Obit of the Day: Playlist of the Dead 2012
It is time for Obit of the Day’s annual Playlist of the Dead. So listen to the music, read the posts, and remember some incredible talent we’ve lost over the past twelve months. (The glaring exception is the Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, for whom I was unable to write a post, but I did put “An Open Letter to NYC” on the playlist.)
January
Fred Milano – original member of Dion and the Belmonts
Johnny Otis – “The Godfather of Rhythm and Blues”
Etta James – Grammy winning R&B legend
February
Whitney Houston - Grammy Award-winning singer
Kathryn McDonald – member of Duke Ellington’s orchestra
Billy Strange – guitarist and songwriter, part of the “Wrecking Crew”
Louisiana Red – blues guitarist
Davy Jones – lead singer of The Monkees
March
Jimmy Ellis – backup singer for The Trammps
Eric Lowen – Grammy Award-winning co-writer of “We Belong”
Earl Scruggs – Bluegrass legend
April
Barney McKenna – last of the original Dubliners
Andrew Love – saxophonist and member of the “Memphis Horns”
Levon Helm – legend of rock and folk, member of The Band
Pete Fornatele – WNEW rock DJ
May
Charles “Skip” Pitts – bass player on “Theme from Shaft”
Donna Summer – disco legend and Grammy Award winner
Robin Gibb – member of the Bee Gees
June
Herb Reed – original member of the Platters
Graeme Bell – “The Father of Australian Jazz”
July
Jon Lord – keyboardist for Deep Purple
August
Scott McKenzie – singer, “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”
Willa Ward – member of the gospel group, The Famous Ward Singers
September
“Sugar Boy” Crawford – writer, and original singer, “Iko Iko”
October
R.B. Greaves – writer and singer, “Take a Letter Maria”
Bil Dees – co-writer, “Oh, Pretty Woman”
November
Cleve Duncan – member of The Penguins and lead singer, “Earth Angel”
December
Dave Brubeck – pianist and jazz legend
Fontella Bass – singer of 1965 hit “Rescue Me”
You should be able to find the playlist on Spotify under “Playlist of the Dead 2012” or through my account, Josh Eisenberg.
For more Obit of the Day:
Clever idea for a playlist.
Whitney Houston died from accidental drowning, and contributing factors included heart disease and cocaine use, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirms.
Houston was found unresponsive and underwater in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 11, a day before the Grammy Awards. - People.com
Photo: Tibrina Hobson / WireImage
Pretty crazy, guys.
The world’s top film honors are in jeopardy of losing their status as the second most-watched TV event in the United States behind professional football’s Super Bowl if they can’t lure more than 40 million viewers, which will be difficult given that silent movie ‘The Artist’ is this year’s big picture.A Reuters article talking about this year’s Oscars, which finds itself in the weird position of likely being the second-most-watched awards show of the year, after the Grammys got a massive ratings boost in the wake of Whitney Houston’s death earlier this month. Whaddya mean there’s no mainstream appeal in silent movies?
The National Enquirer isn’t above running photos of famous celebrities in their coffin at a private funeral. (Go find it yourself if you wanna see it.) Should they have run a photo of Whitney Houston from her funeral?
What if you were the first person on the beat of a major news story, and you beat everyone by like an hour? That was the situation of Aja Dior M. (Twitter handle @AjaDiorNavy), who was the very first person to post about the death of Whitney Houston last Saturday. Yes, she broke it. But as you can see in this graph above, a total of 16 people touched the tweet at first. When AP finally broke the news nearly an hour later, that’s when it went viral. It wasn’t until hours later that the media noticed that she had scooped them. Why is that? Gilad Lotan of SocialFlow argues that her network wasn’t built out in a way that would encourage the spread of this info beyond a small group. “We’ve seen this many times before,” he writes. ”The combination of the right timing, network and topicality make or break an information cascade.”
Autopsy inconclusive: Coroner’s officials don’t know how Whitney died: Despite claims from TMZ that her death may have been an overdose, officials say it’s too early to tell if that was the case. She may have also drowned in the bathtub inside her hotel room. Officials say there were no signs of trauma. source
hman:
“Of all of the singers I’ve ever heard, Amy was the best one.”
On k.d. lang: ”Next to Judy Garland, she’s the best singer I’ve ever heard,” he says, tearing up with emotion. “She gives me goose bumps when I hear her sing.”
On Ella Fitzgerald: “She made as many records as Crosby and Sinatra and they’re all beautiful. They’re all in top shape … [s]he’s the best singer I ever heard … absolutely.”
Tony Bennett is way too quick to give out praise.
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Whitney Houston’s final performance, a duet of “Jesus Loves Me” with fellow R&B singer Kelly Price for a pre-Grammy show hosted by Price. In the days before her death, Houston reportedly displayed erratic behavior; this performance drew attention prior to her death due to her weak vocals. (more | EDIT: Clarified post)
Sometimes, humor walks a fine line between funny and “too soon.” Seems like Fark and @FakeAPStylebook perhaps fell a little too close to the “too soon” side. (more)
First of all, I want to tell you that I love you all. Second, I would like to say, I love you Whitney. The hardest thing for me to do is to come on this stage.Bobby Brown • Coming out on stage with New Edition in Southaven, Miss. Saturday night, a short time after finding out about the death of his ex-wife, Whitney Houston. He performed despite the difficult situation. In other news, Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan (the latter of whom had her song “I’m Every Woman” famously covered by Houston) will perform a tribute to the late singer at tomorrow night’s Grammy awards. (more)
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