/ Stars that died in 2023

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist (E Street Band) and singer ("You're a Friend Of Mine"), complications following a stroke.

Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972, until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone.[3][4] He released several solo albums and in 1985, had a hit single with "You're a Friend of Mine", a duet with Jackson Browne. As a guest musician he also featured on Aretha Franklin's classic "Freeway of Love" and on Twisted Sister's "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" as well as performing in concert with The Grateful Dead and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. As an actor Clemons featured in several films, including New York, New York and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. He also made cameo appearances in several TV series, including Diff'rent Strokes, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons and The Wire. Together with his television writer friend Don Reo he published his semi-fictional autobiography told in third person, Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales, in 2009.[5] Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12, 2011, and died of complications from it on June 18, at 69 years of age.

(January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011),

Early life

Born in Norfolk County (later the city of Chesapeake), Virginia, Clemons was the son of Clarence Clemons, Sr., a fish market owner,[3] and his wife Thelma.[6][7] He was the oldest of their three children. His grandfather was a Southern Baptist preacher and, as a result, the young Clemons grew up listening to gospel music. When he was nine, his father gave him an alto saxophone as a Christmas present and paid for music lessons. He later switched to baritone saxophone and played in a high school jazz band. His uncle also influenced his early musical development when he bought him his first King Curtis album. Curtis, and his work with The Coasters in particular, would be become a major influence on Clemons and led to him switching to tenor saxophone. As a youth Clemons also showed potential as a football player, and he attended Maryland State College[3] on both music and football scholarships. He played as a lineman on the same team as Emerson Boozer and attracted the attention of the Cleveland Browns, who offered him a trial. However, the day before, he was involved in a serious car accident which effectively ended any plans of a career in the NFL.[8][9][10][11] At age 18, Clemons had one of his earliest studio experiences, recording sessions with Tyrone Ashley's Funky Music Machine, a band from Plainfield, New Jersey that included Ray Davis, Eddie Hazel and Billy Bass Nelson, all of whom later played with Parliament-Funkadelic. He also performed with Daniel Petraitis, a New Jersey and Nashville legend. These sessions were eventually released in 2007, by Truth and Soul Records as Let Me Be Your Man.[12][13] While at Maryland State College Clemons also joined his first band, The Vibratones, which played James Brown covers and stayed together for about four years between 1961 and 1965. While still playing with this band he moved to Newark, New Jersey where he worked as a counselor for emotionally disturbed children at the Jamesburg Training School for Boys between 1962 and 1970.

Music career

Bruce Springsteen

The story of how Clemons first met Bruce Springsteen has entered into E Street Band mythology. "The E Street Shuffle" with a monologue about how they met and the event was also immortalized in "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out". They allegedly met for the first time in September 1971. At the time Clemons was playing with Norman Seldin & The Joyful Noyze at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Seldin was a Jersey Shore musician/entrepreneur who, as well as playing piano and leading various bands, had his own record label, Selsom Records. In 1969, Clemons had recorded an eponymous album with this band. In 2008, tracks from this album were reissued on an anthology, Asbury Park — Then And Now, put together by Seldin. It was Karen Cassidy, lead vocalist with The Joyful Noyze, who encouraged Clemons to check out Springsteen who was playing with The Bruce Springsteen Band at the nearby Student Prince.[14][15][16] Clemons recalled their meeting in various interviews:[17]
One night we were playing in Asbury Park. I'd heard The Bruce Springsteen Band was nearby at a club called The Student Prince and on a break between sets I walked over there. On-stage, Bruce used to tell different versions of this story but I'm a Baptist, remember, so this is the truth. A rainy, windy night it was, and when I opened the door the whole thing flew off its hinges and blew away down the street. The band were on-stage, but staring at me framed in the doorway. And maybe that did make Bruce a little nervous because I just said, "I want to play with your band," and he said, "Sure, you do anything you want." The first song we did was an early version of "Spirit in the Night". Bruce and I looked at each other and didn't say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other's lives. He was what I'd been searching for. In one way he was just a scrawny little kid. But he was a visionary. He wanted to follow his dream. So from then on I was part of history.
Well before this meeting, however, Clemons and Springsteen had moved within the same circle of musical acquaintances. Norman Seldin had managed and promoted several local bands, including The Motifs[18] who featured Vinnie Roslin, later to play with Springsteen in Steel Mill. On April 22, 1966, Seldin had also organised a battle of the bands competition at the Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome in Matawan, New Jersey. Springsteen was among the entrants playing with his then band, The Castiles.[19] Billy Ryan, who played lead guitar with The Joyful Noyze,[20] also played in The Jaywalkers with Garry Tallent and Steve Van Zandt and Clemons himself had played with Tallent in Little Melvin & The Invaders.[21]
In July 1972, Springsteen began recording his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and during breaks from recording, he jammed with Clemons and The Joyful Noyze on at least two occasions at The Shipbottom Lounge in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. When Springsteen then decided to use a tenor saxophone on the songs "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night," it was Clemons he called. By October Springsteen was ready to tour and promote Greetings… and he put together a band featuring Clemons, Tallent, Danny Federici and Vini Lopez. Clemons played his last gig with Norman Seldin & The Joyful Noyze at the Club Plaza in Bayville, New Jersey on October 21, 1972. Four days later Clemons made his debut with the formative E Street Band at an unadvertised, impromptu performance at The Shipbottom Lounge.[22][23] Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Clemons featured prominently on Springsteen albums.[4] On Born to Run he provided memorable saxophone solos on the title track, "Thunder Road" and "Jungleland" while Darkness on the Edge of Town featured another notable solo on "Badlands". The River saw Clemons feature on songs such as "The Ties That Bind", "Sherry Darling", "I Wanna Marry You" and "Independence Day" while Born in the U.S.A. saw solos on "Bobby Jean" and "I'm Goin' Down".[24][25]
At the end of shows, while recognizing members of the E Street Band, Springsteen referred to Clemons as "The Biggest Man You Ever Seen". He sometimes changed this depending on where the E Street Band performs — at their 2009 concert in Glasgow he introduced Clemons as "the biggest Scotsman you've ever seen".

Solo career

Outside of his work with the E Street Band, Clemons recorded with many other artists and had a number of musical projects on his own. The best known of these are his 1985 vocal duet with Jackson Browne on the hit single "You're a Friend of Mine", and his saxophone work on Aretha Franklin's 1985 hit single "Freeway of Love". He was managed briefly in the 1980s by former Crawdaddy editor Peter Knobler, whose wedding Clemons played with his band, Clarence Clemons & the Red Bank Rockers. During the 1980s Clemons also owned a Red Bank, New Jersey nightclub called Big Man's West. He toured in the first incarnation of Ringo Starr & The All-Starr Band in 1989, singing "You're a Friend of Mine" (dueting with Billy Preston) and an updated rap arrangement of "Quarter to Three." In the mid-1990s, he recorded a Japan-only CD release called Aja and the Big Man "Get It On" with Los Angeles singer/songwriter Aja Kim. In the 2000s, Clemons along with producer Narada Michael Walden, put together a group called The Temple of Soul, releasing a single called 'Anna'. He also recorded with philanthropic teen band Creation. Clemons collaborated with Lady Gaga on the songs "Hair" and "The Edge of Glory" from her album Born This Way, providing a saxophone track and solo.[26] Clarence Clemons occasionally sat in with the Grateful Dead and as recently as April 2011, sat in on several tunes with the Grateful Dead "spinoff" band Furthur during a concert in Boca Raton Florida. Just days before his death he shot the music video with Lady Gaga for The Edge of Glory.

Acting career

Clemons appeared in several movies and on television, making his screen debut in Martin Scorsese's 1977 musical, New York, New York in which he played a trumpet player. He played one of the 'Three Most Important People In The World' in the 1989 comedy film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. In 1985, Clemons was a special guest star in Diff'rent Strokes episode "So You Want to Be a Rock Star", in which he played the role of Mr. Kingsley, a young saxophonist helping Arnold Jackson to learn to play his sax. He has also been a guest voice in an episode of The Simpsons. In 1990, he co-starred in the pilot episode of Human Target, a Rick Springfield action series intended for ABC.[27] He also played the role of Jack in Swing starring opposite Lisa Stansfield and Hugo Speer, directed by Nick Mead. He appeared alongside Michael McKean and David Bowe as a miner in one episode of musician "Weird Al" Yankovic's children's television show The Weird Al Show. He appeared in an episode of Damon Wayans' television show, My Wife And Kids as a musician and performed an original composition, co written with bassist, Lynn Woolever, called "One Shadow In The Sun". Clemons twice appeared as a Baltimore youth-program organizer in HBO's crime drama The Wire.[28][29] He appeared in an episode of Brothers and in the "Eddie's Book" episode of 'Til Death as himself.

Personal life

Marriages and family

Clemons was married five times. He fathered four sons, Clarence III, Charles, Christopher and Jarod.[30] He lost most of the vision in one eye from a retinal detachment. Clemons stated "It's not something you can replace. If it goes out, that's it."[31]

Philanthropy

On October 22, 2009, Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and revitalizing music education in public schools, presented Clemons with the inaugural "Big Man of the Year Award" at the Right to Rock charity benefit. He helped raise money to put musical instruments and curriculum into underfunded public schools across the country. He also performed "Jailhouse Rock" with a student band from the Bronx, in addition to a number with legendary producer, John Colby.

Death

Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12, 2011.[3] He underwent two surgeries after which he was declared in serious but stable condition.[32] According to Rolling Stone magazine, he had been showing signs of recovery.[33] However, Clemons died from complications caused by the stroke on June 18, 2011.[34][35][36]
Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence Clemons: "Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band."[37]
Various artists reacted on stage to the death of Clarence.
At their concert in Portsmouth, Virginia on Sunday, June 19, 2011, Phish covered Thunder Road as a tribute to Clemons.[38]
At an Eddie Vedder concert in Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, June 18, 2011, Vedder played tribute to Clarence during Pearl Jam song Better Man. Eddie wished Clemons well, and shortly thereafter was notified by a sound tech that he had passed away. During a subsequent performance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Vedder played a ukulele with "Clarence" written across the front of it.
Before singing Moment of Surrender at the U2 concert in Anaheim on Saturday, June 18, 2011, Bono paid tribute to Clarence Clemons, who had died earlier that day. Bono read lyrics from Springsteen's Jungleland near the end of the song, and he repeated them at the song's conclusion.[39]
New Jersey rock band Bon Jovi performed Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out as the first encore during their concert in Horsens, Denmark on June 19, 2011. While playing that song photos of Clarence were shown on the giant video screen behind the band.[40][41]
Jimmy Buffett added verses that included Clarence in "The Stories We Can Tell" during his Pittsburgh concert on June 21, 2011. The rest of the band left the stage and it was Buffett playing and singing alone.
During their afternoon Pyramid stage set at the Glastonbury Festival 2011 Brian Fallon lead singer of The Gaslight Anthem (also from New Jersey) dedicated their song The '59 sound to Clemons' memory.[42]

Discography

  • Clarence Clemons & the Red Bank Rockers
    • Rescue (1983)
  • Clarence Clemons
    • Hero (1985)
    • A Night With Mr. C (1989)
    • Peacemaker (1995)
  • Aja and the Big Man
    • Get It On (1995)

Filmography

[43][44]

Film

Television

Music videos

 

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Brian Haw, English protestor and peace campaigner, died from lung cancer he was , 62.

Brian William Haw  was an English protester and peace campaigner who lived for almost ten years in a camp in London's Parliament Square from 2001, in a protest against UK and US foreign policy died from lung cancer he was , 62. He began his protest before the 2001 United States attacks, and became a symbol of the anti-war movement over the policies of both the United Kingdom and the United States in Afghanistan and later Iraq. At the 2007 Channel 4 Political Awards he was voted Most Inspiring Political Figure.

(7 January 1949 – 18 June 2011)

Early life


Haw was born in Woodford Green, Essex,[5] a twin and the eldest of five.[6] He grew up in neighbouring Barking and in Whitstable, Kent.[6] His father, who had been one of the first British soldiers to enter the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, worked in a betting office. He committed suicide by gassing himself when Haw was 13.[6] Haw was apprenticed to a boat-builder from the age of 16 and then entered the Merchant Navy as a deckhand.[7]

Personal life

As an evangelical Christian, Haw visited Northern Ireland during The Troubles as well as the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Haw worked with troubled youngsters in Redditch, Worcestershire, where he lived with his wife Kay and their seven children until he left them in 2001 to begin his Parliament Square protest.[1] The couple divorced in 2003.[6]

Parliament Square protests
On 2 June 2001, he began camping in Parliament Square in central London in a one-man political protest against war and foreign policy (initially, the sanctions against Iraq).[6] By his own account, he was first inspired to take up his vigil after seeing the images and information produced by the Mariam Appeal, an anti-sanctions campaign. Haw justified his campaign on a need to improve his children's future. He only left his makeshift campsite in order to attend court hearings, surviving on food brought by supporters. Support for Haw's protest came from former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn and activist/comedian Mark Thomas. Among the artwork displayed was a Banksy stencil of two soldiers painting over a peace sign and Leon Kuhn's anti-war political caricature 3 Guilty Men,[8] which, together with Kuhn's The Proud Parents,[9][10][11] Mark Wallinger later displayed in his recreation at the Tate in 2007.[9]
In October 2002 Westminster City Council attempted to prosecute Haw for causing an obstruction to the pavement, but the case failed as Haw's banners did not impede movement. The continuous use of a megaphone by Haw led to objections by Members of Parliament who had offices close to Haw's protest camp. The House of Commons Procedure Committee held a brief inquiry in summer 2003 which heard evidence that permanent protests in Parliament Square could provide an opportunity for terrorists to disguise explosive devices, and resulted in a recommendation that the law be changed to prohibit them.[12] The Government passed a provision banning all unlicensed protests, permanent or otherwise, in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (sections 132 to 138); however, because Mr Haw's protest was on-going and residing on Parliament Square prior to the enactment of the Act, it was unclear whether the Act applied to him[13] (see Legal Action, below).
In the 2005 general election Haw stood as a candidate in the Cities of London and Westminster in order to further his campaign and oppose the Act which was yet to come in to force. He won 298 votes (0.8 percent), making a speech against the ongoing presence of UK troops in Iraq at the declaration of the result.

[edit] Legal action


As preparation for implementing the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 began, Haw won an application for judicial review on 28 July 2005, successfully arguing that a technical defect in the act meant it did not apply in his case. The act states that demonstrations must have authorisation from the police "when the demonstration starts", and Haw asserted that his demonstration had begun before the passage of the act, which was not made retroactive. Although the commencement order made to bring the act into force had made reference to demonstrations begun before the act came into force, there was no power for the commencement order to extend the scope of the act.
The government appealed against the judgement, and on 8 May 2006 the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and therefore declared that the act did apply to him. The court found that the intent of parliament was clearly to apply to all demonstrations in Parliament Square regardless of when they had begun:
In the meantime Haw had applied for permission to continue his demonstration, and received it on condition that his display of placards is no more than 3 m wide (among other things). Haw was unwilling to comply and the police referred his case to the Crown Prosecution Service; a number of supporters began camping with him in order to deter attempts to evict him.

In the early hours of 23 May 2006, 78 police arrived and removed all but one of Haw's placards citing continual breached conditions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 as their reason for doing so.[15][16] Ian Blair (head of the Met. police at the time) later admitted that the operation to remove Haw's placards had cost £27,000[17] The actions of the police were criticised by members of the Metropolitan Police Authority at its monthly meeting on 25 May 2006.[18] Haw appeared at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on 30 May, when he refused to enter a plea. The court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, and he was bailed to return to court on 11 July 2006. At a licensing hearing at Westminster City Council on 30 June 2006, Haw was granted limited permission to use a loudspeaker in the space allowed to him.
On 22 January 2007 Haw was acquitted on the grounds that the conditions he was accused of breaching were not sufficiently clear, and that they should have been imposed by a police officer of higher rank. District Judge Purdy ruled: "I find the conditions, drafted as they are, lack clarity and are not workable in their current form."[19]

[edit] Documentary

Brian Haw was featured in the 2006 documentary, TerrorStorm. Director and narrator Alex Jones interviewed Haw and even joined in his protest of Parliament by answering Haw's inquiry, via megaphone, about the Statue of Liberty by saying she had been picked up on suspicion that she was a member of Al-Qaeda. Haw (played by an actor) also appeared briefly in the 2007 drama The Trial of Tony Blair. There is also a documentary film made about him by Mahmoud Shoolizadeh, A Man Called Brian, which shows interviews with him and analysed the Iraq war. This film has participated in some international film festivals.

Director of Public Prosecutions v Haw

In the case of Director of Public Prosecutions v Haw, the judgement of the court, delivered by Lord Phillips CJ, included the following:
3. The issues raised by the case stated are as follows:
i) Whether the statutory powers available to the Commissioner of Police under Section 134 of SOCA can be exercised by a subordinate on his behalf;
ii) Whether the conditions imposed on Mr Haw were ultra vires, or incompatible with Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR'), as unreasonable or insufficiently clear.[20]
This was an adjourned hearing of an appeal by way of case stated by the Director of Public Prosecutions against a decision of District Judge Purdy in the City of Westminster Magistrates Court on 22 January 2007. The judge ruled that there was no case for the Respondent, Brian Haw, to answer on a charge of knowingly failing to comply with a condition imposed under Section 134 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 ('SOCA') in respect of a demonstration in Parliament Square. The hearing before the Administrative Court was adjourned because Mr Haw had not been served with relevant documents in time to give them proper consideration.

Directions hearing, 18 November 2008

Haw sought a large number of directions from the court on 18 November 2008. Afer some delay the directions of the court were eventually published in March 2009:
  • Haw, R (on the application of) v Southwark Crown Court & Ors [2009] EWHC 379 (Admin) (3 March 2009) [1]
The court was un-persuaded that a full transcript of the hearing [20] was necessary, even though Haw claimed that it would show that the court side-stepped the issue as to the legality of the seizure.

