Backyard Radio

06/11/2025

BREAKING: Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has died.

Here's what we know: https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/brian-wilson-beach-boys-dead/507-6c80eb10-1fda-483e-9ee5-4119ebf49ea3?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_KHOU_11_News

06/09/2025

Sly Stone, pioneering funk musician, dead at 82

By Lisa Respers France, CNN, last hr

CNN

Sly Stone, the influential but enigmatic funk-rock star whose soulful, socially conscious recordings altered the course of popular music before he abruptly retreated from the spotlight and became the J.D. Salinger of rock, has died, his family announced Monday.

He was 82.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone,” according to a statement from his family. “After a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues, Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come.”

“Sly was a monumental figure, a groundbreaking innovator, and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk, and rock music,” their statement continued. “His iconic songs have left an indelible mark on the world, and his influence remains undeniable. In a testament to his enduring creative spirit, Sly recently completed the screenplay for his life story, a project we are eager to share with the world in due course, which follows a memoir published in 2024.”

Born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, the second of five children his family was affiliated with the Church Of God In Christ (COGIC) and continued their involvement with the denomination following the family’s move to Vallejo, California.

He was eight years old when he and three of his siblings recorded a gospel single under the group name Stewart Four.

“A musical prodigy, he became known as Sly in early grade school, the result of a friend misspelling ‘Sylvester.’ He was adept at keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums by age eleven, and went on to perform in several high school bands,” according to his website. “One of these groups, the Viscaynes, boasted an integrated lineup, a fact that did not go unnoticed in the late 1950s. The group cut a few singles, and Sly also released a few singles as well during that period, working with his younger brother Freddie.”

While a student at Vallejo Junior College, he learned composition and theory as well as how to play the trumpet. He became a popular disc jockey at R&B radio station KSOL.

His “eclectic musical tastes” helped to make his show a hit as the young DJ was “an early proponent of including R&B-flavored white artists” the likes of the Beatles, the Animals, and the Rolling Stones. He later took his DJ talents to KDIA, a gig he continued right up to the start of his now legenday band Sly and the Family Stone in 1967.

According to his site, “Sly and the Family Stone upset the Las Vegas status quo when they were booked into a three-month, six-nights-a-week gig at the Pussycat a’ Go Go, an engagement that was attended by everyone from James Brown to Bobby Darin.”

They group would use their Mondays off to fly to Los Angeles to record their debut album, “A Whole New Thing.” It included their first hit single, “Dance to the Music,” which would also become a single on their sophomore album.

While the band enjoyed early success, Stone eventually fell on hard financial times and would later be plagued by health issues and even homelessness.

Praised as a musical genuis, he also became known for being reclusive.

Before he vanished, Stone was a potent creative force in the late 1960s and early 1970s — a singer, songwriter, bandleader and producer. His group’s other hits include “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Thank You [Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin],” and “Family Affair.”

Sly and the Family Stone’s performance at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969 was memorialized in the Oscar-winning documentary “Summer of Soul,” directed by musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.

Thompson had also been working on a film about Stone, who in 2023 published a memoir.

04/19/2025

04/08/2025

Clem Burke, Blondie’s drummer and ‘heartbeat’, dies aged 70

By Ben Beaumont-Thomas, 6 hrs ago

The Guardian
Photograph: PR Company Handout

Clem Burke, the drummer whose backbeats powered Blondie to huge chart success across several decades, has died aged 70.

Burke’s bandmates Debbie Harry and Chris Stein said he had died after “a private battle with cancer”, in a tribute posted to Instagram.

They added: “Clem was not just a drummer; he was the heartbeat of Blondie. His talent, energy and passion for music were unmatched, and his contributions to our sound and success are immeasurable … His vibrant spirit, infectious enthusiasm and rock solid work ethic touched everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.”

Burke was one of only three band members, alongside Harry and Stein, to play on every one of Blondie’s 11 studio albums. Together the group defined the American new wave sound of the 1970s and 1980s, scoring six UK No 1 hits and four in the US , including Heart of Glass and The Tide Is High.

Alongside his work with Blondie, Burke played in supergroups such as the International Swingers, Slinky Vagabond and Magic Christian, and guested with artists as varied as Ramones, Eurythmics, Bob Dylan and Nancy Sinatra.

Born and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, Burke tinkered with local covers groups and a drum corps before moving to New York, auditioning for Blondie in 1975 to replace the band’s original drummer, Billy O’Connor. “My quest was to find my David Bowie, my Jim Morrison or my Mick Jagger to front a band,” he said in 2022. “I was emphatic about that. I needed to work with people that I felt had that sort of charisma and creativity.”

He had previously auditioned for Patti Smith, for the band that would end up recording her debut album Horses. “She asked me who my favourite drummer was … I said John Bonham, and I think that might’ve been the wrong answer,” he remembered.

Blondie released their debut single, X-Offender, in 1976 but success took a little time to arrive, with Stein and Harry later crediting Burke as the motivating force in the band, convincing Harry not to quit. “He really wanted to get out of New Jersey,” she said.

Their first chart success came overseas, in Australia then the UK, with songs such as Denis and Hanging on the Telephone, but the group swept to global fame in 1979, including in their native US, with Heart of Glass. It was powered by a drum machine but Burke was sanguine about this development: “It was threatening, I suppose, at first, but I’ve never really found myself in the situation where a drum machine was going to take over,” he later said.

Like the whole band, Burke drew on the cosmopolitanism of late-70s New York, playing high-tempo punkish rhythms or sensual, swaggering disco with equal charisma. “We all had a common aesthetic, whether it be the New York Dolls, or the Velvet Underground, or the Shangri-Las,” he said. Hits continued with Call Me – introduced by a tumbling yet precise Burke drum fill – as well as Atomic, a masterclass in cymbal impact, and The Tide is High, the band’s foray into reggae. The three singles were back-to-back No 1s in the UK.

The group’s success tailed off with their 1982 album, The Hunter, and they split later that year. Burke took high-profile sessions with the likes of Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend (“a real gentleman … a dream come true”, Burke said) and Joan Jett. He also worked with the former S*x Pistols guitarist Steve Jones in the supergroup Chequered Past and later joined another Pistols-related supergroup, the International Swingers, with Glen Matlock.

He played live with Ramones – “not a happy place to be” – and formed various other supergroups and rock’n’roll outfits including the Empty Hearts. His connection with Iggy Pop began when Blondie toured with him in the late 1970s – Burke later toured in his backing band, and in recent years Burke performed Pop’s Lust For Life album on tour with Matlock and Katie Puckrik. He even appeared with a Blondie tribute act, Bootleg Blondie, while his career with the band itself continued.

Blondie reformed for gigs in 1997, and triumphantly returned to the studio: the 1999 album No Exit reached No 3 in the UK and contained another No 1 single, Maria. They continued touring and released four more studio albums.

Among those paying tribute to Burke was another of his creative partners, Nancy Sinatra, who wrote: “My heart is shattered. Clem became an icon as a member of Blondie, but he was also a important part of my band, the KAB. I was blessed to call him my friend. If I ever needed him, he was there.”

Gerald Casale of Devo said: “His unmatched style and New York City ‘cool’ set the performance standard for decades.”

03/19/2025

Today's quotes from legend Kurt Cobain ❤️🔥

03/19/2025

Youngbloods frontman dead at 83

Sixties and 70s music fans are mourning the loss of one of their favorite singers today.

Jessi Colin Young, who was the frontman for The Youngbloods, has passed away.

Young reportedly died on March 16 at his home in South Carolina.

His publicist, Michael Jensen, did not provide a cause of death.

The Youngbloods hailed from Greenwich Village in New York City, where the 60s movement thrived.

The band formed in 1965 with Young on guitar and vocals, Jerry Corbitt on vocals, guitar, keyboards, and harmonica, Lowell Levinger on guitar and piano, and Joe Bauer on drums.

Over the years, Michael Kane, David Perper, and Scott Lawrence have joined the band.

Young and Corbit traveled in the same circles and were performing as a duo in 1965, using the name “Youngbloods,” which happened to be the name of Young’s second album.

Eventually, Levinger and Bauer were added to the group, and they started playing smaller venues, with their first concert being held at Gerde’s Folk City in the Village.

They were eventually booked as the house band at Café Au Go Go, which led to a record deal with RCA Victor.

