/ Stars that died in 2023

Friday, December 8, 2017

Jay Ward, American baseball player (Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds) died he was 73.

 
John Francis "Jay" Ward was a Major League Baseball player and coach. He was also a manager in the minor leagues.

(September 9, 1938 – February 24, 2012)

Early life

Jay Ward was born on September 9, 1948 in Brookfield, Missouri to John and Francis Ward. He graduated from Highland High School in Highland, Illinois in 1956.[1]

Playing career

Ward signed with the New York Yankees in 1956. In his first professional season with the Kearney Yankees of the Nebraska State League, Ward batted .331 with seven home runs and earned All-League honors. Two of those seven home runs were grand slams hit in consecutive innings on August 17.[2]
He was plucked from the Yankees' farm system in the 1958 minor league draft by the Kansas City Athletics. It was as a member of their organization that Ward put together his finest minor league season. As a member of the Southern Association's Shreveport Sports in 1959, Ward batted .257 with 22 home runs and 84 runs batted in.
At the 1961 winter meetings, he was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers with Stan Johnson and Bobby Prescott for Bill Lajoie and Gordie Windhorn. Though Johnson and Prescott both had major league experience, only Ward and Windhorn would ever make a major league appearance after this deal. Midway through his first season in the Dodgers organization, he was dealt to the Minnesota Twins for Bert Cueto.
A spring training injury to starting third baseman Rich Rollins opened the door for Ward to join the Twins early in the 1963 season.[3] His first major league hit was a two-run double off Orlando Pena to lead the Twins to a 2-0 victory over Kansas City.[4] It would be his only hit of the season, and he would be returned to the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers in mid-June.
He would return to the Twins as a September call-up the following season, and batted .226 in 12 games.
It would be six more years before Ward would return to the majors. After a brief stint with the Nippon Professional Baseball league's Chunichi Dragons in 1966, and a season in the Cleveland Indians' farm system, Ward returned to the majors in 1970 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. In five plate appearances, he drew two walks, but did not get a hit.

Coaching

After one more season in the Kansas City Royals organization, Ward pulled the plug on his playing career and returned to the Minnesota Twins organization as manager of their Midwest League affiliate, the Wisconsin Rapids Twins. He managed the team to a 70-56 record, but decided to leave baseball for a while, and moved back to his home state, Missouri.[5] When he returned to baseball, he joined the Philadelphia Phillies organization to manage their Northwest League affiliate, the Bend Phillies, in 1983 and the Spartanburg Suns in 1984.
He returned to the Cincinnati Reds organization in 1985 to manage the Cedar Rapids Reds. A year later, he managed the Vermont Reds to the Eastern League championship. Following the season, Lou Piniella brought him back to the majors and the organization he started with, naming him hitting coach for the New York Yankees. The 1987 Yankees batted .262, down from .271 the previous season, and after just one season with the Yankees, he was replaced by Chris Chambliss.
Ward returned to minor league managing in 1988 and 1989. He became the Montreal Expos' minor league hitting coordinator in 1990, and was made their major leagues hitting coach during the 1991 season.

Later life

He retired to Troy, Montana with his wife Lynn where he enjoyed hunting and fishing. He died at age 73 on February 24, 2012. Survivors included his wife Lynn; three daughters and one son and their spouses; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by one grandchild. [6]
Preceded by
Weldon Bowlin		 Wisconsin Rapids Twins Manager
1972		 Succeeded by
Johnny Goryl
Preceded by
Roly de Armas		 Bend Phillies Manager
1983		 Succeeded by
Ramon Aviles
Preceded by
first manager		 Spartanburg Suns Manager
1984		 Succeeded by
Roly de Armas
Preceded by
Jim Lett		 Cedar Rapids Reds Manager
1985		 Succeeded by
Gene Dusan
Preceded by
Jack Lind		 Vermont Reds Manager
1986		 Succeeded by
Tom Runnells
Preceded by
Willie Horton		 New York Yankees hitting coach
1987		 Succeeded by
Chris Chambliss
Preceded by
Steve Demeter		 Salem Buccaneers Manager
1988		 Succeeded by
Rocky Bridges
Preceded by
Mike Hargrove		 Williamsport Bills Manager
1989		 Succeeded by
Rich Morales
Preceded by
Hal McRae		 Montreal Expos hitting coach
1991-1992		 Succeeded by
Tommy Harper
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Jan Berenstain died after suffering a massive stroke she was 83

Stan and Jan Berenstain, often called The Berenstains, were American writers and illustrators best known for creating the children's book series The Berenstain Bears.
Stanley "Stan" Berenstain (September 29, 1923 – November 26, 2005) was born and raised in a neighborhood of west Philadelphia and died of cancer in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania. Janice "Jan" Berenstain (was born in Philadelphia and was raised in west Philadelphia and attended Radnor High School. They met on their first day of class at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941. During WWII, Stan served as a military medical illustrator while Jan was a draft artist for the Army Corps of Engineers in addition to working in an aircraft factory. She fashioned a pair of wedding rings from spare aluminum collected at the latter job, and the two married on April 17, 1946. Jan died February 24, 2012 after suffering a massive stroke. Her son Mike was at her side.[3] They are survived by their two sons, Mike and Leo.[4]

(July 26, 1923 – February 24, 2012)  

 In an interview about the books, the Berenstains said that a big reason behind their inspiration was some of the difficulties parents faced, as well as some childhood tribulations when they were kids themselves. The Berenstains also noted there were some issues which seemed to appear in every generation, such as kids throwing tantrums in public places, which made important subject matter for their stories. However, they deliberately wanted to steer clear of overly heavy issues, such as violence. In their later years, critics sometimes dismissed the books for having social attitudes stuck in the 1950s along with the bears' clothing styles and penchant for activities such as playing jacks and hopscotch, even though they did change with the times somewhat by introducing things like video games and cell phones.
After the birth of their son Michael in 1951, the couple published The Berenstains' Baby Book, which dealt with the issues of pregnancy and child-rearing. Although containing practical advice, the book used humor and reminded parents not to take every situation too seriously. They would go on to publish another two books on parenting, How to Teach Your Children About Sex Without Making a Complete Fool of Yourself and Have a Baby, My Wife Just Had a Cigar!.
They produced together the magazine cartoon feature It's All in the Family from 1956 to 1989 in McCall's and Good Housekeeping.[citation needed] Inspired by their children's enthusiasm for Dr. Seuss books, the Berenstains decided to attempt a series with animal protagonists themselves, settling on bears not because of their surname as was commonly believed, but because they found them easy to draw. They published their first book featuring the Berenstain Bears, The Big Honey Hunt, in 1962.[2] At the time, their inspiration, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), was working as an editor in the children's division of Random House Publishing and eagerly approved the concept. He edited several books in the Berenstain Bears series and created a lasting franchise including many more books, television series, toys, and stage productions.[citation needed] Over 300 books were published in 23 languages.[2] Jan was inducted into Radnor High School's Hall of Fame on October 20, 2006.
The Berenstains' cartoon feature It's All in the Family (unrelated to the similarly named TV series) appeared regularly in McCall's and depicted the antics of a suburban family with mother, father, eldest and youngest sons, and middle daughter. It's All in the Family was not a conventional comic strip in the sense of a sequential progression of panels. Each issue featured a single situation, often seasonally appropriate, such as the daughter preparing, cooking, and serving a family meal for the first time or the costume preparations, rehearsal, and performance of the youngest child's Christmas pageant. Within a given issue, each It's All in the Family drawing was a stand-alone panel with a caption gag, rather than one panel of a sequential strip, but individual panels in order depicted the complete arc (preparation, completion, aftermath) of that issue's family experience.
Stan and Jan Berenstain's younger son Michael Berenstain (born in 1951) is a writer/illustrator and also illustrated many of the books written by his parents. He continued to work with his mother on new projects until her death in 2012, with a focus on promoting Christian religious practices.[4] Stan Berenstain was Jewish and Jan Berenstain was an Episcopalian.[1]

