Category Archives: Obit

What a long and wonderful career Burt Bacharach gave us before he died last week at 94. Forever associated with the 60s, through a remarkable series of complex yet breezy pop songs, many of which delivered by Dionne Warwick, he was composing ias early as the 50s and continued to do so well into the […]

When I interviewed her in 1984, an astounding 38 years ago, she was just on tour on the heels of her solo hit “Got a Hold on Me.”  She had established herself as a solid component to what had become a wildly successful band, Fleetwood Mac. Behind Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, the shiny American […]

The most influential woman in country music, who everybody knows was raised a coal miner’s daughter, died Tuesday at 90, after a career that lasted more than 60 years.  Loretta Lynn, whose first No. 1 country hit was “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” broke barriers with songs about “The Pill” and late […]

It was shocking to hear about the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, not just because of his young age, just 50, but because of how much life he brought to his band — in hard-hitting execution, but also sheer enthusiasm. He brought joy to rock ’n’ roll and one of its last remaining […]

Marvin Lee Aday who made his name as a larger-than-life rock singer named Meat Loaf, died Thursday at 74 in Austin. He had been born in Texas as well, but lived a lot of his life in Connecticut, where he spent a lot of time out of the limelight coaching girls’ softball in Redding. He […]

We lost the indelible rock ’n’ roll voice of Ronnie Spector Wednesday. She died of cancer at the age of 78. Simply her work on the Ronettes biggest hit “Be My Baby” would warrant her everlasting legacy, but she continued through the decades working with Bruce Springsteen, Joey Ramone and Keith Richards and finding a […]

Though I spent my days as a small town news reporter in Eastern Connecticut in the mid-80s, I got my foot into the features writing at  the Hartford Courant by agreeing to be the folk reviewer. It was a crash course in a field that had not only a rich heritage but was also undergoing […]

It was just last month that country music pioneer Charley Pride was honored at the CMA Awards. Saturday, at 86, he was one of the more than 298,000 Americans who have died from Covid complications. In his time, Pride scored more than 50 Top 10 country singles, 40 of which went to No. 1. Before […]