Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Benjamin Romualdez, Filipino politician and diplomat, Governor of Leyte (1967–1986), brother of Imelda Marcos, died from cancer he was 81

First Lady Imelda Marcos
Benjamin Trinidad "Kokoy" Romualdez  was a Filipino politician who served as Governor of Leyte and later appointed as ambassador to the United States, China and Saudi Arabia  died from cancer he was 81.[2]
He was a younger brother to former First Lady Imelda Marcos and the father of Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.[2]
(September 24, 1930 – February 21, 2012)

Personal life

The son of the late Vicente Orestes Romualdez, a former dean of the law school of St. Paul’s College in Tacloban City, Kokoy Romualdez began his career in politics after serving as an assistant of then Speaker Daniel Romualdez from 1957 to 1961. He was a younger brother to former First Lady Imelda Marcos and the father of Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. He was married to Juliette Gomez and children, Daniel, a practicing architect in New York, and partner Michael; Benjamin Philip, president and chief executive officer of Benguet Corp., who is married to Inquirer president and CEO Maria Alexandra; Ferdinand Martin, who is married to Yedda Marie; Marean, an investment banker, and husband Thomas; sisters Imelda Marcos, Alita Martel, Conchita Yap and brothers Alfredo and Armando.

Political Life

Romualdez embarked on his own career in the diplomatic service and in politics spanning more than 20 years. He served several terms as Leyte governor. His brother-in-law, President Ferdinand Marcos appointed him as ambassador to China, Saudi Arabia and the United States while serving as Leyte governor until 1986, when his family went into exile following the People Power Revolution. He was later elected as a member of the Batasang Pambansa in 1984 but preferred to remain as ambassador to the United States, therefore was disqualified to sit in the parliament.
He was instrumental in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China in the 1970s, becoming Manila’s first ambassador to Beijing.
Known for his organizational skills, Romualdez paved the way for the state visits of President Marcos to various countries, including the United States.[2][not in citation given]

Death

He died on the afternoon of Wednesday 21 February, of cancer, at Makati Medical Center in Makati City, Philippines at the age of 81.

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Colin Ireland, British serial killer, died he was 57


Colin Ireland was a British serial killer known as the Gay Slayer because his victims were homosexual men.

(16 March 1954 – 21 February 2012) 

Ireland suffered a severely dysfunctional upbringing.[1] He committed various crimes from age 16 and had served time in borstals and prisons.[1][2] Criminologist David Wilson stated that Ireland was a psychopath.[3]
While living in Southend, he started frequenting the Coleherne pub, a gay pub in west London.[4] It was known as a place where men cruised for sexual partners and wore colour-coded handkerchiefs that indicated their preferred role. Ireland sought men who liked the passive role and sadomasochism, so he could readily restrain them as they initially believed it was a sexual game.[5]
Ireland said he was heterosexual – he had been married twice – and that he pretended to be gay only to befriend potential victims. Ireland claimed that his motives were not sexually motivated.[5] He was highly organized, and carried a full murder kit of rope and handcuffs and a full change of clothes to each murder. After killing his victim he cleaned the flat of any forensic evidence linking him to the scene and stayed in the flat until morning in order to avoid arousing suspicion from leaving in the middle of the night.[6]
He was jailed for life for the murders in December 1993[7] and remained imprisoned until his death in February 2012, at the age of 57.

Early life

Ireland was born in Dartford, Kent to an unmarried teenage couple.[1] Shortly after his birth, his father left him and his 17 year old mother.[1] He is not named on his birth certificate and he did not know his identity.[1] He was raised in poverty by his mother; they moved many times.[1] In the early 1960s, she married.[1] When she became pregnant, she put Ireland into care; he later returned to her.[1] In 1966 she married another man.[1] during the 1960s in Sheerness, Kent - Ireland was propositioned on three occasions and spied on once by men who were sexually attracted to him.[1] In his mid-teens, he sent to borstal for theft and whilst there deliberately set fire to another resident's belongings. At age 17, Ireland was convicted of robbery.[1] He escaped and was returned to borstal.[1]

Early adulthood

Ireland had been a soldier and had a series of manual jobs.[1] In December 1975 he was convicted of car theft, criminal damage and two burglaries, for which he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.[1] He was released in November 1976 and moved to Swindon, Wiltshire. He lived with a black West Indian woman and her children for a few months.[1] In 1977, he was convicted of extortion, for which he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.[1] In 1980, he was convicted of robbery, for which he was sentenced to two years imprisonment.[1] in 1981, he was convicted of attempted deception.[1] In 1982, he married Virginia Zammit; the couple and her daughter lived in Holloway, London.[1] In 1985, he was convicted of going equipped and sentenced to six months imprisonment.[1] He divorced in 1987 after his wife discovered that he cheated on her. In 1989 in Devon, he married Janet Young; he was violent to her and stole from her.[1] In the early 1990s, they separated; she and her children became homeless. He moved to Southend-on-Sea, where he became homeless and lived in a hostel.[1] He later moved to a flat in the town and lived there whilst visiting a London gay bar where he found his victims.

Victims

A documentary of his crimes, with Ireland discussing his victims, was aired on British television by ITV1 in 2008.[8]

Peter Walker

Peter Walker, a 45-year-old choreographer who liked Sadomasochism, took Ireland back to his flat in Battersea. There he was bound, and ultimately suffocated by a plastic bag being placed over his head.[6]
Ireland placed two teddy bears in a 69 position on the body. Ireland left Walker's dogs locked in another room. The day after the murder, having heard no news reports of the crime, he called Samaritans and a journalist from The Sun newspaper, advising them of the dogs, and that he had murdered their owner.[6]

Christopher Dunn

Dunn was a 37-year-old librarian who lived in Wealdstone. Dunn was found naked in a harness, his death was initially believed to be an accident that occurred during an erotic game.[9] In addition, because he lived in a different area from Walker, a different set of investigators worked on the case. For these reasons the death was not linked to Walker's.[9]

Perry Bradley III

Ireland met a 35-year-old[10] businessman, named Perry Bradley III, at the Coleherne pub. Bradley lived in Kensington and was the son of Texas Democratic Party fundraiser Perry Bradley Jr.[9]
The two men returned to Bradley's flat, where Ireland suggested that he tie Bradley up. Bradley expressed his displeasure at the idea of sado-masochism.[10] In order to get Bradley to comply, Ireland told Bradley that he was unable to perform sexually without elements of bondage. Bradley hesitantly cooperated and was soon trussed up on his own bed, face down, with a noose around his neck.[10]
After Ireland had secured Bradley, he demanded money from him and demanded his PIN under the threat of torture. Ireland assured Bradley that he was merely a thief and would leave after stealing Bradley's money.[10] After Bradley gave Ireland his PIN, which Ireland later used to steal £200, along with £100 in cash stolen from Bradley's flat, Ireland told Bradley that he should go to sleep, as he wouldn't be leaving his flat for hours.[10] Bradley eventually did fall asleep and Ireland momentarily thought of leaving Bradley unharmed. Ireland then realized that Bradley could identify him, and he used the noose, which he had earlier attached around Bradley's neck, to strangle him. Before leaving Bradley's flat, he placed a doll on top of the dead man's body.[10]

Andrew Collier

Ireland, angered that he had received no publicity even after three murders, killed again within three days. At the pub he met and courted 33-year-old Andrew Collier, a housing warden, and the pair went to Collier's home in Dalston. After entering the flat there was a disturbance outside and both men went to the window to investigate. Ireland gripped a horizontal metal bar that ran across the window. He later forgot to wipe the bar for prints during his usual cleanup phase. The police found this fingerprint.[9]
Once he had tied up his victim on the bed, Ireland again demanded his victim's bank details. This time his victim refused to comply. Ireland killed Collier's cat in Collier's presence whilst he was restrained on the bed.[10] Ireland then strangled Collier with a noose. He put a condom on Collier's penis and placed the dead cat's mouth over it, and placed the cat's tail into Collier's mouth.[10]
Ireland had become angered at discovering Collier was HIV positive while rummaging through his personal effects looking for bank details.[6] A suspected reason for his killing of the cat was that after Ireland killed Walker and had left this previous victim's dogs locked in a separate room, he later called anonymously to advise parties to the fact that these dogs were being or had been locked up.[6] As a result the media called the killer an animal lover. He strangled the cat to demonstrate that the "animal lover" assumption had been wrong.[10]
Ireland left the next morning with £70; he also left a clue for the police by putting a condom in Collier's mouth, just as he had done to Walker, creating a possible link between the two murders.[6]

