Another of the most successful songwriters of the 60s, Ken Howard, has died. Together with his songwriting partner Alan Blaikley (whose death I noted here) he wrote hits for The Honeycombs, The Herd and, most notably, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Their songwriting list is impressive.
This was a no 4 for the latter band in 1965.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Hold Tight!
Later in their career Howard and Blaikley went into writing TV Themes and musicals.
This is perhaps the most familiar of those tunes.
Vejle Symfoniorkester: Miss Marple TV Theme
Kenneth Charles (Ken) Howard: 26/12/1939 – 24/12/2024. So it goes.
From the sublimely named LP Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake (don’t take up smoking kids). As I recall it came in a circular cardboard sleeve (and when released as a CD years later in a cylindrical tin resembling those tobacco was once sold in.)*
The Small Faces: Song of a Baker
*Looking it up it seems that the very first release was also in a tin but quickly replaced by the circular cardboard as the tin was too expensive and rolled off record shelves!
I saw in Tuesday’s Guardian that Zoot Money has died. He was one of the most celebrated performers of Rhythm and Blues in the early to mid 60s and a staple of the music press at the time.
His band had only the one real hit, though, Big Time Operator, which I featured here.
This is Zoot and his band playing what was in effect his signature tune
Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band: Barefootin’
George Bruno (Zoot) Money: 17/7 1942 – 8/10/2024. So it goes.
Dutch football legend Johan Neeskens has died. He was part of that magnificent Dutch side of the 1970s which reached the World Cup final twice in a row but unfortunately did not manage to win the trophy.
Neeskens also had a secondary assist on the superb goal – aided by a sublime pass from Johan Cruyff – he scored against Brazil in the 1974 World Cup .
Johannes Jacobus Neeskens: 15/9/1951 – 6/10/202. So it goes.
Kris Kristofferson, who died last week, was a man of many parts (literally as an actor but also a Rhodes Scholar, a soldier, helicopter pilot, singer and songwriter.)
It is for his songwriting and acting he will most likely be remembered for. Classic songs like Me and Bobby McGhee, For the Good Times and this one.
Kris Kristofferson: Help Me Make It Through the Night
The band’s first hit, no 3 in the UK in 1995. An objection to the female condition, the song’s lyric playing against lead singer Gwen Stefani’s appearance. Commercial imperatives, though.
Perhaps his most distinctive performance was his double bass line for Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side but that could be matched by the innovation on David Essex’s Rock On.
Lou Reed: Walk on the Wild Side
David Essex: Rock On
Brian Keith (Herbie) Flowers: 19/5/1938 – 5/9/2024. So it goes.
Sérgio Mendes, who popularised Bossa Nova in the 1960s, has died.
I remember this very familiar tune as getting a lot of airplay at the time but it wasn’t a hit in the UK. (Only Never Gonna Let You Go was, and it only got to no. 45 in 1983.) It is however probably the one for which he will be most remembered.
Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66: Mas Que Nada
Sérgio Santos Mendes: 11/2/1941 – 5/9/2024. So it goes.