Tucker v Director of Public Prosecutions

The case of Tucker v Director of Public Prosecutions, 2007[21] was an appeal by way of case stated. The appellant, Barbara Tucker, was convicted under Section 132 (1)(c) of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA), of being within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, and carrying on unauthorised demonstration by herself in a public place in a designated area, namely Parliament Square. Her defence was that Haw had invited her to join him in his demonstration. He gave evidence on her behalf to that effect. The magistrate said: "Had I accepted this evidence (which I did not) it would have been argued that the allegation that she had 'carried on an unauthorised demonstration by herself ..... ' could not have been made out, and further more (in my view incorrectly) that it would provide a defence by saying that as Mr Haw is safe from prosecution anyone who joins him is also safe." The question posed by the magistrate was: "Was it lawful under section 6 (1) HRA to convict the appellant?" The Administrative Court held that SOCPA was not incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (specifically, Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (freedom of assembly)), and that Tucker's conviction was therefore lawful.[21]

[edit] January 2008 injury and arrest

On 12 January, Haw was observing a protest against the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, outside Downing Street. Seven people were arrested (including Haw), who said "I was filming the students lying down in the road when one officer stepped forward, as I was walking back, and pushed the camera with his hand. It struck my face." He accused the police of using "violent and humiliating force".[22]

2008 London mayoral elections

In December 2007 press releases stated that Haw had declared himself a candidate in the London Mayoral Elections in May 2008[23], but eventually he did not stand.[24] On 17 April 2008 he joined Frank Maloney and Winston McKenzie in support of the Christian Choice candidate Alan Craig.[25]

25 May 2010 arrest

On 25 May 2010 the day of the State Opening of Parliament for the new Conservative-Liberal coalition government, Haw was arrested at 8:30 am.[26][27]

[edit] Illness and death

In September 2010 Haw was diagnosed with lung cancer.[28] On 1 January 2011 he left England to receive treatment in Berlin. Haw, who was described as a chain smoker, continued to smoke cigarettes until his death.[29] Haw died in Germany in the early hours of 18 June 2011 of lung cancer.[1] He is survived by seven children.[30]
Reacting to news of Haw's death, Tony Benn said "Brian Haw was a man of principle [...] his death marks the end of a historic enterprise by a man who gave everything to support his beliefs".[31] At his death Al Jazeera described him as an "unsung hero".[32] Mark Wallinger said "I admired [Haw's] single-minded tenacity. His rectitude was a mirror that the people in the building opposite couldn't bear. [...] Now that he's gone, who else have we got?".[33] The British MP John McDonnell has called for a statue of Haw to be assembled to celebrate peace.[32] British artist Banksy honored Haw with a tribute on his website.[34]
London Assembly Member Jenny Jones called for Westminster Council to erect a blue plaque for Brian Haw immediately, bypassing English Heritage's criteria that the person commemorated should have been dead for two decades or passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier.[35]

In culture

In January 2007, former Turner Prize nominee Mark Wallinger recreated Brian Haw’s Parliament Square protest in its entirety as an exhibition at Tate Britain, titled State Britain.[36] Running the length of the Duveen Gallery, State Britain was a painstaking reconstruction of the display confiscated by the Metropolitan Police in 2006.[37] It included 500 weather-worn banners, photos, peace flags, and messages from well-wishers collected by Haw over the duration of the Peace Protest, as well as his self-constructed shelter. In December 2007 Wallinger's work won the Turner Prize.[38]
The London-based band XX Teens recorded a song "For Brian Haw", which was included on their 2008 album Welcome To Goon Island. The track incorporated a statement by Haw himself about his motivations for the protest.[39]
Free music pioneer Sean Terrington Wright dedicated his 12th CD album "War No More", released in 2008, to Haw.
Haw was featured in the short length documentary Maria: 24hr Peace Picket by Iranian film director Parviz Jahed, about fellow peace campaigner Maria Gallastegui.
In 2009 Youth Music Theatre: UK developed the music theatre production According to Brian Haw... based on reactions by young people to Haw's life, 9/11 and the Iraq war. This was perfomed at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth.
Zia Trench's debut play, The State We're In, based on Haw's life, was performed for the first time at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe, featuring Michael Byrne in the lead role and directed by Justin Butcher. Trench said: "There is a messianic illusion around him, something so Jesus-like about him. "He has taken on our fight but what has this cost him? The play looks at the man behind the protest and how battles fought for liberty can cost a man his wife, home and sanity."

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Dickey Betts died he was 80

Early Career Forrest Richard Betts was also known as Dickey Betts Betts collaborated with  Duane Allman , introducing melodic twin guitar ha...