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Post by jimsteel on Dec 28, 2019 23:20:35 GMT -5
 George Michael’s sister Melanie Panayiotou dies exactly three years after her brother on Christmas Day George Michael’s sister Melanie Panayiotou died on Christmas Day – exactly three years after her popstar brother. The hairdresser was found at her home in Hampstead by her sister Yioda on 25 December. She was 55 years old. The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: ‘Police were called by London Ambulance Service at approximately 19:35hrs on Wednesday, 25 December to reports of the sudden death of a woman, aged in her 50s, at an address in Oak Hill Park, NW3. ‘The death is not being treated as suspicious by police. |
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Post by on_the_edge on Dec 29, 2019 4:28:23 GMT -5
That is two young sports reporters this month.
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Post by jimsteel on Dec 30, 2019 10:40:10 GMT -5
 Neil Innes: Monty Python songwriter dies aged 75 Neil Innes, the English writer, comedian and musician, has died aged 75. He was best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Rutles and collaborating with Monty Python. A spokesman for the Innes family said he had not been suffering from any illness and had passed away unexpectedly on Sunday night. Innes had been travelling home from France with his family, who have asked for privacy "at this difficult time" In the 1970s, Innes became closely associated with British comedy collective Monty Python and was affectionately known as "The Seventh Python", contributing songs and sketches, as well as appearing in their films like The Holy Grail and Life of Brian. He wrote and performed sketches for their final TV series in 1974 after John Cleese temporarily left, and was one of only two non-Pythons to be credited as a writer, alongside The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams. A film about Innes called The Seventh Python was made in 2008. After the comedy group came to an end, Innes joined fellow Python's Eric Idle on a new series, Rutland Weekend Television, which gave birth to their spoof band The Rutles - a pastiche of The Beatles. In the band Innes played Ron Nasty, a character loosely-based on John Lennon. According to Innes's wife Yvonne, he toured with the Fab Four tribute act The Bootleg Beatles last year. |
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Post by jimsteel on Dec 30, 2019 13:22:19 GMT -5
 Kelly Fraser, Inuit-Canadian singer, dead at 26 Kelly Fraser, a Canadian pop artist who gained attention for an Inuit-language cover of Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” part of her advocacy efforts for her indigenous culture, has died. Fraser was 26. Thor Simonsen, Fraser’s friend and producer, said he was told the day after Christmas by the singer-songwriter’s family that she had died. The family declined to release details, including the cause of death, Simonsen said Saturday. Fraser, who grew up in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, Canada, and was living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, released “Isuma,” her debut album, in 2014. Her sophomore album, “Sedna,” came out in 2017 and was nominated for indigenous music album of the year at Canada’s Juno music awards. When Fraser wrote or translated songs into Inuktitut, an Inuit language, a key aim was to “use pop music as a platform to strengthen her language,” Simonsen said. She also wanted to make the music as accessible to as many people as possible, he said, so she mixed English and Inuktitut in her recordings and blended traditional Inuit sounds and themes with contemporary pop. |
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Post by jimsteel on Dec 30, 2019 17:11:11 GMT -5
 Emil Richards, Legendary Percussionist and L.A. Session Player, Dies at 87 He snapped his fingers on 'The Addams Family,' played the bongos for 'Mission: Impossible' and worked with everyone from Judy Garland to Linda Ronstadt. Emil Richards, the famed percussionist, vibraphone specialist and L.A. session player who performed with Frank Sinatra, George Harrison, Frank Zappa and scores of other greats and beat the bongos on the Mission: Impossible theme song, has died. He was 87. Richards died Friday, his daughter, Camille Radocchia Hecks, announced on Facebook. "My dad had a saying, 'As in music, as in life," she wrote. "He lived and loved as he played: fully, deeply, with endless creativity, humor, discipline and spirituality. He never missed a beat. As Emil would say, 'Good Vibes!'" Richards, who considered Lionel Hampton to be a major influence on his career, was a session musician for the fabled Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles and played on thousands of recordings during his career. He worked with the likes of Shorty Rogers, Judy Garland, Charles Mingus, Elvis Presley, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton, Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald, Dick Dale, Sam Cooke, The Carpenters, Marvin Gaye, Dave Mason, The Monkees, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Burt Bacharach, Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys, Glen Campbell and Luciano Pavarotti. "My ideal situation for a session would be playing the hardest mallet parts conceivable," he once said. "I like to go home exhausted from playing good, hard music. By hard I mean difficult, because it's a challenge. I love a challenge." The innovative sonic