Recent days have seen the deaths of a number of musicians – not specifically soul artists but with, maybe, having an oblique reference to the genre.
Canadian guitarist ROBBIE ROBERTSON (above) died on 9th August, aged 80. He was, literally, the leader of The Band – a Canadian rock band who came to prominence as Bob Dylan’s backing group. They went onto become stars in their own right. Amongst their best-known songs is ‘The Weight’ which has been covered countless times – most notably by Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples and Rotary Connection – even Dionne Warwick had a stab at it.
Detroit musician SIXTO RODRIGUEZ died on 8th August aged 81. Of Mexican decent, his music was a odd blend of folk, rock and psychedelia and though not that well-known in his homeland he was a huge star in South Africa. He was the subject of an acclaimed 2012 Netflix documentary ‘Searching For the Sugarman’.
Some years ago kids’ parties and wedding discos often featured the catchy tune ‘Cha Cha Slide’ It’s creator, DJ CASPER died on 7th August, aged just 58. His real name was Willie Perry Jr and some may remember his cover of ‘Oops Outside Your Head’ too.
