Dan Peek,, American singer-songwriter (America) died he was 60.

Dan Peek was a musician best known as a member of the rock band America from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell died he was  60.. He was also a "pioneer in contemporary Christian music."

(November 1, 1950 – July 24, 2011)

America

Peek contributed lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, and harmonica to their recordings during his tenure in the band. As a member of America, Peek wrote or co-wrote four Top 100 singles: "Don't Cross The River" (#35), "Lonely People" (#5), "Woman Tonight" (#44), and "Today's the Day" (#23), all of which he also sang lead on. "Lonely People" and "Today's the Day" also hit number 1 on the Billboard AC charts.^[3]
During this period Peek was "a spectrum drug abuser, alcoholic, you name it". In 2004 Peek released an autobiography about this era entitled An American Band: The America Story which was very difficult for him to write because of the bad memories it brought up.^[1] His last musical collaboration was in 2011 in the album of the Spanish band "Etcetera" - Steps On The Water - where he sang "Kiss Me On The Waves", written and arranged by Guillermo Albelo.

Contemporary Christian music

Peek left the band shortly after the February 1977 release of the Harbor album. Years of life on the road had taken a toll on him.^[4] He renewed his Christian faith and had begun to seek a different artistic direction than Beckley or Bunnell. He went on to sign with Pat Boone's Lamb & Lion Records^[4] and found modest success as a pioneering artist in the emerging Christian pop music genre, outside of rejoining Beckley and Bunnell on stage on one spontaneous occasion several years after.^{[citation needed]}
Peek's debut solo album, All Things Are Possible was released in 1979. Chris Christian co-wrote, produced, and contributed backing vocals on All Things Are Possible and reached the Billboard charts, making the Top 10 in the A/C Billboard chart and number 1 in the Christian charts. Another song on the album was "Love Was Just Another Word", which was recorded in LA and written by Chris Christian and Steve Kipner. Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell contributed the background vocals. This was the last time the three original members of "America" recorded together.^{[citation needed]} Peek followed "All Things Are Possible" with "Doer of the Word". "Doer of the Word" was a number 1 Christian hit and Gerry Beckley sang background vocals on the record, but Beckley did the recording at Chris Christian's studio in Dallas and Dan was not present.
Peek's first solo album and single became popular hits on contemporary Christian music (CCM) radio stations and charts. The single "All Things Are Possible" not only hit number 1 on the CCM singles chart, it also crossed over to the Billboard singles and adult contemporary charts, becoming one of the earliest CCM's crossover hits. At the 22nd Grammy Awards, the album was nominated,^[2] losing in the Contemporary Gospel category to The Imperials album Heed the Call.
Peek waited five years before releasing a second solo album, 1984's Doer of the Word. While several of his songs would make the CCM charts, none crossed over to the Pop or Adult Contemporary charts. The title track, "Doer of the Word", was an upbeat, very "America-like" song^{[citation needed]} that was backed by Beckley. It hit number 2 on the CCM charts. 1986 saw the release of his Electrovoice album, again to the CCM market, which included a remake of "Lonely People", featuring a very similar lead vocal treatment and overall arrangement that was done on the original America version years prior. He changed some of the song's lyrics to reflect his Christian faith,^{[citation needed]} for example the lines "And ride that highway in the sky" and "You never know until you try" became "And give your heart to Jesus Christ."
Peek spent much of the 1990s in semi-retirement, occasionally recording music at his home in Bodden Town, Grand Cayman Island.^[4] He released several solo projects and collaborated with Ken Marvin and Brian Gentry as "Peace" on three albums. In the years before his death, Peek released music via his website.

Personal life

Peek was born in Panama City, Florida.^[1] Beginning in 1963, Peek was educated at London Central Elementary High School at Bushey Hall in North London. In 1973 he married Catherine Maberry,^[3] with whom he would write a number of songs, including "Lonely People".^[5] He published an autobiography entitled An American Band, based on America's most successful period, and his own spiritual journey.^[4]
Peek died in his sleep on July 24, 2011 at age 60 at his home in Farmington, Missouri.^[1]

Discography

Table Key:
CCM – Contemporary Christian Music Chart
BB – Billboard Pop Singles Chart
AC – Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart
CB – Cash Box Singles Chart

Year	Title Album -------------------------- Single	CCM	BB [6]	AC [6]	CB [7]	Comments
1979	All Things Are Possible (album)	-	-	-	-	Produced by Chris Christian
1979	"All Things Are Possible"	1	78	6	95	13 weeks at number 1. Nominated for a “Grammy” award.
1980	"Ready for Love"	-	-	-	-	7 Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart
1981	"Divine Lady"	23	-	-	-	-
1979	On This Christmas Night	-	-	-	-	Produced by Chris Christian
1979	"The Star"	-	-	-	-	"On Christmas Night" Christmas song
1984	Doer of the Word (album)	-	-	-	-	-Produced by Chris Christian
1984	"Doer of the Word"	2	-	-	-	Backing vocal by Gerry Beckley
1985	"Power and Glory"	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Electro Voice (album)	-	-	-	-	-
1986	"Lonely People"	2	-	-	-	Remake of Peek’s 1975 hit with America
1986	"Electro Voice"	7	-	-	-	-
1987	Cross Over (album)	-	-	-	-	-
1987	"Cross Over"	13	-	-	-	-
1988	Best of Dan Peek	-	-	-	-	-
1989	Living Water	-	-	-	-	With Marvin and Gentry
1994	Stronger Than You Know	-	-	-	-	Peace with Marvin and Gentry
1997	Peace	-	-	-	-	Peace with Marvin and Gentry
1998	"Summer Rain"	-	-	-	-	Peace with Marvin and Gentry
1999	Bodden Town	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Under the Mercy	-	-	-	-	Peace with Marvin and Gentry
2000	"On Wings of Eagles"	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Caribbean Christmas	-	-	-	-	Instrumental
2001	Driftin'	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Guitar Man	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Guitar Man II	-	-	-	-	Digital Internet release
2007	All American Boy	-	-	-	-	Digital Internet release
2011	Kiss Me On The Waves (Collaboration in the album "Steps On The Water" of the Spanish band "Etcetera")	-	-	-	-	Digital Internet release

 

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David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist and author, died from cancer he was , 50.

David Servan-Schreiber  was a French physician, neuroscientist and author died from cancer he was , 50. He was a clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He was also a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine of Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.

(April 21, 1961 – July 24, 2011)

Life and career

Servan-Schreiber was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, he was co-founder and then director of the Centre for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Following his volunteer activity as physician in Iraq in 1991, he was one of the founders of the US branch of Médecins Sans Frontières, the international organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. He also served as volunteer in Guatemala, Kurdistan, Tajikistan, India, and Kosovo.^[3] He was also a founding board member of Environmental Health Trust [1]and a leader in efforts to promote safer cell phone use [2][3]
In 2002 he was awarded the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society Presidential Award for Outstanding Career in Psychiatry. He is the author of Healing Without Freud or Prozac (translated in 29 languages, 1.3 million copies sold), and Anticancer: A New Way of Life (translated in 35 languages, New York Times best-seller, 1 million copies in print) in which he discloses his own diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor at the age of 31 and the treatment program that he put together to help himself beyond his surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.
He was also a regular columnist for Ode magazine and other publications.

Later life and death

Having been treated twice for a malignant brain tumor, Servan-Schreiber became a leading figure in his engagement for integrative approaches to the prevention and treatment of cancer. He popularized his knowledge through teaching seminars, lectures, books, a blog and audio books. He died of brain cancer in Fécamp on July 24, 2011.^[4]
David Servan-Schreiber was the eldest son of the late French journalist, author and politician Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber.^[5]

Bibliography

• Anticancer - Prévenir et lutter grâce à nos défenses naturelles, Éditions Robert Laffont, S.A., Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-221-10871-0
• On peut se dire au revoir plusieurs fois, Éditions Robert Laffont, S.A., Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-221-12704

 

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G. D. Spradlin, American actor (North Dallas Forty, The Godfather Part II) died he was , 90 .

Gervase Duan "G.D." Spradlin was an American actor died he was , 90 .. He often played devious authority figures. He is credited in over 70 television and film productions, and performed alongside such notable actors as Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, and George C. Scott, among others.

(August 31, 1920 – July 24, 2011)

Early life

Spradlin was born on August 31, 1920, in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. His parents both worked as schoolteachers. Spradlin obtained his bachelor's degree in education from the University of Oklahoma. He then served in the Army Air Force during World War II, where he was stationed in China.^[1]
Following World War II, Spradlin returned to the University of Oklahoma, where he completed a law degree in 1948.^[1] He first began his career as an attorney working in Venezuela and then became an independent oil producer forming Rouge Oil Company.^[1] Before he turned to acting he was active in local politics campaigning for John F. Kennedy in 1959. He joined the Oklahoma Repertory Theatre in 1964.^[2]

Career

A notable break for Spradlin resulted from his work in television in the 1960s. Fred Roos had cast Spradlin in such television shows as I Spy and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. When Roos co-produced The Godfather Part II, he recommended Spradlin play the role of Senator Geary.^[2] He worked with Jack Webb on the series Dragnet playing multiple roles from a safecracker to a low-level con man.^[3]
Spradlin portrayed a corrupt U.S. Senator from Nevada, Pat Geary, in The Godfather, Part II. He also played a conspirator in the attempted assassination of a state governor in Nick of Time. Among his film credits are One on One (1977) (as an authoritarian basketball coach), Apocalypse Now (as the general who assigns Martin Sheen's character to the search mission).^[2] He played the head football coach B.A. Strother in North Dallas Forty (1979), General Durrell the commandant of the "Carolina Military Institute" in the 1983 movie The Lords of Discipline, and Ed Wood and The Long Kiss Goodnight, as the President of the United States.^[3]
In 1984, Spradlin played a villainous Southern sheriff in Tank. In 1988, he played Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in the miniseries War and Remembrance. In 1989, Spradlin played a small role in the film War of the Roses as a divorce lawyer, with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.^[1]
Spradlin retired from acting after his last film, Dick (1999), in which he played Ben Bradlee.^[1] He appeared in the Electronic Arts Godfather II video game in 2009.

Death

Spradlin died of natural causes at his cattle ranch in San Luis Obispo, California on July 24, 2011 at the age of 90. His first wife, Nell, with whom he had two daughters, died in 2000. He was survived by his second wife, Frances Hendrickson, whom he married in 2002.^[1]

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Skip Thomas, American football player (Oakland Raiders), died from an apparent heart attack he was , 61

Alonzo "Skip" Thomas, a.k.a. "Dr. Death", was an American football cornerback who played in the National Football League died from an apparent heart attack he was , 61.


(February 7, 1950 – July 24, 2011)

College career

Thomas played college football at the University of Southern California.

Professional career

Thomas played for the Oakland Raiders his entire professional career between 1972 and 1977. He had back-to-back six-interception seasons in 1974 and 1975. Although it is commonly believed that his fierce tackling got him the nickname "Doctor Death," the truth is that someone who first met him thought that he looked like the cartoon character "Dr. Death," and the monicker stuck.^[1]

Death

Thomas died of a heart attack on July 24, 2011.^[2]

 

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Jane White, American actress (Beloved, Klute, Once Upon a Mattress) died .she was , 88

Jane White was an actress of African American and European descent. Born in New York City, she attended Smith College and The New School died she was , 88
In 1945, she made her Broadway debut in Strange Fruit. This performance was followed by roles in Razzle Dazzle, The Insect Comedy, The Climate of Eden, Take a Giant Step, Jane Eyre, and The Power and The Glory. In 1959, she opened the acclaimed musical, Once Upon a Mattress, originating the role of Queen Aggravain alongside Carol Burnett and Joseph Bova. She won an Obie Award in 1971 for sustained achievement.

