Mike Finnigan born 26 April 1945

Michael Kelly Finnigan (April 26, 1945 – August 11, 2021) was an American keyboard player and vocalist, his specialty being the B3 Hammond organ. Working primarily as a freelance studio musician and touring player, he played with a wide variety of musicians in pop, rock, blues and jazz.

Finnigan was born in Troy, Ohio, and attended the University of Kansas on a basketball scholarship. He started to perform professionally when he was 19, relocating to Wichita to perform with The Serfs, which started as a house band at a local nightclub. In 1969, he joined the Serfs in recording their only album, 1969’s “Early Bird Cafe” with Tom Wilson producing, and toured with the group. During a trip to New York City, Finnigan landed a gig as a session music with Jimi Hendrix as he was in the studio recording the legendary album “Electric Ladyland.”

Crazed Hipsters

He toured and cut an album with Jerry Hahn, The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood released in 1970. In 1972, Finnigan partnered with Jerry Wood to form Finnigan and Wood, releasing just one album “Crazed Hipsters.” Finnigan’s other collaborations in the 1970s included performances with Dave Mason, Big Brother & The Holding Company, and Peter Frampton, as well as Jim Kreuger and Les Dudek, with whom he formed the band Dudek, Finnigan, and Krueger. in 1978. Subsequently, his work featured on a CD by the Finnigan Brothers (NashFilms Records), a collaboration with his younger brother Sean and founding member of Bread, Robb Royer.

Black Rose

Finnigan later partnered with Dudek and singer Cher to form the band Black Rose, which performed around Los Angeles as an independent act before signing with Casablanca Records. They released only one album, the eponymously named Black Rose, which also featured Gary Ferguson, Warren Ham, Rocket Ritchotte and Trey Thompson. However, the album gained little traction with fans and the group parted ways the following year.

                                   

Through the 1980s, Finnigan was a much sought-after musician, recording on multiple albums with Crosby, Stills & Nash, including “American Dream,” and “After The Storm,” as well as with artists such as Joe Cocker (Hymn for my Soul). He also provided keyboards for the legendary blues and soul singer Etta James for more than two decades.

He toured with and sessioned for Joe Cocker, Sam Moore, Crosby Stills and Nash, Dave Mason, Buddy Guy, The Manhattan Transfer, Taj Mahal, Michael McDonald, Maria Muldaur, Ringo Starr, Leonard Cohen, Tower of Power, Rod Stewart, David Coverdale, Tracy Chapman, Los Lonely Boys, Bonnie Raitt, Keb ‘Mo, Eric Burdon, Kara Grainger, and the Zen Blues Quartet, among others. Finnigan also made a guest appearance in the short-lived police procedural musical television series, Cop Rock (1990). In his only acting credit, Finnigan portrayed a singing shift lieutenant in the cold open of episode 7, "Cop-a-Feeliac". After a shift briefing, Finnigan breaks in to song, telling his officers, "Let's Be Careful Out There". The song itself is an homage to a catchphrase popularized by the show Hill Street Blues, created by Steven Bochco, who also produced Cop Rock.

Finnigan was twice a winner of a Blues Music Award (formerly W.C. Handy Award) for his work with Taj Mahal as a member of the Phantom Blues Band. He was always active politically and was, for several years, a regular contributor to the weblog Crooks and Liars. In 2013 and 2014, he was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Pinetop Perkins Piano Player' category. In addition to his music, Finnigan was an outspoken political commentator and a regular contributor to the blog Crooks and Liars.

He was married for 50 years to Candy Finnigan, an intervention counsellor who appeared on the television show Intervention. They had two children: a daughter, Bridget, and a son, Kelly. Finnigan was an active blogger, with a fondness for liberal/progressive causes and commentary.

Finnigan died from liver cancer at the Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on August 11, 2021, in Los Angeles at the age of 76.

(Edited from Wikipedia & Celebrity Access) 

O.B. McClinton born 25 April l1940

Obie Burnett "O. B." McClinton (April 25, 1940 – September 23, 1987) was an American black country music singer and songwriter, who placed several hit records on the country singles chart in the 1970s.

Obie Burnett McClinton was born in Senatobia. He was the second-youngest child born to Rev. G. A. McClinton, a clergyman and farmer who owned a 700-acre (2.8 km2) ranch near Memphis, Tennessee.Growing up on the farm of his Baptist minister father, McClinton picked cotton by day and by night listened to radio programs from such regional stations as WHBQ (Memphis) and WLAC (Nashville). While his musical tastes included blues, R&B, soul music, and rockabilly, McClinton was particularly fond of country music, and he regularly listened to Grand Ole Opry broadcasts on Nashville’s WSM.

                                       

To escape the agricultural work, the teenaged McClinton ran away to nearby Memphis, where he spent all his savings to buy a guitar, forcing him to return home. After completing high school, McClinton attended Holly Springs’s Rust College, which had given him a scholarship to sing in the college choir. McClinton graduated in 1966 and found a job as a disc jockey on a Memphis radio station, WDIA. In December 1966 he enlisted in the US Air Force and began performing at military talent shows. He began forging a career as a songwriter, penning country-soul ballads for Otis Redding (‘Keep Your Arms Around Me’), before finding the ideal foil in James Carr. Two of McClinton’s compositions, ‘You’ve Got My Mind Messed Up’ (1966) and ‘A Man Needs A Woman’ (1968), stand among this singer’s finest work. He also wrote songs for other soul music artists, including Clarence Carter and Arthur Conley.

In 1971, while working as a staff songwriter for Memphis-based Stax Records, McClinton signed a recording contract with a Stax subsidiary, Enterprise, which wanted to market him as a country singer. A fan of Hank Williams Sr. and Merle Haggard, McClinton also emulated the breakthrough success of another black Mississippian, Charley Pride, to whom McClinton self-deprecatingly compares himself in “The Other One.” McClinton and Oklahoman Stoney Edwards became virtually the only other African American musicians to achieve sustained commercial success in country music in the 1970s.

Known to refer to himself as the "Chocolate Cowboy", McClinton successfully marketed his first album on the Enterprise label long before the practice was commonplace. Featuring his first country chart single "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You", a top 40 song in 1972, which he considered to be his finest work. Another top 40 hit was "My Whole World Is Falling Down”—as well as such minor hits as “Six Pack of Trouble” and “Something Better.” 

Not entirely pleased with the studio production on his first two Enterprise albums, O. B. McClinton Country (1972) and Obie from Senatobia (1972), McClinton requested and received permission to serve as producer on his next album, Live at Randy’s Rodeo (1973). When Enterprise went out of business in the mid-1970s, McClinton briefly moved to Mercury Records in 1976, where he had a hit with ‘Black Speck’, before moving to Epic, where he scored half a dozen minor C&W hits. He also recorded for the Sunbird, and Moonshine labels. 

In 1986, O. B. McClinton was diagnosed with liver cancer, beginning a year-long battle with the illness that included multiple hospitalizations. The country music community supported him through benefit concerts, including one on November 11, 1986, featuring artists such as Reba McEntire, Waylon Jennings, and Kathy Mattea, which raised $40,000 for his medical bills, and another in March 1987. He passed away on September 23, 1987, at the age of 47, at HCA Park View Medical Center in Nashville, after being admitted for the final time four days earlier.

(Edited from Mississippi Encyclopedia & Grokipedia)

Pete Goble born 24 April 1932

Pete Goble (April 24, 1932 - July 25, 2018) was an American bluegrass musician and prolific songwriter.

Pete Goble was immediately hooked on bluegrass music when he heard the Flatt and Scruggs recording of ‘Down the Road’ from Mercury Records in 1949. His love of Country and Bluegrass music spanned his lifetime while Pete honored the catchy folk songs, the lonesome ballads, and spirited dance tunes by writing and performing some of the most memorable tunes ever recorded in bluegrass music history.

Billy Gill & Pete Goble 1961

John ‘Pete’ Goble was born in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. He grew up in the mountains of the Bluegrass state, then moved to Detroit, Michigan, with his family in 1948 where he worked at Great Lakes Steel until he retired. Pete taught himself to play the guitar in his early 20s and soon began penning song verses and laying them down to music. Some of Pete’s early work in the mid-1950s included You’ll be a Lost Ball, I’ll Drink No More Wine, and I’ll Never Take No For An Answer.

