Larry Butler, American music producer, died he was 69.

Larry Butler was a country music producer/songwriter died he was 69.. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, he worked with Kenny Rogers.^[1] Many of his albums with Rogers went either gold or platinum and accumulated many millions of sales around the world. These albums include Kenny Rogers (1976), The Gambler (1978), Gideon (1980) and I Prefer The Moonlight (1987). Rogers and Butler maintained a friendship outside of show business. Butler also produced Rogers' 1993 album If Only My Heart Had A Voice. He also participated in Rogers 2006 retrospective DVD The Journey.
Butler is the only Nashville producer to win the Grammy Award for Producer of the year.

(March 26, 1942 – January 20, 2012) 

Career

Born in Pensacola, Florida, Butler began his career at the age of six with the Harry James Orchestra; at age ten he sang with Red Foley, and before he was old enough to drive he had hosted his own radio show and played piano on The Lynn Toney Show, a live television show in his market. He eventually joined a Florida band, Jerry Woodward and the Esquires. While on a trip to Nashville, he met a noted publisher/producer, Buddy Killen of Tree International. In 1963, with Killen's encouragement, Butler moved to Nashville with only a few dollars in his pocket. Soon his unique style of piano playing supported such hits as "Hello Darlin" by Conway Twitty and "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. Butler was in high demand as a Nashville session player and backed up Nashville celebrities such as Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Bobby Goldsboro, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, Lynn Anderson and more.
Moving to Memphis in the late 1960s, Butler hooked-up with Chips Moman. Butler played keyboards in the rock group Ronny and the Daytonas, who had a hit song with "GTO". Later, as a member of The Gentrys, they hit the pop charts with "Keep on Dancing" and "Every Day I Have to Cry Some". During that same perid, Butler co-wrote the Poppies hit single "Lullaby Of Love". He was signed as a solo artist and served as Bobby Goldsboro's pianist and music director.
Butler returned to Nashville to join Capitol Records as an in-house producer. The very first single he produced, "Seven Lonely Days", became a Billboard Top-20 Country single for Jean Shepard in 1969. Moving on to CBS Records at the urging of legendary producer Billy Sherrill, Butler worked closely with Johnny Cash producing some of "the man in black"'s biggest hits. So successful was the partnership that Butler became Cash's producer, pianist, musical director and studio manager.
In 1973 Butler made one of his most significant career moves by joining United Artists Records as head of the label's Nashville division. His leadership and vision brought in such acts as Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle, Dottie West and The Kendalls and established the label as one of the most successful and respected in Nashville.
Butler teamed again with Chips Moman and penned the number 1 hit "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". Topping the charts for both Pop and Country, the song became one of B. J. Thomas' greatest career hits. It was a BMI 3 million performance song and earned Butler a Grammy for Song of the Year.
Eventually Butler left UA and started his own independent company, Larry Butler Productions. His acts included

• Charlie Rich ("You're Gonna Love yourself In The Morning")
• Mac Davis ("It's Hard To Be Humble")
• Debbie Boone ("Are You On The Road To Loving Me Again")
• Billie Jo Spears ("Blanket On The Ground")
• Don McLean ("Crying")
• John Denver ("Some Days Are Diamonds")

Unquestionably, Butler's biggest success was producing Kenny Rogers. Their studio collaboration yielded many of Kenny's greatest hits including,

• "Lucille" (1977)
• "Love Or Something Like It" (1978)
• "The Gambler" (1978)
• "She Believes In Me" (1979)
• "You Decorated My Life" (1979)
• "Coward Of The County" (1979)

