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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, April 21st, 2023, featuring artists who passed in the week prior, from April 8th through April 14th. This week features a Scottish songwriter, a Brazilian singer, a German pianist, an American double-bassist, and the passing of our Headliner, Mark Sheehan of the Irish band, The Script. But first, let’s start the Rest in Playlist with our Opening Act.
Opening Act:
[14 Apr 2023] Cliff Fish, 73, British bassist (Paper Lace), cancer.
Opening the Rest in Playlist this week we have a British bassist named Cliff Fish, who co-founded a band called Music Box in 1967 and passed away on April 14th. After paying their dues playing Beach Boys covers, the changed their name in 1969 to Paper Lace. They went on to win five consecutive weeks on Britain’s Opportunity Knocks talent show and went on to have three hits in the UK. This one, “The Night Chicago Died,” went to #3 in the US as well.
Paper Lace – The Night Chicago Died
Headliner:
[14 Apr 2023] Mark Sheehan, 46, Irish guitarist (The Script) and songwriter (“Breakeven“, “Hall of Fame“).
Also collected by the Grim Reaper on Friday, March 14th is our headliner, Mark Sheehan, guitarist of the Irish pop band, The Script. Sheehan, along with his Script bandmate, Danny O’Donoghue, was formerly a member of boyband Mytown in the late 90s before forming The Script in 2001. At just 46-years-old, Sheehan is tied for youngest performer on the Rest in Playlist this week. Here’s their biggest hit, “Hall of Fame,” featuring Will.I.Am from the Black-Eyed Peas.
The Script – Hall of Fame (feat. Will.I.Am)
Main Stage:
[08 Apr 2023] Bob Heatlie, 76, Scottish songwriter (“Japanese Boy“, “I Cry Just a Little Bit“, “Merry Christmas Everyone“) and record producer.
Opening the Main Stage this week we have a Scottish songwriter named Bob Heatlie, who passed away on April 8th. Heatlie later in life worked as a composer for children’s television, and early on worked as a songwriter. Some of his best-known work was for Welsh singer Shakin’ Stevens, including this hit, “I Cry Just a Little Bit.”
Shakin’ Stevens – I Cry Just a Little Bit
[09 Apr 2023] Chuck Morris, 46, American percussionist (Lotus).
On April 9th we lost another young musician at the age of 46, Chuck Morris, percussionist for the instrumental jam group Lotus. Morris joined the group two years after its founding in 1999. The band was known for intricate light shows and amazing improvisational jams that incorporated nearly every genre. Here’s Lotus with “Sodium Vapor.”
Lotus – Sodium Vapor
[05 Apr 2023] Booker Newberry III, 67, American singer (“Love Town“) and keyboardist.
Every now and then, the Grim Reaper’s bookkeeper is late in getting us the most recent additions to the Great Gig in the Sky. Missing from last week’s Rest in Playlist is Booker Newberry III, and American singer and keyboardist who passed on April 5th at the age of 67. Here’s his best-known hit, “Love Town.”
Booker Newberry III – Love Town
Headliner:
[14 Apr 2023] Mark Sheehan, 46, Irish guitarist (The Script) and songwriter (“Breakeven“, “Hall of Fame“).
Our headliner, Mark Sheehan of The Script, returns to the stage. The Script’s music has been featured in television programs such as 90210, Ghost Whisperer, The Hills, Waterloo Road, EastEnders, Made in Chelsea and The Vampire Diaries. Here’s another one of The Script’s big hits, “Superheroes.”
The Script – Superheroes
Festival Stage:
[12 Apr 2023] Jah Shaka, Jamaican dub and reggae sound system operator.
Turning to the Festival Stage, we settle on the Caribbean Island of Jamaica to say goodbye on April 12th to Jah Shaka, one of the top performers of Jamaican dub and reggae sound systems. By the late 1970s Shaka’s system had rapidly gained a large and loyal following due to the combination of spiritual content, high energy rhythms, and his dynamic personal style. That following notably included many of the pioneers of post-punk such as Public Image Ltd and The Slits. Here he is with a dub of The Twinkle Brothers called “Jah Shall Reign.”