Emanuel Spiteri

Ireland's fifth victim (he had read that serial killers needed at least five victims to qualify as such) was Maltese chef Emanuel Spiteri, aged 41, whom Ireland had met in the same pub as his previous victims.[10] Spiteri was persuaded to be cuffed and bound on his bed. Once more, Ireland demanded his bank PIN but did not obtain it. He again used a noose to kill. After carrying out his post-murder ritual of cleaning and clearing the scene, Ireland set fire to the flat and left. He rang the police later to tell them to look for a body at the scene of a fire and added that he would probably not kill again.[6]

Investigation

There are suggestions that police homophobia delayed the linking of all the murders and that they were initially not handled well[11] but police eventually connected all five killings. The crimes were widely publicised through the mainstream media and it quickly became known in the gay community and the wider community that a serial killer who specifically targeted gay men was operating.
Investigations revealed that Spiteri had left the pub and travelled home with his killer by train, and a security video successfully captured the two of them on the railway platform at Charing Cross station.[10] Ireland recognised himself and decided to tell police he was the man with Spiteri but not the killer – he claimed to have left Spiteri in the flat with another man.[6] However, police had also found fingerprints in Collier's flat, matching those of Ireland.[6]

Convictions and imprisonment

Ireland was charged with the murders of Collier and Spiteri, and confessed to the other three while awaiting trial in prison. He told police that he had no vendetta against gay men, but picked on them because they were the easiest targets. Ireland pretended to be gay in order to lure his victims.[12] He had robbed those he killed to finance his killings because he was unemployed at the time, and he needed funds to travel to and from London when hunting for victims.[2]
After the first murder, Ireland phoned The Samaritans and The Sun, telling them what he had done. Ireland said he wanted to become famous for being a serial killer. After killing three more men, and the pet cat of one of them, he phoned the police, asking why they had not linked the four murders.[12]
When his case came to the Old Bailey on 20 December 1993, Ireland admitted all charges and was given life sentences for each. The judge, Justice Sachs, said he was "exceptionally frightening and dangerous", adding: "To take one human life is an outrage; to take five is carnage."[5]
On 22 December 2006, Ireland was one of 35 life sentence prisoners whose names appeared on the Home Office's list of prisoners who had been issued with whole life tariffs and were unlikely ever to be released.[13]
Ireland's notoriety was reflected in sensational reports in the tabloid press. As well as the nickname "The Gay Slayer", he was headlined as "Jack The Gripper" by the News Of The World.[14]

Death

Ireland died on 21 February 2012, at Wakefield Prison. A spokeswoman for Her Majesty's Prison Service said: "He is presumed to have died from natural causes; a post-mortem will follow."[15] Later, his death was ascribed to pulmonary fibrosis and a fractured hip he had suffered earlier in the month as preliminary causes of death.[16]
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Sullivan Walker, Trinidadian actor (The Cosby Show, Get Rich or Die Tryin'), died from a heart attack he was 68

Sullivan Walker was a Trinidadian actor who played numerous small and recurring roles on television shows from the early 1980s onwards died from a heart attack he was 68. Walker migrated to New York from Trinidad in 1969 and became an

actor, writer, director and teacher.

(November 20, 1946 – February 20, 2012)

Early life

Walker was born in Laventille, Trinidad, on November 20, 1946.[1] He was raised in Broadway in the city of San Fernando.[1] He initially began a career as a teacher at St. Paul’s Anglican School in San Fernando.[1]

Professional work

Walker acted in such television shows as The Cosby Show from 1988 to 1991 portraying Bill Cosby's physician friend, Dr. James Harmon.[2] He guest-starred in single episodes of The Pretender (1999), The Sentinel (1997), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004). He also played a bit part in several movies, including Crocodile Dundee (1986). His most significant role was in the 1994–95 show Earth 2, where he appeared in nearly every episode as Yale, a cybernetic advisor to Devon Adair (Debrah Farentino) and tutor to her son, Uly. His final role was in the 2005 movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
Outside of film and television Walker was also a Broadway actor, acting in August Wilson's Two Trains Running.[2] Toward the end of his life, he endeavored to found a school/workshops for Caribbean actors in New York to succeed in the American film and television markets.[2]

Death

Walker died of a heart attack on February 20, 2012, in his home of Los Angeles, California, three months after his 65th birthday. He is survived by his daughter and only child, Keela Walker. His remains were cremated.

Film and television appearances


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Katie Hall, American politician, U.S. Representative from Indiana (1982–1985) died she was 73

 Katie Beatrice Hall , served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1982 to 1985 died she was 73.

(April 3, 1938 – February 20, 2012)

Life and career

She was born Katie Beatrice Green in Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi. She attended the public schools of Mound Bayou. Hall received a B.S. from Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, Mississippi in 1960 and an M.S. from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana in 1968.
Hall served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives 1974–1976 and a member of the Indiana Senate 1976–1982. She was a delegate to the Democratic Mini Convention in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1978. Hall chaired the Indiana State Democratic convention in 1980. Following the sudden death of Congressman Adam Benjamin, Jr. in September 1982, Hall won a special election to fill the vacancy. She was appointed the Democratic nominee over more experienced candidates by the black mayor of Gary, Indiana who was also serving as the head of the 1st District's Democratic committee. She would go on to defeat the Republican candidate (who spent just $10,000 in his campaign) in the 1982 general election by only 56% to 43% despite it being an overwhelmingly Democratic district.
In her first Democratic primary in 1984, she faced two white candidates, former Benjamin aide Peter Visclosky and Lake County prosecutor Jack Crawford. Many thought Visclosky and Crawford would split the anti-Hall vote, but Visclosky prevailed with 34% to Hall's 33% and Crawford's 31%. Hall ultimately served as a Democrat in the last months the 97th Congress and the entire term of the 98th Congress. Hall led the Capitol Hill drive to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law.
Following her primary defeat she became vice chair of the Gary, Indiana Housing Board of Commissioners. She later served as city clerk of Gary, Indiana from 1985 to 1993. In both 1988 and 1990 she made unsuccessful attempts against Visclosky in the Democratic primaries.
In May 2002, Hall, again serving as Gary City Clerk, and her daughter, Chief Deputy Clerk Junifer Hall, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, extortion, and mail fraud. Junifer Hall was also charged with five counts of perjury. Katie Hall eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to house arrest and probation. Junifer Hall was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison.[1]
Katie Hall died on February 20, 2012 at 11:23 A.M., of heart failure.
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Monday, December 1, 2014

Louisiana Red, 79, American blues musician, stroke

Iverson Minter (March 23, 1932 – February 25, 2012), known as "Louisiana Red", was an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He was best known for his song "Sweet Blood Call".[3]

Biography

Born in Bessemer, Alabama,[3] Minter lost his parents early in life; his mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1937.[1] He was brought up by a series of relatives in various towns and cities. Red recorded for Chess in 1949, before joining the Army. He was initially trained with the 82nd Airborne as a parachutist and he went to Korea in 1951. The 82nd airborne didn't go there as a complete unit, only some of soldiers were dispatched and became rangers in 2nd, 3rd and 7th Infantry Divisions. Red said he was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division.
After leaving the Army, he spent two years in the late 1950s playing with John Lee Hooker in Detroit.[1] He recorded for Checker Records in 1952, billed as Rocky Fuller.[4]
His first album, Lowdown Back Porch Blues, was recorded in New York with Tommy Tucker and released in 1963, with second album Seventh Son released later the same year.[5] Louisiana Red released the single "I'm Too Poor To Die" for the Glover label in 1964. It peaked at number 117 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 30 on the Cashbox chart. Billboard did not print a standard R&B chart during 1964.
He maintained a busy recording and performing schedule through the 1960s and 1970s, having done sessions for Chess, Checker, Atlas, Glover, Roulette, L&R and Tomato amongst others.[1] In 1983 he won a W.C. Handy Award for Best Traditional Blues Male Artist.[6][7] He lived in Hanover, Germany since 1981.[8]
He has also made film appearances in Rockpalast (1976), Comeback (1982), Ballhaus Barmbek (1988), Red and Blues (2005) and Family Meeting (2008).[9]
In 1994, Louisiana Red fused the blues with the urban Greek music of the bouzouki player, Stelios Vamvakaris, on the album, Blues Meets Rembetika.[4] He continued to tour, including regular returns to the US,[7] until his death. In 2011, Louisiana Red released Memphis Mojo to broad public acclaim.[10]

Death

Michael Messer, from Michael Messer Music, noted on February 25, 2012: "I am very sorry to be bringer of such sad news that my dear friend, Louisiana Red, died this morning. He had a stroke on Monday and had been in a coma."[11] Louisiana Red had died in Hanover, Germany, aged 79.[3]

Awards

  • 1983: W C Handy Award for Best Traditional Blues Male Artist
  • 2009: Grand Prix du Disque (Blues) for Back to the Black Bayou
  • 2009: German Record Critics Award (2.Quarter) Best New Release (Blues)
  • 2009: Bluesnews Poll (for Back to the Black Bayou)
  • 2010: Blues Music Award (Acoustic Artist of the Year)
  • 2010: Blues Music Award (Acoustic Album of the Year) for You Got To Move

Discography

Albums

  • Lowdown Back Porch Blues (1963) (Roulette)
  • Seventh Son (1963) (Carnival)
  • Shouts the Blues (1970) (Forum Circle)
  • Louisiana Red Sings The Blues (1972) (Atlantic)
  • Sweet Blood Call (1975) (Blue Labor)
  • Dead Stray Dog (1976) (Blue Labor)
  • New York Blues (1979) (L+R)
  • Reality Blues (1980) (L+R)
  • High Voltage Blues (1980) (Black Panther) feat. Sugar Blue
  • Midnight Rambler (1982) (Tomato/Rhino)
  • Blues for Ida B (1982) (JSP)
  • Boy from Black Bayou (1983) (L+R)
  • Blues From The Heart (1983) (JSP)
  • Anti Nuclear Blues (1983) (L+R)
  • Bluesman (1984) (JSP)
  • Back to the Road Again (1984) (MMG)
  • My Life (1984) (L+R) feat. Carey Bell
  • World on Fire (1985) (MMG)
  • Brothers in Blues (1985) (CMA)
  • Back to the Roots (1987) (CMA)
  • Last Mohican of the Blues (1992) (Polton)
  • Ashland Avenue Blues (1992) (Schubert)
  • Always Played The Blues (1994) (JSP)
  • Louisiana Red (1994) (Forum)
  • Blues Meets Rembetika (1994) (Distazi)
  • Sittin' Here Wonderin' (1995) (Earwig Music)
  • Sugar Hips (1995) (CMA)
  • Rising Sun Collection (1996) (JAMR)
  • I Hear the Train Coming (1997) (Chrisly)
  • Over my Head (1997) (Chrisly)
  • Walked All Night Long (1997) (Blues Alliance)
  • Rip off Blues (1998) (Chrisly)
  • Winter & Summer Sessions (1998) (Blues Factory)
  • Driftin (1999) (Earwig Music)
  • Millennium Blues (1999) (Earwig Music)
  • Sings Deep Blues (2001) (P-Vine)
  • A Different Shade of Red (2002) (Severn)
  • No Turn On Red (2005) (Hightone)
  • Hot Sauce (2005) (Red Lightnin')
  • Back to the Black Bayou (2008) (Bluestown) with Kim Wilson and Little Victor
  • You Got to Move (2009) (Blu Max/Vizztone) with David Maxwell
  • Memphis Mojo (2011) Ruf Records
  • When my Mama was living (2012) rec. 1975 (Labor Rec.)