While critics loved the band, they never really achieved commercial success, with only one true hit to their name, “Get Together.”

Even that song, however, did not become popular until it was used by WABC-AM in a promotion as well as the song being used in commercials.

The song was re-released, and this time, and it hit the Top 5, selling over one million copies, the band’s only gold record.

While the band did produce more records, and each member broke out into different careers, the only one who had any real success was Young.

The band broke up in 1972, but they did reunite briefly in 1984 for a club tour, but then disbanded again in 1985. The lineup, however, had changed, with Young, Corbitt, and Levinger returning, but David Perper was added for drums and Scott Lawrence was added for keyboards and woodwinds.

Joe Bauer died in 1982 before the reunion tour, and Corbitt died from lung cancer in 2014. With Young’s death, that leaves Levinger as the only remaining original band member alive.

Of the other members, Michael Kane passed away in 2022, with Young paying tribute on his social media page, writing, “Michael Kane has passed away peacefully earlier this month. He was the bass player in the Youngboods for the last few years. I wanted to go back to playing guitar and he was kind enough to help us out. He was glad to move to West Marin and he fit right in.

“He was a kind and gentle man with a smile in his eyes and a generous heart. Thank you Michael for keeping us going.

“You will be missed.”

As will you, Mr. Young. Rest in peace.

02/03/2025

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED.
On February 3, 1959. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, all play their last concert at the Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa. Just a few hours later all three artists would be tragically killed in a plane crash.

01/11/2025

Sam Moore, half of '60s R&B duo Sam & Dave, dies at 89

By Mikael Wood

Los Angeles Times

Sam Moore, who as half of the 1960s R&B duo Sam & Dave sang gritty but hook-filled hits including “Soul Man” and “ Hold On, I’m Coming ,” died Friday in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Jeremy Westby, who said the cause was complications from an unspecified surgery. Dave Prater, Moore’s partner in Sam & Dave, died in a car accident at age 50 in 1988.

With Moore as the tenor and Prater as the baritone, Sam & Dave were one of the signature acts at Memphis’ Stax Records, which offered a tougher, sweatier alternative to the more polished R&B sound that Detroit’s Motown had turned into pop gold.

Yet Sam & Dave were no strangers to the charts: In 1965, they kicked off a four-year run in which they reached the top 40 of Billboard’s R&B chart a dozen times and hit No. 2 on the all-genre Hot 100 with “Soul Man,” which was written and produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured backing by Stax’s crackerjack house band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s. “Soul Man” won a Grammy Award in 1968, beating Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “I Second That Emotion” to be named best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals.

Among Sam & Dave’s other hits were “I Thank You,” “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” “Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody,” “Something Is Wrong with My Baby” and “You Got Me Hummin’,” which a teenage Billy Joel went on to cover with his group the Hassles.

“Most bands … could get away with doing a lousy version of a Sam & Dave record and still get an incredible reaction to it,” Joel said when he inducted the duo into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. “But they all suffer when you compare them to the original.”

For all they accomplished in the studio, Sam & Dave were perhaps most highly regarded as an explosive live act, one known as both Double Dynamite and the Sultans of Sweat.

Samuel David Moore was born in Miami on Oct. 12, 1935, and grew up singing in the church. He met Prater at Miami’s King of Hearts nightclub in the early ’60s when Prater performed at an amateur night that Moore was hosting. The two formed Sam & Dave and toiled mostly in obscurity until Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd — the creative braintrust behind Atlantic Records — caught their show and signed the duo to a deal that had them recording for Stax, which Atlantic was distributing.

Moore and Prater, whose relationship was always more professional than friendly, broke up in 1970 but reunited after each man’s solo career fizzled. In 1978, the Blues Brothers — comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd — released a cover of “Soul Man” that went to No. 14 on the Hot 100; the renewed attention propelled Sam & Dave for a few more years until they played their final gig together in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve in 1981. (To Moore’s chagrin, Prater later toured as Sam & Dave with a different singer, Sam Daniels.)

In 1982, Moore married Joyce McRae, who also began managing his career and helped him overcome an addiction to he**in. He went on to sing on albums by Don Henley and Bruce Springsteen and received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2019. Moore’s survivors include his wife, their daughter and two grandchildren.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .