Musicians lost to the Coronavirus

[Gary]

April 1 -  Adam Schlesinger

• Fountains Of Wayne    
• That Thing You Do

March 31 - Wallace Roney

• Grammy winning jazz trumpeter

March 29 - Joe Diffie

• Country artist - hits include "Bigger Than The Beatles", "Third Rock From The Sun", "Home:

March 29 -  Alan Merrill

• Leader of The Arrows
• Wrote the classic Joan Jett track "I Love Rock N Roll"

March 24  - Manu Dibango

•  influential musician known for fusing funk with African rhythms
•  The 1972 song "Soul Makossa"

March 19 - DJ Black N Mild

    

[Caviar]

awful

[Deleted]

[Ezekiel 23:20–21]

Nashom Wooden of The Ones (of "Flawless" fame) passed away on 3/23

[Ezekiel 23:20–21]

Orlando Puerta who had handled the club promotion for Madonna (and other artists via his Citrusonic Promotions company) has unexpected died from Covid 19.

Orlando Puerta, Dance Music Exec Who Championed Madonna, Dies of Upper Respiratory Infection at 55
4/6/2020 by Katie Bain

Orlando Puerta, a dance music promotions and marketing veteran known for his work with legends including Cher and Madonna, died from an upper respiratory infection at the age of 55. It is currently unknown whether the infection was caused by COVID-19, but a test is forthcoming.

According to a statement released Monday (April 7) by his company Citrusonic, Puerta died in a Los Angeles hospital "after a short but severe battle with upper respiratory infection. At this time we are awaiting further details and the results of a COVID-19 test performed prior to his passing." Read the complete statement below.

Puerta was a lifelong dance music champion, hosting underground club night throughout Los Angeles in the early 1990s, as the city was becoming a nexus of the burgeoning U.S. scene. His events -- which included Miss Kitty’s Candyland, Sunday School, Dish, Cha Cha Groove and more -- helped break then up-and-coming talent including Mark Farina and Doc Martin.

After a stint working in marketing and promotions for independent films, Puerta joined the marketing team at Warner Brothers Records in 1997. At Warner, he worked on campaigns for marquee artists including Madonna, Bette Midler, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Depeche Mode, New Order, Orgy, Static X, Michael Buble and Seal. One of the biggest successes of his career came through his work on the campaign for Cher's "Believe," a global smash that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999.

"He was so beloved within the industry and with these artists," says Billboard's consumer editorial director Ian Drew, a longtime friend of Puerta's. "He was always part of the team, someone they really loved and trusted and someone who was there through pivotal moments of their career. He truly loved them and gave everything to these projects and artists. His passion was just a mountain."

In 2001, Puerta was promoted to Warner's director of dance & lifestyle marketing. In this role, he had a particularly fruitful working relationship with Madonna, for whom he worked on albums including Music, Confessions on a Dancefloor, Hard Candy and Rebel Heart, helping push myriad songs and remixes to chart-topping positions around the globe. Puerta continued working with Madonna even after leaving Warner Brothers in 2009 to start his own promotions company, Citrusonic.

“One of a kind. I have only the most joyful memories of Orlando," says Liz Rosenberg, Cher's longtime publicist who worked with Puerta during her long tenure at Warner Brothers and also served as Madonna's publicist for decades. "No one I’d rather hang out with on or off the dance floor. A genius at what he did and the sweetest most beloved guy in the music business. Loved and adored by all. I’m honored to have known him.”

Most recently, Puerta worked on the marketing for Madonna's 2019 album, Madame X, helping her achieve a landmark 50th No. 1 single on Billboard' Dance/Club Songs chart with "I Don't Seek I Find." ("THANK YOU DJS!!!" he wrote on Instagram in celebration of the milestone.) Puerta also worked on promotion for Tracy Young's remix of Madonna's "I Rise," which won a 2020 Grammy for best remixed recording.

"One of his favorite things was listening to the remixes as they were delivered by the DJs," says Maria Marquez, who was Puerta's assistant at Citrusonic for the last decade. "He touched the lives of many artists, producers and remixers."

Puerta's most recent success came via the Black Eyes Peas and J Balvin's single "Ritmo (Bad Boys for Life)" which is currently No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Other recent clients include Laverne Cox, MK, U2 and Jennifer Hudson. Citrononic Puerta is being remembered throughout the music industry for his warmth, supportiveness, vision, sense of humor and big heart.

"Maybe some good kind souls are just too good and kind for this cold heartless world," tweeted Diane Warren. "Rest in Power my dear sweet friend Orlando."

[Gary]

John Prine's Billboard Chart History, From Self-Titled Debut to 'Tree of Forgiveness'
4/7/2020 by Kevin Rutherford

For nearly a half-century, John Prine's catalog made a marked impact on the Billboard 200, where the singer-songwriter, who died Tuesday (April 7) at age 73, first charted in 1972.
That's when his debut self-titled album, released a year earlier, bowed at No. 156, on the chart dated Feb. 26, 1972. A week later, the LP, which features such Prine classics as "Angel From Montgomery" and "Sam Stone," peaked two spots higher, at No. 154.

Still, the seeds were sown for Prine's lengthy history on the Billboard 200, one that includes 15 entries, nearly half of which charted in the '70s. Prine was nominated for best new artist at the 1973 Grammy Awards, and Common Sense became his first full-length to peak within the Billboard 200's upper half, reaching No. 66 in May 1975.

After six albums in the '70s, Prine released three in the '80s and four in the '90s (including a holiday LP) and, beginning with 1974's Aimless Love, his output was often released independently via his own Oh Boy Records.
In 2005, with Fair & Square, which won for best contemporary folk album at the Grammys the next year, Prine finally exceeded Common Sense's Billboard 200 peak, bowing and peaking at No. 55. It also marked his first time in the Billboard 200's top 100 since Common Sense nearly 30 years earlier.

From there, each Prine album that reached the Billboard 200 peaked inside the top 100. For Better, Or Worse brought the first top 40 visit for the troubadour, hitting No. 30 in October 2016. With his most recent release, The Tree of Forgiveness, Prine earned his first top 20, top 10 and top five placement, as the album debuted and peaked at No. 5 in April 2018.

Beginning in the late '90s, Prine also began reaching the Top Country Albums chart, earning a pair of No. 2-peaking titles (For Better, Or Worse and The Tree of Forgiveness), and upon the creation of the Americana/Folk Albums tally in 2009, he racked up four top five entries, including two No. 1s (In Person & On Stage and The Tree of Forgiveness). On the Top Rock Albums chart, he reached No. 2 with The Tree of Forgiveness.
While he hasn't yet made a Billboard songs chart on his own, covers of Prine's material have appeared, including Zac Brown Band's version of "All the Best," which hit No. 19 on the Country Digital Song Sales tally in May 2017.

To date, Prine's catalog has been streamed 257.5 million times in the U.S., and he's earned 3.6 million equivalent album units, largely via album sales, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
Prine died of complications from COVID-19. His wife Fiona also tested positive for the virus on March 19, and Prine himself was hospitalized with symptoms on March 26.

[Gary]

John Prine, Who Chronicled the Human Condition in Song, Dies at 73


1/6 SLIDES © William DeShazer for The New York Times
John Prine at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2018.

John Prine, the raspy-voiced country-folk singer whose ingenious lyrics to songs by turns poignant, angry and comic made him a favorite of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and others, died Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 73.

The cause was complications from Covid-19, his family said.

Mr. Prine underwent cancer surgery in 1998 to remove a tumor in his neck identified as squamous cell cancer, which had damaged his vocal cords. In 2013, he had part of one lung removed to treat lung cancer.
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Mr. Prine was a relative unknown in 1970 when Mr. Kristofferson heard him play one night at a small Chicago club called the Fifth Peg, dragged there by the singer-songwriter Steve Goodman. Mr. Kristofferson was performing in Chicago at the time at the Quiet Knight. At the Fifth Peg, Mr. Prine treated him to a brief after-hours performance of material that, Mr. Kristofferson later wrote, “was unlike anything I’d heard before.”
A few weeks later, when Mr. Prine was in New York, Mr. Kristofferson invited him onstage at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, where he was appearing with Carly Simon, and introduced him to the audience.
“No way somebody this young can be writing so heavy,” he said. “John Prine is so good, we may have to break his thumbs.”

The record executive Jerry Wexler, who was in the audience, signed Mr. Prine to a contract with Atlantic Records the next day.

Music writers at the time were eager to crown a successor to Mr. Dylan, and Mr. Prine, with his nasal, sandpapery voice and literate way with a song, came ready to order. His debut album, called simply “John Prine” and released in 1971, included songs that became his signatures. Some gained wider fame after being recorded by other artists.
[Video: Watch on YouTube.]

They included “Sam Stone,” about a drug-addicted war veteran (with the unforgettable refrain “There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm where all the money goes”); “Hello in There,” a heart-rending evocation of old age and loneliness; and “Angel From Montgomery,” the hard-luck lament of a middle-aged woman dreaming about a better life, later made famous by Bonnie Raitt.
“He’s a true folk singer in the best folk tradition, cutting right to the heart of things, as pure and simple as rain,” Ms. Raitt told Rolling Stone in 1992.
Mr. Dylan, listing his favorite songwriters for The Huffington Post in 2009, put Mr. Prine front and center. “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism,” he said. “Midwestern mind trips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs.”

John Prine was born on Oct. 10, 1946, in Maywood, Ill., a working-class suburb of Chicago, to William and Verna (Hamm) Prine. His father, a tool-and-die maker at the American Can Company, and his mother had moved from the coal town of Paradise, Ky., in the 1930s.

Mr. Prine later wrote a ruefully bitter song titled “Paradise,” in which he sang:

The coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

John grew up in a country music-loving family. He learned guitar as a young teenager from his grandfather and brother and began writing songs.
After graduating from high school, he worked for the Post Office for two years before being drafted into the Army, which sent him to West Germany in charge of the motor pool at his base. After being discharged, he resumed his mail route, in and around his hometown, composing songs in his head.

“I always likened the mail route to a library with no books,” he wrote on his website. “I passed the time each day making up these little ditties.”
Reluctantly, he took the stage for the first time at an open-mic night at the Fifth Peg, where his performance of “Hello in There” and “Angel From Montgomery” met with profound silence from the audience. “They just sat there,” Mr. Prine wrote. “They didn’t even applaud, they just looked at me.”

Then the clapping began. “It was like I found out all of a sudden that I could communicate deep feelings and emotions,” he wrote. “And to find that out all at once was amazing.”
Not long after, Roger Ebert, the film critic for The Chicago Tribune, wandered into the club while Mr. Prine was performing. He liked what he heard and wrote Mr. Prine’s first review, under the headline “Singing Mailman Who Delivers a Powerful Message in a Few Words.”

“He appears onstage with such modesty he almost seems to be backing into the spotlight,” Mr. Ebert wrote. “He sings rather quietly, and his guitar work is good, but he doesn’t show off. He starts slow. But after a song or two, even the drunks in the room begin to listen to his lyrics. And then he has you.”

Mr. Prine had a particular gift for offbeat humor, reflected in songs like “Jesus, the Lost Years,” “Some Humans Ain’t Human,” “Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone” and the antiwar screed “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore.”

“I guess what I always found funny was the human condition,” he told the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph in 2013. “There is a certain comedy and pathos to trouble and accidents.”
[Video: Watch on YouTube.]

After recording several albums for Atlantic and Asylum, he started his own label, Oh Boy Records, in 1984. He never had a hit record, but he commanded a loyal audience that ensured steady if modest sales for his albums and a durable concert career.

In 1992, his album “The Missing Years,” with guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and other artists, won a Grammy Award for best contemporary folk recording. He received a second Grammy in the same category in 2006 for the album “Fair and Square.”

