I liked Kenny Rogers. Islands In The Stream is one of my guilty pleasures. RIP 'But in his final words, I found an ace that I could keep.' The Gambler.
Albert Uderzo, the creator of Asterix has died aged 92 and REM drummer Bill Rieflin aged 59. RIP to both.
He was also drummer for Ministry which are, of course, er... a little different to R.E.M. Quite like Ministry, though... N.W.O. is fun.
Alan Merrill: I Love Rock 'N' Roll songwriter dies of coronavirus By Mark SavageBBC music reporter 30 March 2020 Share this with Facebook Share this with WhatsApp Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share Related Topics Coronavirus pandemic please log in to view this image Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES Image captionThe singer had a long and varied career in music, with bands in Japan, the UK and the US The co-writer and original singer of I Love Rock 'N' Roll, Alan Merrill, has died after contracting coronavirus. His daughter Laura shared the news, saying the 69-year-old had been healthy enough to play shows a few weeks ago. "He played down the 'cold' he thought he had," she wrote, before warning other families not to be complacent. "You don't think It'll happen to you or your strong family. It has," she wrote. "Stay home if not for you, for others. For my dad. This thing is real." I Love Rock 'N' Roll became a global hit for Joan Jett in 1982 and has been covered by artists ranging from Britney Spears to Weird Al Yankovic. A parody version, I Love Sausage Rolls, was last year's Christmas number one in the UK, with proceeds going to charity. Musicians hit by coronavirus Coronavirus also claimed the life of country singer Joe Diffie over the weekend, while the family of Nashville legend John Prine said he was critically ill on a ventilator and being treated for Covid-19 symptoms. Prine, an influential singer-songwriter who is known for lyrical, melancholy folk songs like Hello In There and Angel From Montgomery, has previously survived cancer twice. As news of his condition broke, musicians including Joan Baez, Bette Midler and Kacey Musgraves sent the Grammy Award winner their love and support. Skip Youtube post by diamondsandrustpro Warning: Third party content may contain adverts Report End of Youtube post by diamondsandrustpro Alan Merrill, who was born Allan Preston Sachs in New York, had a long and varied career as a musician. He signed his first record deal as lead singer of the band The Lead, who had a big hit in Japan with Aoi Bara (Blue Rose). After releasing two successful solo albums and hosting TV shows and acting in soap operas, he left Japan for the UK in 1974 to form The Arrows, who put a glam rock sheen on classic pop melodies. The group scored hits with A Touch Too Much and My Last Night With You, and I Love Rock 'N' Roll was written by Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker as "a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" in 1975. Originally issued on the B-side of The Arrows' single Broken Down Heart, it became a hit after DJs started playing the flip side instead. Its success led to the band getting a weekly ITV series, with musical guests including Marc Bolan, Slade and The Bay City Rollers - and that was where US singer Joan Jett first heard, and fell in love with, I Love Rock 'N' Roll. Skip Youtube post by KeithTheKing Warning: Third party content may contain adverts Report End of Youtube post by KeithTheKing In the mid-1970s, Jett tried to convince her band The Runaways to cover it but they refused. When the band broke up, Jett recorded it and spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. After his death, she paid tribute to Merrill on Instagram, writing: "My thoughts and love go to his family, friends and music community as a whole. I can still remember watching The Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me. "With deep gratitude and sadness, wishing him a safe journey to the other side." Merrill later joined Meat Loaf's band for two albums and played with Rick Derringer. Writing on Facebook, Meat Loaf said: "Let this be a lesson to all of us, try to stay in touch with the people you really love and care about. Life is very short. Alan I am sorry that I didn't reach out to you years ago. I love you very much." please log in to view this image A SIMPLE GUIDE: What are the symptoms? NEW GUIDANCE: What must I do? NEW RESTRICTIONS: What are they? LOOK-UP TOOL: Check cases in your area MAPS AND CHARTS: Visual guide to the outbreak please log in to view this image During his career, Merrill also had a recurring part in the HBO series Encyclopaedia Brown, was in the band Runner, and released several albums as a solo artist, with 2019's Radio Zero the most recent. Merrill's daughter said it was unlikely her father would receive a proper funeral because of the restrictions in place over coronavirus. "We probably won't be able to mourn him properly with a funeral," she wrote. "I just lost the greatest love of my life and won't be able to hug anyone because I've been exposed and need to self quarantine for two weeks... alone.
Former Sheffield councillor and long-serving Bassetlaw MP dies Joe Ashton, who served Sheffield as a councillor and represented Bassetlaw as an MP for 33 years, has died at the age of 86. By Lucy Ashton, Local Democracy Reporter Monday, 30th March 2020, 5:33 pm please log in to view this image Joe grew up in the slums of Attercliffe but went on to become an MP, award-winning national newspaper columnist, author, playwright and director of Sheffield Wednesday football club. He won Bassetlaw in a by-election in 1968 with a 740 majority. In his last election, four years before retiring in 1997, his majority was 17,460. His childhood was tough and poverty-stricken, but he passed his 11-plus and gained a place at High Storrs Grammar school. After national service with the RAF, he became an engineer with Sheffield firm Davy United. In 1962 he became a Sheffield councillor before moving on to the national political stage. In the late 1970s, he served as a junior minister in the government of James Callaghan and was lifelong friends with Tony Benn after becoming his aide - or "minder" as Joe called it. Along with Parliament, he wrote three books. His first, Grass Roots, was published in 1977 and two years later he joined the Daily Star as a coloumnist. There, he won Columnist of the Year in the What the Paper's Say Awards. The title of his twice-weekly column, Voice of the People, stuck with him through his career and he was well known for his northern straight talking and ability to explain politics in an engaging and concise way. His play A Majority of One premiered at the Nottingham Playhouse in 1980 and was recently an inspiration for the stage play This House. In the 1980s he was a regular on breakfast television programme TV-AM and was happy to take the early 6.30am slot as he said that's when a lot of his constituents were getting ready to leave for work and would be watching. His lifelong passion for Sheffield Wednesday saw him become a director at the club for nine years. On his 30th anniversary in Parliament he was given the honour of speaking in the Commons after the Queen's Speech. In 2007 he received an OBE for setting up the Association for Former MPs with Parliamentary backing. Joe had been suffering from dementia and his death was unrelated to coronavirus. He was married to his late wife Maggie for 57 years and they leave a daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. There will be no public funeral due to Covid-19 but a memorial service will take place later in the year.
Bill Withers, influential soul singer behind Ain't No Sunshine, dies aged 81 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/03/bill-withers-influential-soul-singer-dies-aged-81 Nooooo! RIP