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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, February 16th, 2024, featuring recording artists from around the world who passed away recently. It’s a cornucopia of international artists on this Reaper’s Rotation. Our world tour takes us to England, America, Mexico, Japan, Latvia, Hungary, Holland, Slovakia, Greece, India, Italy, and Finland. You’ll hear some rock, classical, folk, pop, and country from all around the world. 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:
[15 Feb 2024] Ian Amey, 79, English musician and singer (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich).
We begin in England, where Ian Amey has died on February 15th. Amey was best known by his nickname Tich as one of the members of the mid-60s freakbeat band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. The band had six top-five singles in the UK from 1966–68, including this track that went to number four called “Hold Tight!”
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich – Hold Tight
Headliner:
[09 Feb 2024] Jimmy Van Eaton, 86, American rock drummer, singer and record producer.
The man Jerry Lee Lewis called “The creative rock’n’roll drummer” has died on February 9th. Jimmy Van Eaton recorded with The Killer in the famous sessions Lewis laid down at Sun Records, as well as recordings with including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Charlie Rich at Sun. He also toured with Conway Twitty. Here’s Van Eaton behind the kit on take three of the session for “Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On.”
Jerry Lee Lewis – Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On (1.3)
Main Stage:
[09 Feb 2024] Renata Flores, 74, Mexican actress (Rosa salvaje, La usurpadora, Amores verdaderos) and rock singer, cancer.
Marta Sylvia “Renata” Flores was a Mexican actress and singer best known for playing villains in telenovelas. She had a hit at the age of 14 with a Spanish cover of “My Boyfriend’s Back,” then shot to stardom in television in her 30s and 40s. Despite her success, she ended up penniless and homeless, living in a car in Mexico City, until her death on February 9th. This is Renata Flores with the group We the Lion performing “Spirits.”
Renata Flores – Spirits
[09 Feb 2024] Damo Suzuki, 74, Japanese singer (Can) and songwriter (“Vitamin C“, “Spoon“), colon cancer.
Damo Suzuki, who passed away on February 9th, was a Japanese musician best known as the vocalist for the German Krautrock group Can between 1970 and 1973. He then quit music for a decade and became a Jehovah’s Witness. After returning to music in 1983, he also began a four-decade battle with colon cancer that was told in the documentary Energy. Here’s Suzuki’s first recording with Can from 1970, called “Don’t Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone.”
Can – Don’t Turn The Light On, Leave Me Alone
[12 Feb 2024] Juris Kulakovs [lv], 65, Latvian musician (Pērkons).
Pērkons, Latvian for thunder, was formed in Latvia in the 1980s. Juris Kulakovs wrote and played keyboard for the hard rock band, which in 1983 was banned by the Soviet government. But they just renamed themselves the Ensemble of the Soviet Latvia Collective Farm and continued performing anyway. Kulakovs met his maker on February 12th. Here is Pērkons with “Gandrīz Tautasdziesma.”
Pērkons – Gandrīz Tautasdziesma
The Amphitheater:
[12 Feb 2024] Tamás Deák, 95, Hungarian composer and conductor.
We move now to Hungary, where composer, conductor, and trumpet player Tamás Deák has left us on February 12th. Deák was one of the pioneers of jazz music education in Hungary, head of the jazz class of the Béla Bartók Music School in Budapest. Here’s his composition called “Csordapasztorok.”
Tamás Deák – Csordapasztorok
[12 Feb 2024] Rudolf Jansen, 84, Dutch classical pianist.
Rudolf Jansen was a Dutch classical pianist known for his accompaniment of chamber music. Jansen had played organ since he was a child and by age 24 was winning national awards. He recorded over 120 albums in his lifetime and played his last concert in 2017 at the age of 77. Here he is accompanying longtime collaborator singer Elly Ameling.
Elly Ameling, Rudolf Jansen – Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques – IV. Chanson Des Cueilleuses De Lentisques, M.A5
[11 Feb 2024] Ladislav Burlas, 96, Slovak composer and musicologist.
Our oldest performer in the ethereal orchestra this week is 96-year-old Ladislav Burlas from Slovakia. Burlas worked at the institute of musicology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava from 1951 to 1990. Burlas composed in many genres, for orchestra, chamber music, piano music and other works for solo instruments, with a focus on choral music and educational pieces. Here he is performing with Dalibor Karvay on “Kadencia.”
Ladislav Burlas, Dalibor Karvay – Kadencia
International Stage:
[20 Jan 2024] Charis Kostopoulos, 59, Greek singer-songwriter, cancer.
Our youngest performer with the choir invisible this week is 59-year-old Greek singer-songwriter Haris Kostopoulos, who started his career in 1975, at the age of 11, playing bouzouki, a kind of Greek lute. He went on to record over three dozen albums from 1987–2019. Kostopoulos left us on January 20th following his battle with cancer. This is “Proto Thema.”
Haris Kostopoulos – Proto Thema
[04 Feb 2024] Kamla Srivastava, 90, Indian folk singer, cardio-respiratory failure.
Kamla Srivastava was an Indian folk music singer who sang folk, light and classical music at All India Radio, Doordarshan and Sri Lanka Radio. She was the winner of over a dozen awards and retired as an assistant professor in Musicology. Srivastava passed away on February 4th. Here she is singing “Neema Tale.”
Kamla Srivastava – Neema Tale
[29 Jan 2024] Franco Tozzi [it], 79, Italian singer.
We close the International Stage with Italian singer Franco Tozzi, who joined the choir invisible on January 29th. Tozzi got his first break in 1964 by winning a festival singing contest. After completing military service, in 1968 he signed his first record deal. He went on to have a long recording career, celebrating 50 years with a new EP in 2016. His last recording in 2019 was one of the bestselling rock songs on Google Play. Here is Tozzi singing “Non si può morire dentro.”
Franco Tozzi – Non si può morire dentro
Country Bunker:
[13 Feb 2024] Jussi Raittinen [fi], 80, Finnish musician.
We close the show with some country music in a country you wouldn’t expect: Finland. Jussi Raittinen was a musician known for his time in the band The Boys, The Esquires, and The Sounds, as well as his own solo works. He recorded on a couple dozen albums from 1969–2003. Raittinen joined the afterlife on February 13th.
Jussi Raittinen – Hirvi, älä tule tielle
Encore:
[09 Feb 2024] Jimmy Van Eaton, 86, American rock drummer, singer and record producer.
We stay in a country vein with an encore from Jerry Lee Lewis’ drummer, Jimmy Van Eaton. As we mentioned, Van Eaton recorded with numerous Sun Records musicians who built the bridge between early rockabilly and 70s country. Here’s a great example of that crossover, Jerry Lee Lewis from the Sun Records sessions with Jimmy Van Eaton on drums performing “Crazy Arms.”
Jerry Lee Lewis – Crazy Arms
Closing:
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, February 16th, 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.