Live albums

  • Live & Well (1976) (Ornament)
  • King Bee (1978) (Orchid) feat. Sugar Blue
  • Red, Funk and Blue (1978) (Black Panther Rec.) feat. Sugar Blue
  • Live in Montreux (2000) (Labor)
  • Live at 55 (1994) (Enja) feat.Carey Bell
  • Bad Case of the Blues (2004) (Mojo Tone) feat. Carey Bell
  • Live at Painted Sky (2008) (Paul Prod.)

Compilation albums

  • Anthologie du Blues Vol. 11 (Roulette Rec.)
  • Blues Classics (1983) (L+R)
  • Pretty Woman (1991) (Blues Beacon)
  • The Best of Louisiana Red (1995) (Evidence Rec.)
  • The Blues Spectrum of Louisiana Red (1998) (JSP) feat. Sugar Blue

Guest appearances (selected)

Various artists (selected)

  • The Paul Jones Rhythm & Blues Show – The American Guests (JSP CD210)
  • The Paul Jones Rhythm & Blues Show – The American Guests – Vol.3 (JSP CD235)
  • Chicago Blues Vol.2
  • Earwig 16. Ann. Sampler (Earwig Music 1995)
  • Earwig 20. Ann. Sampler (Earwig Music 2000)
  • Am. Folk Blues Festival (L+R 1980 & 1983)
  • The 1. Blues Sampler (L+R 1980)
  • Blues Legends-Blues Giants (1993 Castle Communications)
  • Live at Boston Blues Festival Vol:2 (Blues Trust 2007)
  • Family Meeting by Wentus Blues Band (Ruf 2008) with Mick Taylor, Lazy Lester
  • Blues Wire Birthday Tour (August 2007 – Greece)
  • Houserockin' And Blues Shoutin – Rhythm Room 15 Year Anniversary Album"" (Blue Witch Records 2006)
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Red Holloway, American jazz saxophonist, died from stroke and kidney failure he was , 84?

James Wesley
"Red" Holloway was an American jazz tenor saxophonist  died from stroke and kidney failure he was , 84?.[1]

  (May 31, 1927 – February 25, 2012)

Biography

Holloway started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old. He graduated from DuSable High School, where he had played in the school big band with Johnny Griffin and Eugene Wright, and attended the Conservatory of Music, Chicago. He joined the Army when he was nineteen and became bandmaster for the U.S. Fifth Army Band, and after completing his military service, returned to Chicago and played with Yusef Lateef and Dexter Gordon, among others. In 1948 he joined blues vocalist Roosevelt Sykes and later played with other blues musicians such as Willie Dixon, Junior Parker, Lloyd Price, and John Mayall.
In the 1950s he played in the Chicago area with Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Ben Webster, Jimmy Rushing, Arthur Prysock, Dakota Staton, Eddie Vinson, Wardell Gray, Sonny Rollins, Red Rodney, Lester Young, Joe Williams, Redd Foxx, B.B. King, Bobby Bland and Aretha Franklin. During this period, he also toured with Sonny Stitt, Memphis Slim and Lionel Hampton. He became a member of the house band for Chance Records in 1952. He subsequently appeared on many recording sessions for the Chicago-based independents Parrot, United and States, and Vee-Jay.[2]
From 1963 to 1966, he was in organist "Brother" Jack McDuff's band, which also featured a young guitarist, George Benson. In 1974, Holloway recorded The Latest Edition with John Mayall and toured Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. From 1977 to 1982, Holloway worked with Sonny Stitt, recording two albums together, and following Stitt's death, Holloway played and recorded with Clark Terry.
Red Holloway died February 25, 2012, one month after Etta James, with whom he had worked extensively.[3]

Discography

As leader

  • The Burner (Prestige, 1963)
  • Cookin' Together (Prestige, 1964) with the Brother Jack McDuff Quartet
  • Sax, Strings & Soul (Prestige, 1964)
  • Red Soul (Prestige, 1965)
  • No tears over you (RH)
  • Hittin' the Road Again (JAM, 1982)
  • Nica's Dream (Steeplechase, 1984)
  • Red Holloway & Company (Concord, 1987)
  • Locksmith Blues (Concord, 1989)
  • Daydream with T.C.Pfeiler (Tonewheel, 1997)
  • In the Red (High Note, 1997)
  • Standing Room Only (Chiaroscuro, 1998)
  • A Night of Blues and Ballads (JHM, 1999)
  • Coast to Coast (Milestone, 2003)
  • Something old something new (2007)
  • Go Red Go ! (Delmark, 2008)
  • Meets the Bernhard Pichi Trio (Organic Music, 2009)

As sideman

With Gene Ammons
With Wade Marcus
With Horace Silver
With George Benson
With John Mayall
With Etta James
With Jack McDuff
With Carmen McRae
With Knut RiisnƦs
With Atle Hammer
With Freddy Cole

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Pery Ribeiro, 74, Brazilian singer, myocardial infarction

Pery Ribeiro was a Brazilian singer of bossa nova, MPB and jazz, active as a singer from 1959 until shortly before his death.

(27 October 1937 – 24 February 2012)

Biography

Pery Ribeiro was born Peri Oliveira Martins on 27 October 1937, son of the singer Dalva de Oliveira (1917–1972) and singer-songwriter Herivelto Martins (1912–1992).[1]
Ribeiro began his performing career as a child, dubbing the voice of the dwarf Bashful in the Walt Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, while his mother dubbed the voice of Snow White.[1] In addition, he participated in the incomplete Orson Welles film It's All True. In 1944, Ribeiro appeared as an actor in the musical comedy film "Berlim na batucada", by LuĆ­s de Barros.[2] This film was a satire of Orson Welles' passage through Brazil while filming "It's All True" (the same film in which Ribeiro appeared) and the United States' "good neighbor" policy.[3]
Ribeiro's career as a singer did not begin until 1959. Ribeiro was working as a camera operator for TV Tupi, when he was invited to appear on the program of Paulo Gracindo on RƔdio Nacional.[1] At this time he assumed the stage name Pery Ribeiro, at the suggestion of CƩsar de Alencar (a Brazilian radio announcer, film actor and television host).[1]
In 1960, Ribeiro's mother (a successful and well-established singer), recorded Ribeiro's composition "NĆ£o devo insistir". Ribeiro made his first record as a singer in the same year. In 1961, Ribeiro recorded several 78 rpm discs. Among them was a disc featuring the songs "ManhĆ£ de Carnaval" and "Samba de Orfeu" by Luiz BonfĆ” and AntĆ“nio Maria, which had been part of the soundtrack of the 1959 film Black Orpheus. In the same year he recorded the song "O Barquinho", by Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo BĆ“scoli, another song which has become a bossa nova standard. In 1962, Ribeiro recorded his first LP, "Pery Ribeiro e seu mundo de canƧƵes romĆ¢nticas" (Pery Ribeiro and his world of romantic songs), accompanied on the guitar by LuĆ­z BonfĆ”.[4]
Ribeiro was one of the first singers to record the classic bossa nova song "Garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema), recording it in January 1963 for Odeon.[5] The song was part of Ribeiro's second LP, "Pery Ć© todo bossa" (Pery is all bossa).[4] In 1965, he appeared on a television special "Gemini V", performing with Leny Andrade and the group Bossa 3 at the club PorĆ£o 73. Ribeiro, Andrade and Bossa 3 recorded together several times subsequently.[4] Throughout his career, Ribeiro performed frequently in Mexico and the United States. In 1998, Ribeiro moved to Miami, where he lived until 2011.
In 2006, Ribeiro and his wife, Ana Duarte, co-wrote a memoir of Ribeiro's childhood, early career, and the relationship between his parents, called "Minhas duas estrelas" (My Two Stars).[6] The book became the source of a television miniseries on TV Globo in 2010.[7]
Ribeiro died on 24 February 2012, of a heart attack, in Rio de Janeiro.[1] Shortly before his death, Ribeiro completed work on an album of duets with twenty-two other artists in homage of Wilson Simonal.[8]

Critical reception

In 2012, Ribeiro was ranked among the 100 best Brazilian singers of all time by Rolling Stone Brasil (at #64). The magazine provided the following assessment of Ribeiro's career: "Possibly the most underestimated Brazilian singer, Pery Ribeiro ... became one of the leading voices of bossa nova. ... Skill, precision, refinement, musical intelligence -- Pery had all this to spare, and sang all styles."[9]

Discography

  • 1965: Gemini V (with Leny Andrade)
  • 1977: Gemini V en Mexico (with Leny Andrade)
  • 1972: Gemini Cinco Anos Depois (with Leny Andrade)
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William Everett "Billy" Strange died he was 81

William Everett "Billy" Strange  was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum as a member of The Wrecking Crew in 2007.

(September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012)

Biography

Early life

Billy Strange was born in Long Beach, California on September 29, 1930.[1]

Recordings and songwriting

Strange teamed up with Mac Davis to write several hit songs for Elvis Presley, including "A Little Less Conversation", the theme from Charro!, and "Memories". Strange also composed the musical soundtrack for two of Presley's films Live a Little, Love a Little and The Trouble with Girls. He also wrote "Limbo Rock" that was recorded by The Champs and Chubby Checker.
Strange recorded many cover versions of James Bond movie themes for GNP Crescendo Records and provided the instrumental backing and arrangement for Nancy Sinatra's non-soundtrack version of "You Only Live Twice" as well as Nancy and Frank Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid". He was recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame for his pioneering contribution to the genre.[2]
Strange played guitar on numerous Beach Boys hits, including "Sloop John B" and the Pet Sounds album. He also played guitar for Nancy Sinatra, Jan & Dean, The Ventures, Willie Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Wanda Jackson, Randy Newman, and Nat King Cole, among others. One of his most famous performances is on Nancy Sinatra's version of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)".
Strange arranged and conducted all of Nancy Sinatra's Reprise albums as well as Nancy Sinatra's and Lee Hazlewood's 1972 RCA Records release, Nancy & Lee Again and their 2003 album, Nancy & Lee 3. He also arranged the 1981 Sinatra and Mel Tillis album, Mel & Nancy. He arranged and conducted for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Duane Eddy, and Elvis Presley. One of his most famous arrangements was "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for Nancy Sinatra. Strange also performed the vocals for Steve McQueen in Baby the Rain Must Fall.[3]
Heard on the soundtracks of many Disney features, Strange played themes for such TV shows as "The Munsters" (1964), "Batman" (1966) and "Have Gun - Will Travel" (1957). He is the guitarist heard on the theme to "The Munsters".[4]
"A Little Less Conversation", which he wrote with Mac Davis, was on the sound­tracks of the DreamWorks ani­mated fea­ture films Shark Tale (2004) and Megamind (2010).[5]
He sang his own com­po­si­tion, "The Bal­lad of Bunny and Claude", in the Mer­rie Melodies Bunny And Claude (We Rob Car­rot Patches) (1968) and The Great Carrot-Train Rob­bery (1969).[5]

Personal life

Strange was married to singer and actress Joan O'Brien from 1954 to 1955. They had a son, Russell Glen Strange, born on October 4, 1955.
He was also married to Betty Jo Conrad (son: Jerry Strange)from 1960 to 1978. They had a daughter together, Kelly Kimberly Strange, born on November 11, 1964.
While separated from Betty Jo, Strange moved from California to Tennessee to open and run a publishing firm for the Sinatras and lived with/dated Tricia "LeAnn" King. They had a daughter, Mary "Micah" King (Strange), who was born on December 23, 1976 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
Strange was married to singer Jeanne Black in his final years. He died on February 22, 2012, aged 81.[3]

Selected filmography

As actor

Soundtrack

Selected discography

  • Billy Strange Plays Roger Miller
  • Mr. Guitar
  • The James Bond Theme / Walk Don't Run '64
  • English Hits of '65
  • Goldfinger
  • Secret Agent File (later rereleased as a compilation)
  • James Bond Double Feature
  • In the Mexican Bag
  • Great Western Themes
  • Billy Strange and The Challengers
  • Strange Country
  • 12 String Guitar
  • Railroad Man
  • Super Scary Monster Party (compilation)
  • De Sade (film soundtrack)

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