Music Obituaries: May 2022

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With the passing of another month I pause to remember the people from music who passed in the previous month. I love music, and this is my way of giving them one final round of applause, especially since most people don’t get coverage of the magnitude of Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley when they pass. They were somebody’s Michael or Elvis. Here are the music and music-related people who sang their final song in May 2022: Howie Pyro (May 4, COVID-19, age 61): bassist for the glam-punk band D Generation. Jewell (nee Jewell Caples) (May 6, illness, age 53): contemporary R&B/hip-hop singer who had a hit with her cover of “Woman to Woman” in 1994. Mickey Gilley (May 6, illness, age 86): country singer, cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis, and owner of Gilley’s club in Houston that was popularized in the film Urban Cowboy. Trevor Strnad (May 10, suspected suicide, age 41): lead singer for the metal band The Black Dahlia Murder. Norman Dolph (May 11, cancer, age 83): record producer who worked on the first Velvet Underground album. He was also the songwriter of the 1974 tribute-to-music song “Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)” by Reunion. Dolph died on his 83rd birthday. Ben Moore (May 12, natural causes, age 80): the second “Bobby Purify” in the duo James & Bobby Purify was also a member of the R&B/gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama. Rosmarie Trapp (May 13, natural causes, age 93): the eldest child of Georg and Maria von Trapp, the family that inspired the classic The Sound of Music. Maggie Peterson (May 15, illness, age 81): the actress who sang as Charlene Darling, a member of the Darlins bluegrass group, on The Andy Griffith Show in the 60s. Rick Price (May 17, natural causes, age 77): member of the band The Move, which served as the forerunner of the Electric Light Orchestra. Vangelis (ne Evangelos Papathanassiou) (May 17, heart failure, age 79): electronic musician who won an Academy Award for his music in the film Chariots of Fire. Bob Neuwirth (May 18, heart failure, age 82): a member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review, he was also well-known as the co-writer of Janis Joplin’s song “Mercedes Benz.” Bernard Wright (May 19, car wreck, age 58): R&B singer who co-wrote and had a hit with a song called “Who Do You Love” (no relation to the Bo Diddley song) in 1985. *Bob Robbins (May 21, heart attack, age 78): Country DJ Hall of Famer. Longtime country music disc jockey from Little Rock, Arkansas. Thom Bresh (May 23, esophageal cancer, age 74): country singer/songwriter and guitarist who was the “secret son” of country legend Merle Travis. *Andy Fletcher (May 26, natural causes, age 60): Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. Keyboardist and co-founder of the Hall of Fame band Depeche Mode. *Alan White (May 26, brief illness, age 72): Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. The second drummer in the Hall of Fame prog-rock band Yes. Ronnie Hawkins (May 29, pancreatic cancer, age 87): Canadian musician whose backing band, The Hawks, later backed Bob Dylan and became known as The Band. Paul Vance (May 30, unknown cause, age 92): pop songwriter whose credits are as diverse as Perry Como’s hit “Catch a Falling Star” and Brian Hyland’s hit “Itsy Witsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini.” Dave Smith (May 31, unknown cause, age 72): sound engineer who created the MIDI synthesizer. Farewell, and thank you for the music. Here’s the #1 hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by Yes, featuring the late Alan White on drums: