Roberto Cantoral, Mexican composer, died of a heart attack he was , 75

Roberto Cantoral Garcia was a Mexican composer, singer and songwriter died of a heart attack he was , 75. ^[4] He was known for composing a string of hit Mexican songs, including El Triste, Al Final, La Barca and El Reloj.^[4][5] The Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México (English: Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico) estimated that La Barca and El Reloj have been recorded over 1,000 times by other artists like Placido Domingo, Gualberto Castro, José José, Luis Miguel, Joan Báez and Linda Ronstadt.^[6][7][8][9] In 2009, he won the Latin Grammy Trustee Award.^[8][10][11] Iconos, which was released by Marc Anthony in 2010, featured "El Triste".^[5]

(7 June 1935 – 7 August 2010)

Early life

Roberto Cantoral Garcia was born on 7 June 1935 in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas.^[8][10] From an early age, he showed an ability for music and its composition.^[8][12][13] Cantoral moved to Mexico City to attend college but dropped out to become a band leader.^[14]

Career

1950 - 1960

In 1950, Cantoral formed the Hermanos Cantoral (English: Cantoral Brothers) with Antonio Cantoral.^[8][10][13] The duo recorded "El preso número 9" (English: Prisoner Number 9) and "El crucifijo de piedra" (English: The Crucifix of Stone).^[8][10] The duo ended in 1954 with Antonio's death and Roberto formed Los Tres Caballeros (English: The Three Knights) with Chamin Correa and Leonel Gálvez who performed during Mexico's era of romantic music^[15] and traveled to Japan, Argentina and the United States.^{[10][12][16][17]}

1960 - 1980

In 1960, Cantoral went solo and achieved international fame for "Al final", "Noche no te vayas", "Regálame esta noche" and "Yo lo comprendo" (English: The End, Night [Don't You] Go, Give me the Night, and I Understand).^[12][16] In 1970, he wrote the ballad "El Triste" (English: The Sad One) by José José. In 1971, he won the OTI Festival with "Yo no voy a la guerra" (English: I'm not going to the War) and in 1973 for "Quijote".^{[8][10][12][16]} Cantoral donated the proceeds from "Pobre navidad" (English: Poor Christmas) to worldwide children institutions^[8] such as UNICEF^[16] and his song, "Plegaria de paz" (English: Prayer of Peace) was broadcast "three consecutive years at the Vatican".^[12] Cantoral composed themes for El derecho de nacer, Paloma and Pacto de amor.^[8][12]

1980 - 2000

In 1982, Cantoral was elected as Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México's Chairman of the Board for his first term.^[8][10][12]

Awards

During his lifetime, Cantoral received many awards. He received medals of merit from Adolfo López Mateos and Tito^[8]. In 1969, Cantoral won la presea Diana Cazadora and premio Cuauhtémoc de Oro (English: Diana the Huntress award and Cuauhtémoc Gold prize).^[8] He won three gold records for "El Reloj", "La Barca" and "El Triste".^[8][15]

Personal life

Cantoral resided in Rancho Viejo, Texas, just across the border from Mexico.^[4] His home, which suffered a fire in 2006 but was renovated, features a large marble clock in honor of his song, El Reloj, and several statues.^[4]

Cantoral was married to Itatí Zucchi^[1] and was the father of Mexican actress Itati Cantoral, the co-star of the Televisa television series Hasta Que El Dinero Nos Separe.^[4] Roberto Cantoral had three sons, Carlos, Roberto and José, with Zucchi.^[18][19]

Death

In 2010, Cantoral died after suffering a heart attack on a flight from Brownsville, Texas, to Mexico City.^[4] The plane made an emergency landing in Toluca, Mexico, where Cantoral was pronounced dead at the age of 75.^[4] His body was placed on public view at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.^[4] Cantoral's ashes were scattered in his hometown, Tampico, Tamaulipas.^[4]

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Bruno Cremer French actor (Is Paris Burning?, Sorcerer, Maigret). died he was ,80,

Bruno Cremer was a French actor born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, who spent a part of his career on stage, but who also found success in the cinema and on television.^[1]

(October 6, 1929 – August 7, 2010)

Biography

He was widely known in France and the French-speaking world for his interpretation of the famous detective Maigret in a television series that started in 1991 and ended in 2005 after 54 episodes.

His career on stage included creating the role of Thomas Beckett in the 1959 world premiere of the play Beckett by Jean Anouilh.

In 1957, he had a credited role in the movies for the first time in Send a Woman When the Devil Fails (also known as When a Woman Meddles and When the Woman Gets Confused), featuring Alain Delon.

He and his wife Chantal, whom he married in December 1984, had two daughters (Constance and Marie-Clémentine). From an earlier marriage, he had a son, Stéphane, who is a writer.

In 2000, he published an autobiography, Un certain jeune homme (A Certain Young Man).

Bruno Cremer, 80 years old, died on August 7, 2010, in Paris. He had been suffering from cancer for several years.^[2]

Selected filmography

• The 317th Platoon (1965)
• Is Paris Burning? (1966), directed by René Clément
• Les Gauloises bleues (1968)
• The Time to Die (1970)
• L'Alpagueur (1976)
• Sorcerer (1977), directed by William Friedkin
• A Simple Story (1978)
• Derborence (1985)
• Noce Blanche (1989), with Vanessa Paradis
• Tumultes (1990)

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Alex Johns American film producer (The Ant Bully) and television producer (Futurama), died after a long illness he was , 43,

Alex Johns was an American film and television producer. Johns is best known for his work as the co-executive producer of more than seventy episodes of the animated television series Futurama.^[1] He also the co-executive producer of the 2006 film, The Ant Bully.^[1][2]

(August 23, 1966 – August 7, 2010)

Johns was born in Roseville, California, on August 23, 1966.^[1][2] He was the grandson of actor Steve Cochran (1917-1966).^[1] Johns graduated from Escalon High School in Escalon, California, in 1984.^[2] He attended both San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego.^[1]

He began his career in the film industry by colorizing classic black-and-white movies in the late 1980s.^[2] Johns was successful in this work despite the fact that he was colorblind, which he kept a professional secret.^[1] He began working in television in the 1990s on the series, The Ren & Stimpy Show.^[1]

Matt Groening, the creator of Futurama, hired Johns to work on the show. Johns would eventually co-executive produce more than seventy episodes of Futurama during his career.^[1][2] Groening also gave Johns a prominent production role in the 1999 Christmas television special, Olive, the Other Reindeer, which starred Drew Barrymore and Ed Asner.^[1]

Film director John A. Davis hired Johns to co-executive produce the 2006 computer-animated film, The Ant Bully. In a professional twist, Johns had actually fired Davis from the production staff of Olive, the Other Reindeer in the late 1990s due to tactical and budgetery reasons.^[1] Davis spoke of the unusual situation in an interview in 2010 explaining, "Alex was in the uncomfortable position of telling me I was being replaced, but to hear his spin, it sounded like I was getting a promotion! He was awesome...He did such a great job firing me, I had to hire him! (for The Ant Bully)."^[1] The film went on to gross more than $28 million at the U.S. domestic box office.^[2]

Alex Johns died on August 7, 2010, of a long illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 45.^[1] He was survived by his mother, Xandria Walker, and four brothers - David Cimino, Michael Johns, Christopher Johns and Daniel Johns.^[2] He was predeceased by his father, Wendell Johns.^[2]

The 100th episode of Futurama, The Mutants Are Revolting, was dedicated to the memory of Alex Johns.^[3] The episode aired on September 2, 2010,

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Catfish Collins, American guitarist (James Brown, Bootsy's Rubber Band, Parliament-Funkadelic), died from cancer he was , 66

Phelps "Catfish" Collins ^[1] was a rhythm guitarist known mostly for his work in the P-Funk collective has died from cancer he was , 66. Although frequently overshadowed by his younger brother, Bootsy Collins, Catfish played on many important and influential records by Parliament, Funkadelic, and Bootsy's Rubber Band.

(1944 – August 6, 2010)

In 1968, the Collins brothers, along with Kash Waddy and Philippe Wynne, formed a group called The Pacemakers. Later the Pacemakers were hired by James Brown to accompany his vocals, at this they became known as The J.B.'s. Some of Brown's previous band members had walked out because of money disputes. During their tenure in the J.B.'s, they recorded such classics as "Super Bad", "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine", "Soul Power", and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose". By 1971, Collins and the rest of the J.B.'s had quit James Brown. The Collins brothers and Kash Waddy formed House Guests and shortly after joined Funkadelic and contributed to the Funkadelic album America Eats Its Young. Four years later, Collins joined Bootsy's Rubber Band, which included Waddy, Joel "Razor Sharp" Johnson (keyboards), Gary "Muddbone" Cooper (drums), and Robert "P-Nut" Johnson (vocals), along with The Horny Horns. Collins has also played on albums by Deee-Lite, Freekbass, and H-Bomb.

On his early work with James Brown and Funkadelic, Catfish played a Vox Ultrasonic guitar with built-in effects.

He died on August 6, 2010 after a long battle with cancer.^[2]

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Chris Dedrick, American musician (The Free Design) and composer (Ray Bradbury Theatre), died from cancer he was 62,

The Free Design were a Delevan, New York-based vocal group playing jazzy pop music. Their music can be described as sunshine pop and baroque pop, which were pop music subgenres at the time, which later influenced the bands Stereolab, Cornelius, Pizzicato Five, Beck and The High Llamas.

Early work

The members were all members of the Dedrick family: Chris Dedrick (who wrote most of the songs) died from cancer he was 62,, sister Sandy and brother Bruce were the original lineup. Younger sister Ellen joined the group later, and youngest sister Stefanie joined near the end of their initial career. Their father, Art, was a trombonist and music arranger. Their uncle Rusty Dedrick was a jazz trumpeter with Claude Thornhill and Red Norvo. They formed the band while living in New York City. Chris has said the group was influenced by vocal groups like The Hi-Los (who performed in Greenwich Village frequently at the time) along with Peter, Paul and Mary and the counterpoint experiments of Benjamin Britten. Their trademark sound involved complex harmonies, jazz-like chord progressions, and off-beat time signatures, all products of Chris's classical training.

The band released seven albums from 1967 to 1972, the first six on Enoch Light's Project 3 label and the last one, There is a Song, on the Ambrotype label. For the most part, they were accompanied on the albums by studio musicians.

Post-breakup

After the band's breakup in 1972, Chris Dedrick recorded a solo album, Be Free, which went unreleased until 2000. He moved to Toronto, Canada, where he became a music producer, arranger, and a classical and soundtrack composer. He has worked with directors Guy Maddin and Don McKellar, winning a Genie Award for Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World, and he made music for the Ray Bradbury Theater TV-series. In 1997 Dedrick won a Gemini Award for his work on the television series Road to Avonlea.

Starting in 1976, Chris, Sandy and Ellen became the core members of The Star-Scape Singers, a classical vocal ensemble led by Dr. Kenneth G. Mills. Chris Dedrick also served as the group's main composer. The group performed and toured extensively throughout the 1980s and 1990s.^[1][2]

Revival of interest

During their career, The Free Design never gained the commercial success they, and their small fan-base, felt they deserved, a plight they noted in their 1969 song "2002 - A Hit Song", in which they describe how to create a hit, then continue, "there's just one fact that we can't quite shirk/ we did all this last time, and it did not work." They remained in obscurity after disbanding in 1972. Starting in the mid-90s, however, interest in them began to grow as part of a general resurgence of interest in easy listening and sunshine pop from the 60s and 70s. In 1994, Japanese musician Cornelius reissued the Free Design catalog on his "Trattoria" label. In 1997, the band Tomorrow's World covered their song "Kites Are Fun", and in 1998, the Spanish "Siesta" label put out four compilation albums of their music. Stereolab, whose lounge-inspired music clearly showed a Free Design influence, named a 1999 single "The Free Design" (though the song itself had no direct connection to the band). The Free Design song "Bubbles" was covered by Dressy Bessy on the 2000 Powerpuff Girls soundtrack.

Perhaps inspired by this newfound interest, in 2000 the band re-grouped, after a nearly 30-year retirement, to record the song "Endless Harmony" on the Beach Boys tribute album Caroline Now. This experience convinced them to record a new full-length album, 2001's Cosmic Peekaboo, which featured the original lineup (Chris, Sandy and Bruce) in addition to Rebecca Pellett, who had previously been Chris Dedrick's musical assistant for several years.

In 2001 the label Cherry Red released a Best of Free Design compilation. The Free Design song "I Found Love" was included on the 2002 Gilmore Girls soundtrack. From 2002 to 2005, the original albums were reissued in the United States by the Light in the Attic label. In 2005, the label put out The Now Sound Redesigned, an album of Free Design remixes from established acts like Stereolab, Super Furry Animals and Peanut Butter Wolf.

The song "Love You" is featured during the credits of the film Stranger Than Fiction (2006), at the very end of season four on the Showtime hit, Weeds, and as the theme song to the internet podcast "Jordan Jesse Go" co-hosted by The Sound Of Young America host Jesse Thorn and Fuel TV correspondent Jordan Morris.

"Love You" was also featured in TV commercials for Peters Drumstick ice creams in Australia (2007), "Smil" chocolate in Norway (2008), Toyota (2009), "Cosmote" in Greece (2009), DC's second "Progression" short^[3] (2010) and in Toyota adverts internationally (2009/2010).

The song "I Found Love" can be found on Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls. The song plays as the start of "Sadie, Sadie" (Season 2, Episode 1).

Chris Dedrick died on August 6, 2010, from cancer, aged 62.^[4][5] According to a message posted on his official site by his wife Moira, Dedrick passed away “after a week of increasing radiance, yet with rapid physical decline.”^[6]

Discography

• Kites Are Fun (1967)
• You Could Be Born Again (1968)
• Heaven/Earth (1969)
• Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love (1970)
• ...Sing for Very Important People (1970)
• One By One (1971)
• There is a Song (1972)
• Cosmic Peekaboo (2001)

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John Louis Mansi, British actor,died from lung cancer he was , 83

John Louis Mansi ^[2] was a British television and film actor whose career spanned the years from the early 1950s to the early 1990s, died from lung cancer he was , 83.

(8 November 1926 – 6 August 2010)

He is best known for his role as Herr Engelbert von Smallhausen (although in the BBC books he is named as Bobby Cedric von Smallhausen) in the popular BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! in seasons 2 to 9. He also appeared in Department S (as "Maxime" in the episode "The Treasure of the Costa del Sol", 1969), the Ripping Yarns story "Across The Andes By Frog", The Hammer House of Horror story "The Thirteenth Reunion", The Beatles' movie Help!, the original version of The Italian Job and the film version of Tales from the Crypt. After 'Allo 'Allo ended in 1992 he retired from acting.

He was often credited as Louis Mansi in his roles.

For six years he suffered from Parkinson's Disease and in May 2010 was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. His interests included reading, letter writing, animal welfare and watching DVDs/videos of past favourite series/films.

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Bobby Hebb, American singer-songwriter ("Sunny"), died from lung cancer he was 72

Bobby Hebb ^[1] was an African American singer and songwriter, best known for his writing and recording of "Sunny"died from lung cancer he was 72.

(July 26, 1938 – August 3, 2010)

Biography

He was born Robert Von Hebb in Nashville, Tennessee. Hebb's parents, William and Ovalla Hebb, were both blind musicians.^[2] Hebb and his older brother Harold performed as a song-and-dance team in Nashville, beginning when Bobby was three and Harold was nine. Hebb performed on a TV show hosted by country music record producer Owen Bradley, which earned him a place with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff.^[2] Hebb played spoons and other instruments in Acuff's band. Harold later became a member of Johnny Bragg and the Marigolds. Bobby Hebb sang backup on Bo Diddley's "Diddley Daddy". Hebb played "West-coast-style" trumpet in a United States Navy jazz band, and replaced Mickey Baker in Mickey and Sylvia.^[2]

On November 23, 1963, the day after John F. Kennedy's assassination, Harold Hebb was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and sought comfort in songwriting. Though many claim that the song he wrote after both tragedies was the optimistic "Sunny", Hebb himself stated otherwise. He immersed himself in the Gerald Wilson album, You Better Believe It!, for comfort.

"All my intentions were just to think of happier times – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low tide. After I wrote it, I thought "Sunny" just might be a different approach to what Johnny Bragg was talking about in "Just Walkin' in the Rain".^{[citation needed]}

"Sunny" was recorded in New York City, after demos were made with the record producer Jerry Ross. Released as a single, it reached #3 on the R&B charts, # 2 on the Billboard Hot 100,^[3] # 12 in the UK,^[4] sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[2] When Hebb toured with The Beatles in 1966 his "Sunny" was as well received as any Beatles tune, as evidenced by tapes of the concerts. BMI rated "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".

"Sunny" has been recorded by, among others, Cher, Boney M, Georgie Fame, Johnny Rivers, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Electric Flag, The Four Seasons, two different versions from Frankie Valli, the Four Tops, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery, Dusty Springfield, and Classics IV.^[2] One re-recording, a disco version called "Sunny '76" was a minor hit for Hebb in that year hitting #94 on the R&B chart. In 2000, Musiq did an updated dance version retitled "Just Friends (Sunny)," which went to #31 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Hebb also had lesser hits with his "A Satisfied Mind" in 1966 (# 39 on the Billboard chart and #40 on the R&B chart) and "Love Me" in 1967 (# 84),^[3] and wrote many other songs, including Lou Rawls' 1971 hit "A Natural Man." Six years prior to "Sunny", Hebb reached the New York Top 50 with a remake of Roy Acuff's "Night Train To Memphis". In 1972, his single "Love Love Love" reached # 32 in the UK charts.^[4]

After a recording gap of thirty five years, Hebb recorded That's All I Wanna Know, his first commercial release since Love Games for Epic Records in 1970. It was released in Europe in late 2005 by Tuition, a pop indie label. New versions of "Sunny" were also issued (two duets: one with Astrid North, and one with Pat Appleton). In October 2008 he toured and played in Osaka and Tokyo in Japan.

Ipanema Films of Germany was involved in a biographical film which included Hebb, his biographer Joseph Tortelli and Billy Cox.

Hebb continued to live in his hometown of Nashville until his death from lung cancer, at the Centennial Medical Center on August 3, 2010.^[5]

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