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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, February 9th, 2024, featuring recording artists from around the world who passed away recently. It’s a week full of big names headed to the celestial session, headlined by country superstar Toby Keith. We’ve also got a psychobilly pioneer, the last surviving member of a Hall of Fame R&B group, a punk rock guitar legend, avante garde classical musicians from Europe, and two former members of Bob Marley’s band The Wailers. Tip your red Solo cup and expand your musical horizons on this global jam session from the great beyond. Let’s kick things off with our Opening Act.
Opening Act:
[07 Feb 2024] Mojo Nixon, 66, American musician (“Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child“) and actor (Super Mario Bros., Great Balls of Fire!).
Neill Kirby McMillan Jr., who passed on February 7th, is best known by his stage name, Mojo Nixon. Considered one of the progenitors of psychobilly—a genre combining rockabilly and punk rock—he also played a drummer in the 1989 movie Great Balls of Fire and continued acting in five more movies in the 1990s. He then went on to terrestrial and satellite radio deejay work. Here is the song that made Mojo famous, the MTV favorite, “Elvis is Everywhere.”
Mojo Nixon – Elvis Is Everywhere
Headliner:
[05 Feb 2024] Toby Keith, 62, American country singer (“Should’ve Been a Cowboy“, “How Do You Like Me Now?!“, “Red Solo Cup“) and songwriter, stomach cancer.
The world of country music was shocked on February 5th to learn of the passing from stomach cancer of superstar Toby Keith. He broke through with the number one country song of 2000, “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” and went on to dominate the charts with party songs and patriotic anthems. But given my background, there’s one particular country tale spun by Toby Keith about his herbal encounter with Willie Nelson on the Honeysuckle Rose that I cannot resist playing in tribute. This is “Weed With Willie.”
Toby Keith – Weed With Willie (live)
Main Stage:
[07 Feb 2024] Henry Fambrough, 85, American Hall of Fame singer (The Spinners).
The last surviving original member of The Spinners has died on February 7th. Henry Lee Fambrough co-founded the group, originally known as The Domingoes, in 1954, and sang with The Spinners for the next 69 years—the last ten of which as the only original member. While his voice can be found in the background of all their big hits, I wanted to give you Mr. Fambrough singing lead on this album track from 1975’s Pick of the Litter, this is “I Don’t Want to Lose You.”
The Spinners – I Don’t Want To Lose You
[22 Jan 2024] Cynthia Garrison, 64, American singer (The Three Degrees).
The Three Degrees were a girl trio in the model of The Supremes, formed in Philadelphia in 1963. Thye rose to prominence in 1974 as the vocalists on the hit “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” by MFSB and their own #2 hit “When Will I See You Again.” As the group continued, 16 different women were in the trio, but none longer than Cynthia Garrison, who died on January 22nd. Here she is with The Three Degrees on “Giving Up, Giving In.”
The Three Degrees – Giving Up, Giving In
Mosh Pit:
[02 Feb 2024] Wayne Kramer, 75, American guitarist (MC5) and songwriter (“Kick Out the Jams“), pancreatic cancer.
Wayne Stanley Kramer, who left us on February 2nd, came to prominence in the 1960s as a co-founder of the Detroit rock group MC5, a group known for their powerful live performances and radical left-wing political stance, managed by White Panther Party co-founder John Sinclair. MC5 is considered one of the foundational bands in punk rock music. Here’s Kramer’s composition that put MC5 on the map, this is the title track to the 1969 debut album, “Kick Out the Jams.”
MC5 – Kick Out The Jams
[18 Jan 2024] The Soft Moon, American musician.
Jose Luis Vasquez, known professionally as The Soft Moon, passed away on January 18th. As a teenager, Vasquez started out playing punk rock inspired by Descendents, Bad Religion, Bad Brains, Fugazi and Minor Threat. Vasquez spent time in Italy and opened for Depeche Mode on tour. He was found dead alongside DJ Silent servant, who we profiled on our January 19th episode, in a suspected fentanyl overdose. Here is The Soft Moon with “Exister.”
The Soft Moon – Exister
The Amphitheater:
[02 Feb 2024] Wilhelmenia Fernandez, 75, American soprano.
Wilhelmenia Fernandez, the American soprano, has joined the choir invisible on February 2nd. Born in Philadelphia in 1949, she made her operatic debut as Bess in Porgy and Bess for Houston Grand Opera and made her only film appearance in 1981’s “Diva.” Here she is singing “La wally” from that soundtrack.
Wilhelmenia Fernandez – La wally (from ‘Diva’)
[13 Jan 2024] Bruno Ducol, 74, French pianist and composer.
Now we get a bit experimental with the work of Bruno Ducol, a French pianist and composer who passed away on January 13th. His compositions, for different ensembles, are inspired by Antiquity, exotic music, nature, poetry, and visual arts. Here’s a bit from his 2001 composition Vibrations chromatics entitled “D’après Piet Mondrian.”
Bruno Ducol – D’après Piet Mondrian
[18 Jan 2024] Ivan Moody, 59, British composer and musicologist.
Let’s conclude our time in the Amphitheater with some whimsy. Ivan Moody was a prolific British composer from 1982 to 2023, producing multiple works per year. Born in 1964 in London, he was also a scholar of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Moody died on January 18th. Here’s a composition entitled “A Penny For a Tale.”
Ivan Moody – A Penny For a Tale
International Stage:
[06 Feb 2024] Donald Kinsey, 70, American guitarist and singer (The Kinsey Report, The Wailers Band).
A giant in the world of reggae has left us on February 6th. Donald Kinsey made his mark in the Word Soul and Power Band, the backing group for Peter Tosh, and the list of acts he has recorded with might as well be the reggae Hall of Fame, from Bob Marley to Morgan Hertiage, Burning Spear to Denroy Morgan, and more. Here he is with his own group, The Kingsey Report, with “Full Moon on Main Street.”
The Kinsey Report – Full Moon On Main Street
[03 Feb 2024] Aston “Family Man” Barrett, 77, Jamaican musician (Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Upsetters).
Ashton Barrett, known as Family Man, was another Jamaican musician who had played with Bob Marley and the Wailers. A Lifetime Achievement Award winner from Bass Player Magazine, Barrett got the nickname Family Man well before he fulfilled the prophecy by fathering 41 children. Barrett, passed away on February 3rd, also played with Lee Perry’s group, The Upsetters, heard on this track called “I Chase the Devil.”
The Upsetters – I Chase The Devil
[02 Feb 2024] Marcelo Yzurieta [es], 49, Argentine singer, guitarist and composer.
Marcelo Javier Yzurieta was an Argentine folk artist and producer who ascended on February 2nd. At age 21, he was the founder of the influential group Los Sacha in 1995. Following their debut album in 1996, the group went on to win awards at numerous Argentine festivals. Here is Los Sacha with “Mi voz y mi Esperanza.”
Los Sacha – Mi voz y mi eperanza
Encore:
[05 Feb 2024] Toby Keith, 62, American country singer (“Should’ve Been a Cowboy“, “How Do You Like Me Now?!“, “Red Solo Cup“) and songwriter, stomach cancer.
We’ll close the show today with our headliner, country superstar Toby Keith, whose career was not without controversy. It was 2003, the United States had invaded Iraq, and Keith wrote what one general called one of the greatest fighting anthems he’d ever heard. But the war’s detractors, like fellow superstars, the then-Dixie Chicks, and country legends like Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings, didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with Keith’s ode to warfare. Whether you think it’s patriotic or pantyhose, there’s no denying this next song, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” was a monster hit.
Toby Keith – Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)
Closing:
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, February 9th, 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.
