The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (228 page)

NOVEMBER

Thursday 2

Al Grierson

(New Westminster, British Columbia, 1 December 1948)

Tales of floods are generally the stuff of folk singers’ tunes
(
Death Toll #4):
for Al Grierson, it was just such an occurrence that was to claim his life. Relocated to Texas, Canadian-born Grierson became known as ‘The Poet Laureate of Luckenbach’ – the celebrated one-horse town where he lived, outside of Austin. State-wide, he was loved, a regular performer at the Kerrville Folk Festival with an enormous cache of songs, both traditional and original, at his fingertips. Despite having written and played for many years, Grierson – a lifelong wanderer (and former Buddhist monk) – did not release his first album until 1995.

Five years on, with flash floods washing through Texas, he made the fatal error of alighting from his stalled pickup: at around 5.45 pm, the singer was swept two miles to his death – one of several people killed in the disaster.

Thursday 16

Joe C

(Joseph Calleja - Taylor, Michigan, 9 November 1974)

Kid Rock’s Twisted Brown Truckers
ft

Known in respectable circles as ‘the man who’s three foot nine with a ten-foot dick’, Joseph Calleja had been afflicted with coeliac disease – a condition preventing his small intestine from absorbing nutrients – since his childhood. By the age of twenty, Calleja still maintained the appearance of a child, his growth stunted by the disease, which required him to take seventy pills a day by the end of his life. Rock/rap crossover artist Kid Rock saw something in the diminutive fan ever at the front at his gigs: after sharing a joint with Calleja, Rock invited him to join his tour as a dancer and freeform rapper. When Kid Rock became a huge star in the US, Joe C (as Calleja dubbed himself) shared some of the fame. His recorded contributions included ‘Kyle’s Mom is a Big Fat Bitch’ from the
South Park
soundtrack, while no shortage of humour was evident in a promo for Rock’s ‘Cowboy’ (1999), in which Calleja duelled with pint-sized actor Gary Coleman – himself afflicted with nephritis.

That Joe C wouldn’t live into his thirties was perhaps inevitable, but his death at twenty-six still prompted impressive eulogies from those who had known him and observed his brave acceptance of his condition. Kid Rock himself was not slow in paying tribute: ‘We have lost part of our family. He brought a smile to everyone who has ever known or seen him. In a world full of confusion, Joey made all of us laugh.’

Winston Grennan, with ‘Toots’ Hibbert and ‘Raleigh’ Gordon: Good to the last ‘drop’

Friday 17

Bim Sherman

(Lloyd Jarrett Vincent - Westmoreland, Jamaica, 2 February 1950)

Going by a vast number of pseudonyms – Jarrett Tomlinson, Bim Shieman, Lloyd Tomlinson, J L Vincent, etc – Bim Sherman did what he had to in order to stay ahead of the game in Jamaican music: the tactic was widely employed, reggae musicians finding it easier to make a living under a variety of labels, which also meant a variety of names. Formerly a fisherman, Sherman’s talent prevailed, however, the singer’s sweet voice finally leading to an album release with
Love Forever
(1978). Sherman’s popularity in Britain – much of which was due to the championing of his work by DJ John Peel – resulted in his being signed by cutting-edge label On-U Sound, who issued a number of great albums, beginning with
Across the Red Sea
(1982) and ending with
What Happened
(1998), by which time the artist had been diagnosed with cancer. Bim Sherman died from the disease at his home in London.

Bim Sherman: Loved forever

Thursday 23

Bob B Soxx

(Bobby Sheen - St Louis, Missouri, 17 May 1941)

Bob B Soxx & The Blue Jeans

(The Coasters)

(Various acts)

Just a month after his namesake, the better-known Bob B Soxx also passed over to the other side. Moving from Missouri to Hollywood as a boy, Bobby Sheen developed a taste for the glamour he felt was within his grasp. He was, after all, a decent singer who fashioned his voice and clean-cut looks on those of Clyde McPhatter of The Drifters. In his early career, Sheen joined touring versions of The Robins and The Coasters; he also lent backing vocals to the first Crystals hit, 1962’s ‘He’s a Rebel’ (Sheen had the range to cope with a higher register), under the auspicious direction of Phil Spector and his burgeoning ‘Wall of Sound’. From the same session came ‘Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah’ (from the soundtrack of
Song of the South),
which proved so popular with those present that Spector released it. This time, Sheen’s voice was up front, the singer becoming ‘Bob B Soxx’, leader of the non-existent Blue Jeans vocal group who were actually former ‘Blossoms’ Darlene Love and Fanita Barrett. The record was a Top Ten smash, with Soxx/Sheen an immediate hit with teenage girls. All of which begs the question, why did Spector then mess with the formula? The follow-up singles featured lead vocals by Love – who was still, after all, on Crystals duty – and flopped badly.

Bobby Sheen attempted to pursue a solo career after this, but the moment seemed completely to have passed him by: his subsequent records were good, but only really appealed to the UK Northern soul crowd. Sheen died in relative obscurity, from pneumonia, at his home in Los Angeles.

See also
King Curtis (
August 1971); Nathaniel Wilson (
April 1980); Bobby Nunn (
November 1986); Cornell Gunter (
February 1990); Carl Gardner (
Golden Oldies #137). Will’Dub’ Jones (2000) and Billy Guy (2002) have also passed away, as has DarrellReynolds (also 2002).