Music Charts Magazine Obituaries

Henri Dutilleux (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi dytijø]; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His work, which has garnered international acclaim, follows in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in an idiosyncratic style.

Dutilleux numbered as Op. 1 his Piano Sonata (1946–1948), written for pianist Geneviève Joy, whom he had married in 1946. He renounced most of the works he composed before it because he did not believe them to be representative of his mature standards, considering many of them to be too derivative to have merit.

Dutilleux died 22 May 2013 in Paris.

Awards and prizes:

Grand Prix de Rome (for his cantata L’Anneau du Roi) – 1938

UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers (for Symphony No. 1) – 1955

Grand Prix National de Musique (for his entire oeuvre) – 1967

Praemium Imperiale (Japan – for his entire oeuvre) – 1994

Prix MIDEM Classique de Cannes (for The Shadows of Time) – 1999

Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (for his entire oeuvre) – 2005

Prix MIDEM Classique de Cannes (for his entire oeuvre) – 2007

Cardiff University Honorary Fellowship (for his entire oeuvre) – 2008

Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society – 2008

Kravis Prize – 2011

Grand-Croix de la Légion d’honneur – 2004

 

Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Dutilleux

George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.

Over the past 20 years, Jones has frequently been referred to as the greatest living country singer.

Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname “No Show Jones.”

The shape of his nose and facial features have given Jones the nickname “The Possum.”

George Jones has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1956.  Jones has received many honors during his long career, from Most Promising New Country Vocalist in 1956, being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992, and being named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2008.  In 2012 he was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.  At the ceremony his longtime friend Merle Haggard paid tribute to him.

George Jones died April 26, 2013 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was hospitalized April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure.

A True Country Music Legend – “George Jones”

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jones

George Beverly Shea

104 years old.

George Beverly Shea was a Canadian-born American gospel singer and hymn composer.  Shea was often described as “America’s beloved Gospel singer” and was considered “the first international singing ‘star’ of the gospel world,” as a consequence of his solos at Billy Graham Crusades and his exposure on radio, records, and television.

Shea himself has said that he became a Christian at the age of five or six, but made a re-dedication to Christ when he was 18:

There were times when I needed to rededicate my life to the Lord Jesus.  When I was 18, my dad was pastoring a church in Ottawa, and I was feeling not too spiritual.  The church was having a “special effort,” as they called it, for a week.  I remember that on Friday night Dad came down from the pulpit and tenderly placed his hand on my shoulder.  He whispered, “I think tonight might be the night, son, when you come back to the Lord.”  Whatever Dad did or said, I listened to him and respected him.  And, yes, that was the night!

Shea accepted Christ again as his Saviour at the Sunnyside Wesleyan Methodist Church in Ottawa, Canada.

During his career, Shea was nominated for ten Grammy Awards, winning on March 15, 1966, the 1965 Best Gospel or Other Religious Recording (Musical) for his album “Southland Favorites” (RCA LSP-3440) recorded with the Anita Kerr Quartet.

On February 12, 2011, Shea received the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Beverly_Shea

Jack Greene (January 7, 1930 – March 15, 2013) was an American country musician. Nicknamed the “Jolly Greene Giant” due to his height and deep voice, Greene was a long time member of the Grand Ole Opry. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Greene is best-known for his 1966 hit “There Goes My Everything.” The song dominated the Country music charts for nearly two months in 1967 and earned Greene “Male Vocalist of the Year”, “Single of the Year”, “Album of the Year” and “Song of the Year” honors from the Country Music Association. Green had a total of five #1 Country hits and three others that reached the Top Ten.

Billboard magazine named Greene one of the Top 100 “Most Played Artists”.

Jack Greene’s first Top 40 hit came in early 1966 with Ever Since My Baby Went Away, peaking at #37. Later that year, Decca released what would become his signature song, There Goes My Everything. The song reached #1 and stayed on top of the Country charts for 7 weeks while also becoming a crossover hit; the album stayed No. 1 for an entire year.

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Greene

Previously a member of Samson, Burr joined Iron Maiden in 1979. An acquaintance of then-Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton, Burr played on their first three records: Iron Maiden, Killers and their breakthrough release The Number of the Beast. Burr was fired from the band in 1982 during The Beast on the Road tour. He was replaced by the band’s current drummer, Nicko McBrain. Burr co-wrote one song on The Number of the Beast, “Gangland”, and another song, “Total Eclipse”, that was cut from the album and showed up as the b-side of the “Run to the Hills” single, and later on the Number Of The Beast remastered CD re-release.

Burr also appeared on “The Number of the Beast” and “Run To The Hills” videos.

Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson considered Burr to be “…the best drummer the band ever had.

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Burr

 

Kenneth Daniel Ball ( 22 May 193 – 7 March 2013) was an English jazz musician, best known as the bandleader, lead trumpet player and vocalist in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.

Ball was born in Ilford, Essex. At the age of 14 he left school to work as a clerk in an advertising agency, but also started taking trumpet lessons.  He began his career as a semi-professional sideman in bands, whilst also working as a salesman and for the advertising agency. He turned professional in 1953 and played the trumpet in bands led by Sid Phillips, Charlie Galbraith, Eric Delaney and Terry Lightfoot before forming his own trad jazz band – Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen – in 1958.  His dixieland band was at the forefront of the early 1960s UK jazz revival.

In 1961 their recording of Cole Porter’s “Samantha” became a hit, and in March 1962 they reached No. 2 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart, with “Midnight in Moscow”. The record sold over one million copies, earning gold disc status.

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Ball

Thomas Charles “Stompin’ Tom” Connors – (February 9, 1936 –  March 6, 2013) was one of Canada’s most prolific and well-known country and folk singer-songwriters. Focusing his career exclusively on his native Canada, Connors is credited with writing more than 300 songs and has released four dozen albums, with total sales of nearly 4 million copies.  Connors died at age 77 in his home in Ballinafad, Ontario on March 6, 2013, of renal failure. Stompin’ Tom Connors is survived by his wife, Lena, four children and several grandchildren.

His songs have become part of the Canadian cultural landscape. Three of his best-known songs — Sudbury Saturday Night, Bud the Spud and The Hockey Song — play at every home game of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. The Hockey Song is played at games throughout the National Hockey League.

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stompin%27_Tom_Connors

Jewel Eugene Akens recorded with The Medallions on Dootone, with The Four Dots on Freedom, and then with singer Eddie Daniels as “Jewel and Eddie” on the Silver Records label in 1960. A number of his recordings featured Eddie Cochran on guitar. He later went solo and recorded “The Birds And The Bees” in 1965, on the Era Records label. The single went to Number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year, and Number 2 on the Cash Box chart. It reached Number 29 in the UK Singles Chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.  But the follow-up, “Georgie Porgie” only reached Number 68.

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_Akens

Traditional Bluegrass Musician, Alvin Breeden Passes

Alvin Breeden, 70, a traditional bluegrass musician and an enthusiast of the late Don Reno’s style of banjo died on February 26, 2013 at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, VA. The cause of death was not disclosed. The Preddy Funeral Home Chapel in Madison, VA., confirmed the death. 

Breeden played professionally from the time he was 16 years of age. During his career Breeden played with Dr. Ralph Stanley; and banjo extraordinaire, Don Reno. The Osborne Brothers recorded a song, “Fastest Grass Alive,” written by Paul Craft in Breeden’s honor.

 

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Harvey Lavan “Van” Cliburn, Jr., (pron.: /ˈklaɪbɜrn/; July 12, 1934 – February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at the age of 23, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Van Cliburn toured domestically and overseas.

He played for royalty, heads of state, and every U.S. president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Obama.

His recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 was the first album by a classical artist to sell more than 1 million copies.

Cliburn received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003 by then President George W. Bush, and, in October 2004, the Russian Order of Friendship, the highest civilian awards of the two countries. He was also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year and played at a surprise 50th birthday party for United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He was a member of the Alpha Chi Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and was awarded the fraternity’s Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award in 1962. He was presented a 2010 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.

Read more at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Cliburn