Pete often collaborated with his long-time friend, Leroy Drumm. Over the years, the duo produced classic bluegrass material for renowned artists Alison Krauss, The Bluegrass Cardinals, The Country Gentlemen, Dailey and Vincent, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Glen Campbell, Jimmy Martin, Larry Sparks, The Osbourne Brothers, Rhonda Vincent and many more. Pete also collaborated with Doyle Lawson and Bobby Osborne on “For God Sent an Angel.”

                      Here's "Coleen Malone" from above album

                                    

Pete’s repertoire of written material produced classic Bluegrass hits such as, Please Search Your Heart, Son of a Sawmill Man, Morristown, Midnight Angel, and all-time favourites, ‘Circuit Rider,’ ‘I’d Like To Be A Train,’ and ‘Julianne.’ Pete released two singles in 1961/62 on the Happy Hearts label with Billy Gill & the Kentucky Rebels. He later released five albums during his extraordinary music career, including; ‘Tennessee 1949,’ with Bill Emerson in 1987, ‘Dixie In My Eye’ in 1989, ‘Webco Classics Volume 1: Emerson and Goble in 1994, ‘When I’m Knee Deep in Blue Grass’ in 2005, and ‘Back to Jubilee Road,’ with Andy Ball in 2013. Pete wrote, co-wrote, sang, and played the guitar on nearly every song on his album releases. He also was featured in the Complete Vanguard Recordings from The Country Gentlemen with several songs he co-wrote and sang.

Over seven decades of music excellence, Pete created and composed some of bluegrass music’s most influential and admired favourites. His beloved compositions of Tennessee 1949, Blue Virginia Blues, Coleen Malone, Windy City, Big Spike Hammer, Call of the Whippoorwill, Thank God for the Highways, Born to be a Drifter, (Pretty) Roses Remind Me of You, It’s Amazing What Sunshine Can Do, remain Bluegrass standards today. Goble also regularly attended the Milan Bluegrass Festival and also once played at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., the original home for the Grand Ole Opry.

In 1996, when 65 years of age, he survived crashing his ultralight plane on US Rt. 23 near his farm on Summerfield Road in Petersburg, Michigan, although not surprisingly he suffered serious injuries. These led to severe arthritis that got so bad that he could not play guitar in his later years. He had been flying for 28 years.

Pete Goble has been honoured with many awards throughout his celebrated career. He received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2002. He was awarded the IBMA Song of the Year in 1991 for Colleen Malone, which Hot Rize recorded. In 1997 Pete was honoured as Songwriter of the Year by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America. He later accepted his induction into the Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honour along with Leroy Drumm in 2017. For a brief period in his later years he had his own band, Jubilee Road in which his daughter Martin would sing back up vocals.

Leroy Drumm & Pete Goble

Pete Goble passed away on July 25, 2018. He was suffering from pneumonia and confined to Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, Wyandotte, Michigan, when he died at aged 86.Though he was among the most recorded songwriters in bluegrass, with more than 90 cuts, Goble said before he died that he had written over 700 in total. He was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2022. Pete lived most of his life in Michigan, yet his legacy will always be pure Bluegrass. His massive output of recorded favourites will undoubtedly impact the next wave of Bluegrass singer-songwriters and forever cement Pete Goble’s enormous influence on the direction of Bluegrass Music for generations to come.

(Edited from Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.com, Bluegrass Today & Rocky52)

Johnny McCauley born 23 April 1925

Johnny McCauley (23 April 1925 – 22 March 2012) was an Irish singer-songwriter who the founder of the “Country & Irish” sound. He was one of Derry/Londonderry’s most celebrated music stars who penned  more than 80 songs.

McCauley was born in Fahan, County Donegal, Ireland, according to several sources, though other reports falsely state his birthplace was in Myroe near Limavady, County Londonderry. He grew up in the Rosemount area of the city and moved to London as a young man. In 1953 he took up singing professionally with his band, The Westernaires at The Galtymore Club, Cricklewood, London.

Always a country music fan, he started to write and release songs on his own Denver Records label and formed a band of his own, 'The Johnny McCauley Trio', which toured extensively in and around London. It was not long before his songs were being covered by a host of Irish singing stars. His blend of American country sounds with Irish-based lyrics proved a winning combination. The members of the Johnny McCauley Trio were Johnny McCauley (guitar and vocals), Johnny O'Shea (vocals and drums) and Paddy Kelly (vocals and accordion).

                                

Johnny gained a big reputation around the Irish community in London and was a very good songwriter. His song writing blossomed and he wrote some memorable hits for showbands. His first hit was Donegal Shore which helped launch the career of Daniel O’Donnell. He also wrote Four Country Roads for Big Tom, Among the Wicklow Hills for Larry Cunningham,(No.2 in the Irish Top Ten in 1966) and Pretty Little Girl from Omagh for Brian Coll (No.10 in 1969). Later Big Tom & The Mainliners scored their biggest ever success with the McCauley composition ‘Four Country Roads’, which reached no.5 in 1981. He has been credited with creating the Country and Irish sound which is still being used by bands and performers with great effect to this day. The song that was closest to his heart was his own composition Hometown on the Foyle.

As a small-scale operation, Denver Records was run single-handedly by McCauley until at least 1971, later involving his wife Phyllis, and it catered specifically to the cultural needs of Irish immigrants by producing affordable, accessible recordings that captured themes of homesickness and rural life. By the mid-1970s, distribution shifted to Selecta, but the label's output remained modest, with label designs evolving from black-on-yellow to silver-on-blue to distinguish UK and Irish pressings, reflecting its grassroots approach amid the competitive London music market. The venture underscored McCauley's entrepreneurial spirit, sustaining a dedicated audience until the label ceased trading around 1986.

His songs continue to be recorded and performed by many singers around the world. McCauley's nephew Paul McCauley recorded several of his songs and performed them during his solo shows in the late 1990s. Paul commented at the time how surprised he was that so many people throughout the country were so familiar with McCauley's music, and how it impacted upon people's lives. Paul said "it really is wonderful to think that Johnny created Irish country through his love of the American country scene".

McCauley's later output includes the 1998 compilation-style album Memory Store, issued on Four Roads Music as a CD with 18 tracks. It compiles key recordings from his career, including standout songs like "5000 Miles from Sligo" and "Pretty Little Girl from Omagh," which exemplify his song writing on themes of Irish heritage and emigration. This release serves as an accessible retrospective, though it draws primarily from earlier Denver-era material. A posthumous digital reissue was released in 2020.

In his later decades, McCauley resided in a London nursing home where he passed away on 22 March 2012. He was 86.

(Edited from Irish Independent, Tower Museum Collections & Grokipedia)

George "Harmonica" Smith born 22 April1924

George "Harmonica" Smith (born Allen George Smith, April 22, 1924* – October 2, 1983) was an American electric blues harmonica player. Apart from his solo recordings, Smith is best known for his work backing both Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton.

George Smith was born Allen George Washington* in Helena, Arkansas, but was raised in Cairo, Illinois. At age four, he was already taking harp lessons from his mother, a guitar player and a somewhat stern taskmaster. In his early teens, he started hoboing around towns in the South and eventually wound up playing fish fries and picnics in the Mississippi Delta with Earley Woods’ country band, with Woods on fiddle and Curtis Gould on spoons.

He also worked with a gospel group in Mississippi called the Jackson Jubilee Singers. From the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Smith travelled throughout the south. He moved to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1941 and played with a group that included Francis Clay on drums. There is evidence that he was one of the first to amplify his harp. While working at the Dixie Theatre, he took an old 16mm cinema projector, extracted the amplifier/speaker, and began using this on the streets.

He moved to Chicago and began playing professionally in 1951.His influences include Larry Adler and later, Little Walter. He played in a number of bands including one with a young guitarist named Otis Rush, and later went on the road with the Muddy Waters Band after replacing Henry Strong. In 1954, he was offered a permanent job at the Orchid Room in Kansas City where, early in 1955, Joe Bihari of Modern Records (on a scouting trip) heard Smith, and signed him to Modern. These recording sessions were released under the name Little George Smith, and included "Telephone Blues" and "Blues in the Dark." The records were a success.

                                    

Smith travelled with Little Willie John and Champion Jack Dupree on one of the Universal Attractions tours. While on the tour, he recorded with Champion Jack Dupree in November of 1955 in Cincinnati, producing "Sharp Harp" and "Overhead Blues." The tour ended in Los Angeles and Smith settled down, spending the rest of his life in that city. By then rock and roll was starting to erode sales of blues records, and Smith, now a man with a growing family, was dropped by Modern. He hustled as best he could, playing the local clubs and recording for labels such as J&M, Lapel, Melker, and Caddy. Smith also adopted Rice Miller’s old trick of identity theft by billing himself under a variety stage names to get bigger crowds at gigs, including Harmonica King, Little Walter Junior and Big Walter. It proved a short-sighted choice; establishing a reputation under his real name would now be difficult.

Smith also worked with Big Mama Thornton on many shows. In 1960, Smith met producer Nat McCoy who owned the Sotoplay and Carolyn labels, and with whom he recorded ten singles under the name of George Allen. In 1966, while Muddy Waters was on the West Coast, he asked Smith to join him and they worked together for a while, recording for Spivey Records. His first album on World Pacific, A Tribute to Little Walter, was released in 1968. In 1969, Bob Thiele produced an excellent solo album of Smith on Bluesway, and later made use of Smith as a sideman for his Blues Times label, including sets with T-Bone Walker and Harmonica Slim. Smith met Rod Piazza, a young white harp player, and they formed the Southside Blues Band. 

In 1970 British producer Mike Vernon met the band, signed them to a European tour, and changed their name to Bacon Fat. They recorded a couple of albums for Vernon, but Smith still could not import his overseas success to Los Angeles and the group continued to struggle at home. The decade also saw a decline in his health as a heart condition worsened.

George Smith & William Clarke

He was less active in the '70s, appearing with Eddie Taylor and Big Mama Thornton. Around 1977, Smith became friends with William Clarke and they began gigging together. Boogie’n With George, Smith’s final recordings, were made with Rod Piazza in 1982. Their working relationship and friendship continued until Smith died of heart failure at the LAC-USC Medical Centre in Los Angeles, California, on October 2, 1983. Partly by luck, and partly by his own doing, he was underappreciated for many years, but recent reissues of his work will hopefully gain him his rightful place in the blues harp Pantheon.

(Edited from AllMusic, Masters of the Blues Harp & Wikipedia) (* according to Wirz Blues Discographies, he was born Allen George Washington on 5th April 1921)

Clara Ward born 21 April 1924

Clara Mae Ward (April 21, 1924 – January 16, 1973) was an American gospel singer who achieved great artistic and commercial success during the 1940s and 1950s, as leader of the Famous Ward Singers.

Born in Philadelphia, Ward was unquestionably the driving creative force behind her group's success, but the business smarts belonged to her mother, Gertrude Mae Murphy Ward. The textbook stage mother, Gertrude and her husband relocated to the Philadelphia area from a life of abject poverty in rural South Carolina; the family struggled throughout the Depression, but in 1931 she was struck by a vision which commanded her to begin a singing career. Forming a family group which included Clara and her sister Willa on piano, Gertrude quickly emerged among the most forceful promoters in all of gospel -- a gifted vocalist in her own right, her truest talents were nonetheless of an entrepreneurial nature, and after a transcendent performance at the 1943 National Baptist Convention, the Ward Singers were one of the top attractions on the church circuit.

                                   

The Wards' success, however, did not come without a price, as Clara, the star of the group, later admitted to constant frustrations with her life as a teen phenomenon, and although she loved gospel, it appears unlikely that she would have pursued a singing career if not for the constant pressure applied by her mother. By the late '40s, the group had grown so successful that they added a pair of new members, Henrietta Waddy and Marion Williams, a Miami teen whose powerhouse voice became the Wards' trademark. With Williams installed as soloist, the Wards hit their creative peak, issuing such masterful hits as "Surely God Is Able" and "Packin' Up." For her part, Clara remained content to remain somewhat in the background, accompanying the group on piano while Williams stole the spotlight.

While her gorgeous alto was the centrepiece of hits like "How I Got Over," arguably Ward's greatest strength was as an arranger; "Surely," the group's biggest hit, even introduced a new waltz rhythm into the gospel lexicon. The Wards -- who by now also included Frances Steadman and Kitty Parham -- were also the first gospel group to employ the switch-lead style of the shouting quartets, always keeping at least four vocalists in their ranks at all times. The consensus pick as the best hymn singers in the business, the Wards also rejected the homespun choir robes of the past in favour of elaborate costumes -- according to legend, on one occasion their infamous wigs grew so tall that they actually touched the ceiling. Throughout the '50s, they were among gospel's elite, scoring more hits and making more money than any group before them.

During the early '50s, the Wards began regularly touring with the Reverend C.L. Franklin of Detroit; the father of Aretha Franklin, who was a gifted singer and preacher in his own right, and as his star rose, the group's fame continued to grow. However, in 1958, Williams quit, and the bottom fell out -- Parham and Steadman exited as well, all over their notoriously low salaries, and although new recruits including Thelma Jackson, Carrie Williams, and Jessie Tucker were quickly brought in, the Wards' popularity decreased. But by 1961, amid considerable hoopla, they moved to the club circuit, playing Las Vegas and even Disneyland, all to the shock of gospel traditionalists; white audiences were intrigued, and the group continued touring throughout the '60s

Ward was the first gospel singer to sing with a 100-piece symphony orchestra in the 1960s. The Clara Ward Singers recorded an album together on the Verve label, V-5019, The Heart, the Faith, the Soul of Clara Ward, and the Ward Singers performed their music live in Philadelphia with the city's Symphony and the Golden Voices Ensemble. Ward sang backup for pop artists with her sister Willa's background group, most notably on Dee Dee Sharp's hit, "Mashed Potato Time", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. In 1969, Ward recorded an album for Capitol Records, Soul and Inspiration, consisting of pop songs from Broadway plays, Hollywood movies and the Jimmy Radcliffe song of hope "If You Wanna Change the World". The album was later reissued on the Capitol's budget Pickwick label minus one track. In the same year, she recorded an album in Copenhagen, Denmark on the Philips label, Walk A Mile In My Shoes, which included the pop title song, other pop songs (such as "California Dreaming") and a few gospel songs.

Ward also recorded an album for MGM/Verve, Hang Your Tears Out To Dry, which included country and Western, blues/folk, pop and an arrangement of the Beatles' hit song, "Help". Her 1972 album Uplifting on United Artists, produced by Nikolas Venet and Sam Alexander, included an interpretation of Bill Wither's pop hit "Lean On Me" and a rearrangement of the Soul Stirrers' 1950s recording of "Thank You, Jesus". Also in 1972 Ward, because she was under exclusive contract to United Artists at this time, provided vocals for a Canned Heat's album The New Age, on the ballad "Lookin' For My Rainbow"; it was released on that album and as a single 45 rpm record.

In 1968, the Clara Ward Singers toured Vietnam at the request of the U.S. State Department and the U.S.O. It was a popular war-time tour supported by recorded radio broadcasts of the Ward Singers on U.S. Armed Forces Radio. The Ward Singers narrowly missed death when their hotel in Vietnam was bombed and several guests died. Ward was invited back to Vietnam by U.S.O. in 1969 for several more months. These war-time tours were filmed and all the Ward Singers were given special certificates of recognition by the U.S. Army.

The Clara Ward Singers toured in Australia, Japan, Europe, Indonesia, and Thailand during the late-1960s through the early-1970s. They had a one-day TV special in London, England. They were in constant demand on American television programs and appeared on The Mike Douglas Show over a dozen times. They appeared on Oral Roberts' Country Roads TV special, later released as a soundtrack album. In 1969, The Clara Ward Singers appeared on the Monkees' television special. Clara continued to perform at her mother's church, the Miracle Temple of Faith for All People in Los Angeles, California, as well as at Victory Baptist Church. Her mother, Gertrude Ward, also had a popular religious radio program in the Los Angeles market.

Ward collapsed while performing at the Castaways Lounge in Miami Beach, Florida in May 1966 and suffered a series of strokes prior to her death. The first occurred in August 1967 which was listed as "massive". Two more strokes followed: one listed as "minor" during a recording session at her home in December 1972; another on January 9, 1973, which left Ward in a coma. Ward died on January 16, 1973 at age 48 as a result of several strokes. Aretha Franklin and Rev. C. L. Franklin sang at her funeral in Philadelphia; Marion Williams sang at her second memorial service held days later in Los Angeles. She is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

In 1977, Ward was honoured posthumously at the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City and her surviving sister, Willa, accepted the award in her honour.

