FROM THE VAULTS

Colette Deréal, (1927 - 1988), was a French actress and singer.

Colette Deréal was born Colette Denise De Glarélial, September 22, 1927 in a small town of Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in France. Her family moved to Marseille a few months after her birth but Colette spent hers adolescence in Juan-les-Pins.

As she grew up, her godmother found that Colette had a lovely soprano voice. At the age of 15 she was introduced to the great master Reynaldo Hahn, who by listening to her, promised her a career in opera, but unfortunately, because of jitters and a bad cold, her time with Hahn was a failure. She decided to turn to the theatre.

At the age of seventeen she went to Paris and enrolled at the René Simon School of Acting. She appeared in many French films and devoted herself to the theatre. Her first film appearance was in "The kingdom of heaven" alongside Serge Reggiani. This was the beginning of a film career of twenty-four films in France and Hollywood, including "Little

Boy Lost" with Bing Crosby (1953), "Success Train", an episode of the TV series "Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents" (1955) and "The Happy Road" by and with Gene Kelly (1957). In France she played namely with Jean Gabin, who really appreciated her as a partner.

America offered Colette a seven-year contract, but homesickness prevailed. Too attached to her roots, she refused and returned to France. She appeared in several episodes of the 1959 TV series "Last five minutes." In one episode she sang the song "Do not play". Following strong demand she recorded the song and 100,000 copies were sold in a month.

In 1961, Deréal represented Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, with the song "Allons, allons les enfants" (Let's go, let's go children). Deréal finished joint tenth place with the Finnish entry "Valoa ikkunassa" (The lights in the window) sung by Laila

Kinnunen and the Dutch entry "Wat een dag" (What a day) sung by Greetje Kauffeld, receiving six points.

As a singer, she had a huge success (she has recorded 260 songs). "At the Gare Saint-Lazare", "Are more children", "Women with glasses", "Valse de Cambronne,""Do not play", "Telstar" and "See you" which earned her 1962 Academy Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, are amongst her greatest hits.

She appeared frequently on the television throughout the 60’s and 70’s then became a journalist at the Tribune de Monaco. She became active in animal welfare and began painting for pleasure.

Living in La Turbie (Alpes-Maritimes), it gave her the opportunity to meet her great friend, Grace Kelly. Perhaps nostalgic for her singing career, Colette agreed to perform at the Sporting Club in Monte Carlo and in the name of friendship, to sing again for a privileged few. Her last appearance was at the Kim Club in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1985.

Colette Deréal died April 12, 1988, struck down by a heart attack.

(Info various mainly from Wikipedia translation)

John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, also known as "Trane". Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was later at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions, and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk.

Coltrane’s first musical influence was his father, a tailor and part-time musician. John studied clarinet and alto saxophone as a youth and then moved to Philadelphia in 1943 and continued his studies at the Ornstein School of Music and the Granoff Studios. He was drafted into the navy in 1945 and played alto sax with a navy band until 1946; he switched to tenor saxophone in 1947. During the late 1940s and early ’50s, he played in nightclubs and on recordings with such musicians as Eddie (“Cleanhead”) Vinson, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic, and Johnny Hodges. Coltrane’s first recorded solo can be heard on Gillespie’s “We Love to Boogie” (1951).

Coltrane came to prominence when he joined Miles Davis’s quintet in 1955. His abuse of drugs and alcohol during this period led to unreliability, and Davis fired him in early 1957. He embarked on a six-month stint with Thelonious Monk and began to make recordings under his own name; each undertaking demonstrated a newfound level of technical discipline, as well as increased harmonic and rhythmic sophistication.

During this period Coltrane developed what came to be known as his “sheets of sound” approach to improvisation, as described by poet LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka): “The notes that Trane was playing in the solo became more than just one note following another. The notes came so fast, and with so many overtones and undertones, that they had the effect of a piano player striking

chords rapidly but somehow articulating separately each note in the chord, and its vibrating subtones.” Or, as Coltrane himself said, “I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.” The cascade of notes during his powerful solos showed his infatuation with chord progressions, culminating in the virtuoso performance of “Giant Steps” (1959).

Coltrane’s tone on the tenor sax was huge and dark, with clear definition and full body, even in the highest and lowest registers. His vigorous, intense style was original, but traces of his idols Johnny Hodges and Lester Young can be discerned in his legato phrasing and portamento (or, in jazz vernacular, “smearing,” in

which the instrument glides from note to note with no discernible breaks). From Monk he learned the technique of multiphonics, by which a reed player can produce multiple tones simultaneously by using a relaxed embouchure (i.e., position of the lips, tongue, and teeth), varied pressure, and special fingerings. In the late 1950s, Coltrane used multiphonics for simple harmony effects (as on his 1959 recording of “Harmonique”); in the 1960s, he employed the technique more frequently, in passionate, screeching musical passages.

Coltrane returned to Davis’s group in 1958, contributing to the “modal phase” albums Milestones (1958) and Kind of Blue (1959), both considered essential examples of 1950s modern jazz. (Davis at this point was experimenting with modes—i.e., scale patterns other than major and minor.) His work on these recordings was always proficient and often brilliant, though relatively subdued and cautious.

After ending his association with Davis in 1960, Coltrane formed his own acclaimed quartet, featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones. At this time Coltrane began playing soprano saxophone in addition to tenor. Throughout the early 1960s Coltrane focused on mode-based improvisation in which solos were played atop one- or two-note accompanying figures that were repeated for extended periods of time (typified in his recordings of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things”).

At the same time, his study of the musics of India and Africa affected his approach to the soprano sax. These influences, combined with a unique interplay with the drums and the steady vamping of the piano and bass, made the Coltrane quartet one of the most noteworthy jazz groups of the 1960s. Coltrane’s wife, Alice (also a jazz musician and composer), played the piano in his band during the last years of his life.

During the short period between 1965 and his death in 1967, Coltrane’s work expanded into a free, collective (simultaneous) improvisation based on prearranged scales. It was the most radical period of his career, and his avant-garde experiments divided critics and audiences.

Coltrane died of liver cancer at Huntington Hospital on Long Island on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40. His funeral was held four days later at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City. The service was opened by the Albert Ayler Quartet and closed by the Ornette Coleman Quartet. Coltrane is buried at Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.

Coltrane's death surprised many in the musical community who were not aware of his condition. Miles Davis said that "Coltrane's death shocked everyone, took everyone by surprise. I knew he hadn't looked too good... But I didn't know he was that sick—or even sick at all."

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & Britannica.com)

Peggy Connelly (September 25, 1931 – June 11, 2007) was a singer and actress.

Peggy Lou Connelly was born September 25, 1931 in Shreveport, Louisiana, but she grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. By the time she was 15, she had a lovely voice that won her jobs singing with competitive big bands in her hometown—including Harvey

Anderson’s orchestra. She also tried the beauty contest route (Miss Texas Beauty, Miss Palomino, etc.). She won the first Fort Worth Press-Majestic Theatre Talent Tournament in September 1947, and graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1949.

When she was 18, she went in search of work as a model and singer, work that she combined with being the secretary of Ted Steele, an American band leader and host of several radio and television programs in New York. In the end it was singing, which became Peggy’s ticket to fame. She moved to Hollywood, where she found the going somewhat easier in securing her kind of work. Singing with Jerry Gray, Maynard Ferguson and Dave Pell became part of her background, and subsequently she invaded West Coast TV where she was a featured performer on many of the most important shows.

Peggy Connelly as a Floradora Girl

In Girl in the Red Velvet Swing 1955

She was a comely young Texan lass who had set her sights on stardom and had already taken two giant steps in that direction. The first was in motion pictures, that all-too-elusive medium of show business which is notorious for its heart-breaking lack of opportunity. Peggy was assigned to the cast of the Universal-International film, “The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing” (1955), and, although not under contract to any studio, expected to be similarly

employed in several productions scheduled by the industry. The
second, and to her the more important step, would jump-start her career as a singer.

In November 1954 she signed with Hollywood’s Nocturne Records, but the songs she recorded remained unissued until 1989, when Fresh Sound Records bought the masters and released them on LP. Shortly after this frustrating first experience, Red Clyde, who was the West Coast chief producer for Bethlehem, offered Peggy an opportunity to record an album for the label, which she agreed to. So in 1956 in addition to choosing her own tunes for the date, Peggy found herself in the musically astute company of Russell Garcia which resulted in an album of standards, Peggy Connelly with Rusell Garcia – That Old Black Magic.

She became the talk of the city after she started a relationship with Frank Sinatra. They had met in March 1955, and grown closer over time. The singer was fond of her and of her voice, and it didn’t hurt that she resembled Ava Gardner, whom he had married in 1951 and divorced in 1957.

For over two years, Peggy was Sinatra’s

girlfriend, and she accompanied him to numerous public acts and film sets.

Meanwhile, Peggy had won enough admiration (at Top’s, a cafe in San Diego) to take her to the Blue Angel in New York, and to Mister Kelly’s in Chicago in October 1956, where she established her reputation as a singer of unusual talent. In 1957, her skills as a singer earned her a movie contract with Paramount—they hired her to sing in movies, even though she only appeared in brief roles on two pictures —“Houseboat,” and “The Matchmaker.”

She then married Dick Martin, the wacky half of the popular comedy team of “Rowan and Martin,” that played in nightclubs across the United States and overseas. They had a son together, Cary, but their marriage only lasted until 1965.

In November 1958, Peggy was Saga Magazine Girl of the Month. A few months later she started working with comedian, actor, and writer Ernie Kovacs. In 1962, after a couple of years devoting most of her time to her family, she returned to the stage to sing again. Her return was different this time, she did not show up alone, but as a member of The New Christy Minstrels, a vigorous folk chorus focused on the performance and perpetuation of the great American tradition of balladry. Peggy, together with Jackie Miller, were the female voices of the chorus. She recorded two albums with the group in 1962: “Presenting” and “In Person.”

During 1970-1971 she appeared singing on the NBC TV series “Words and Music” as herself. She then moved to Europe in 1972, where she settled for several years in Germany appearing on TV, and recording as a single act until the mid-1990s, when she, Sarah Tullamore and Wendy Taylor formed a trio called The Jazzberries. The trio played extensively in Paris and throughout Europe until they disbanded in 2000. She then returned to her hometown, where she passed away on June 11, 2007.

(Edited mainly from Fresh Sound Records)

Merrill Everett Moore (26 September 1923 – 14 June 2000) was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader whose style influenced rockabilly music during the 1950s.He was known as "one of the great hidden secrets of American music,"

Born in Algona, IA, in 1923, Moore began playing the piano at age seven and by 12 was performing on a Des Moines radio station.
After high school he joined the Chuck Hall Band, which playedon the Midwestern ballroom circuit, taking a break to serve in the Navy during World War II. His war was spent mostly at Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, where he noodled along with Freddie Slack. Afterwards, he married his high-school sweetheart Doris and moved to San Diego, where he worked as a clothes salesman and performed in clubs, often with guitarist Arkie Geurin.