Butler was also behind teaming Kenny and Dottie West to record the duets "Everytime Two Fools Collide" and "'Til I Make It On My Own". Butler also worked with Kenny and Kim Carnes on their smash hit "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer".
1980 brought Butler to the spotlight again with his Grammy for Producer of the Year and solidified his reputation as a hit maker. Tammy Wynette cut Butler's "Only The Strong Will Survive" while Billie Joe Spears cut " Standing Tall" which was also released by Lorrie Morgan in 1996. Butler writing credits include songs for Tree, United Artists music, April Blackwood, Great Cumberland, EMI and, most recently, his own Larry Butler Music.
1984 was the year Butler formed his music company, Larry Butler Music Group, Inc. He signed writers Mickey Newbury, Dean Dillon and Julie Didier. CBS Songs administered his catalog. Butler's new group quickly produced a string of hits for George Strait including "The Chair", "Ocean Front Property" and "It Aint Cool". LBMG produced songs for Keith Whitley, Eddy Raven, Kenny Rogers, Vern Gosdin, and Butler wrote "Wonder What You'll Do When I'm Gone" for Waylon Jennings, putting the company on the map. During a period of two short years LBMG produced eight Top Ten cuts and numerous Top Forty chart records.
Butler died in his sleep in Pensacola, Florida on January 20, 2012. Before passing away he collaborated with co-writer Dave Goodenough to write a book entitled "Just For the Record." It contains many of Butler's humorous anecdotes from the music industry and a plethora of advice for those aspiring to succeed in the various aspects of the music business, as well as life in general. It includes contributions from many of the top people in the music business, along with a foreword by Kenny Rogers. The book was published in November of 2012.

Awards

• 1976: Grammy Award for Best Country Song for "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" by B.J. Thomas
• 1980: Grammy Award for Producer of the Year

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Billy 'Silver Dollar' Baxter, American film producer, died he was 85.

Billy Baxter  was born and lived in the West side of Manhattan died he was 85.. He was an American film producer who began his career in the early 1960s. He enlisted in the Navy on his 17th birthday and served aboard the battleship USS New Jersey in the South Pacific during World War II.

(February 8, 1926 – January 20, 2012)

Career

At the 1978 Cannes Film Festival, Baxter met producer Richard P. Rubenstein while playing blackjack. Rubinstein said he'd love to double down but was short on francs and couldn't make the bet. "Let me see your cards," Baxter said, and then put up the cash.^{[citation needed]} After payback, the producer asked Baxter if he and Herbert might want to invest in his production of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Steinmann-Baxter beat the odds and cashed checks for years.
Rubinstein and Romero's Dawn of the Dead is one of the highest-grossing independent movies of all time.
Baxter recently came out of semi-retirement to serve as an executive producer for the independent film Love Stalker, which was planned to be taken to the Cannes Film Market for 2011.



To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Gilbert Temmerman, Belgian politician, MP (1971–1989), Mayor of Ghent (1989–1994), Minister of State, died he was 83.

Gilbert Temmerman was a Belgian politician  died he was 83.. He served as a member of the Belgian Federal Parliament from 1971 to 1989. In 1989, Temmerman became the first Socialist Mayor of the city of Ghent, in the country's Flemish region.^[1] He held the office of mayor from 1989 to 1994.^[1] Additionally, was appointed a Minister of State in 1992.^[1]

^{(February 25, 1928 – January 19, 2012)} 

Gilbert Temmerman died on January 19, 2012 at the age of 83.^[1]



To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Richard Sheirer, American public servant, officer-in-charge of the rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks, died from pulmonary edema he was 65.

Richard James Sheirer was a public servant and New York City official  died from pulmonary edema he was 65.. Sheirer served as the Director of the New York City Office of Emergency Management (O.E.M.) from February 2000 to March 2002.^[1]\


(October 12, 1946 – January 19, 2012) 