Jah Shaka & The Twinkle Brothers – Jah Shall Reign
[11 Apr 2023] Cynara [pt], 78, Brazilian singer (Quarteto em Cy).
Cynara was one of a four-girl group in Brazil called Quartet em Cy, a play on the four girls’ first names, Cybele, Cylene, Cynara and Cyva. They began performing in 1959 and released their first album in 1964, releasing about an album a year throughout the rest of the 20th century. Here they are with the appropriately titled ytack, “Funeral De Um Lavrador.”
Quarteto em Cy – Funeral De Um Lavrador
[08 Apr 2023] Bob Heatlie, 76, Scottish songwriter (“Japanese Boy“, “I Cry Just a Little Bit“, “Merry Christmas Everyone“) and record producer.
We bring back songwriter Bob Heatlie from Scotland to close out the Festival Stage. In addition to penning songs for Shakin’ Stevens, he wrote this single for a Scottish singer named Aneka that went on to be a huge novelty hit in the UK. This is “Japanese Boy.”
Aneka – Japanese Boy
In the News:
We take this moment in the Rest in Playlist to bid farewell to notable figures who managed to outrun the Grim Reaper for over a century. So, a tip of the Reaper’s hood goes to…
[14 Apr 2023] Egil Abrahamsen, 100, Norwegian marine engineer.
[10 Apr 2023] Al Jaffee, 102, American cartoonist (Mad, Trump, Humbug), multiple organ failure.
[08 Apr 2023] Kenneth McAlpine, 102, English racing driver.
The Jazz Cellar:
[09 Apr 2023] Karl Berger, 88, German-American jazz pianist, composer, and educator (Creative Music Studio).
Today in the Jazz Cellar, we welcome the oldest musician to join the Rest in Playlist this week, German-American jazz pianist Karl Berger at 88-years-old on April 9th. Berger was born in Heidelberg in 1935 and emigrated to the United States in the 1960s, where he worked with all the leading jazz artists of the day. He also founded the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, to educate improvisational musicians. Here’s his composition, “Perfect Love.”
Karl Berger – Perfect Love
[06 Apr 2023] Harrison Bankhead, 68, American jazz double bassist.
There’s another musician who managed to elude the bookkeeper last week. Harrison Bankhead joined the Rest in Playlist on April 6th at the age of 68. He was a double-bassist in the Chicago jazz scene in the 1980s, known for his work with Malachi Thompson, as well as his own quartet, heard here playing “The Dance of the Mystic.”
Harrison Bankhead Quartet – The Dance Of The Mystic
Encores:
[14 Apr 2023] Cliff Fish, 73, British bassist (Paper Lace), cancer.
As the Grim Reaper likes to remind us, we’re almost out of time. But we have just enough left to slip in some encores. Let’s bring back Cliff Fish and Paper Lace, performing a song they actually recorded first, but was also recorded and released sooner by the band Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods, who turned it into a hit. Alas, Paper Lace’s version of “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero” only made it to #96 on the US charts.
Paper Lace – Billy, Don’t Be a Hero
[14 Apr 2023] Mark Sheehan, 46, Irish guitarist (The Script) and songwriter (“Breakeven“, “Hall of Fame“).
Closing the Rest in Playlist is our Headliner, Mark Sheehan on The Script. The band has won three Meteor Ireland Music Awards and two World Music Awards and have received two Brit Award nominations. The Script have sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Here’s their track, “Breakeven.”
The Script – Breakeven
Closing
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, April 21st, 2023, featuring artists who passed the week before. Join us here next week for a tribute to the artists who have passed this week. For Rest in Playlist, I’m “Radical” Russ Belville reminding you to seize the day, it may be your last.
