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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, June 14th, 2024, featuring recording artists from around the world who passed away recently.
This week, our headliner is someone you’ve never heard of who wrote hits you’ve definitely heard of, Mark James. We’ll take you to the Amphitheater for some experimental music from India and Germany. We’ve got some Texas pop-punk and California stoner rock in the Mosh Pit. We dedicate a new stage for Opera, featuring tenors from Peru and Czech Republic. We’ll open up the Country Bunker for some traditional Irish fiddle. We’ve got traditional French chant and French torch song in Le Cabaret. We’ll close up shop this week at the Festival Stage in Brazil.
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:
[07 Jun 2024] Rose-Marie, 68, Northern Irish singer and television personality.
Rose-Marie Kane passed away on June 7th. She was a beloved television personality in Northern Ireland who released nineteen albums in the UK. She was once judged the Most Popular Singer at the International Music Awards and had numerous sellout concerts at the London Palladium. Here is Rose-Marie singing “The Answer to Everything.”
Rose-Marie – The Answer to Everything
Headliner:
[08 Jun 2024] Mark James, 83, American songwriter (“Hooked on a Feeling“, “Suspicious Minds“, “Always on My Mind“).
This week’s headliner joined the great beyond on June 8th. Mark James began performing his songs in the late 50s but was drafted to serve in Vietnam in 1963. When he returned, he moved to Memphis and worked as a staff songwriter for a company that produced records for his friend, B.J. Thomas, who took this song written by James to #5 in 1969. Five years later, James’ song hit #1 when Blue Swede added a distinctive introduction.
Blue Swede – Hooked on a Feeling
Amphitheater:
[11 Jun 2024] Rajeev Taranath, 91, Indian classical musician.
We open the Amphitheater with an Indian musician who trained as a child, went on to earn his Ph.D. in Literature, then leave his academic career to return to music. Rajeev Taranath, who left us on June 11th, played the sarod and learned under some of India’s best musicians, including Ravi Shankar. Here he is a bit of an experimental composition entitled “Moon Rise (Earth mix)”.
Rajeev Taranath – Moon Rise (Earth mix)
[07 Jun 2024] Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, 90, German composer.
Next, we have German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, who joined the hereafter on June 7th. Stiebler was an experimental composer dedicated to minimalism and repetition. This is a piece for piano performed with Peter Roggenkamp called “Labile Aktion.”
Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, Peter Roggenkamp – Labile Aktion
Mosh Pit:
[11 Jun 2024] Adam Lewis, 45, American bassist (Fenix TX), pancreatic cancer.
Adam Lewis was the bassist for the Houston pop punk band that was originally called Riverfenix (with an f) until a cease and desist order from the estate of actor River Phoenix convinced them to change the name to Fenix TX (with an f). The band performed from 1995 to 2002 and in various incarnations since then except between 2010 and 2012. Lewis died from pancreatic cancer at age 45 on June 11th. Here is Fenix TX with a song about another actor, “Phoebe Cates.”
Fenix TX – Phoebe Cates
[05 Jun 2024] Ranch Sironi, 32, American bassist (Nebula).
Our youngest performer on the Reaper’s Rotation this week is another bassist, this time from the Los Angeles stoner rock group Nebula. Ranch Sironi joined the band late; they formed in 1997 and he didn’t join until 2019. Sironi died on June 5th at only 32 years old; he was just five when Nebula formed. Here he is performing on the track “Man’s Best Friend.”
Nebula – Man’s Best Friend
Opera:
[27 May 2024] Francesco Petrozzi, 62, Peruvian lyric tenor and politician, MP (2016–2019).
Welcome to our newest stage, where we’ve gathered all the Opera singers from the Amphitheater. We begin with Francesco Petrozzi, a Peruvian lyric tenor who passed away on May 27th. Petruzzi was also a politician, serving as a member of Congress from 2016 to 2019 and as the minister of culture in Peru in 2019. Here he is among a large cast performing “Arie di stile antico, Vol. 1, No. 5, Amor s’apprende.”
Francesco Petrozzi et al – Arie di stile antico, Vol. 1, No. 5, Amor s’apprende
[20 Apr 2024] Miroslav Švejda [cs], 84, Czech operatic tenor, Thalia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Opera recipient.