(October 30, 1922 – July 24, 2011)

Early life

Jane was born to Walter Francis White, a notable civil rights leader and national secretary of the NAACP from 1931–1955, and Gladys Leah Powell. She grew up in the fashionable Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem at 409 Edgecombe Avenue. The house was nicknamed "The White House of Harlem" because of the prominent and important figures who were part of her parents' circle. She had one brother, Walter Carl Darrow White.^[4][5]

Career

Early career

In 1945, White secured her first part playing the lead role of "Nonnie" in the Broadway production of Strange Fruit. The play was an adaptation of the controversial novel about interracial love in the South. She was originally recommended for the part by Paul Robeson, a friend of the White family.^[5] The play opened to mixed reviews, but both White and the play received positive attention from Eleanor Roosevelt, then First Lady, who wrote her own review in her column My Day. Of White's performance, Roosevelt wrote: "I should like to pay tribute to the cast of this play as a whole, but particularly to Jane White whose first venture this is on the stage and who plays her part with restraint and beauty."^[6]
In 1959, White played the role of the scheming Queen Aggravain in Once Upon a Mattress, in which Carol Burnett made her Broadway debut.^[5]

1970s-present

White continued to work steadily in theatre and occasionally in television and movies from the 1970s through the 2000s. Her theatrical work has spanned summer stock, off-Broadway, and on-Broadway shows. Much of her work was in classical dramas, with particular focus on Shakespeare; she won an Obie Award for her roles in the 1965-66 New York Shakespeare Festival as Volumnia in Coriolanus and the Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost.
She won the 1988-89 Los Angeles Critics Circle Award for her role as the Mother in Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding. She has additionally played roles in such dramas as Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis and Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts; comedies such as Paul Rudnick's I Hate Hamlet; and musicals such as Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music and the 2001 production of Sondheim's Follies, to name a small selection.^[5]
In addition to the productions of Once Upon a Mattress, her television work included a 1979 stint on the soap operas The Edge of Night, A World Apart, and Search for Tomorrow. She was one of the first African-American actresses to play a role under contract on soap operas when she originated the role of Lyndia Holliday, R. N. on The Edge of Night. In 1998 she played the schoolteacher Lady Jones in the movie version of Toni Morrison's Beloved.^[7] From 1979-80, White starred in a self-written, one-woman cabaret show entitled Jane White, Who?, which interspersed autobiographical anecdotes and personal reminiscence with songs.^[5] As recently as 2006, she continued to perform occasionally in cabaret theater.^[8]

Personal life

White attended Smith College beginning in the early 1940s. At the beginning of her freshman year, a fellow student in White's dormitory, who was white, told Smith that she would leave the school unless White were forced to leave. She said she refused to share a dormitory with a woman of color. The college told the girl she was free to leave, but White would remain enrolled and in her current rooming situation. The startled roommate elected to stay.^[9] White majored in sociology at Smith, but found herself increasingly drawn to musical theatre. She studied voice and acting during her time there as well.^[5]She was the first African-American president of Smith's House of Representatives,which was part of the Student Government Association.

Marriage

In 1962, White met the New York restaurateur Alfredo Viazzi, and after a short courtship they were wed. They moved to Europe in 1965, but moved back to the U.S. in the late 1960s.^[5] Viazzi died of a heart attack on December 28, 1987, aged 66.^[10]

Death

Jane White died on July 24, 2011, in New York City, aged 88.

 

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David Aiken, American operatic baritone and opera director died he was , 93.