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia) 

Mort Weiss born 20 April 1945

Mort Weiss (April 20, 1935 – October 13, 2021) was a bebop-oriented clarinet player with ten albums as leader to date. Mort’s playing style has been compared to such diverse entities as Jackson Pollack and Paul Desmond. His natural musical talent combine with his facility on the clarinet to produce his very own unique style.

Mort was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and when he was nine, he was given an uncle’s metal clarinet and started taking lessons. After moving with his family to Los Angeles, he continued playing classical music, and during his teens studied with the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra's esteemed clarinettist, Antonio Remondi. After graduation and a year at the Westlake School of Music, the precocious teenaged Weiss soloed on several T.V. programs with the Freddie Martin Orchestra, a.k.a. "The Band of Tomorrow." Weiss' exposure to jazz began with Dixieland. But, when he first heard a Charlie Parker record, that was when he was hooked.

It was while he was in high school that Mort was introduced to jazz, and it quickly became his major interest. He stood in back alleys by open kitchen doors listening to Miles, Dexter, Buddy, Getz and all the others. He learned the blues from “Senator” Gene Wright, well-known bassist, visited jazz clubs and played in after-hours jam sessions whenever chance presented itself. Practicing 8 to 10 hours a day and playing with other aspiring jazz musicians kept him busy. At age 19, Mort was drafted into the Army and played in the Army Band. It was during his tour of duty that he learned the tenor saxophone and started gigging in R&B bands in and around Kansas City, Kansas, forming his own group after his discharge. In 1959 he recorded saxophone for the first and only time—on Eden Ahbez's composition “Wild Boy” (Sierra Records). It has since become a cult item having been compiled on half-a-dozen albums of early rock 'n' roll and novelty tunes. He toured the mid-west, Las Vegas and Los Angeles with his band, playing mostly R&B and Rock & Roll on the tenor sax. In 1965, he stopped playing, tired of his life-style and the music he had to play in order to make a living.

                       Here's "Bernies Tune" from above album

                                     

 Mort began working at a music store. He eventually became District Manager for the company's chain, and in 14 years opened his own store, The Sheet Music Shoppe, in Santa Ana. Under Weiss' direction, The Sheet Music Shoppe grew into the largest purveyor of printed music in Southern California. But Mort has a major natural talent for jazz and a great love for the clarinet. An acquaintance remembers that he never saw Mort without his clarinet case in his hand. He practiced continuously, even practicing clarinet on breaks during gigs when he was playing tenor sax. His talent and the results of his hard work have remained with him.

Although getting back into playing jazz had been a long-time dream for Mort, a flyer from a nearby college “Do you want to Play Jazz??”, recruiting players for a jazz combo, enticed him to get his clarinet out of the case and begin practicing. That was in July 2001. By October Mort had met Ron Eschete’ and the two had started playing together on a regular basis. In December, his first Jazz CD was out on his own SMS label. A double CD album “No Place To Hide” consisting of 19 songs was released in April 2002 with Ron Eschete’ playing a 7 string guitar and Mort Weiss on clarinet, a rare combination.

Between 2003 and 2015, SMS Jazz produced ten more recordings featuring Weiss and talented musicians such as Joey DeFrancisco, Ramon Banda, Dave Carpenter, Roy McCurdy, Luther Hughes, and Sam Most. Weiss' release of I'll Be Seeing You (SMS Jazz, 2012), is a quartet affair, featuring drummer Roy McCurdy, bassist Chris Conner and percussionist Ramon Banda. It is a modified clarinet trio related in spirit to Sonny Rollins' famous trios of the late 1950s. Lacking a harmony instrument, pressure is placed on Weiss and Conner to infer the harmonic structures usually provided by the piano or guitar. Weiss considered I'll Be Seeing You to contain his most fully-realized playing.

His last album  from 2015, Mort Weiss Is a Jazz Reality Show was deemed by critics to have been his best recording to date, which shows a man truly at one with himself, the world and the music.

Weiss died October 13, 2021, in Woodbridge, Virginia, from a heart failure, at the age of 86.

(Edited from Wikipedia & SMS Jazz)