Obituary News

Odetta: Soul Stirrer

Source: All About Jazz
December 5, 2008

Rosa Parks was her No. 1 fan, and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music.

Odetta's stage presence was regal enough: planted onstage like an oak tree no one would dare cut down, wearing a guitar high on her chest, she could envelop Carnegie Hall with her powerful contralto as other vocalists might fill a phone booth.

This was not some pruny European monarch but a stout, imperious queen of African-American music. She used that ...

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Odetta 1930-2008

Source: Michael Ricci
December 3, 2008

Odetta Holmes folk singer championed black history, civil rights

Odetta, who used just her given name professionally, had trained as a classical vocalist as a child and later discovered folk music, which she said really touched where I live. She became an inspiration to other folk singers and eventually received a National Medal of Arts and a Living Legend Award. Odetta, the classically trained folk, blues and gospel singer who used her powerfully rich and dusky voice to champion African ...

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Songwriter Alan Gordon Dies

Source: All About Jazz
December 2, 2008

Songwriter Alan Gordon, who co-wrote the Turtles' hit song “Happy Together," died of cancer Nov. 22 in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 64.

Gordon also wrote chart-toppers “She'd Rather Be With Me," “You Know What I Mean," “She's My Girl" and “Three Dog Night's “Celebrate" with long time writing partner Garry Bonner, and “My Heart Belongs To Me" for Barbara Streisand on his own. His songs have been recorded by artists including Bobby Darin, Alice Cooper, The Righteous Brothers, Petula Clark, ...

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Bill Drake 'Boss Radio' Inventor Spread Less-Talk Format Across Country

Source: Michael Ricci
December 2, 2008

Bill Drakes “Boss Radio" format turned KHJ-AM into Los Angeles top station in the 1960s and had similar success nationwide. He slashed commercial time, picked deejays with strong personalities, aired songs during competing stations news breaks and made sure the hits would keep on coming.

Bill Drake, the legendary radio programmer who revamped Top 40 radio in the 1960s and helped launch highly successful “93/KHJ Boss Radio" in Los Angeles, has died. He was 71. Drake died of lung cancer ...

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Coroner: Jazz Pianist Died from Blunt Force Trauma in Swedish Hip Hop Artist Assault Case

Source: All About Jazz
December 2, 2008

A jazz pianist who was killed in what police say was an episode of road rage in a Hollywood crosswalk died from “blunt trauma”, according to the coroner’s office.

A Swedish hip-hop artist is facing assault and battery charges in the Nov. 23 death of John Osnes, 55. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has said David Jassy, a 34-year- old rapper and songwriter, could face additional charges depending on the results of the autopsy and further investigation. Arraignment ...

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Jorn Utzon Danish Architect of Sydney Opera House Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
December 1, 2008

Jorn Utzon, in 1957 at age 38, received word at his home in Denmark that he won an international competition to build the opera house, beating out 232 other competitors. The project whose overrun budget and delays sparked controversy was a mixed blessing, giving the architect fame but also heartache.

Utzon, the Danish architect whose eye-catching, nautically inspired design for the Sydney Opera House overcame a series of controversies surrounding its budget and acoustics to become one of the most ...

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Mitchell Lurie World-Renowned Clarinetist Taught at USC

Source: Michael Ricci
November 30, 2008

Mitchell Lurie, a world-renowned clarinetist and clarinet teacher who taught for many years at USC and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, has died. He was 86.

Lurie, who had been in ill health in recent years, died of pneumonia Monday at his home in West Los Angeles, said his son, Dr. Alan Lurie.

Brooklyn native who grew up in Los Angeles, Lurie was the principal clarinetist for the Pittsburgh Symphony and then the Chicago Symphony in ...

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Roberta Zito Backup Singer with Nat King Cole

Source: Michael Ricci
November 23, 2008

Roberta Zito, mother of pitcher for Giants a former backup singer with Nat King Cole's Merry Young Souls and the wife of Cole's orchestra conductor and arranger Joe Zito, died Nov. 13 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, she was 65.

The cause of death was pneumonia and cardiopulmonary arrest. She had received a liver transplant nine years ago. Born Roberta Rosser in Dayton, Ohio, on Oct. 8, 1943, she was a freshman at UCLA when she landed a ...

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