Selected works

See also: List of Berenstain Bears books

The Big Honey Hunt, published in 1962, was the first book to feature The Berenstain Bears. Many of their earlier books featuring these characters were under Dr. Seuss' Beginner Books imprint.
  • The Berenstains' Baby Book (1951, MacMillan)
  • Sister (1952, Schuman cartoons)
  • Tax-Wise (1952, Schuman)
  • Marital Blitz (1954, Dutton)
  • Baby Makes Four (1956, MacMillan)
  • It’s All in the Family (1958, Dutton)
  • Lover Boy (1958, MacMillan)
  • And Beat Him When He Sneezes (1960, McGraw Hill)
    • Have a Baby, My Wife Just Had a Cigar (1960, Dell, retitled reprint)
  • Bedside Lover Boy (1960, Dell)
  • Call Me Mrs. (1961, MacMillan)
  • It's Still in the Family (1961, Dutton)
  • Office Lover Boy (1962, Dell)
  • The Facts of Life for Grown-ups (1963, Dell)
  • Flipsville-Squareville (1965, Delacorte)
  • Mr. Dirty vs. Mrs. Clean (1967, Dell)
  • You Could Diet Laughing (1969, Dell)
  • Be Good or I'll Belt Ya! (1970, Dell)
  • Education Impossible (1970, Dell)
  • How to Teach Your Children about Sex without Making a Complete Fool of Yourself (1970, Dutton)
  • Never Trust Anyone Over 13 (1970, Bantam)
  • How to Teach Your Children about God without Actually Scaring Them out of Their Wits (1971, Dutton)
  • The Berenstains' B Book (1971, Random House)
  • Are Parents for Real? (1972, Bantam)
  • The Day of the Dinosaur (1987, Random House, First Time Readers); illustrated by Michael Berenstain (Mike)[5]
  • After the Dinosaurs (1988, Random House, First Time Readers)
  • What Your Parents Never Told You about Being a Mom or Dad (1995) parenting advice
  • Down A Sunny Dirt Road (2002) autobiography
  • The Berenstain Bears and The Bear Essentials (2005) parenting advice
  • Nothing Ever Happens at the South Pole (2012, HarperCollins, published posthumously) children's book

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Agnes Allen, American baseball player (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League) died she was , 81

Agnes Lorraine Allen [״Aggie״]  was a pitcher and outfielder who played from 1950 through 1953 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m), 120 lb, she batted and threw right-handed.[1][2]
Born in Alvord, Iowa, Agnes Allen was one of five children into the family of Edward and Bernice (Martin) Allen. She was taught by her father to throw a baseball at an early age, and they played catch almost every day. As a teenager, she accustomed to play baseball with her father and two brothers, who were semi-professional pitchers, so they taught her how to pitch a fastball, a changeup and a curveball.[3][4]
(September 21, 1930 – February 24, 2012)
Allen later attended St. Mary's High School in Larchwood, where she started to play organized softball and basketball. She read about the AAGPBL in a local newspaper and conned her father into taking her to a tryout in Cedar Rapids. She then was invited to Wrigley Field for another tryout and made the grade.[5]
Allen entered the league in 1950 with the Springfield Sallies. She responded with a 9–5 record in 15 pitching appearances, while hitting a .179 batting average. Her biggest experience was pitching a game in the old Yankee Stadium and meeting the legendary Connie Mack.[1][3][6]
She was promoted to the Kalamazoo Lassies in 1951, but during the midseason was loaned to the Battle Creek Belles for five games, returning to Kalamazoo for the rest of the year. Allen posted a combined 3–10 record and a 6.21 earned run average in 24 games. She suffered control issues on the mound the next season and was moved to the outfield, ending with a 1–7 mark and a 6.00 ERA while hitting .161 in 56 games. She improved her numbers in 1953, her last season, going 10–9 and lowering her ERA to 3.70 in 24 games.[1]
Following her baseball career, Allen applied for a Mortar Board at Western Michigan University. After teaching for three years, she was employed as a physical therapist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She also worked for Presentation Health Systems and for McKennan Hospital before becoming a self-employed physical therapist for Canton Inwood Memorial Hospital.[3][4]
Allen retired after 35 years of work. In her spare time, she was both a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Elmwood Ladies Golf League.[4]
In 1988 she became part of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which was unveiled to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than any individual personality.
Agnes Allen died in Flandreau, South Dakota.at the age of 81.[4]

Career statistics

Pitching
GP W L W-L% ERA IP H RA ER BB SO
60 14 26 .350 4.87 324 290 235 178 296 134
Batting
GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA
138 335 31 55 6 1 0 19 7 20 29 .164
Fielding
GP PO A E TC FA
104 90 144 24 158 .848

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Bruce Surtees, American cinematographer (Lenny, Dirty Harry, Beverly Hills Cop) died from complication of diabete he was 74

Bruce Mohr Powell Surtees  was an American cinematographer, the son of Maydell and cinematographer Robert L. Surtees.[1] He is best known for his extensive work on Clint Eastwood's films, mostly westerns of the 1970s and early 1980s. His filming style has been compared to that of the Dollars trilogy of Sergio Leone.
He began as a camera operator working on Eastwood's films during the late 1960s, his credits including Coogan's Bluff and Two Mules for Sister Sara. He became a main cinematographer in 1971 with The Beguiled in which he worked as director of photography.
In 1971 he was director of photography on Dirty Harry.
Surtees was nominated for an Academy Award for his cinematography on Lenny (1974). He died in 2012 of complications from diabetes.[2][3]

(July 23, 1937 – February 23, 2012)

Filmography


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David Sayre, American scientist died he was 88

David Sayre was an American scientist, credited with the early development of direct methods for protein crystallography and of diffraction microscopy (also called coherent diffraction imaging). FORTRAN, and later suggested the use of electron beam lithography for the fabrication of X-ray Fresnel zone plates.
While working at IBM he was part of the initial team of ten programmers who created
The International Union of Crystallography awarded Sayre the Ewald Prize in 2008 for the "unique breadth of his contributions to crystallography, which range from seminal contributions to the solving of the phase problem to the complex physics of imaging generic objects by X-ray diffraction and microscopy(...)".[1]

(March 2, 1924 – February 23, 2012) 

Life and career

Sayre was born in New York. He completed his bachelor's degree in physics at Yale University at the age of 19. After working at the MIT Radiation Laboratory, he earned his MS degree at Auburn University in 1948. In 1949, he moved to Oxford with his wife Anne Colquhoun, whom he had married in 1947. Sayre completed his doctoral studies in Dorothy Hodgkin's group in 1951. It is at this time that Sayre discovered the equation now named after him, based on the concept of atomicity. Although the key to most direct methods still in use today, Sayre did not share the 1985 chemistry Nobel prize awarded for their discovery. It is also around this time that Sayre, inspired by Claude Shannon's recent work, suggested in a short paper that the crystallographic phase problem could be solved more easily if one could measure intensities at a higher density than imposed by Bragg's law. This insight is widely seen as the initial spark that lead to recent lensless imaging techniques.
Back in United States, David Sayre worked on structure determination of a carcinogen molecule in the lab of Peter Friedlander at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The structure determination program he wrote for the IBM 701 attracted the attention of John Backus, who hired him to be part of the initial team of programmers that developed the high-level programming language FORTRAN. Sayre was to remain at IBM until his retirement in 1990. In the early 1970s, Sayre became interested in X-ray microscopy. He suggested to use the newly developed electron beam lithography apparatus at IBM to produce Fresnel zone plates, a type of X-ray lens now widely used in Synchrotron facilities. In the '80s, he came back to the goal of achieving lensless imaging, which he pursued the rest of his life.

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William Raggio, 85, American politician, Nevada State Senator (1972–2011), respiratory illness

William Raggio  was an American politician and a former Republican member of the Nevada Senate. He represented Washoe County's 3rd district from 1972 until his retirement in 2011. He is the longest-serving member in the history of the State Senate.

 (October 30, 1926 – February 23, 2012)

Early life, education, and early career

Raggio was born in Reno, Nevada in 1926. In order to obtain his B.A. he attended Louisiana Tech University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Nevada, Reno. He obtained his J.D. from the Hastings College of Law at the University of California and the Boalt Hall School of Law at University of California, Berkeley.
He then went to the military. He was a member of the United States Navy Reserve (USNR) and became a Second Lieutenant of the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR). He started his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney of Washoe County (1952–1958) and was the D.A. of the county (1958–1970).[1]

Political career

1970 U.S. Senate race

Main article: United States Senate election in Nevada, 1970
Raggio first ran for public office statewide in 1970 against incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Howard Cannon, who defeated Raggio, the Republican nominee, with nearly 58% of the vote to serve a third term.

1974 LG race

Incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Nevada Harry Reid decided not to run for another term, in order to run for the U.S. Senate. This left an open seat. Democrat nominee Robert E. Rose defeated Raggio, the Republican nominee, with an estimated 52% of the vote statewide.[2]

State Senate tenure (1972–2011)

Raggio served 12 special and 19 regular sessions, the longest Senate service in Nevada history. He was Senate Minority Floor Leader in 1977–1979, 1983–1986, 1991, and 2009. He was Senate Majority Floor Leader in 1987–1989 and 1993–2007. He was Chairman of the Interim Senate Finance Committee in 1988–1990, 1993–1994, 1997–1998, and 2001–2002.[1] He was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1987 to 1989 and 1993–2005. He was also Chairman of the Legislative Committee on Education from 1997 to 1999 and 2001–2003.[3]

Death

On February 23, 2012, Raggio died at the age of 85 while on vacation in Sydney, Australia. His cause of death was reported as respiratory illness.[4][5] Raggio fathered three children, Leslie, Tracy and Mark (d. 2004).

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Billy Strange,, American songwriter ("Limbo Rock") and music arranger died he was 81



William Everett "Billy" Strange was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum as a member of The Wrecking Crew in 2007.

(September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012)

Biography

Early life

Billy Strange was born in Long Beach, California on September 29, 1930.[1]

Recordings and songwriting

Strange teamed up with Mac Davis to write several hit songs for Elvis Presley, including "A Little Less Conversation", the theme from Charro!, and "Memories". Strange also composed the musical soundtrack for two of Presley's films Live a Little, Love a Little and The Trouble with Girls. He also wrote "Limbo Rock" that was recorded by The Champs and Chubby Checker.
Strange recorded many cover versions of James Bond movie themes for GNP Crescendo Records and provided the instrumental backing and arrangement for Nancy Sinatra's non-soundtrack version of "You Only Live Twice" as well as Nancy and Frank Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid". He was recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame for his pioneering contribution to the genre.[2]
Strange played guitar on numerous Beach Boys hits, including "Sloop John B" and the Pet Sounds album. He also played guitar for Nancy Sinatra, Jan & Dean, The Ventures, Willie Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Wanda Jackson, Randy Newman, and Nat King Cole, among others. One of his most famous performances is on Nancy Sinatra's version of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)".
Strange arranged and conducted all of Nancy Sinatra's Reprise albums as well as Nancy Sinatra's and Lee Hazlewood's 1972 RCA Records release, Nancy & Lee Again and their 2003 album, Nancy & Lee 3. He also arranged the 1981 Sinatra and Mel Tillis album, Mel & Nancy. He arranged and conducted for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Duane Eddy, and Elvis Presley. One of his most famous arrangements was "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for Nancy Sinatra. Strange also performed the vocals for Steve McQueen in Baby the Rain Must Fall.[3]
Heard on the soundtracks of many Disney features, Strange played themes for such TV shows as "The Munsters" (1964), "Batman" (1966) and "Have Gun - Will Travel" (1957). He is the guitarist heard on the theme to "The Munsters".[4]
"A Little Less Conversation", which he wrote with Mac Davis, was on the sound­tracks of the DreamWorks ani­mated fea­ture films Shark Tale (2004) and Megamind (2010).[5]
He sang his own com­po­si­tion, "The Bal­lad of Bunny and Claude", in the Mer­rie Melodies Bunny And Claude (We Rob Car­rot Patches) (1968) and The Great Carrot-Train Rob­bery (1969).[5]

Personal life

Strange was married to singer and actress Joan O'Brien from 1954 to 1955. They had a son, Russell Glen Strange, born on October 4, 1955.
He was also married to Betty Jo Conrad (son: Jerry Strange)from 1960 to 1978. They had a daughter together, Kelly Kimberly Strange, born on November 11, 1964.
While separated from Betty Jo, Strange moved from California to Tennessee to open and run a publishing firm for the Sinatras and lived with/dated Tricia "LeAnn" King. They had a daughter, Mary "Micah" King (Strange), who was born on December 23, 1976 in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.
Strange was married to singer Jeanne Black in his final years. He died on February 22, 2012, aged 81.[3]