He got a regular gig with the local Buckaroo Club kingpin Jimmy Kennedy and put together the Saddle, Rock & Rhythm Boys as his backing band in 1950. Kennedy helped get Moore a record deal with Capitol in 1952, and that year he released his first single, "Big Bug Boogie." 1953's "House of Blue Lights" became a national hit, but Kennedy refused to allow the band to tour or promote the record: He'd signed them to a seven-year deal to play six nights a week and had only gotten them the record contract to increase their local drawing power.

According to Steve Huey of Allmusic, Moore's "unique style fused Western swing, boogie-woogie, and early R&B in a melting pot that many critics felt was a distinct influence on rockabilly,

especially Jerry Lee Lewis." His music was later highly regarded by rockabilly fans, especially in Europe, although Moore himself said: "We didn't have the idea we were pioneering anything. We were just trying to make a living.... Rock and roll to me was a completely different sound. The rhythm section was incomplete, it was too hard, and it didn't swing...."

Moore continued to record for Capitol in the 1950s, but in 1955 walked out on his contract with Kennedy and moved to Los Angeles. There, he became a regular, along with Tennessee Ernie Ford, on Cliffie Stone's radio program Hometown Jamboree, and

also worked as a session pianist for Capitol, appearing on records by Tommy Sands, Johnny Cash, Faron Young, Kay Starr and others. His playing can be heard on Wanda Jackson’s ‘Rockin’ With Wanda’ LP and her 1960 hit “Let’s Have A Party

He recorded only one more session for Capitol, a selection of instrumentals that wasn't released until 1990 by Bear Family.

Moore returned to San Diego in 1962, taking up residency in a hotel lounge. He worked clubs and similar venues for the next couple of decades, sometimes venturing into Nevada and Arizona.

A car accident in 1986 put him on hiatus for a few years, but Moore spent most of the '90s playing regularly at Mr. A's in San Diego, leaving in 1998. He was preparing for gigs in England and Austria when he lost a battle with cancer on June 14, 2000 at the age of 76.

‘Merrill E Moore’ wrote journalist Tim Johnson, ‘is one of those legends of the Country Rock era who, although they’ve never had complete commercial success, have been hailed as The Start Of it All’ (‘Dalkeith Advertiser’, 22 May 1969). Therein lies his importance.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, All Music & Black Cat Rockabilly)

Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician and rodeo performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy in a
crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than

three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern
California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.

Known as the "Singing Cowboy," Gene Autry was born in Tioga, Texas, the first child of Delbert Autry and the former Elnora Ozment. He seldom spoke of his childhood because he wanted to forget most of it. His father was generally worthless, absent more often than present, and his mother and her four children had to depend on the charity of relatives in Texas and Oklahoma.

When he was 16 years old, Autry went to work at a local railway station. He soon switched to manning the telegraph line at different stops along the railway line. One night, he played for a customer who told him that he had enough talent to get a job on the radio. The customer turned out to be actor Will Rogers, and Autry soon quit his job to find work in the music business.

At 20, Orvon traveled to New York in search of a recording contract, but was turned away. He came home with a new name, Gene Autry, probably borrowed from a popular crooner, Gene Austin, whom he met on the trip.

In his first radio gig, at KVOO in Tulsa, he was billed as Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy and imitated country star Jimmie Rodgers. His first hit record, “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” propelled him to the big time on Chicago’s WLS Barn Dance, the model for Nashville’s enduring Grand Ole Opry. Autry wrote the song himself. It sold over 500,000 copies in its first release. Autry was the first artist in history to have a gold record.

Autry soon landed a regular spot on the National Barn Dance, which a show that was recorded in Chicago, Illinois. During a trip home to Oklahoma, Autry met Ina Mae Spivey and married her four months later, on April 1, 1932. The wedding was so sudden

that some friends thought it was an April fool’s prank, but the marriage lasted 48 years. After Gene’s mother died that spring, his two sisters and
brother moved in with the newlyweds. Ina, just 21, became their surrogate mother. The Autrys never had children.

In 1935, Autry signed with Republic Pictures and made his major film debut, The Phantom Empire. That same year, Autry starred in Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935), the first Western plotted around the main character's ability to sing, and thus became credited with creating the musical Western. His other films include The Singing Cowboy (1937), Rhythm of the Saddle (1938) and Sioux City Sue (1942). In 1940, he was the 4th highest grossing box office attraction according to Theatre Exhibitors of America. The only stars above him were Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and Spencer Tracy.

Autry was also a savvy businessman, developing and promoting his own lines of western-themed merchandise. During World War II, he took a break from his career to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces, serving as a pilot from 1942 to '45. He returned to the music charts in 1949 with the holiday classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which became the second highest selling Christmas song of all time. It has sold over 30 million copies. He wrote over 200 songs, including his theme song, "Back in the Saddle Again." By 1948, Dell Publishing was printing over 1,000,000 Gene Autry Comic Books per year.

In 1950, Autry became a star in an emerging medium. He produced his own TV series, The Gene Autry Show, which enjoyed six successful seasons on the air. By the early 1960s, Autry had largely retired from acting. He devoted much of his time to his numerous real estate and media ventures.

Autry lost his wife in 1980. The following year, he married Jacqueline Ellam. Autry worked to preserve some of America's past with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, which he established in 1988. Many of the items featured in the museum came from Autry's own collection of memorabilia. It is now known as the Autry National Center of the American West.

The winner of two Grammy Hall of Fame Awards (in 1985 and 1997), Autry is the only entertainer to boast five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his work in motion pictures, radio, music recording, TV and live theatre. Autry died from lymphoma on October 2, 1998, in Studio City, California. He was 91 years old.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, Biography.com & sabr.com)

Emily "Cissy" Houston (née Drinkard; born September 30, 1933) is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, Houston embarked on a solo career, winning two Grammy Awards for her work. Houston is the mother of singer

Whitney Houston, grandmother of Whitney's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, aunt of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price.

Houston, the youngest of eight children, was born Emily Drinkard on September 30, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey to Nitcholas ‘Nitch’ and Delia Mae (McCaskill) Drinkard. The Drinkard children attended revival-style weekday services where they discovered gospel music. At the age of five, Houston began singing with her sister Anne and two brothers Larry and Nicky. They formed the gospel singing group, the Drinkard Four, performing regularly at the New Hope Baptist Church. After graduating from Newark’s South Side High School, she and her group, now The Drinkard Singers, continued performing and were featured on a 1951 program at Carnegie Hall starring Mahalia Jackson.

Following her father’s death in 1955, Houston married her first husband, Freddie Garland and the couple had one child, Gary. Two years later, the two divorced and she met John Houston. Later that year, The Drinkard Singers breakthrough performance at the Newport Folk Festival led to the album A Joyful Noise on the RCA Victor label. The group included Houston’s nieces and their adopted sister Judy Guions (Clay). In 1959, Cissy and John Houston were married. Then, in 1963, while pregnant with her daughter Whitney Houston, she formed the Sweet Inspirations with Doria Troy and Dee Dee Warwick

Cissy & Johm

(Dionne’s sister), and over the course of the next few years they provided backup vocals to prominent artists including Aretha Franklin (Natural Woman) and Van Morrison (Brown Eyed Girl). The group released their debut album in 1967 and toured the country with Aretha Franklin and sang back up in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley.

Houston left the Sweet Inspirations in 1969 to pursue a solo career. She recorded an impressive album for Commonwealth United in 1970, Presenting Cissy Houston, which yielded a couple of small R&B/pop hits: "I'll Be There" and "Be My Baby." Much in the manner of the Sweet Inspirations, although the material consisted of fairly well-worn soul, rock, and pop tunes, the state-of-the-art arrangements and gospel-ish vocals made them sound fresh.

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Her contract was sold to Janus Records later in the year, and while she issued a few singles there until the middle of the '70s, she never received the support and promotion she deserved. A case in point was her little-known original version of "Midnight Train to Georgia," taken to the top of the charts about a year later by Gladys Knight & the Pips.

In the early 1980s, Whitney joined her mother while Cissy performed regular club dates in New York. In 1985, Whitney Houston’s first album won a Grammy Award and catapulted her to pop super stardom. In 1987, Whitney Houston’s second album, Whitney, was released, including the duet “I Know Him So Well,” recorded by Whitney and Cissy. In 1988, the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children was established, and Cissy was appointed president and CEO.

In 1992, Cissy was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Two years later, she was honoured again, receiving two honorary doctorates, and on March 2, 1995, she received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award. Houston won her first Grammy for “Face to Face” in 1996 and her second in 1998 for the all-gospel release, He Leadeth Me.

Houston remained active in both her community and the music industry. In 2005, she released a compilation CD, The Cissy Houston Collection, and in 2006, she recorded the song "Family First" with Dionne Warwick and Whitney Houston for the soundtrack to the movie Daddy's Little Girls. Additionally, she led the New Hope Baptist Church 200-plus member Youth Inspirational Choir and in 2004 she was honoured by the church for 50 years of service.

The tragic deaths of her daughter Whitney in 2012 and her granddaughter Bobbi Kristina Brown in 2015 have certainly taken its toll on Cissy and now she is now said to be battling another huge feat.In July 2018 According to Radar Online, Cissy Houston has been diagnosed with Dementia. A source claims that the 84-year old repeats herself a lot as well as suffering from a loss of memory: “She's in the early stages of dementia... She repeats herself a lot and doesn't remember what she says. She just says she's getting old.” Cissy also allegedly disowned her son after he revealed details regarding the reported assault she endured as a child within The Whitney Houston documentary which is currently in theaters.

(Compiled and edited from various sources mainly visionaryproject.org & All Music)

Maria Elisabeth Ender, better known as Mariska Veres (1 October 1947 – 2 December 2006), was a Dutch singer who was best known as the lead singer of the rock group Shocking Blue. Described as being similar to a young Cher, she was known for her sultry voice, eccentric performances, and her striking appearance which featured kohl-rimmed eyes, high cheekbones, and long jet black hair, which was actually a wig

Veres was born in The Hague to Hungarian and German parents, Mariska Veres was the daughter of the gypsy violinist Lajos Veres, and often accompanied her father on the piano along with her elder sister Ilonka, but her youngest sister, Irene, never had a career in music.

Veres began her career as a singer in 1963 with the guitar band Les Mysteres who released an EP in 1964 with Veres singing. In 1965, she sang with the Bumble Bees, and then with the Blue Fighters, Danny and his Favourites and General Four. Later in 1966 she sang with the Motowns with whom she also played organ.

In 1968, she was invited to join Shocking Blue to replace lead singer Fred de Wilde who had to join the army. In 1969/1970 Shocking Blue gained worldwide fame with the hit single "Venus". The month of their arrival in the United States gossip columnist Earl Wilson referred to Veres as a 'beautiful busty girl.' The single made the Top Ten across Europe in 1970, including the UK, and reached the No 1 spot in the United States. It turned the striking-looking Veres into a sex-symbol.

Shocking Blue released a further 15 singles and 10 albums, scoring hits including "Mighty Joe", "Never Marry a Railroad Man", "Hello Darkness" , "Blossom Lady" and "Eve and the Apple" and broke up in the mid-Seventies. Veres embarked on a solo career, with

occasional help from van Leeuwen. In the late Seventies, they considered reforming Shocking Blue, going as far as recording a track called "Louise", which remains unreleased, but they did play a couple of concerts in 1984.

Veres started the jazz group The Shocking Jazz Quintet in 1993, and recorded an album (Shocking You) with pop songs from the 1960s and 1970s, now in a jazz version. From 1993 to 2006 she performed in yet another reincarnation of Shocking Blue (recorded the songs "Body and Soul" and "Angel", both produced by former member Robbie van Leeuwen), and also recorded an album with Andrei Serban in 2003, named Gipsy Heart, going back to her Romani roots.

Veres loved cats, didn't smoke, drink or do drugs and told the members of Shocking Blue when she joined that relationships were out. Reflecting on her early fame, Veres told the Belgian magazine Flair: "I was just a painted doll, nobody could ever reach me. Nowadays, I am more open to people. " She had a long-term relationship with guitarist André van Geldorp, but never married or had children.

Veres died of gallbladder cancer on 2 December 2006, aged 59, just three weeks after the disease had been detected.

A version of "Venus" was posthumously released in 2007, a few months after her death, recorded with pianist/bandleader Dolf de Vries (on the album Another Touch).

Veres recorded "Venus" four times: with Shocking Blue (1969), with the Mariska Veres Shocking Jazz Quintet (1993), with Formula Diablos (in English/Spanish, 1997), and with Dolf de Vries (a lounge version of "Venus", 2005–06).

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & The Independent)

Larry Collins (born 4 October 1944, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA) and his older sister Lawrencine "Lorrie" Collins (May 7, 1942 – August 4, 2018) were an American rockabilly duo. Their hits in the 1950s as youngsters were geared towards children, but their infectious

singing and playing crossed over generations. Larry, a lightning-fingered guitar whiz at age 10, was known for playing a double-neck Mosrite guitar like his mentor, Joe Maphis.

They were raised on a dairy farm and attended a one-room school near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. At the age of eight Lorrie won a talent contest in Tulsa hosted by Western swing steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe. McAuliffe encouraged Lorrie's parents to relocate to California to develop her talents, which they did in 1953.

In the meantime, Larry mastered the guitar, with tutelage from the legendary guitarist Joe Maphis. After winning several talent contests, the Collins Kids landed a regular spot on the Town Hall Party in 1954, owning a major radio and television contract before they were teenagers. Approximately one year later they recorded their first releases for Columbia, "Hush Money" and "Beetle Bug Bop."

During their tenure with Columbia from 1955 to 1959 they were showcased in their "hopped-up hillbilly" style with such releases as "Whistle Bait,""Hot Rod,""Soda Poppin' Around," and "In My

Teens," all of which spoke directly to the teen generation of the fifties. They appeared on Steve Allen’s TV program and others, and performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Lorrie and teen heartthrob Ricky Nelson dated during the 1950s. Lorrie appeared on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as Ricky's girlfriend, and the couple sang the Collins Kids' version of "Just Because" on one episode. The romance cooled, however, and Lorrie eventually married Stu Carnall, road manager for Johnny Cash, with whom the Collins Kids toured.

None of the Collins Kids Columbia records cracked the Billboard chart but their recordings were later discovered by record collectors and compiled many times on album collections. Although Lorrie never achieved widespread fame, many early-rock aficionados put her on a par with some of the greatest singers in pop and country.

The Collins Kids continued to perform together sporadically in the mid-1960s, appearing as regulars on the Canadian music program Star Route. When the Beatles ignited Beatlemania and the British Invasion in 1964, many American acts, especially country-leaning performers, saw their careers tail off dramatically.

They did make a guest appearance on the 8 September 1965, edition of Shindig!. Nevertheless, the Collins Kids continued touring, sometimes on country revues with Johnny Cash and others. They also tapped into the burgeoning lounge music scene in Las Vegas and Reno. By the 1970s,

Larry had moved to Nashville and was focusing on songwriting, co-writing hits including “Delta Dawn” for Tanya Tucker in 1972, and “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” for David Frizzell in 1981.

Lorrie and Carnell focused on raising a family for the next two decades. Then in 1993 she and Larry accepted an invitation to return as the Collins Kids for a rockabilly festival in England, the Hemsby Rock ’N’ Roll Weekender in Norfolk, an appearance that set rockabilly fans young and old atwitter.

The duo reunited for a rockabilly revival concert in England in 1993 and performed together until Lorrie's death. They appeared at Deke Dickerson's Guitar Geek Festival in Anaheim, California, on January 19, 2008, with their nephew, Dakota Collins, playing upright bass as a new addition to the Collins band.

Health issues forced Lorrie to quit singing in 2012, but for nearly two decades they were greeted at performances with adulation, said Deke Dickerson, who featured them at the Guitar Geek Festival he organized for years in conjunction with the National Assn. of Music Merchants’ massive musical products annual convention in Anaheim.

Lorrie Collins died 4 August 2018 in Reno at the age of 76. Larry Collins told the New York Times that his sister had died from injuries related to a fall.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia &bestclassicbands.com & the L.A. Times & okhistory.org)

Janet Frances Vogel (Rapp) (b. June 10, 1941, Pittsburgh, d. Thursday, February 21, 1980, Pittsburgh, PA) was an American soprano supreme with the group "The Skyliners".

Janet Francis grew up in the Carrick section of Pittsburgh South Hills where she attended Carrick High School. At age 15 she met singer Jimmy Beaumont who was 17, sang with a vocal group called the Crescents. Janet sang in the group Eirios with Joe

Versharen. Beaumont and the Cresent's manager Joe Rock asked Janet and Joe Versharen to join the Crescents when two members quit. Janet became a member of the the Cresents at age 16 in 1958 joining Jimmy Beaumont, Wally Lester, Jack Taylor, and Joe Versharen.

In 1958 musician Lennie Martin and promoter Lou Guarino founded the Calico Records label to record and promote the music of Pittsburgh musicians. They began a talent search on a Saturday holding auditions for groups Lou liked the Crescents and scheduled a recording session with 18 back up musicians in New York for the group. Lennie wrote the string arrangement for “Since I Don’t

Have You”. Lou and Lennie produced the sessions that netted three hit singles. The series of "you-oo's" at the end of "Since I Don't Have You" was an accident. Janet did not know the tape was still running and kept singing. Lennie Martin let the tape roll on for 13 repetitions of "you-oo" and kept them in the final mix. More than a dozen labels rejected the song before it was released by a local Pittsburgh label, Calico Records.

Before the release of the single the Crescent changed their name Joe Rock took the name "The Skyliners" from Charlie Barnett’s hit song "Skyliner." By March of 1959, “Since I Don’t Have You” had spread from Pittsburgh to the national pop charts. The soulful delivery was appreciated even more by R&B radio resulting in greater success in the rhythm and blues Cashbox Magazine. It was the first single by a Caucasian group to hit #1 on the Cashbox R&B charts.

Tired from touring Janet Vogel left the Skyliners in 1961 and returned to life in Pittsburgh. The Skyliners continued on. In 1963 they signed with Atco Records releasing “Since I Fell For You". Worn out from years of touring and having little recent chart

success in the face of the British invasion, the Skyliners broke up in the 1964. Jimmy Beaumont continued to record and perform as a single act. Joe Rock continued to write songs, notably with Otis Redding and managed other artists including, the Jaggerz

In 1963 Janet launched a solo career changing her stage name of Janet Deane. She released the single "Another Night Alone/I'm Glad I" Waited on Pittsburgh's Gateway Records. Settling down to civilian life Janet married Pittsburgh police office Kerry Rapp and had three children Gavin, Marlo and Kip. The Rapp family lived in Bethal Park and Brentwood.

In 1968 concert promoter Richard Nader called the Skyliners He asked them to reunite for a one night only performance at a rock 'n' roll revival show in Madison Square Garden. They agreed and Janet Vogel appeared with the Skyliners at the show headlined by Ricky Nelson. Capitol Records, impressed with the Skyliners performance, signed the group to a singles deal. Capitol released the song “Where Have They Gone” that reached the Billboard Top 100. The Skyliners went back on the road performing a Doo Wop revival concerts for several years. On January 1, 1976, Wally Lester and Joe Verscharen retired permanently from The Skyliners

In 1977 Janet recorded with the Skyliners on the Tortoise International Records album release titled “The Skyliner”s. Two singles were released: “Oh How Happy” (a cover the Edwin Starr song) and “The Love Bug”. The Skyliners roster on that release was Jimmy Beaumont, Janet Vogel, Bobby Sholes, and former Jaggerz member Jimmie Ross.

Unbeknownst to her band mates Janet life at home was unhappy. She was trapped in a tumultuous marriage and suffered from depression. Janet and her husband Kerry Rapp clashed over her career. Janet was emotionally fragile and may have suffered from bipolar disorder. She sunk into a deep depression that worsened over the years and was deeply in despair.

On February 21, 1980 Janet was to receive an award recognizing her achievements with the Skyliners. She packed up her car with Skyliners memorabilia to take to the awards ceremony. But she never made it out the garage. Depression overtook her. She committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Janet was 37 years old. She left behind three young children.

In 2012 Jan's son, Gavin Rapp, told her story in the indie film "Since I Don't Have You".

Until his death, Jimmy Beaumont performed with the Skyliners in their current line-up of Nick Pociask, Frank Czuri, John Sarkis, and Donna Groom (whose husband, Mark Groom, has been the group's drummer/conductor for more than 25 years).

(Info edited from various sources mainly Wikipedia & Pittsburgh Music History)

Gordon Terry (October 7, 1931–April 9, 2006) was an adept American bluegrass and country music fiddler and guitarist. He was a member of Merle Haggard's backing band The Strangers. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Fiddlers Hall of Fame.

Terry was born in Decatur, Alabama and learned to play the fiddle at an early age. He made his first performance on the Grand Ole Opry at age nine. He attended fiddlers' conventions, and won first prize at the Alabama Fiddling Championship in 1946.

In 1949 at age 17, Gordon Terry married Virginia Russell of Decatur. They were together for 57 years until his death and had two girls, Winter and Rhonda Terry Thorson.

In 1950, he joined the Grand Ole Opry and within a year, he performed and recorded with Bill Monroe. Terry served in the US Army in Korea. After his discharge, he moved to California, and made his movie debut in Hidden Guns in 1956. He appeared in three other movies Twice in a Lifetime (1985), Honkytonk Man (1982) and The Exotic Ones (1968) and one episode of Sky King.

After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Gordon began a career as a recording artist. His biggest hit was "Wild Honey," released in 1957. He moved to California in 1958, and

even tried his hand at acting. His manager turned down an offer to play in the movie "Tarzan" while Gordon was out on tour.

