Music Obituaries: November 2024

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Every month I take a moment to remember the people from the world of music who passed away in the previous month. I also recap the year with the 31 that meant the most to me during the January countdown. Every month we lose talent from music, and not all of them were “headline news.” They all deserve a final round of applause, however, so I do this as a labor of love. Here are the musicians and music-related individuals for whom the final curtain fell in November 2024: *Quincy Jones (November 3, pancreatic cancer, age 91): ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAMER. One of the most legendary record producers in music history. He won 28 Grammy awards in his career. Andy Leek (November 3, Parkinson’s disease, age 66): original member of the British band Dexy’s Midnight Runners, known for the hit “Come On Eileen.” Tyka Nelson (November 4, cardiac arrest, age 64): the sister of the legendary Prince was also a singer, having a hit in 1988 with “Marc Anthony’s Tune.” Ella Jenkins (November 9, natural causes, age 100): the “First Lady of Children’s Music” was a multi award-winning singer and songwriter. Johnny Duhan (November 12, drowned, age 74): Irish folk singer/songwriter whose song “The Voyage” has been covered many times in folk circles. Shel Talmy (November 13, stroke, age 87): American record producer who worked with a number of British bands in the 60s, producing such hits as The Who’s “My Generation” and the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.” Tommy Alverson (November 14, liver cancer, age 74): Texas songwriter and musician who made the hill country music scene his own for decades. Dennis Bryon (November 14, unknown cause, age 75): drummer who worked with The Bee Gees. Vic Flick (November 14, Alzheimer’s disease, age 87): guitarist who did the legendary guitar work on the “James Bond Theme.” Peter Sinfield (November 14, unknown cause, age 80): musician in the band King Crimson, record producer, and songwriter whose contributions include “21st Century Schizoid Man” and “I Believe in Father Christmas.” Charles Dumont (November 18, long illness, age 95): French songwriter whose greatest hit was “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (“No I Do Not Regret Anything”), a hit for Edit Piaf in 1960. Colin Petersen (November 18, unknown cause, age 78): drummer who worked with The Bee Gees. He was the second Bee Gees drummer to die in November. Diva Gray (November 19, unknown cause, age 72): R&B singer who backed the likes of Chic, Luther Vandross, and David Bowie, and was in the band Change with the 1981 hit “Paradise.” Andy Paley (November 20, throat cancer, age 72): a member of the Paley Brothers and Jonathan Richman’s Modern Lovers. His best-known work was writing music for the TV series SpongeBob SquarePants. Mike Pinera (November 20, liver failure, age 76): guitarist in Iron Butterfly and Blues Image, writing Blues Image’s biggest hit, “Ride Captain Ride.” Alice Brock (November 21, illness, age 83): the “Alice” in Arlo Guthrie’s classic “Alice’s Restaurant.” Ironically, she died a week before Thanksgiving. Toni Price (November 22, brain aneurysm, age 63): Austin, Texas-based blues and country singer. Chuck Woolery (November 23, unknown cause, age 83): another case of the game show host “did you know”: like Peter Marshall, who died earlier this year, the original host of Wheel of Fortune had a career in music prior to his TV career. In this case, Woolery was a member of the band The Avant-Garde, who had a top 40 hit in 1968 with “Naturally Stoned.” Helen Gallagher (November 24, natural causes, age 98): a two-time Tony winner for her roles in Broadway Musicals Pal Joey and No, No, Nannette, as well as a Daytime Emmy winner. Bob Bryar (November 26, unknown cause, age 44): former drummer in the band My Chemical Romance. Leah Kunkel (November 26, unknown cause, age 76): the sister of Mama Cass Elliot was a singer/songwriter herself, performing as a solo act and in the duo the Coyote Sisters. She was also the former wife of session drummer Russell Kunkel. Artt Frank (November 27, unknown cause, age 91): jazz drummer and historian who wrote a biography of Chet Baker. Steve Alaimo (November 30, unknown cause, age 84): 60s singer who recorded “Every Day I Have to Cry” and later the co-founder of TK Records, the label that had KC & the Sunshine Band. Farewell, and thank you for the music. Ray Charles and Chaka Kahn singing a cover of the Brothers Johnson’s “I’ll Be Good to You” from the 1989 Back on the Block album by the late, great Quincy Jones: