Rest in Peace

Louis Johnson, Legendary Bassist, Dead at 60  Louis Johnson, the bassist who scored a string of hits in the 1970s and 1980s as one-half of the Brothers Johnson, passed away at the age of 60 on Thursday (May 21).
The Brothers Johnson got their start with 1976′s Look Out for #1, which lived up to its title by peaking at the top spot on the Billboard R&B chart (and going Top 10 on the pop chart). They were also spinning off the hit singles “Get the Funk Out Ma Face,” “Free and Single” and especially “I’ll Be Good to You,” which went on to become one of the duo’s defining songs, hitting No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the R&B tally.
Other hits followed, including a 1977 cover of Shuggie Otis’ “Strawberry Letter 23″ and the 1980 single “Stomp,” but the Brothers Johnson split in the early ’80s to pursue their own projects, and only reunited sporadically over the ensuing years, while both brothers — Louis and guitarist and vocalist George Johnson — briefly pursed solo recording careers before moving on to session work.
Louis went on to have a successful and prolific career as a highly regarded session musician. His distinctive slap bass technique, which earned him the nickname “Thunder Thumbs,” made him an in-demand player for a wide variety of artists during the early ’80s, and put him in the studio to create a number of top-selling LPs, which included Herb Alpert’s Grammy-winning 1979 smash Rise as well as George Benson’s Give Me the Night. His most widely heard performances, however, came through Michael Jackson, who used Johnson on his Off the Wall, Thriller and Dangerous albums.
No cause of death has been reported for Johnson, who just celebrated his 60th birthday in April, but however he left us, it was far too soon. The Boombox offers condolences and well wishes to his family, and encourages you to spend at least part of your day delving into the tremendous body of work he left behind.
Check out how some members of the music industry are choosing to remember his legacy today.
 

The Brothers Johnson - Stomp!

Aw, that's a shame, that's a classic song. Been a rotten run of these deaths recently

RIP

Big band leader James Last has died, aged 86

He joined an orchestra in his home town of Bremen in 1946 at the age of 17 a year after the end of World War II.

His work took off but it was not until 1964 that he was offered his own record deal with the Polydor label which led to a career that lasted more than six decades.

His trademark was big band arrangements of hit pop songs, giving him a large, loyal fan base across the globe that led to the sale of more than 80 million records worldwide.

He also composed film and TV theme tunes as well as songs for other performers - one song, Fool, became a hit for Elvis Presley.

He continued working well beyond retirement, undergoing an Around The World At 80 tour as recently as 2009 and performing at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year in what was billed as his farewell tour.

He divided his time between his homes in Florida and Hamburg in Germany.

Ornette Coleman, jazz innovator and disruptor, dies at 85

Coleman’s playing in a now-legendary performance at the Five Spot jazz club in New York City in 1959 polarized much of the jazz world. Some viewed him as a charlatan who played freely because he lacked the skills required to improvise in traditional fashion. Others saw him as a compelling artist, moving jazz forward into adventurous new territory.

RIP

Since I mentioned Leonard Nimoy, I might as well mention the sad death at 93 of horror movie legend Sir Christopher Lee, who in his latter years dabbled in music by making a heavy metal album Christopher Lee obit
RIP

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gunther Schuller dies

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and musician Gunther Schuller has died at the age of 89.

Schuller was the leading proponent of the Third Stream movement fusing jazz and classical music.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1994 for his work Of Reminiscences and Reflections, which was composed in memory of his late wife Marjorie.

Schuller made his musical debut at the New York Philharmonic as a French horn player at 16 under Toscanini, and he spent 25 years as an orchestra musician.

But his love of jazz music meant he also played with musicians such as Duke Ellington and Miles Davis - playing French horn on Davis's Birth of the Cool.

He coined the phrase Third Stream in the 1950s to describe music that combines contemporary classical music with jazz improvisation, vocabulary and instruments.

RIP

James Horner, movie composer legend has died in a plane crash, aged 61

The musician worked on three James Cameron films, as well as A Beautiful Mind, Braveheart, Troy and Apollo 13.

He won one Oscar for the Titanic film score and another for its theme song.

The musician shared his second Oscar with lyricist Will Jennings for best original song, the hugely successful My Heart Will Go On, sung by Celine Dion

Horner was nominated for a further eight Oscars, for scores and songs for the films Avatar, House of Sand and Fog, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Braveheart, Field of Dreams, An American Tail and Aliens.

Let's not be forgetting Battle Beyond The Stars, either.

RIP