Mr. Prine, who lived in Nashville, was divorced twice. He is survived by his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine, a native of Ireland whom he married in 1996; three sons, Jody, Jack and Tommy; two brothers, Dave and Billy; and three grandson. In 2017, Mr. Prine published “John Prine Beyond Words,” a collection of lyrics, guitar chords, commentary and photographs from his own archive.
In 2019, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and his album “Tree of Forgiveness” was nominated for a Grammy, for best Americana album. It was his 19th album and his first of original material in more than a decade. (The award went to Brandi Carlile, for “By the Way, I Forgive You.”)

Mr. Prine went on tour in 2018 to promote “Tree of Forgiveness,” and after a two-night stand at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville — known there as the mother church of country music — Margaret Renkl, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, wrote, under the headline “American Oracle”:

“The mother church of country music, where the seats are scratched-up pews and the windows are stained glass, is the place where the new John Prine — older now, scarred by cancer surgeries, his voice deeper and full of gravel — is most clearly still the old John Prine: mischievous, delighting in tomfoolery, but also worried about the world.”
In December, he was chosen to receive a 2020 Grammy for lifetime achievement.

As a songwriter, Mr. Prine was prolific and quick. In the early days, he would sometimes dash off a song while driving to a club.

“Sometimes, the best ones come together at the exact same time, and it takes about as long to write it as it does to sing it,” he told the poet Ted Kooser in an interview at the Library of Congress in 2005. “They come along like a dream or something, and you just got to hurry up and respond to it, because if you mess around, the song is liable to pass you by.”
Caryn Ganz contributed reporting,

[areyoureadytojump]

ultimateclassicrock.com/matthew-seligman-covid-19/?trackback=fbshare_mobile&fbclid=IwAR05AcltiRiZnV3ONyf3SIkwJBmSTu6c6YWnHHRKXAmdCvP10RWAujkemsk

Bassist Matthew Seligman has died at the age of 64 after a battle with COVID-19.
by COREY IRWIN
April 17, 2020

The musician is best known for his work during the ‘80s, including material with the Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby and David Bowie.

Dolby shed light on Seligman’s dire situation two weeks ago with the first in a series of Facebook posts chronicling his friend and former bandmate's condition. Earlier today he relayed a message he’d received regarding Seligman, stating that the bassist had suffered “a catastrophic hemorrhagic stroke from which he won't recover.”

Seven hours later, Dolby confirmed Seligman's passing with a post that simply read "Matthew's gone."

Born in Cyprus and raised in England, Seligman initially came to prominence in the late 1970s as a member of the Soft Boys. The psychedelic group released two albums, 1979’s A Can of Bees and 1980s Underwater Moonlight. Though neither were commercial successful, they’ve since become cult classics, inspiring such artists as R.E.M., the Flaming Lips, and the Replacements.

In 1981, Seligman joined synth-pop group the Thompson Twins. The bassist's tenure with the band was brief, as he only appeared on one of their albums, 1982’s Set. The LP’s opening track, “In the Name of Love” became a dance hit in the U.S., the group’s first successful foray across the pond.

Dolby would also work with the Thompson Twins at this time, adding keyboards to Set and appearing with the band during several performances. The musician soon recruited Seligman to contribute to his solo work, spawning a creative friendship which would last for decades.

Seligman would perform on all five of Dolby’s solo albums, including the debut LP The Golden Age of Wireless which featured breakout hit “She Blinded Me with Science.” The track peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard chart, becoming synonymous with the ‘80s new wave sound.

“I first met Thomas to play Moog, not bass at all,” Seligman explained during a 2019 appearance on the The Hustle podcast. The musician’s Moog synthesizer part would appear on the “She Blinded Me With Science” single. “I’d never played Moog before. And the pattern with Thomas was he loved to give me things I couldn’t do.”