"The manager said the money wasn't good enough, Gordon was so mad." (quote from The Decatur Daily News)

In 1957, Terry returned for a recording session with Bill Monroe. In the following decades, he recorded with artists such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Wynn Stewart, Faron Young, Merle

Haggard,Jerry Lee Lewis, Neil Young and many more. In November 1961, he recorded a square dance album with Flatt & Scruggs. Cash once called Mr. Terry "a dear friend for years" and described him as "one of a kind."

In 1964, Gordon built Terrytown, a rustic resort and Western theme park that featured top country artists in Loretto, Tenn. Running the resort and touring became too much, however, and he sold it after just three seasons. He then spent time touring in California and Europe before returning to Nashville, performing there until ill health forced him into semi-retirement in 1983.

He then became founder and chief executive officer in 1980 of Reunion Of Professional Entertainers, also known as ROPE.an association with an aim to build a retirement home for entertainers.In 1981, Terry was inducted as a charter member into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame. In the 1980s, the Gordon Terry Parkway in Decatur was named after him.

One of his last performances was at his 50th wedding anniversary cookout with Barbara Mandrell. He died after a long illness on April 9, 2006 in Spring Hill, Tennessee, USA aged 74. He was posthumously inducted into The Southern Legends Entertainment & Performing Arts Hall of Fame.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, IMDb & The Decatur Daily News)

Karel Vlach (October 8, 1911 – February 26, 1986 was a Czech big band leader, saxophonist, conductor and arranger and one of the key figures and pioneers of jazz in former Czechoslovakia.

Vlach was born in Prague's Zizkov district. He was the eldest of five siblings. During elementary school he learned the violin. After secondary school, he joined the Žižkov. Between 1925 and 1928 he was trained as a sales clerk at the haberdashery business Kauders. In 1929 after his mother died, his father remarried and the family moved to Holesovice. Karel worked first as a shop assistant and later as a clerk.

It was in the 30's Karel was musically involved with Blue Music and the Charles Happy Boys. He founded his first orchestra in 1938. Many important composers, instrumentalists and arrangers of the Czech jazz scene gradually went through his band.

He reorganized in 1945, with continuous focus on big band swing à la Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In 1947-48 Vlach's orchestra cooperated with the V+W Theatre (former Osvobozené divadlo). Engagement at the “Karlín Musical Theatre” 1948–1953, was often credited as the Variety Theatre Orchestra. Since the 1950s, he has also backed pop vocalists on records and on stage, performing with nearly all major Czech singers at one time or another, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s.

Here's "Swingin' The Blues" from above EP

He launched the singing careers of Czech artists Yvetta Simonová (whom he married) and Milan Chladil in 1958. He and his musical colleagues Dalibor Brazda and Gustav Brom also arranged and
recorded many titles for British singer Gery Scott in the late 1950s,

mostly from what is now termed the American Songbook series. Many of these titles are now collector’s items.

He recorded prolifically with Supraphon and his output includes both light classical and orchestral as well as jazz and pop arrangements for big band with strings. He also arranged and conducted many Czech film scores from 1940 to 1980.

Although Karel died on February 26, 1986 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the orchestra is still actively performing as of 2018. (Info edited from Wikipedia & Discogs)

Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne "France" Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018) was a French yé-yé singer. Although she was best known as the pretty, perky teenager who won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest with her hit "Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son," French pop singer France Gall had a much longer and more varied career than that, releasing solid records for decades. Although only a cult figure in most of the rest of the world, Gall was a major star and beloved figure in her native country.

Born Isabelle Gall in Paris on October 9, 1947, Gall was the daughter of French performer and producer Roger Gall, who had written songs for Édith Piaf and Charles Aznavour. In 1962, at the age of 15, Gall was ushered into the studio by her father to record her debut EP, Ne Sois Pas Si Bete. The four-track EP (the standard in French pop music at the time, and the format of most of her releases for the rest of the decade) was an enormous hit, selling 200,000 copies in France thanks both to the irresistible title track and the absolutely stunning cover photo.

Gall released a series of similarly successful pop hits for the next several years, peaking with winning the aforementioned Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. But although many dismissed Gall as a Francophone Lesley Gore, making fluffy and ultra-commercial pop hits with little substance, Gall's hits from this era stand up far better than most. Only Françoise Hardy was consistently making records up to these standards during this era.

Though Gall's high, breathy voice was admittedly somewhat limited, she made the most of it. Even dopey hits like "Sacre Charlemagne," a duet with a pair of puppets who were the stars of a children's show on French TV, have an infectious, zesty charm; meatier tunes, like the sultry jazz-tinged ballad "Pense a Moi" and the brilliant rocker "Laisse Tomber les Filles," were as good as any single produced in the U.S. or Great Britain at the time.

Here's "Laisse Tomber les Filles," from above EP.

In 1966, Gall's public persona shifted into a more mature phase, both musically and personally. The change came with that year's controversial hit "Les Sucettes" and its follow-up, Baby Pop, are among Gall's finest, musically richer and more varied than her early hits, but every bit as catchy. (During this period of her career, Gall

was signed not only to the French division of Philips, but to the German branch of the company, and also released several German-language EPs and albums, mixing translations of her Francophone hits and all-new material.)

The psychedelic era found Gall, under Gainsbourg's guidance, singing increasingly strange songs, like "Teenie Weenie Boppie" set to some of Gainsbourg's most out-there arrangements. The excellent 1968 is Gall's best album from this period, with "Teenie Weenie Boppie," the trippy "Nefertiti," and the slinky, jazzy "Bebe Requin."

