By Steve Newton The man often looked to as the originator of rock ‘n’ roll, Chuck Berry, died today at the age of 90. The singer-songwriter and guitar legend–best known […]
By Steve Newton As you may have already heard, Greg Lake–one-third of the legendary seventies prog-rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer–died of cancer yesterday at the age of 69. I […]
By Steve Newton Just when it seems like 2016 couldn’t get much worse–what with the recent death of Leonard Cohen and the election of Donald Trump–here comes some more sad […]
By Steve Newton The music world is still in heavy mourning, trying to come to grips with the shocking news of Prince’s death today. But the pop legend from Minneapolis wasn’t […]
By Steve Newton It’s a very sad day for fans of progressive rock. Keith Emerson, founding member and keyboardist for British trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer, died last night […]
By Steve Newton It’s been a rough few weeks for music fans with the deaths of Lemmy Kilmister and David Bowie, and things aren’t getting any better. Legendary country-rock band […]
By Steve Newton The drummer from one of my fave bands of the ’70s has passed away. Dale “Buffin” Griffin, a founding member of Mott the Hoople, died peacefully in […]
By Steve Newton Talk about a shocker. Got up at the usual 7 this morning, realized there was no instant coffee–and no wife awake to make me a latte–so […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT. COM, DEC. 28, 2015 By Steve Newton The heavy-metal world is in mourning tonight as one of its most beloved figures has passed away. Lemmy Kilmister, […]
By Steve Newton Sad news for music fans today. Chris Squire, bassist for British prog-rock legends Yes, passed away in Phoenix, Arizona, last night. He had been suffering from a […]
By Steve Newton As you’ve most likely heard by now, B.B. King, the beloved “King of the Blues”, passed away last night at the age of 89. He was receiving […]
Rainbow 1975, L-R: Soule, Dio, Gruber, Blackmore, Driscoll By Steve Newton Craig Gruber, former bassist for ’70s rock acts Elf and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, passed away yesterday after a battle […]
By Steve Newton Sad news for Southern-rock fans–and Lynyrd Skynyrd freaks, in particular. Original Skynyrd drummer Bob Burns–who played drums on the band’s first two albums–died last night after a single-car […]
Bobby Keys passed away this morning at the age of 70 after battling cirrhosis. He was best known as the saxophonist for the Rolling Stones, having blasted out that unforgettable […]
By now most everyone who follows the Vancouver music scene has heard the sad news about the passing of local concert-biz legend Drew Burns. The longtime proprietor of the Commodore Ballroom died […]
Some sad news out of Texas today. Marilyn Burns–star of the groundbreaking fright flick Texas Chain Saw Massacre–died yesterday in her Houston home of undisclosed causes. She was 65. Burns […]
Just heard in a tweet from Nanaimo blues-rocker David Gogo that blues legend Johnny Winter has died. The awful news was first broken a few hours ago by Jenda Derringer, […]
Just noticed an e-mail from fellow Vancouver rock writer “Big Al” MacInnis relaying the sad news that Doc Neeson, the singer from Angel City–or the Angels, as they were called in […]
I was shocked and saddened to hear that revered Swiss artist H.R. Giger passed away yesterday at the age of 74, apparently after a fall. I got my first look at his […]
Lanier (far left) in a B.O.C. promo shot from the ’70s, which they ruled. ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 15, 2013 Sad news for fans of one of the greatest […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MAY 21, 2013 First we got the sad news yesterday that former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek had died from cancer at the age of 74. Now […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 28, 2009 By Steve Newton Original Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Billy Powell died early this morning at his home in Orange Park, Florida, apparently due to […]
Ir ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 13, 2009 Les Paul, famed guitar player and creator of the solid-body Gibson guitar that bears his name, died today (August 13) at the […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MAY 16, 2010 Heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio, best known for his work with Rainbow and Black Sabbath, passed away today at the age of […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 13, 2010 Richie Hayward, the founding drummer and longtime member of rootsy southern-rock greats Little Feat, passed away yesterday at the age of 64 after […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 21, 2010 I used to be a huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fan. Back in ’77, just before the crash, when you could still buy the soon-to-be-banned version of Street […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 6, 2011 The guitar world is in mourning today as the news of Gary Moore’s death travels around the globe. The Irish musician—best known for […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 22, 2011 I just put on the CD reissue of Muddy Waters’ 1977 Hard Again album, but this time it wasn’t to lose myself in the mannish […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 7, 2011 L.A. singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Gold, whose hits in the ’70s included “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You For Being a Friend”, died in […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 20, 2011 Ryan Dunn, one of the stars of MTV’s reality-TV show Jackass and its subsequent feature-length films, died early this morning when the car he was […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 28, 2011 I was at the supermarket with my nine-year-old son Danny a couple of days ago, and we were hanging around in the magazine […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 18, 2011 Chuck Ruff–the guy with the coolest name ever who also played drums with the Edgar Winter Group during its mid-’70s heyday–passed away in […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 13, 2011 I just learned via a tweet from guitar great Joe Bonamassa that one of the true heroes of the Texas blues scene, Doyle Bramhall, passed […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, DEC. 4, 2011 By Steve Newton I just learned via a tweet from Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen that blues guitar great Hubert Sumlin passed away […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JULY 16, 2012 Sad news out of England. Classicrockmagazine.com just reported that legendary keyboardist Jon Lord of Deep Purple fame passed away in London today (July 16), after […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MAY 21, 2013 By Steve Newton If you’re a fan of old rock music you’ve probably already heard that Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for legendary American band […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 10, 2012 I wasn’t very familiar with the name Big Jim Sullivan until I started hearing it early last month, after the English session guitarist […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 7, 2012 One of my fave rockers from the ’70s, Bob Welch, died today. His body was discovered by his wife at their home in […]
Sad news for fans of blues, soul, and R&B music. Bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, whose bottom end fuelled such classic tracks as Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign” and […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 4, 2012 I was shocked to find out, just minutes ago, that one of my top guitar heroes from the ’70s, Ronnie Montrose, died yesterday […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 21, 2013 The blues world lost one of its elder statesmen yesterday when Morris Holt–aka “Magic Slim”–passed away at the age of 75 at […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 6, 2013 It’s a sad day for fans of British blues-rock, as guitar hero Alvin Lee–best known for his work with Ten Years After–has died. […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 13, 2013 It’s a gloomy day for metal fans, as former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr–who has been suffering from Multiple Sclerosis for many […]