expressionist did the finger-snapping on Vic Mizzy's theme song for The Addams Family ("Yes, that was me — the clicks and the whole bit," he admitted) and did the xylophone parts on The Simpsons' opening tune for Danny Elfman, who once called Richards "an irreplaceable original." Richards made his Hollywood debut when he was hired by Alfred Newman for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), and he would team up with many members of the composer's esteemed family, all the way from Lionel Newman to David Newman, Thomas Newman and Randy Newman. While recording the percolating Mission: Impossible theme in 1966 for composer Lalo Schifrin, Richards realized he had made a mistake and insisted the musicians do it all over again. "The French-horn players were real bummed at me — their lips were tired," Richards told NPR in 2011. But it was worth it, he said. "That Mission: Impossible played for so many years. Had I listened to myself play a really bad mistake, I couldn't have stood that." |
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Post by jimsteel on Dec 30, 2019 23:46:55 GMT -5
 Syd Mead, sci-fi visual artist known for Blade Runner and Tron, dies at 86 The legendary Mead once called science fiction "reality ahead of schedule." Legendary visual effects artist, futurist and industrial designer Syd Mead died Monday at age 86, his manager Roger Servick confirmed to Deadline. Mead had been battling lymphoma, Servick said. The artist is best known for his concept art for sci-fi movies Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, Aliens, Tron, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Johnny Mnemonic, Mission Impossible 3, Elysium and Tomorrowland. In the '90s, Mead also supplied designs for Japanese anime series,Yamato 2520 and Turn A Gundam. In addition to TV and movies, Mead worked as an industrial and architectural designer for such companies as Ford, Volvo, Intercontinental Hotels and Honda. Mead's designs for both film and TV defined how sci-fi could eventually lead to real-world designs. "I've called science fiction 'reality ahead of schedule,'" Mead said in a New York Times interview in 2008. In May, CNET's Roadshow featured recently found old sketches by Mead of futuristic-looking Volvo trucks. Mead worked as a designer for a time at Volvo Trucks, though his version of the vehicles never saw production. |
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Post by jimsteel on Jan 1, 2020 1:44:11 GMT -5
 Jazz legend, ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’ singer Jack Sheldon dead at 88 Bebop and West Coast jazz great Jack Sheldon has died at age 88. The news was first reported via a Facebook post by his biographer and documentarian, Doug McIntyre, in which he shared an announcement from Cynthia Jimenez (the sister of Sheldon’s longtime manager, Dianne Jimenez) stating that the trumpeter, singer, and actor had passed away of undisclosed causes on Dec. 27. Dianne confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday morning. While the charismatic and hilarious Sheldon boasted an impressive résumé that included serving as the music director and sidekick on The Merv Griffin Show for 18 years; releasing 23 albums as a bandleader between 1955 and 2007; heading his own 17-piece orchestra; working with everyone from Art Pepper, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Goodman, and Frank Sinatra to the Monkees and Tom Waits; and acting in various movies and TV shows, he is also lovingly remembered as the affable, lackadaisical crooner from the Schoolhouse Rock! cartoons of the 1970s, including "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill.” He began playing music professionally at age 13, performed in military bands during his time in the Air Force in the late ‘40s, and eventually became a key player in the West Coast jazz scene in the 1950s. During his lifetime, the longtime L.A. resident also racked up more than 70 screen credits, ranging from playing trumpet on the theme songs for Peter Gunn and The Munsters and on Johnny Mandel’s “The Shadow of Your Smile” from The Sandpiper, to acting in Freaky Friday, Gilligan's Island, Dragnet, Marcus Welby M.D., Petticoat Junction, Adam 12, Police Woman, The Cara Williams Show, and even his own ‘60s sitcom, Run, Buddy, Run. In November 1973, Sheldon joined the second season of Schoolhouse Rock! — ABC’s educational cartoon series masterminded by advertising executives David McCall and George Newall and led by renowned jazz pianist Bob Dorough — with "Conjunction Junction.” He went on to voice iconic characters in more than a dozen of the Emmy-nominated series’ animated shorts, including “Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,” “The Tale of Mr. Morton,” and "I'm Just a Bill.” The latter became such a signature song for Sheldon that he revisited his “Bill” role for parodies on both Family Guy and The Simpsons; he also recorded an R-rated “Conjunction” spoof for Family Guy. Sheldon and Dorough (who died in 2018) embarked on a club tour with a Schoolhouse Rock! revue in mid-‘90s. |
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Post by TTX on Jan 1, 2020 8:17:47 GMT -5
The always great Schoolhouse Rock. RIP.
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Post by TTX on Jan 1, 2020 16:47:13 GMT -5
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Post by jimsteel on Jan 1, 2020 16:59:13 GMT -5
Its 2020 since he died today Will post in new scene later tonight |
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