David Aiken was an American operatic baritone, opera director, and United States Army Air Corps (USSAC) officer  died he was , 93.. He was particularly associated with the works of Gian Carlo Menotti, and is best remembered for creating the role of King Melchior in the world premiere of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors.

(October 4, 1917 – July 23, 2011)

Life and career

Born in Benton, Illinois, Aiken studied English at Southern Illinois Normal College where he matriculated in 1935. While a student there he was a member of the university's choir and studied singing privately with Grace Duty in Marion, Illinois. After earning his diploma in 1939, he briefly worked as a high school English teacher and track coach before accepting a post with the St. Louis Municipal Opera. He left that position in 1942 to join the USAAC where he was trained as a fighter pilot and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He spent the remainder of World War II flying the Consolidated B-24 Liberator for missions in both Germany and Italy. He remained a reserve officer and Command Pilot in the Air Force with the rank of Leiutenant Colonel up through 1972.^[1]
After WWII, Aiken pursued further studies in music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. Shortly after completing these studies, he made his debut on Broadway in May 1950 in the original production of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul; having replaced George Jongeyans as Mr. Kofner. After the show closed the following November, he and several of the other Broadway cast members took the show on tour for performances in Paris and London. He later returned to Broadway in 1954 to create the role of Salvatore in the premiere of Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street.^[2][3]
After the critical success of The Consul, Menotti was invited by NBC to compose an opera for television which was to be performed by the newly created NBC Opera Theatre (NBCOT). What resulted was the highly successful Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors which was premiered on Christmas Eve of 1951 in a national broadcast to millions.^[4] For this production, Menotti enlisted the forces of many of the singers from The Consul; including Aiken who was cast in the role of King Melchior.^[3] He continued to portray that role, along with the other original adult cast members, for annual live television broadcasts up through 1962.^[5] They also gave annual national tours of Amahl, performing with symphony orchestras in concerts throughout the United States.^[6]
In 1968 Aiken joined the voice faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he taught for many years. During the 1970s and 1980s he operated the David Aiken Touring Opera Company which presented annual tours of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Aiken directed the productions and continued to perform the role of King Melchior as well.^[7][8]
David Aiken died in Linton, Indiana at the age of 93.^[9]

 

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Mathilde Aussant, French supercentenarian, oldest person in France died she was 113,

Mathilde Aussant was a French supercentenarian who was at the time of her death the oldest verified person in France

(27 February 1898 – 23 July 2011)

Biography

She was born in Donges, France,^[4] the fifth of eleven children born to François Gaudet and Hélène Halgand. Following the death of her mother, she left Donges for Paris in 1923. She worked as a housekeeper and babysitter. She married a railroad worker from Gare Saint-Lazare, who died in 1936. In 1946, she married another railroad worker, René Aussant, who died in 1961. Their only daughter died in 2007, leaving Aussant without any immediate family.^[2] In 1999, she moved to a retirement home. In 2008 she was awarded the Medal of the city of Donges. She died at a hospital in Vendôme on Saturday, 23 July 2011.

Longevity records

• On 6 March 2009, Mathilde Aussant aged 111 years 7 days moved into Gerontology Research Group list for Guinness World Records.
• On 4 November 2010 Eugénie Blanchard died, and Mathilde Aussant aged 112 years 250 days became the oldest person in France.
• On 7 November 2010, Mathilde Aussant aged 112 years 253 days became one of the top 50 oldest known people from Europe ever.
• On 27 February 2011, Mathilde Aussant aged 113 years became the 12th known person in the history of France to reach the age of 113.
• On 21 June 2011 Maria Gomes Valentim died, Mathilde Aussant aged 113 years 114 days became one of the top 10 oldest living people in the world.
• On 23 July 2011 at 5.45 CET, Mathilde Aussant died at age 113 years 146 days, at the time she was the 10th oldest living person.

 

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