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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, February 23rd, 2024, featuring recording artists from around the world who passed away recently. We’re spanning the globe and the century this week, with some classic 1960s American pop, heavy metal from Canada and Ukraine, and one of the defining families of bluegrass. We’ll also stop by Uruguay, Australia, Slovakia, Ethiopia, and Germany before we’re through. 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:
[20 Feb 2024] Judi Pulver, 77, American singer, lung cancer.
Judi Pulver, a singer-songwriter who became the top music sales executive for Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, died on February 20th. A native of Connecticut, Pulver got her start as a singer and songwriter who also worked in stage musicals. In 1973, she released the album “Pulver Rising,” then hit the road opening for Mott the Hoople in 1974. Here’s the single from that album called “Dancing on the Moon.”
Judi Pulver – Dancing on the Moon
Headliner:
[19 Feb 2024] Bobby Tench, 79, British musician (The Jeff Beck Group, Hummingbird, Streetwalkers).
Robert Tench, who left us on February 19th, is best known for his work with Freddie King and Van Morrison, as well as being a member of The Jeff Beck Group, Humble Pie, and Streetwalkers. He is also a founding member of Hummingbird and The Gass. Here’s Bobby Tench with Hummingbird and the track “You Can Keep the Money.”
Hummingbird – You Can Keep The Money
Main Stage:
[20 Feb 2024] David Libert, 81, American music executive, musician (The Happenings) and author.
David Libert was one of the founding members of the musical group, The Happenings. Libert later left the group to become a booking agent. After a brief stint as road manager for Rare Earth, Libert became tour manager for Alice Cooper during Alice’s most formidable years. His company went on to represent George Clinton, Parliament/Funkadelic, Living Colour, Sheila E, and Vanilla Fudge. Libert passed on February 20th. Here are the Happenings with their mega-hit, “See You in September.”
The Happenings – See You In September
[11 Feb 2024] Randy Sparks, 90, American musician (The New Christy Minstrels, The Back Porch Majority) and songwriter (“Green, Green”).
On February 11th we said goodbye to our oldest performer this week, 90-year-old Lloyd Arrington Sparks, known professionally as Randy Sparks, the founder of The New Christy Minstrels in 1962, whose debut album stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for two years. The large ensemble group featured many members, including Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes, and was a popular television fixture on The Andy Williams Show. Here’s their biggest hit that went to #14 on the pop charts, “Green, Green.”
The New Christy Minstrels – Green, Green
[16 Feb 2024] Cynthia Strother, 88, American singer (The Bell Sisters).
Cynthia Strother, along with her sister Kay, were a 1950’s singing duo who adopted their mother’s maiden name to perform as The Bell Sisters. They were discovered on Halloween Night, 1951, singing on a local Los Angeles TV show. By 1953, they had appeared in two movies. Cynthia died on February 16th and is survived by her sister, five years her junior. Here’s the song that got them discovered and peaked at #7 in 1952, this is “Bermuda.”
The Bell Sisters – Bermuda
The Amphitheater:
[20 Feb 2024] Geoffrey Michaels, 79, Australian violinist and violist.
Geoffrey Michaels was an Australian child violin prodigy in the 1950s. At 14, he became the youngest performer ever to win the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s concerto competition, and made his first recording, which sold out within weeks of its release. At the age of 16 he went to the United States to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. He passed away on February 20th. Here he is performing Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 2.”
Geoffrey Michaels – Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 2
[19 Feb 2024] Jozef Ábel [sk], 82, Slovak opera singer, actor and dancer.
Jozef Ábel was a Slovakian opera singer who joined the choir invisible on February 19th. He began his time as a soloist for the state theater in 1955, working his way up to soloist for the national theater in 1982. He was also skilled as an actor and dancer. Here he is performing the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly.
Jozef Ábel – Madame Butterfly, Humming Chorus
Festival Stage:
[21 Feb 2024] Roberto Darvin [es], 82, Uruguayan singer-songwriter and guitarist.
Roberto Darvin was a Uruguayan guitarist and singer-songwriter whose songs have been performed by Celia Cruz and other artists. He performed and lived in Uruguay, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Germany, and Spain. He was well known for his promotion of Uruguayan folk music. He died on February 21st. Here’s an example called “Calle Yacaré.”
Roberto Darvin – Calle Yacaré
Country Bunker:
[22 Feb 2024] Roni Stoneman, 85, American bluegrass banjo player (Hee Haw).
Veronica Loretta Stoneman, aka Roni Stoneman, was a bluegrass banjo player and comedian widely known as a cast member on the country music show Hee Haw. Her father, Ernest “Pop” Stoneman, recorded the first platinum country music record in 1924. He started a family band that included Roni, that won on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, then went on to have their own TV show, Those Stonemans, from 1966–68. Roni Stoneman died on February 22nd. Here she is performing “Going Home.”
Roni Stoneman – Going Home
International Stage:
[21 Feb 2024] Getachew Kassa, 79, Ethiopian singer and percussionist.
Ethiopia’s Getachew Kassa began singing at the age of six, imitating iconic singers like Elvis Presley and Harry Belafonte. As a young man, he started playing with a band called Fetan Band in the 1970s. Kassa moved to the United States in 1981 and drew attention to the fate of the people who had been struck by hunger in Ethiopia. Kassa died on February 21st. This is one of his most popular songs, “Yekereme Fikir.”
Getachew Kassa – Yekereme Fikir
[23 Feb 2024] Tina Rainford, 77, German singer (“Silver Bird”).
Tina Rainford, who passed away on February 23rd, was a German singer who began her career in 1963 under the stage name Peggy Peters. But by 1967, she assumed her real name in duets with then-husband Peter Rainford. Her greatest success came in 1976 with her song, “Silver Bird,” which was a hit in English in the US, Canada, and Australia. Here’s the German version of that tune, which made it big in Europe.
Tina Rainford – Silver Bird
Mosh Pit:
[16 Feb 2024] Fritz Hinz, 68, Canadian drummer (Helix), cancer.
Helix is one of the great Canadian hard rock bands, fronted by vocalist Brian Vollmer. The band went through many lineup changes, but its iconic lineup from the 1980s featured drummer Greg “Fritz” Hinz, who went on eternal tour on February 16th. Here’s Hinz on the skins with Helix’s biggest hit, “Rock You.”
Helix – Rock You
[16 Feb 2024] Dexter Romweber, 57, American musician (Flat Duo Jets).
Dex Romweber, who died on February 16th, was born the youngest of seven children in a musical family from Indiana. During the mid-1980s rockabilly revival led by The Stray Cats, he formed a band called Flat Duo Jets, but their first record didn’t come out until 1990. They appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and performed for fifteen years before Romweber split to tackle a solo career. Here are Flat Duo Jets with “Chiquita.”
Flat Duo Jets – Chiquita
[21 Feb 2024] Vitalij Kuprij [hu], 49, Ukrainian-American musician (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Ring of Fire) and composer.
Our youngest artist in the Reaper’s Rotation this week is Vitali Kuprij, a Ukrainian-American pianist who got his start in classical music, winning a Chopin competition in Russia as a teen. He moved to the US at 16 and became interested in the emerging genre of neoclassical metal, first with the group Artension in the 1990s, followed by Ring of Fire in the 2000s. Kuprij died on February 21st at the age of 49. Here is Ring of Fire with “Battle of Leningrad.”
Ring of Fire – Battle Of Leningrad
Encore:
[19 Feb 2024] Bobby Tench, 79, British musician (The Jeff Beck Group, Hummingbird, Streetwalkers).
Let’s bring the prolific Bobby Tench back up to close the show. When Tench joined the Jeff Beck Group, one rock critic wrote, “Tench has a fine, gravel voice …. Trying to fill [Rod] Stewart’s high heels is no mean feat and it’s to Tench’s credit that he carries himself well.” Let’s check that out in this 1971 track called “Got the Feeling.”
The Jeff Beck Group – Got the Feeling
Closing:
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, February 23rd, 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.