Follow-up album, 1984’s The Flat Earth, made a concerted effort to get away from the sounds of “She Blinded Me With Science.” “I think we were all inspired by Bowie,” Seligman explained. “And Bowie had already by that stage established this pattern of going through several different versions of himself. And so I think Tom thought, ‘Well, I could do that. I could have a new image.’”

The decision was polarizing. Flat Earth’s most commercially successful single was "Hyperactive!,” which peaked at No. 17 in the U.K. but failed to chart in America.

Following his stint with Dolby, Seligman became the musical version of a “gun-for-hire,” contributing to a wide variety of artists' material. The bassist backed Bowie during the iconic singer’s 1985 performance at Live Aid and would be featured on two of Bowie’s releases the following year: the soundtrack to Labyrinth, as well as the song “Absolute Beginners” from the film of the same name.

Seligman’s many other credits include work with Peter Murphy, Morrissey, Tori Amos and Sinead O'Connor.

The bassist moved to Japan in the early 2000s, living there for years before returning to the U.K.. He transitioned from music to law, practicing as a lawyer who specialized in human rights while also working as a mental health advocate.

Seligman was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early April and admitted to St. George’s hospital in London. He had been in a medically induced coma roughly two weeks prior to passing.

[Gary]

Fred the Godson Dies at 35 From Coronavirus
4/23/2020 by Gil Kaufman



New York rapper Fred the Godson (born Fredrick Thomas) has died at age 35 from COVID-19.

The news was confirmed by friend DJ Self, who wrote that Fred "was loved ... never heard one bad thing about you RIP @fredthegodsonmusic Sleep Well my brother." Fred's good friend and collaborator Jaquae also honored the MC, writing, "Sleep in peace my brother.... You'll never be forgotten. LOVE U MAN. I have so much things to say but I'm lost right now." Fred the Godson was featured in XXL's 2011 Freshman class.
A spokesperson for Thomas could not be reached for comment at press time.

The South Bronx rapper's publicist told The Source on Wednesday that the MC remained in intensive care after his fever peaked earlier at 105 degrees and that his heart and vital signs were showing improvement, though his kidney function was seriously impacted due to complications from COVID-19. Thomas was reportedly at higher risk as a result of his asthma. Earlier this month, he was hospitalized and was relying on a ventilator to breathe.

On April 6, he posted a picture in which he held up a closed fist as he breathed with the help of supplemental oxygen, writing, "I'm in here with this [COVID] 19 sh--! Please keep me in y'all prayers!!!" His longtime partner and the mother of their two children, makeup artist LeeAnn Jemmott, told XXL on April 10 that she was confident he was "going to make it" and that he was being weaned off the ventilator, which has been at the center of many news stories about the pandemic ravaging the U.S. due to the shortage of the potentially life-saving devices.

"He is fighting and he is winning," Jemmott said. "He has no sign of infection. His heart is strong and working well. His kidneys have been affected, but as of today, he has started dialysis to clean the toxins out of his blood. Fred is going to make it. God is good!"

A member of the 2011 XXL Freshman class, Fred's exemplary wordplay and smooth delivery made him a promising MC on the rise. In 2012, he released his ambitious mixtape City of God, hosted by DJ Drama. The tape included features from Diddy, Pusha T and Raekwon.

Godson is the latest musician to die as a result of the novel coronavirus, joining an increasingly long list that includes John Prine, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, Joe Diffie, Matthew Seligman, Lee Konitz, Ellis Marsalis, John "Bucky" Pizzarelli, Wallace Roney, Alan Merrill, Manu Dibango and DJ Black N Mild, among others. To date, the coronavirus has killed more than 48,000 and sickened nearly 868,000 in the United States.

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/9366775/troy-sneed-dies-covid-19

Gospel Star Troy Sneed Dies at 52 Due to COVID-19
4/27/2020 by Rania Aniftos

Grammy nominated gospel singer Troy Sneed passed away early on Monday morning (April 27) due to coronavirus complications. He was 52 years old.

