist, and later record label owner and outspoken left-wing activist, starting in the late 50s and early 60s gigging with blues and jazz luminaries such as Louis Armstrong and Willie Dixon, appeared on TV programs including The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, declined to follow her career trajectory but chose instead to raise her children and accept a lower profile in the late 60s, founded Paredon Records in 1970 and produced over 50 albums by other artists specializing in international protest songs, made her name as a singer-songwriter activist against the Vietnam War, social injustice and nuclear power, earned accolades and an FBI file for her efforts, suffered from heart failure and chose to die at home through assisted suicide on 10/20/2024, age 97.
October 21
● Paul Di’Anno / (Paul Andrews) → Early lead vocalist for pioneering Brit heavy metal Iron Maiden, co-wrote the group’s debut single “Running Free” (UK #34, 1980) and fronted the band from 1978 to 1981 when fired for erratic behavior caused by drug abuse, thereafter pursued a moderately successful solo career and as a member of several hard rock project groups, including Gogmagog, Battlezone, Praying Mantis and Killers from the 80s to the 10s, suffered from health problems in recent years but continued to perform, often from a wheelchair, and issued a compilation album, The Book Of The Beast, in September 2024, just six weeks before his death at home from undisclosed causes on 10/21/2024, age 66.
October 23
● Jack Jones / (John Allan Jones) → Two-time Grammy-winning contemporary pop and Big Band jazz crooner with twenty Adult Contemporary Top 20 hits, including the well-known “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” (#35, AC #1, 1966) and the theme song for the TV series The Love Boat (“Love Boat Theme,” AC #37, 1980), released 59 studio albums over 43 years through 2002, appeared in numerous TV musical specials, in TV programs and feature films, including a cameo role in the film parody Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), continued to sing in nightclubs and in TV specials into his early 80s, died from complications of leukemia on 10/23/2024, age 86.
● Linda LaFlamme / (Linda Sue Rudman) → Keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter with San Francisco-based psych-folk-jazz-rock It’s A Beautiful Day, co-wrote the group’s signature song and psychedelic era anthem, “White Bird” (#118, 1969) with her husband and group frontman, David LaFlamme, along with “Hot Summer Day” and “Girl With No Eyes,” split from LaFlamme and left the group shortly after the release of the their eponymous debut album (#47, 1969), fronted two other largely unknown bands in the 70s and left the music industry by 1980, died in a nursing home of vascular dementia on 10/23/2024, age 85.
October 25
● Phil Lesh / (Philip Chapman Lesh) → Classically-trained violinist and trumpeteer who switched to the bass guitar when invited by Jerry Garcia to join folk-rock Warlocks in 1965, the group shortly became the Grateful Dead, rock’s longest, strangest trip, co-wrote several Dead standards (“St. Stephen”, “Truckin’,” and others), sang harmony vocals and a rare led vocal (“Box Of Rain,” 1970), when the Dead broke up following Garcia’s death in 1995 joined Dead revival groups The Dead and The Other Ones between 1998 and 2008, fronted his own collective of musicians performing as Phil Lesh & Friends for over 30 years, with a final performance in 2023, survived bouts of prostate and bladder cancer, and a liver transplant in his later years and died from undisclosed causes on 10/25/2024, age 84.