Next, we head to the Czech Republic to meet Miroslav Švejda, a Thalia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Opera recipient, who joined the choir invisible on April 20th. Here he is performing “Les Noces, Part I, Scene 3: The Bride’s Departure [Stravinsky].”
Miroslav Švejda – Les Noces, Part I, Scene 3: The Bride’s Departure [Stravinsky]
Country Bunker:
[08 Jun 2024] Mark James, 83, American songwriter (“Hooked on a Feeling“, “Suspicious Minds“, “Always on My Mind“).
Let’s welcome our Headliner, Mark James, to the Country Bunker, to recognize his two Grammy Awards for writing this next song. It has been recorded over 300 times, first by country singers Brenda Lee and Gwen McCrae, who had competing versions out in 1972. Elvis Presley took it to #16 on the country charts later that year. Oddly, the highest charting version was a new wave cover that went to #4 on the Hot 100 in 1987 by the Pet Shop Boys. But it was this version in 1982 by Willie Nelson that won Mark James his Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Country Song. This is “Always on My Mind.”
Willie Nelson – Always on My Mind
[08 Jun 2024] Charlie Lennon, 85, Irish traditional fiddler and composer.
Off to Ireland now for some traditional fiddle music performed by a nuclear physicist. Charlie Lennon grew up playing fiddle and piano in teenage bands before he earned his degree at the University of Liverpool. His five decade career has earned him numerous awards for the arts in Ireland. Here he is performing with Frankie Gavin and Paul Brock on “Cooley’s / The Wise Maid.”
Frankie Gavin, Paul Brock, Charlie Lennon – Cooley’s / The Wise Maid
Le Cabaret:
[11 Jun 2024] Marcel Guilloux, 93, French singer and storyteller.
We have a very particular form of French folk for you today in Le Cabaret. Marcel Guilloux hailed from the Brittany region and spoke Breton, the only surviving Celtic language in use on the European mainland. Guilloux, our oldest performer who died at age 93 on June 11th, was a pivotal player in the revival of the traditional Breton music and dance post World War II. Here he is with Jean-Francios Quemener and Anne Auffret singing “Mab er brigant, Le fils du brigand.”
Jean-Francios Quemener, Anne Auffret, Marcel Guilloux – Mab er brigant, Le fils du brigand
[11 Jun 2024] Françoise Hardy, 80, French singer-songwriter (“Tous les garçons et les filles“, “All Over the World“) and actress (Grand Prix), laryngeal cancer.
One of France’s most beloved singer-songwriter-actors has departed on June 11th. Françoise Hardy was a French pop icon who recorded over 30 albums and appeared in a dozen French movies and a cameo appearance in 1965’s “What’s New Pussycat?” Later, she had a successful career as a professional astrologer and an author of fiction and non-fiction works. Here she is singing “Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles,” or “All the Boys and Girls.”
Françoise Hardy – Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles
Festival Stage:
[13 Jun 2024] Nahim [pt], 71, Brazilian singer, fall.
This week we have two Brazilians on the Festival Stage who left us on the same day, June 13th. First up, Nahim, the mononymous singer and guitarist who rose to musical fame in the 1980s and then later television fame in the 2000s as a reality show judge. This is one of Nahim’s first hits from 1981, entitled “Dá Coração”.
Nahim – Dá Coração
[13 Jun 2024] Skowa, 68, Brazilian singer-songwriter (Trio Mocotó), cardiac arrest.
The other Brazilian reaching the Festival Stage on June 13th is the monomyous singer-songwriter Skowa. He began his career in 1975 playing rock, joined a new wave band in the 80s, formed a soul band for the 90s, then joined the samba rock group Trio Mocotó in 2003, with which he performed until his death. This is Trio Mocotó with “Águas De Março.”
Trio Mocotó – Águas De Março
Encore:
[08 Jun 2024] Mark James, 83, American songwriter (“Hooked on a Feeling“, “Suspicious Minds“, “Always on My Mind“).
Mark James returns to the stage as a songwriter whose work was often recorded by the King of Rock’n’Roll, Elvis Presley. We mentioned earlier “Always on My Mind”, and Elvis also recorded “Raised on Rock”, “It’s Only Love”, and “Moody Blue”, the title track to Elvis’s last album. But it was in 1968 as Elvis was looking for a hit single to propel his comeback that Mark James landed this #1 smash, “Suspicious Minds”.
Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds
Closing:
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, June 14th, 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.
