respect 2020...
2020
'What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others'. Pericles (495 - 429 b.c.)
january 2020
robert parker
b. Robert Parker, 14th October 1930, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.
d. 19th January 2020, Roseland, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.
The singer-songwriter, Robert Parker, has died. He was 89.
His nephew said that he died on the Sunday the 19th of January from natural causes at his home in Roseland.
Robert had stopped performing in recent years (and retired to Tangipahoa Parish), where he was living at the time of his death.
He scored a national hit with his 1966 song ‘Barefootin’ b/w ‘Let’s Go Baby (Where the Action Is.)’.
In his earlier career, he played saxophone on Professor Longhair’s 1949 classic ‘Mardi Gras in New Orleans’.
He also played on Al Johnson’s ‘Carnival Time’ along with songs by Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, Frankie Ford and Huey ‘Piano’ Smith.
Robert is survived by his wife, Carolyn, several children and grandchildren.
robert parker page at soulwalking here...
jimmy heath
b. James Edward Heath, 25th October 1926, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
d. 19th January 2020, Loganville, Georgia, U.S.A.
The jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and big band leader, Jimmy Heath, has died. Jimmy was 93.
He performed at part of the group, the Heath Brothers, and was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.
The Heath Brothers are best remembered (by Soul fans), for their 1980 and 1981 singles ‘For The Public’ and ‘Dreamin’.
Jimmy originally played alto saxophone, earning the nickname ‘Little Bird’ (after Charlie Parker).
His early groups featured the likes of John Coltrane, Benny Golson and Ray Bryant.
He briefly joined Miles Davis's group in 1959, and worked with Milt Jackson and Art Farmer later on.
In the late 1980s, he became a professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in the City University of New York.
Jimmy was also the father of the R&B songwriter/musician James Mtume.
lorraine chandler
b. Ermastine Lewis, 1946, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
d. 2nd January 2020, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Singer, Songwriter & Producer, Lorraine Chandler, has died. Lorraine was 73.
Lorraine attended Northern High School in Detroit.
For a short while, Lorraine was in a group called the Ebonies, whose line-up featured Lorraine Chandler, Emma Nebbins and Effie Ellington.
She began writing songs with Jack Ashford.
She was signed to Jacks’s Pied Piper Productions as a songwriter and performer.
As a solo artist, she released ‘What Can I Do’ b/w ‘Tell Me You're Mine’ in 1966, ‘I Can't Hold On’ b/w ‘She Don't Want You’ in 1966, ‘Oh How I Need Your Love’ b/w ‘I Can't Change’ in 1967, ‘Love You Baby’ b/w ‘What Can I Do’ in 1975 and ‘I Can't Change’ b/w ‘What Can I Do’ in 1976, amongst others.
Many of her songs were released on the Giant, Pied Piper, Ashford, Outta Sight, RCA and Kapp labels.
When Jack relocated to Los Angeles in 1976, Lorraine remained in Detroit.
In the Eighties, Ace Records, Ady Croasdell, released a demo recording of a possible theme for the James Bond movie ‘You Only Live Twice’.
Later, Lorraine went on to perform in Detroit and in the U.K.
...those who left us in 2019...