In 2000, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed Sheirer as Director of the OEM in February 2000 (Giuliani had created the department in 1996).^[1] Sheirer was thrust into the public eye in September 2001, when, as director of the OEM during the September 11th attacks, he became responsible for New York City's rescue and recovery effort.^[1] Sheirer coordinated the rescue and clean-up efforts at the former World Trade Center site, involving numerous federal, state, and local emergency agencies.^[1] He stepped down as Director of the OEM in March 2002 when Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office.^[1]
Sheirer was born in Brooklyn on October 12, 1946, and raised in the borough's Canarsie, Williamsburg and Flatbush neighborhoods.^[1] He graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights.^[1]
Sheirer had begun his career as a dispatcher for the New York City Fire Department (NYFD) in 1967.^[1] He was promoted to deputy commissioner under NYC Fire Commissioner Howard Safir.^[1] Safir, who became the New York City Police Commissioner in 1996, named Sheirer as his deputy commissioner for administration and chief of staff.^[1]
Sheirer died at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan on January 19, 2012, from a heart attack he suffered in Staten Island.^[1] He was survived by his wife, Barbara Winston, and their five sons: Matthew, Joseph, Christopher, Andrew and Paul.^[2]
On November 17, 2012 the City of New York renamed the segment of Laconia Avenue near Atlanic Avenue in Dongan Hills, Staten Island where Sheirer had resided to Commissioner Richard J. Sheirer Way.^[3]


To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Errol Scorcher, Jamaican reggae disc jockey, died from a ruptured blood vessel he was 55.

Errol Scorcher was a Jamaican reggae deejay died from a ruptured blood vessel he was 55..

(born Errol Archer,^[1] 1956 – January 19, 2012^[2])

Biography

Scorcher worked as a deejay on several sound systems from the early 1970s. Although his first single, "Leggo Mi Hand Babylon" was not a commercial success, he had several hits in the mid-1970s with tracks such as "Jolly Bus-Ting" and "Engineers Affair".^[3] In 1978 his profile was raised further by his "Peace Truce" single, which celebrated the armistice between rival political factions that would culminate in the One Love Peace Concert.^[3] The same year, Scorcher joined Nicodemus, Nigger Kojak, and Mother Liza on Prince Jammy's Tapetone sound system, which soon became Jamaica's top system.^[3] His first album, Rasta Fire, was also released on the United Artists offshoot Ballistic, on which he was backed by The Revolutionaries.^[3] In 1979 he had a hit with "Roach in a De Corner" (on the "Real Rock" rhythm), which was followed by the similar "Frog In a Water" (on the "My Conversation" rhythm),^[4] both songs appearing on his 1980 album Roach In A De Corner. He worked with Ansell Collins on a series off recordings including "Mosquitoes", which was also a hit.^[3] He also set up his own Scorcher label and began production work on both his own recordings and for artists such as Tony Tuff.^[3]

Discography

Albums

• Rasta Fire (1978) United Artists/Ballistic
• Tony Tuff Meets Errol Scorcher (1978) Mal's (split with Tony Tuff)
• Roach In A De Corner (1980) Scorcher
• Unity Showcase (1980) 12 Stars (Horace Andy and Errol Scorcher)

Singles

• "Leggo Mi Hand Babylon"
• "Jolly Bus-Ting"
• "Engineers Affair"
• "Peace Truce" (1978)
• "Steppin" (1978) Ballistic
• "Roach In a De Corner" (1979) Sir Collins
• "Frog In A Water" (1979)
• "Girls Be Careful"/"Roach in the Toilet" (1980), Scorcher
• "Mosquitoes" (1980)
• "Sounds of Hon. Marley" (1980) Dance Hall
• "Rope In" Scorcher
• "Borrow Man" Scorcher
• "DJ Spirit" Scorcher
• "Scorcher Possie" (1981) Volcano
• "Under Me" (1981) Crazy Joe
• "Wife & Sweetheart" (1981) Techniques
• "Rude Boy Step"
• "Letting Go"
• "Prisoner In Love" (1983) Bridget International

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Winston Riley, Jamaican reggae musician and producer, died from complications of shooting he was 65.

Winston Riley  was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and record producer  died from complications of shooting he was 65.. According to the Jamaica Gleaner, Riley had a claim to being the most successful reggae producer of all-time.^[1]

^{(14 May 1943 – 19 January 2012)}

Biography

Riley was born in Kingston, Jamaica.^[2] His entry into the music industry was at the age of 16 in 1962, when he formed The Techniques harmony group, which recorded their first tracks for Byron Lee, and later recorded for Duke Reid.^[1] In 1968, Riley left the group and formed his own Techniques record label, moving into production, producing artists like Boris Gardiner, The Escorts, Alton and Hortense Ellis, and Johnny Osbourne.^[1][3] Riley's own song, "Double Barrel", performed by Dave and Ansell Collins under his own production, was one of the first international reggae hits, reaching number 1 in the Dutch and UK Singles Chart.^[3]
His "Stalag" riddim is the most sampled reggae song of all time. The rhythm was first released in 1973, as the instrumental Ansell Collins track "Stalag 17", named after the World War II film of the same name. It reappeared later as "Stalag 18", "Stalag 19", "Stalag 20" and "Ring the Alarm Quick".
Riley produced General Echo's hugely influential album The Slackest in 1979, and he went on to launch the careers of Sister Nancy, Buju Banton, Cutty Ranks, Lone Ranger and Frankie Paul.^[3]
The band Widespread Panic recorded Echo's song "Arlene", and have performed many versions of it at their concerts.

Death

On 1 November 2011, Winston was shot in the head at his home in Kingston. According to police, he had been the subject of several earlier attacks.^[4] After being in a coma since the shooting, he died on 19 January 2012.^[5]



To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Gene Methvin, American journalist and magazine editor, died he was 77.

Eugene Hilburn "Gene" Methvin  was an American pilot, journalist, and senior editor for the Reader's Digest Washington, D.C., bureau. A self-described "shoe leather reporter," Methvin contributed more than 100 articles to Reader's Digest and its 48 editions, reaching more than 100 million readers worldwide died he was 77.. His articles covered topics ranging from the U.S. Supreme Court, civil liberties and constitutional law, to U.S. defense posture, Kremlin politics, U.S.-Soviet relations, organized crime and international terrorist groups.^[1] An article by Methvin in the January 1965 Reader's Digest, "How the Reds Make a Riot," won the magazine the coveted award for public service in magazine journalism given annually by the Society for Professional Journalists.^[2]

^{(September 19, 1934 – January 19, 2012)}

Methvin's work on communism, crime and corruption earned him not only the respect of his peers, but influence in government. His articles in Reader's Digest helped rally necessary support for legislation that would go on to become law and, in 1983, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the President's Commission on Organized Crime. Methvin supervised the commission's investigation and hearing on labor-management racketeering. Marvin Wolfgang, past president and fellow of the American Society of Criminology, wrote of Methvin, "No journalist or reporter knows more about criminology."^[1]
Along with his work with Reader's Digest, Methvin also authored two books: The Riot Makers: The Technology of Social Demolition, 1970, and The Rise of Radicalism: The Social Psychology of Messianic Extremism, 1973.
In 1995, the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists named Methvin to its "Hall of Fame" for "exemplary professional achievements, outstanding service to other members of the profession and lifelong dedication to the highest standards of journalism."

Early life

Methvin was born in Vienna, Georgia to Claude M. Methvin, Jr. and Madge Hilburn Methvin, editors and publishers of a local paper, The Vienna News.
Methvin began his journalism education by sleeping on a bale of newsprint every Thursday night while his parents met the weekly deadline. At the age of four, he got into a bucket of ink behind the family's flatbed cylinder press, and not even a gasoline bath could get all the printer's ink out of him. He started as a reporter (leg man only) before he could write, for at the age of five he would wander around the streets of his home town with pad and pencil asking residents to write down their news for him. Vienna, with a population of 2000, was a two-newspaper town in those days, chiefly as a result of his father's differences with a number of courthouse officials over a lynching, expressed in front-page editorials. Once while covering his beat, young Methvin encountered an assembly of grownups in one store gathered around the cracker barrel, and they offered a number of humorous quotes about the alleged superiorities of the opposition newspaper. Reporter Methvin promptly provided editorial comment: "Y'all are just a bunch of old damn fools," he declared. Whereupon he looked up and saw the town's Baptist preacher standing in the circle, so he quickly amended his copy: "All 'cep you, 'cause you work in the church-house," he said. Which, the preacher later declared from the pulpit, proved the youngster would make a good editor "because he knows who to call a damn fool and who to let alone." ^[3]
Growing up in Vienna in the 1930s and 1940s had a major impact on Methvin’s work throughout his life. Methvin’s parents published The Vienna News, known for its opposition to Jim Crow laws. Methvin’s parents received death threats from Ku Klux Klan members for their views.^[4] In his later years he would recall that, "as a young man I considered myself a liberal, because I was against lynching. When I got to Washington, to my surprise, I learned I was a conservative."
Methvin studied journalism at the University of Georgia School of Journalism. On campus he served as a member of the debate team and was a four-year letterman on UGA's football team under legendary coach, Wallace Butts. He belonged to Sigma Nu fraternity, and the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, which named him the outstanding male graduate of 1955. He was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and worked briefly as a reporter on the Atlanta Constitution. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree, cum laude, with a supplementary major and postgraduate study in law at the University of Georgia School of Law.^[3] As a journalism student, Methvin admired the works of H.L. Menken, doing a class project on Menken's The American Mercury
After college, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Methvin would spend three years as a jet fighter pilot flying the F-86 and F-102 all-weather interceptors.

Journalism career

In 1958 he joined the Washington Daily News as a general assignment reporter. He did graduate study in philosophy and international relations at the Youngstown, American and George Washington Universities. In 1960 he joined the Reader's Digest Washington bureau, and served as associate editor and senior editor until 1996. He then retired from full-time staff and became a contributing editor until February 2002 when he ended his 42-year career with the magazine.^[3]
Methvin had a special interest for stories involving crime, corruption and the Cold War. Among Methvin's favorite targets was labor unions. “I consider myself fortunate to have been allowed to play the piccolo in the great parade of American democracy for nearly half a century,” Methvin wrote before his death. “During that time, the American people defeated and brought down two evil empires: the Teamsters Union and the Soviet Union, and I and my piccolo had a hand in both. That is enough for me.” ^[5]
Methvin was the prime author of a series of hard-hitting Reader's Digest articles in 1970-72 that played a key role in shaping the federal government's war on organized crime. The proposed Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, including the famous "RICO" statute, was snugly corked in committee in Congress, and Chairman Emmanuel Cellar (D., N.Y.) of the House Judiciary Committee was determined to kill it there. But so much mail poured in to Congress as a result of two Methvin articles ("How the Mafia Preys on the Poor," September '70; and "The Mafia War on the A&P," July '70) that a discharged petition forced Celler to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote. "I've got to get that blankety-blank Reader's Digest off my back," he grumbled. When the bill passed overwhelmingly, 341 to 26, Sen. John McClellan, its chief architect, expressed his thanks to Methvin for his "especially significant contribution to the passage of this measure." And Attorney General John N. Mitchell sent him a pen used by President Richard Nixon to sign the bill, expressing the Administration's gratitude "for the part you played in bringing this important crime legislation into being." Ironically, three years later it was this law's limited testimonial immunity provision that enabled the Senate Watergate Committee to compel White House Counsel John Dean to testify, leading ultimately to Mitchell's subsequent imprisonment and President Nixon's resignation.
Methvin and the Digest were sued for $4 million by an organized crime figure named in one of his articles. After he presented his documentation and deposition on his investigation, a New York State judge dismissed the suit, declaring, "Documentation supplied by defendants showed they acted responsibly in extensively investigating all aspects of the story, which was imbued with legitimate public concern." Methvin declared he would have been happy to have the judge's ruling engraved on his tombstone.
Methvin also tackled the "religion" of Scientology in a 1980 article titled, "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult".^[6]
His "swan song" was a July 2001 article about a rank-and-file crusader who helped break the back of a corrupt racketeering organization in the New York City employes union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes Union District Council 37.^[3]

Personal life

In 1959 Methvin married Barbara Lester of Byromville, Georgia, and the couple had two daughters, Helen and Claudia. Barbara was killed on March 31, 2000, by a speeding car as she crossed the road in front of their home. In 2011, he established the Methvin Distinguished Professorship in Southern Literature at the University of Georgia in her honor.^[5]

To see more of who died in 2011 click here