The Perry, Florida, native launched his music career at Florida A&M University, where he studied education with a minor in music. He soon joined the school's choir, and after he graduated, Savoy Records executive Rev. Milton Biggham offered him a position as the Georgia Mass Choir's Assistant Minister of Music. During his time there, he traveled with the choir, arranged music on their albums and appeared with them in the Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston 1996 film, The Preacher's Wife.

Youth for Christ’s 1999 album, Higher, earned Sneed a Grammy nomination in 2000.

Sneed also had an impressive history on the Billboard charts. Seven of his albums hit the Top Gospel Albums chart, including A State of Worship, In His Presence, In Due Season, My Heart Says Yes, All Is Well, Awesome God and Taking It Back.

10 of his uplifting tunes hit the Hot Gospel Songs chart, half of which were in the top 10 including "Hallelujah," "Work It Out," "My Heart Says Yes," "Lay It Down" and "Kept by His Grace."

He was also no stranger to the Gospel Airplay chart, with 13 placements from 2006 - 2018. "Work It Out" hit No. 2 on the chart dated September 13, 2008.

Upon the news of Sneed's death, music distribution company GoDigiPath released a statement that read, "With great regret, we at GoDigiPath, LLC are literally stunned, deeply and extremely saddened as we have lost a beloved colleague and dear friend."

"Words truly cannot express our sorrow regarding an innocent life taken WAY TOO SOON due to Covid19! Please pray for Emily (Sneed), the kids ‎and the extended family/loved ones of our tragically departed brother, Troy Sneed... " the statement continues. "He is missed, beyond words as our hearts are broken well beyond all understanding!"

[areyoureadytojump]

pitchfork.com/news/hamilton-bohannon-dead-at-78/?fbclid=IwAR0a4x5XqTZ14LsNpnd280FJPeuG5Ooz55OkkvkoQZHDG88iA4sgHoI1XnU#intcid=recommendations_pitchfork-bottom-recirc-similar_2280237a-ce68-495d-9b98-f2290f16f4e0_text2vec1-mab

Hamilton Bohannon Dead at 78

The influential percussionist, bandleader, and disco innovator died on Friday, April 24
By Noah Yoo

Hamilton Bohannon has died. The percussionist, bandleader, and music producer who started his music career as the drummer for a young Stevie Wonder in the mid-1960s died on Friday, April 24, as the Newnan Times-Herald reports. He was 78 years old.

Bohannon grew up in Newnan, Georgia, a city 40 miles southwest of Atlanta. After finding a passion for the drums at a young age, he played with student groups and bands throughout his school years, eventually attending Clark College on a music scholarship. While on tour with Gorgeous George—playing with a then-unknown guitarist named Jimi Hendrix—Bohannon was introduced to a young Stevie Wonder. After a stint playing with Wonder, he struck up a working relationship with Berry Gordy and became the bandleader for other Motown acts, including Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and Diana Ross and the Supremes, among others.

When Motown moved to Los Angeles from Detroit at the beginning of the ’70s, Bohannon opted to remain in Detroit, eventually making the jump to solo artist and record producer. He is credited by many as being one of the first innovators of disco; his first hit, “South African Man,” was released in 1974, and he released albums on Dakar and Mercury throughout the '70s. His discography has been sampled by a slew of artists, including JAY-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Digable Planets, and he was immortalized on Tom Tom Club’s 1981 track “Genius of Love.”

As the years went on, Bohannon relocated back to his hometown in Georgia, where he established himself as a presence. In 2017, Newnan renamed a street after the musician in honor of his accomplishments and contributions to the community. “They asked about renaming the street, and I was blown away. But I give thanks to those who still live on that street and allowed this to happen. It means the world to me,” he told the Times-Herald. “The street where I was born, that same dirt street where my parents worked so hard for us—it’s incredible. It’s a very sacred thing.”

[Deleted]

I haven't seen any sources say Hamilton Bohannon died of the virus. The family hasn't released a cause of death.

[Gary]

Yeah I saw this yesterday - he was 78 - could have been anything