The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (284 page)

Although he was to spend most of the remainder of his days singing gospel as a born-again Christian, Eugene Record – who composed some 300 songs in his lifetime – found time to rejoin The Chi-Lites between 1980 and 1988. The band remained particularly popular in Britain where they’d charted many more hit records than at home. Record had battled cancer for months before his death at his Hazelcrest home in Illinois – the state where he had lived for his entire life.

See also
Robert ‘Squirrel’ Lester (
Golden Oldies #105). Occasional Chi-Lite Reeynaldo Wyatt died back in 2006 while early member Clarence Johnson died in September 2011.

AUGUST

Close!

Marc Cohn

Known worldwide for his 1991 hit ‘Walking in Memphis’, Grammy-winning musician and songwriter Marc Cohn didn’t otherwise see much headline action until events on 7 August 2005 put him back on the front page. Following a show at the Botanic Gardens in Denver, Cohn and his driver Thomas Dube pulled out of a garage, only for their van to be confronted by carjacker Joseph Yacteen, who fired at the windscreen. Remarkably, the bullet was slowed by the glass, grazing the driver (who was also Cohn’s tour manager) before glancing off the musician’s head.

Miraculously, Cohn was not killed by the pointblank shot, remaining lucid and talking on his way to hospital. ‘Frankly, I can’t tell you how he survived,’ commented police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

Wednesday 10

Rock Halsey

(Charles Hand - Los Angeles, California, 8 February 1956)

Rock Bottom & The Spys

Born to a B-movie actor and a former Miss Germany, Rock Halsey – aka ‘Rock Bottom’ of Los Angeles punks The Spys – was going to find his way in showbiz somehow. However, other than from their loyal fanbase, the band were starved of attention, despite one very good EP that contained their signature tune, ‘Rich Girl’ (1978), and a few other hummable songs – all lost as punk struggled to make any impact on America’s airwaves.

However, fan Ryan Richardson’s attempts to reunite the former Spys more than twenty years later unearthed a series of events so grim they almost defy belief. Drummer Blank Frank was reported to have been killed in a house fire, followed by news that another percussionist, Joel Martines, had also died (no date being available for either death); bassist Ian Icon then committed suicide in August 2001 after the death of his son; while another member, Guillermo Libutti, was allegedly wanted for questioning following the murder of a flatmate during a botched cocaine deal at his LA home. Finally, when it appeared there could be no further bad news, Halsey was himself reported murdered while serving a long sentence for drugs and firearms offences. In a final twist of fate the former leader – poised for transfer to a less secure unit where parole was a distinct possibility – had been beaten to death by a fellow inmate.

Sunday 21

Stevo

(Steven Ronald Jensen - California, 29 April 1959)

The Vandals

The original singer with Long Beach punks The Vandals, Steven ‘Stevo’ Jensen was as well known for his frequent spats with other band members as he was for the actual product. Formed in 1981 by guitarist Jan Nils Aukerman (who quit the band three years later), The Vandals underwent so many line-up changes in their first half-decade it’s barely worth enumerating them. A first EP,
Peace Thru Vandalism,
arrived in 1982, followed by the Restless Records debut
When in Rome Do as the Vandals
two years later. Jensen’s inability to get along with his bandmates saw to it that his stay at the front of this much-talked-about band was not to be a long one. He quit music to become a masseuse in 1984, but arguments and lawsuits rumbled on, most notably with former Vandals bassist and figurehead Joe Escalante. Jensen was staying in Maui when he died from an overdose of prescribed medicine. The Vandals remain an institution, however, and exist with a roster completely different from the one that began a generation back – even boasting Keanu Reeves as a guest guitarist at one show.

Friday 26

Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour

(Montreal, Quebec, 24 September 1959)

Voivod

The month was to end with the deaths of two Canadian cult rock legends. Guitarist Denis D’Amour got together with Denis ‘Snake’ Bélanger (vocals, later replaced by Eric Forest), Jean-Yves Thériault (bass) and Michel Langevin (drums) to form Voivod in the early eighties, the thrash-metal band break-ing much new ground with their experimental sound, unconventional time-signatures and apocalyptic lyrical matter. The band were to undergo many changes in line-up and label, but garnered critical acclaim for albums such as
War and Pain
(1984),
Rrroooaaarrr!
(1987) and
Nothingface
(1989). In 2004, Voivod – now complete with former Metallica guitarist Jason Newsted on board – signed with The End to record their eleventh album in two decades. Denis D’Amour had been working on the record when diagnosed with colon cancer early in 2005. By August, the disease had spread to the guitarist’s liver and other vital organs. Surrounded by his family, D’Amour fell into a coma on 25 August, slipping away less than twenty-four hours later.

Voivod - Langevin, D’Amour, Thériault and Bélanger: Piggy not quite in the middle

Wednesday 31

Jim Bescott

(Vancouver, British Columbia, 1953)

The Young Canadians

(The K-Tels)

‘Basically the guy really could play - he truly was great.’

Joey ‘Shithead’ Keithley of Canadian punk stalwarts DOA

Just five days on, Vancouver punk ‘godfather’ Jim Bescott died under very strange circumstances in a grocery-store car park. The former film-maker became bassist with The Young Canadians (originally The K-Tels, until the record and gadget company served papers during a gig), building up an impressive onstage relationship with singer/guitarist Art Bergmann, the trio completed by drummer Barry Taylor. Predating The Jesus & Mary Chain by several years, The Young Canadians ripped into surf rock with an expletive-ridden tune called ‘Hawaii’ (1979), which was to remain their best-known record, though Bescott was to write a couple of their classics, ‘No Escape’ and ‘Automan’. Inevitably, the group lasted no longer than a couple of years, but remain pioneers in Canadian new wave.

It seems Jim Bescott died when he was backed over by a semi-tractor trailer as he stood waiting in a Safeway parking lot in Kitsilano: the musician was crushed beneath the vehicle’s rear wheels as it reversed in to make a delivery.

SEPTEMBER

Thursday 1

Barry Cowsill

(Newport, Rhode Island, 15 September 1954)

The Cowsills