Selected filmography

As actor

Soundtrack

Selected discography

  • Billy Strange Plays Roger Miller
  • Mr. Guitar
  • The James Bond Theme / Walk Don't Run '64
  • English Hits of '65
  • Goldfinger
  • Secret Agent File (later rereleased as a compilation)
  • James Bond Double Feature
  • In the Mexican Bag
  • Great Western Themes
  • Billy Strange and The Challengers
  • Strange Country
  • 12 String Guitar
  • Railroad Man
  • Super Scary Monster Party (compilation)
  • De Sade (film soundtrack)
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Severo Lombardoni, Italian music producer died he was 62

Severo Lombardoni  was a music producer in Italy died he was 62. He was founder and owner of Discomagic S.r.l[1] and is known as a pioneer of Italo disco and Italo Dance[2] music.[3]

(7 March 1949 in Pedrengo at Bergamo - 13 February 2012 in Milan, original name)

Biography

Severo was the oldest child of Francesco Lombardoni and his wife Francesca, née Nava. He has had three younger siblings; his sisters Anna[4] and Ornella, and a brother Vittorio, who are all involved inSeriate from 1960 to 1963 and graduated at the Conservatorio “Giuseppe Verdi” di Milano in 1969.
the music industry. Severo attended technical college in
As a teenager Severo was a keen cyclist and regularly took part in local cycle races. He played several instruments; including the trombone, the piano, the accordion und the guitar[5] during his time at the Conservatory in Milan, and for some years after he played in several local bands. He also worked for a year as a music teacher at a junior school.
In 1974 Lombardoni opened a record shop in his home town of Seriate. In 1977 he moved to Milan and set up a record-wholesale business.

DiscoMagic and Lombardoni Publishing

In 1981 Lombardoni established the record company DiscoMagic and the publishing company Lombardoni Edizioni Musicali. He was one of the pioneers of Italo disco music in the early 1980s and DiscoMagic was hugely successful, becoming one of the major Italo disco producers in Italy. As well as the major label Disco Magic Severo created several sub-labels to promote different music genres. In addition, DiscoMagic distributed Italian, European and worldwide titles on behalf of labels such as “Time Records”, “DWA”, “RARE” and “GGM”.
DiscoMagic had its headquarters in Via Mecenate in Milan which subsequently became the centre for music wholesalers and producers. In the late 1980s he was extremely successful with his compilations and was the first Italian music producer to make use of TV advertising.
With Lombardoni Publishing Srl Severo acted as music publisher too. Some of the composers he has collaborated with include Pierluigi Giombini, Paolo Pelandri, Domenico Ricchini, Manuel Curry and Luis Garcia Perez. His major successes included “Dolce vita” by Ryan Paris, “Happy children” by P. Lion, “Don't cry tonight” by Savage, "Shanghai", "Sayonara" by Lee Marrow ; all released in 1983 and “Ride on Time” by Black Box[6] released in 1989 . “Ride on time” from the record “Dreamland” became a huge success throughout Europe, and the United States as well, although the success was somewhat marred by copyright disputes.
In 1988 Severo established Lombardoni Musik GmbH in Germany and by 1990 the company was listed in the top ten of the most successful music publishers in Germany.
Due to financial problems, the company closed in 1997 and Severo was forced to sell the main label, “Disco Magic”, and its catalogue, to the German music producer Bernhard Mikulski (ZYX Music).

Productions (choice)

  • 1983, Ryan Paris, “Dolce Vita”
  • 1983, P. Lion, “Happy Children”
  • 1983, Savage, “Don't cry tonight”
  • 1985, Lee Marrow "Shanghai"
  • 1985, Lee Marrow "Sayonara"
  • 1987, Lee Marrow "Don't Stop The Music"
  • 1988, Savage, “So Close”
  • 1990, Sabrina Salerno, “Yeah Yeah”
  • Joe Yellow, “I'm Your Lover”
  • Den Harrow, “A laste of Lave, To Meet Me”
  • Gary Low, “You Are a Danger”

Sublabels (choice)[7]

  • “Out”
  • “High Energy”
  • “Sensation Records”
  • “Out Records”
  • “Trash Records”
  • “Yellowstone Records”

Hitland

Since the end of the 1990s Severo worked for some years with his son Matteo publishing collections and reprints of Italo disco hits of the 1980s under the label “Hitland”. In recent years he continued the “Hitland” label with his first wife Marilena.
Severo had a son, Matteo, with his first wife and a daughter, Francesca, with his second wife Adriana. He died on February 13, 2012 of an Intracranial hemorrhage. His funeral was held at the church Madonna Aiuto dei Cristiani in Milan, followed by a burial at the cemetery in Pedrengo/Bergamo.

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Saturday, April 25, 2015

Mike Melvoin, American jazz pianist and composer, died from cancer , he was 74

Michael "Mike" Melvoin  was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger died from cancer , he was 74. He served as chairman and president of The Recording Academy and worked as a prolific studio musician, recording with Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, The Jackson 5, Natalie Cole, and The Beach Boys. Melvoin was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for "All Or Nothing At All" from his album It's Always You.[1]

(May 10, 1937 – February 22, 2012)

Biography

Melvoin was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and began playing the piano at the age of three. He studied English at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1959, but decided to pursue a career in music.[2] After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, he played with Frank Rosolino, Leroy Vinnegar, Gerald Wilson, Paul Horn, Terry Gibbs, Joe Williams, Peggy Lee and others. He released his debut album as a bandleader, Keys to Your Mind, in 1966 on Liberty Records. Melvoin played in clubs in Los Angeles, and accompanied singer Bill Henderson and played with Herb Ellis and Plas Johnson on Concord Jazz releases.
Melvoin worked extensively as a studio musician, performing on the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966), Frank Sinatra's That's Life (1966), the Jackson 5's ABC (1970), John Lennon's "Stand by Me" (1975), Tom Waits' Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), and Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" (1976). He also began composing for film and television in the early 1970s including The Partridge Family, contributing scores to Fame and MacGyver.
His children, Wendy (of Wendy & Lisa), Susannah and Jonathan all became professional musicians. Melvoin died in Burbank, California on February 22, 2012 of cancer, at age 74.[3]

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Lucio Battisti
With Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker
With Milt Jackson
With Lalo Schifrin
With Gábor Szabó
With Tom Waits

As composer

  • Keem-O-Sabe (by the Electric Indian, top 40 hit 1969)

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Barney Rosset, American publisher (Grove Press) and free speech advocate he died he was , 89

Barnet Lee "Barney" Rosset, Jr.  was the former owner of the publishing house Grove Press, and publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Evergreen Review. He led a successful legal battle to publish the uncensored version of D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, and later was the American publisher of Henry Miller's controversial novel Tropic of Cancer. The right to publish and distribute Miller's novel in the United States was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1964, in a landmark ruling for free speech and the First Amendment.

(May 28, 1922 – February 21, 2012)

Early life

Rosset was born and raised in Chicago to a Jewish father, Barnet Rosset, and an Irish Catholic mother, Mary (née Tansey).[1][2][3] He attended the progressive Francis Parker School, where he was best friends with renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler. He went on to study at Swarthmore College, UCLA and the New School for Social Research. He was graduated from the University of Chicago and received a second degree from the New School. During World War II, he served in the Army Signal Corps as an officer in a photographic company stationed in China. Rosset married American Abstract Expressionist painter Joan Mitchell in 1949. The couple later divorced. Mitchell was instrumental in Rosset's acquisition of Grove Press. He owned an East Hampton Long Island quonset hut, previously used as a studio by painter Robert Motherwell.

Grove Press and Evergreen Review writers

Rosset introduced American readers to numerous significant writers, including Samuel Beckett (Nobel Prize in Literature 1969), Pablo Neruda (Nobel Prize 1971), Octavio Paz (Nobel Prize 1990), Kenzaburō Ōe (Nobel Prize 1994), Harold Pinter (Nobel Prize 2005), Henry Miller, William S. Burroughs, Khushwant Singh, Jean Genet, John Rechy, Eugène Ionesco and Tom Stoppard.
Interviewed by Tin House publisher Win McCormack, Rosset talked about publishing Beckett:
I had actually read a little bit of Beckett in transition Magazine and a couple of other places. I was going to the New School. My New School life and the beginnings of Grove crossed over. At the New School, I had professors like Wallace Fowlie, Alfred Kazin, Stanley Kunitz and others, who were very, very important to me. I was doing a great deal of reading and writing papers for them, and one day I read in The New York Times about a play called Waiting for Godot that was going on in Paris. It was a small clip, but it made me very interested. I got hold of it and read it in the French edition. It had something to say to me. Oddly enough, it had a sense of desolation, like Miller, though in its language, its lack of verbiage, it was the opposite of Miller. Still, the sense of a very contemporary lost soul was compelling. I got Wallace Fowlie to read it. His specialty was French literature. His judgment meant a lot to me even though he was so different from me. He was a convert to Catholicism, he was gay, and incredibly intelligent. He read the play and told me that he thought - and this before anybody had really heard about it much - that it would be one of the most important works of the 20th Century. And Sylvia Beach got involved in it somehow. She was a friend and admirer of Beckett. Waiting for Godot just hit something in me. I got what Beckett writing was available and published it. He flew into the web and got trapped. He had been turned down by Simon and Schuster, I found out, much earlier, on an earlier novel.[4]
There is a recent interview available with him on NPR.2/12
In an interview with the Brooklyn Rail, Rosset spoke about the Henry Miller's Tropic of Capricorn being taken to court for obscenity charges:
We had a case in New York and, of course, he [Miller] wouldn’t go to the court. I had lunch with him at a restaurant on sixth Avenue right near here called Alfred’s with our lawyer and three or four other people, and then we had to go to court. But he wouldn’t go. He’d been summonsed so he was breaking the law by not going. So we went into court, and the District Attorney questioned me and said, “You see that we have a jury here of men and women with children who go to school right near where that book is on sale, near the subway stop. What’d you think they feel to have their children reading this book?” So I took out the book and started reading and the jury started laughing and they thought it was wonderful. I said to them, “If your children got this book and read the whole book you ought to congratulate them.” And they loved it, and they refused to convict me of anything. That was a great pleasure. Miller couldn’t leave this country until the decision was in, verified and so forth. For at least a year or two years, he couldn’t go. It was so funny because they accused me of soliciting him to write the book—write Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn—in Brooklyn, and at that point I was only 8 years old! Miller was a little older than me. It was a specific charge against me that was absurd. I was a pimp supposedly. They didn’t even bother to see how ridiculous their charge would look.[5]
Launched in 1957, Evergreen Review pushed the limits of censorship, inspiring hundreds of thousands of younger Americans[citation needed] to embrace the counterculture. Grove Press published Beat Generation writers, including William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Rechy, Hubert Selby, Jr. and Jack Kerouac. Rosset also purchased the American distribution rights to the Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow).
The online Evergreen Review features Beat classics as well as debuts of contemporary writers, including Giannina Braschi and Dennis Nurkse.[6] In 2007, Rossett married Astrid Myers, managing editor of the online Evergreen Review. In 2008, Rosset completed writing his autobiography.[7] He died in 2012 after a double heart valve replacement.[8]

Film

Obscene, a documentary feature about Rosset by Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O’Connor, was released September 26, 2008.[7][9] The film was a selection of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Featured in the film are Amiri Baraka, Lenny Bruce, William S. Burroughs, Jim Carroll, Elsa Dorfman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Al Goldstein, Erica Jong, Ray Manzarek, Michael McClure, Henry Miller, John Rechy, Ed Sanders, Floyd Salas, John Sayles, Gore Vidal, John Waters and Malcolm X.

Awards

Rosset was awarded the French title Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1999. He was honored by the National Coalition Against Censorship on October 21, 2008 for his work in defending free expression. On November 19, 2008, Rosset received the lifetime achievement Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation in honor of his contributions to American publishing.[10] In 2012, he was awarded the Norman Mailer Prize for "Distinguished Publisher".[11]

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