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INTRODUCTION

This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, January 19^th, 2024, featuring recording artists from around the world who passed away recently. This week the Reaper brings to us the greatest classical music satirist ever, a soap opera star with a connection to the wild frontier, and one of Canada’s best-known radio and TV personalities. We’ve got American techno, Turkish pop, Australian rock, Nepalese folk, French disco, and much more. Get ready to expand your musical horizons on this global jam session from the great beyond. Let’s kick things off with our Opening Act.

Opening Act:

[19 Jan 2024] Silent Servant, American techno DJ and producer.

We don’t have much information on our Opening Act, as he has just passed away this morning. Born John Juan Mendez in Central America, he became the American techno DJ and producer known as Silent Servant, who has been active in the international production collective called Sandwell District since 2000. This is some of Silent Servant’s newest music entitled “24 Hours.”

Silent Servant – 24 Hours

Headliner:

[16 Jan 2024] Peter Schickele, 88, American composer and musical satirist (P. D. Q. Bach).

Our headliner this week is an American classical composer who won four consecutive Grammys in the early 1990s for… Best Comedy Album? It all makes sense in the world of Peter Schickele, who passed on January 16^th. Schickele was best known as a satirist who composed under the pen name P.D.Q. Bach, “the twenty-first of Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty children.” Here’s a P.D.Q. Bach piece, the title track to the 1970 album, “The Stoned Guest.”

P.D.Q. Bach – The Stoned Guest

Main Stage:

[04 Jan 2024] Ayla Algan, 86, Turkish singer and actress (The House of Leyla, O Hayat Benim, Binbir Gece).

Turkey’s Ayla Algan opens our Main Stage this week, having stepped on the eternal stage on January 4^th. Algan was an actor who studied at the Actors Studio in New York before returning to Turkey, then Germany, to perform on stage and film from 1960 through 2010. She was also a renown singer, and was recognized with a State Artist title by the Turkish government. This is “Bak Şu Adama Aşik Oldu.”

Ayla Algan – Bak Şu Adama Aşik Oldu

[11 Jan 2024] Sigi Schwab, 83, German guitarist.

One of Germany’s most prolific guitarists has died on January 11^th. Sigi Schwab recorded his first album in 1967 and since has appeared on over 15,000 recordings. Here’s Schwab along with Manfred Hübler and the group Vampire Sound Inc. with “The Lions and the Cucumber.”

Vampire Sound Inc., Sigi Schwab, Manfred Hübler – The Lions and the Cucumber

Country Bunker:

[12 Jan 2024] Bill Hayes, 98, American singer (“The Ballad of Davy Crockett“) and actor (Days of Our Lives, The Cardinal).

Bill Hayes was a Daytime Emmy Award winner for his portrayal of Doug Williams on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, a role he debuted in 1970 and played continuously since 1999. Prior to television success, he was a successful pop singer in the 1950s, appearing on Your Show of Shows. But one song of his stands above all others, charting higher than versions by Fess Parker and Tennessee Ernie Ford that were released in the same year, Bill Hayes’ 1955 cover of “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”

Bill Hayes – The Ballad Of Davy Crockett

[13 Jan 2024] Jo-El Sonnier, 77, American singer-songwriter and accordionist, Grammy winner (2015).

Next, we have a 1988 Top New Male Vocalist nominee from the Country Music Awards who went on to win a Grammy for regional roots music in 2015. Jo-El Sonnier was an accordionist who began recording in 1967 and toured with Merle Haggard before turning from country to more traditional Cajun sounds. He was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and died on January 13^th of a heart attack shortly after a performance in Austin, Texas. Here’s a 1997 track from Sonnier called “Lake Arthur Special.”

Jo-El Sonnier – Lake Arthur Special

[10 Jan 2024] Audie Blaylock, 61, American bluegrass singer and guitarist.

Let’s cover all the country bases by throwing in some bluegrass. Audie Blaylock started playing guitar at age 8, then later took up mandolin and joined his first major band at age 20 in 1982. He performed with many groups and artists and his own group, Redline, as well as recorded a solo album in 2001. Blaylock died on January 10^th. Here is Audie Blaylock & Redline with “My Blue Eyed Darling.”

Audie Blaylock & Redline – My Blue Eyed Darling

International Stage:

[18 Jan 2024] Yogesh Vaidya, 77, Nepalese singer.

To Katmandu, Nepal we go to welcome Yogesh Vaidya to the choir invisible on January 18^th. In addition to singing traditional Nepalese music, Vaidya studied food and nutrition in Belgium and worked and retired from Nepalese civil service in 2005. Here he is with Tara Devi singing “Timilai Ke Bhayo.”

Yogesh Vaidya, Tara Devi – Timilai Ke Bhayo

[17 Jan 2024] Serge Laprade, 83, Canadian singer and radio broadcaster, prostate cancer.

Now to Canada, where one of the nation’s best-known Quebecois television and radio hosts has met his maker on January 17^th. Serge Laprade was also a stage actor and an unsuccessful candidate for parliament. He was also a well-known singer with a dozen albums and forty hit singles to his credit. Here’s one of those hits, a French-Canadian number called “Capri c’est fini.”

Serge Laprade – Capri c’est fini

[13 Jan 2024] Prahba Atre, 91, Indian classical vocalist.

We close the International Stage with Prahba Atre, an Indian classical vocalist who passed away on January 13^th. She received numerous accolades for her music, including three of India’s highest civilian awards. She also was a prominent composer and music educator. Here is a sample of her work entitled “Bairan Raya – Dadra.”

Prahba Atre – Bairan Raya – Dadra

Festival Stage:

[06 Jan 2024] Amparo Rubín, 68, Mexican singer and lyricist.

Amparo Rubín was a singer who composed her first song at age 11. She worked in nightclubs in Mexico and Spain, and in addition to her work as a singer and composer, Rubín delved into musical and theatrical workshops. Her music was the soundtrack to numerous Mexican telenovelas of the 1980s and 1990s. Here is Rubín performing “Carta.”

Amparo Rubín – Carta

[28 Dec 2023] Pedro Suárez-Vértiz, 54, Peruvian singer-songwriter (Arena Hash), heart attack.

We have one late arrival from 2023 to get to this week. Pedro Suárez-Vértiz of Peru died on December 28^th. He was a singer-songwriter and guitarist for the popular rock band Arena Hash that he formed with his brother Patricio in 1987. After the breakup in 1993, Suárez-Vértiz went on to record over a dozen solo albums. Here he is with Arena Hash and the track “Y Es Que Sucede Asi.”

Arena Hash – Y Es Que Sucede Asi

Encore:

[18 Jan 2024] Slim Pezin [fr], 78, French guitarist, arranger and conductor.

We opened the week with some techno and we close the week with some disco. Slim Pezin was a French guitarist, composer, and arranger who began his career in 1963 and died on January 18^th. His music was featured in the films “The Fugitive” and “Six Days Seven Nights.” He was also featured on a number of collaborations, including this one with the group Disco and Co. called “Cold Coke.”

Disco and Co. – Cold Coke (1979 Original)

Closing:

And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, January 19^th, 2024. Join us here next week as we chronicle the latest musicians, singers, and songwriters to join the Great Gig in the Sky. Catch up on every year of Rest in Playlist back to 2016 on Spotify and RadicalRuss.com. For Rest in Playlist, I’m “Radical” Russ Belville reminding you to seize the day, it may be your last.