The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (170 page)

Tony Secunda

(London, 24 August 1940)

The noted pop entrepreneur began his music-business career (after a brief stretch in the navy) as an early rock ‘n’ roll booker who found slots for acts like Georgie Fame and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates. After a spell working with the circus and as a wrestling promoter, Secunda made a vast amount of money through Beatles’ merchandise, which he then invested in his management business. Secunda seemingly had something of a Midas touch: he discovered The Moody Blues and The Move, the latter of whom he managed until sacked in spring 1968 following the band’s odd legal setto with then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who’d been featured on one of their sleeves. Secunda still had the touch, however, then looking after Procol Harum and, most significantly, T Rex, who, under his wing, became the biggest UK pop sensation of the early seventies. In semi-retirement, Secunda died of a heart attack at his home in California.

See also
Marc Bolan (
September 1977) and the accompanying Dead Interesting! for links to all T Rex-related deaths. Various other charges of Secunda’s have died, including The Move’s Carl Wayne (
August 2004).

Saturday 18

Bob Stinson

(Mound, Minnesota, 17 December 1959)

The Replacements (The Bleeding Hearts)

Bob Stinson was a founder member of US cult pop-punks The Replacements, the Paul Westerberg-fronted band that burst on to the US alternative scene in 1980. Stinson had been given his first guitar at age eleven, forming the earliest incarnation of the band (then named Dogbreath) with his younger brother, Tommy, while in their teens. Wowing fans with an 18-track 35-minute debut LP (1981’s great
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash),
The Replacements quickly carved a niche alongside their natural ‘fathers’, The Ramones, while paving the way for contemporaries like Husker Du and REM. Indeed, Peter Buck (of REM) recorded with them during the mid eighties, as did Alex Chilton of band heroes Big Star. The manic Bob Stinson was the band’s early focal point, wearing dresses or diapers on stage – predating Kurt Cobain by almost a decade. But by 1986 Stinson’s substance abuse had wearied the rest of the band, who voted to let him go (his replacement Replacement was Slim Dunlap). Although Stinson fashioned a new outfit, The Bleeding Hearts, he was soon diagnosed manic depressive, and was put on medication by the turn of the decade. On 18 February 1995, Stinson’s body was found at his girlfriend’s Minneapolis apartment: according to the Hennepin County coroner’s office, his death was as a result of natural causes, exacerbated by prolonged drug and alcohol use. By the end, the guitarist was near destitute.

Thursday 23

Melvin Franklin

(David English - Montgomery, Alabama, 12 October 1942)

The Temptations

Among the first of Motown’s classic vocal groups, The Temptations were, in 1961, essentially a combination of two previous Detroit-based acts, The Primes and The Distants. The former was to provide two new members – Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams – when a breakup of the latter quintet left Otis Williams, Elbridge ‘Al’ Bryant and Melvin Franklin. Franklin provided the extraordinary basso profundo to complement the harmonies of his bandmates. After a barren three years, the hits started happening for The Temptations with the introduction of lead singer David Ruffin – and the meticulous attention of Motown hero Smokey Robinson. His ‘My Girl’ (1965) became in their hands an enduring masterpiece – while just as memorable were The Temps’ much copied but never equalled dance routines. As an act, they were peerless between 1968 and 1971; as the most distinctive voice, Franklin was soon immortalized on international smashes like ‘I Can’t Get next to You’ (1969) and ‘Ball Of Confusion’ (1970).

By the early seventies a rift in the band left only Franklin and Otis Williams from the original line-up. Although Franklin’s throbbing vocal was never better presented than on the US number one ‘Papa was a Rollin’ Stone’ (1972), the decline had set in. The Temptations toured consistently into the nineties, but by then it had become a circuit trawl for this once-great vocal troupe. Suffering from diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, Franklin ceased touring in 1994. Within six months he was dead: admitted to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles suffering from seizures, he died a week later from heart failure.

Viv Stanshall withstands investigation from Germaine Greer in this 1969
Oz
photoshoot

See also
Paul Williams (
August 1973); Elbridge Al Bryant (
October 1975); David Ruffin (
June 1991); Eddie Kendrick(s) (
October 1992); Ali ‘Ollie’ Woodson (
May 2010). Three further Temptations have since passed away. Franklin’s nephew was later funk star Rick James, who also died prematurely (
August 2004).