The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars (357 page)

Golden Oldies #90

Uriel Jones

(Detroit, Michigan, 13 June 1934)

The Funk Brothers

Percussionist Uriel Jones - the last surviving drummer of Motown’s fine, though under-appreciated Funk Brothers - died from complications following a heart attack on 24 March 2009.

The Funk Brothers were effectively Motown’s ‘engine room’, and Jones - first spotted behind the young Marvin Gaye’s touring band - had been hired in 1964 as a fillin for the increasingly unreliable Benny Benjamin, whose health was deteriorating as a result of his problems with addiction. With more than enough work to go around in Gordy’s prolific organisation, percussion was now split between Jones and Richard ‘Pistol’ Allen. Classic cuts on which Jones’s drumming can be heard include Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ (1965) and ‘I Second That Emotion’ (1967); Jimmy Ruffin’s ‘What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?’ (1966); Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ (1967, with Tammi Terrell) and ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ (1968); Stevie Wonder’s ‘For Once in My Life’ (1968); and The Temptations’ ‘Cloud Nine’ (1968) and ‘I Can’t Get Next to You’ (1969). As with all Funk Brothers contributions however, Jones never received credit for his input, and remuneration was only ever on a contract basis.

Uriel Jones - who passed away on 24 March 2009 at Dearborn’s Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center - left a wife and three children. He, at least, was around long enough to receive credit from Motown in the millennium, but many of his cohorts passed on long before any such privilege came their way.

See also
Benny Benjamin (
May 1969); James ‘Jamie’ Jamerson (
August 1983); Earl Van Dyke (
September 1992); Robert White (
October 1994). Other notable Funk Brothers to have passed on are Eddie ‘Bongo’ Brown (percussion, d 1984); Richard ‘Pistol’ Allen (drums, d 2002); Johnny Griffith (piano, d 2002); and Joe Hunter (piano, d 2007).

Wednesday 25

Dan Seals

(Danny Wayland Seals - McCamey, Texas, 8 February 1948)

England Dan & John Ford Coley

Southwest FOB

(Various acts)

Jim (born 17 October 1941) and Dan Seals had the perfect grounding in music, accompanying their parents and another brother, Eddie, in The Seals Family Band, in which Dan became proficient on the upright string bass. The music was country/folk-oriented, which served both Jim and Dan well in their future careers: a split between their parents saw the brothers’ paths divide at a young age, though both enjoyed significant success on the pop and country charts.

With Dallas high-school pal John Ford Coley (formerly Colley), guitarist Dan Seals formed the unlikely sounding psych-pop band, Southwest FOB (‘Freight On Board’ – initially The Shimmerers), which gained them national recognition. At the height of the hippy movement, the group scored an unexpected Hot 100 hit with ‘The Smell of Incense’ (Hip, 1968). This moderate success saw Southwest FOB open for the likes of Led Zeppelin (although, to give perspective, the British group themselves were virtually unknowns at this time).

Seals – who was to opt for a nickname derived from his perceived love of ‘English’ things – and Coley soon experienced greater spoils, once the pair had broken free from their former band. As England Dan & John Ford Coley, the soft rock duo bagged a string of late-seventies hits. The first, Parker McGee’s ‘I’d Really Love to See You Tonight’ (US number two; US Adult Contemporary number one; UK Top Forty) was, by some distance, the biggest, almost reaching the top during the long summer of 1976. This admittedly tuneful outing also scored internationally and set out the stall for the pair’s brand of FM-friendly, country-flavoured soft rock. Seals and Coley charted several other times under this moniker – most memorably, perhaps, with Todd Rundgren’s ‘Love is the Answer’ (1979, US Top Ten). (His brother, meanwhile, was ploughing a similar furrow with the equally successful Seals & Crofts.)

Then, after seven albums with Coley, ‘England Dan’ left for a solo career. At first, this appeared to be a huge error of judgement, the singer failing to find a market and losing much of his fortune to the IRS during the eighties: however, a remarkable reinvention saw Seals reemerge as a bearded, Stetson-toting country artist. Having finally achieved US Country Top Forty status with the albums
Rebel Heart
(1983) and
San Antone
(1984), Seals (now under his given name) hit pay dirt with the charttopping
Won’t Be Blue Anymore
(1985), which also found a berth in the pop listings. This record also spawned three USC number-one singles – the first of an extraordinary run of eleven chart-toppers in twelve releases up until 1990. (Seals was equally popular in the Canadian market, though his sudden fall from favour during the nineties can probably be attributed to the sudden popularity of artists such as Garth Brooks.)

Having seen out his career mainly on the touring circuit, Dan Seals died in Maryland following treatment for mantle-cell lymphoma.

Thursday 26

John Mayhew

(Ipswich, England, 25 March 1947)

Genesis

(Steamhammer)

(Various acts)

Although he was destined to be remembered as ‘the drummer replaced by Phil Collins in Genesis’, John Mayhew had himself stepped in to cover for emigrating second percussionist John Silver in 1969, as the British progressive-rock band’s career began to take off. Mayhew – a reasonably experienced drummer who’d played with the rock act Steamhammer, among other bands – had, in audition, impressed Peter Gabriel (vox), Mike Rutherford (guitar/bass), Anthony Phillips (guitar) and Tony Banks (keys) with an ability that exceeded both of his forebears. Mayhew was a few years older than his band mates (not to mention from a working-class background), which caused one or two disagreements during his brief tenure. The drummer was known, however, as an unassuming individual, famously suggesting that his £15-per-week wage from new label Charisma was ‘too much’ – despite the fact that Genesis had graduated into a professional, touring unit.

The differences with his public-school cohorts eventually proved too great, though, Mayhew playing only on the
Trespass
album (1970) – to which he’d also added backing vocals. Following this release, the more creative and ebullient Collins stepped into his shoes, and Phillips, who had developed stage fright, left the group shortly thereafter. While Genesis became a major band, little else was heard of Mayhew, the former drummer moving to Australia where he became a craftsman and gained citizenship. Rumours that he never claimed his
Trespass
royalty cheque are unsubstantiated, and Mayhew reappeared for a Genesis convention in the UK during 2006.