Like other stars of the '60s yé-yé scene, Gall's career took a downturn in the early '70s. No longer a teenager, but without a new persona to redefine herself, Gall floundered both commercially and artistically. A label change from Philips to BASF in 1972 didn't help matters, but in 1974 Gall met and married songwriter/producer Michel Berger. Berger took over his wife's career starting with 1975's France Gall and re-established her popularity throughout Europe.

Berger's middle-of-the-road soft rock style was slickly commercial and, for the most part, less inspired than Gall's '60s work, but although her material was by and large weaker, Gall became a much stronger and more technically adept singer during this era releasing albums like 1987's Babacar, 1984's Débranche!, and 1988's live Tour de France.

Gall's life took a tragic turn in the '90s; Berger died of a heart attack at the age of 46 in 1992, and their daughter Pauline died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 19 in 1997. Gall announced her retirement after Berger's death, but after reconsidering, she restarted her career with 1996's France, a tender tribute to her partner and mentor. That same year, a new generation of listeners began discovering her work when Heavenly covered her Serge Gainsbourg-penned hit "Nous Ne Sommes Pas des Anges" on Operation Heavenly. France Gall died of cancer on January 7, 2018 at the age of 70.

(Edited mainly from Stewart Mason’s bio @ AllMusic)

Billy Ternent (b.10 October 1899, Newcastle, England, d. 23 March 1977, London, England) was a band leader, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s. Many bands of the past attempted to create their own style, some more successfully than others. Perhaps one of the most

distinctive styles of all time belonged to Billy Ternent. Indeed, the phrase 'that unmistakable sound' will always be synonymous with him on broadcasts and records.

Frederick William Ternent took up the violin at the age of seven and his first job was with a trio at a North Shields cinema when he was 12. At 16, he was conducting a cinema orchestra on a circuit run by George Black. Jack Hylton is supposed to have discovered Billy while playing with the Selma Four in a Newcastle restaurant. He took him to London where Ternent played in Al Starita’s band at the Kit-Kat Club.

It was probably his long spell with Jack Hylton and his Orchestra (1927 to 1939) that really brought him to the public's attention, during which time he acted as Deputy Conductor and principal arranger. Many well-known bandleaders were better managers than they were musicians — some bands even regarded their conductor as a liability! Not the case with Billy, who was a fine and much respected musician who could, and sometimes did, play every instrument in the orchestra. This was very useful to Jack Hylton, who was able to use him whenever a player was off sick.

Ternent wrote most of the Hylton band’s familiar top-class

arrangements, played several instruments, and served as the deputy leader on broadcasts, recordings and several extensive foreign tours. In September 1939, Billy Ternent was appointed conductor of the BBC Dance Orchestra or 'The Dance Orchestra' as it was then called.

He conducted the first ITMA broadcasts with Tommy Handley, worked on 'Variety Bandbox', where he helped to launch the successful career of Frankie Howerd. This included several 78s for the Harmony and Columbia labels, which have become comedy classics, some featuring Ternent as the butt of Howerd’s jokes. Billy also had a weekly slot on 'Music While You Work'. When he resigned from this post in 1944, he handed over the baton to Stanley Black, who conducted the band until its demise in the early fifties.

When Billy formed his own band in 1944, he toured throughout the UK to enthusiastic audiences. His life-long signature tune was Vivian Ellis’ 'She’s My Lovely', from the musical 'Hide and Seek'. This, however, attracted some complaints due to the fact that the opening glissando, to some people, sounded like the start of an air-raid warning! Nevertheless, it remained the signature tune of Billy Ternent and his Orchestra for many years to come. The original 1943 Decca recording featured the singing of actor/guitarist Ken Beaumont, who was later to find fame on the radio with his sextet.

The secret of Billy Ternent's success was the combination of the superb musicianship of both leader and players, coupled with having created one of the most distinctive styles in broadcasting. It was a seemingly old-fashioned style, using a tenor-dominated saxophone section with a strong vibrato and a trumpet section

Billy with Gracie Fields

which was frequently required to play muted passages with rapid triple tonguing — a sort of 'stuttering' effect — possibly inspired by the American band of Hal Kemp. The overall effect, however, was original and required a musical expertise far above that of the average palais player; indeed, the top session men Billy used found the arrangements to be very challenging.

From the late 40s he conducted for numerous West End shows and visiting American artists (Frank Sinatra called him ‘the little giant’). In 1951 the band accompanied Bob Hope on his UK tour. Ternent spent five years, from 1962-67, as musical director at the London Palladium, participating in several Royal Command Performances.

Billy continued to broadcast tasteful programmes of mainly dance music well into the 1970s, although his later years were troubled by recurring bouts of illness. Alan Dell persuaded him to conduct a selection of his arrangements, to rapturous applause, during a "Dance Band Days" concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 12 June 1976, as part of the BBC’s Festival of Light Music. This was to be his last major engagement, although stoically he continued to work until a few weeks before his death.

Billy Ternent died on 23rd March 1977, but this amiable Geordie can still be remembered through his legacy of 78s and long-playing records and CD’s spanning a long and distinguished career.

(Compiled and edited from various sources mainly Masters Of Melody & robertfarnonsociety.org.uk)

Yves Montand (13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991) was an Italian-born French actor and singer.

Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer and Giuseppina Simoni, a devout Catholic, while her husband held strong Communist beliefs. Montand's family left for France in 1923 because of Italy's Fascist regime. He grew up in Marseille, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister's beauty salon (Salon de Coiffure), and later on the docks. He began a career in show business as a music-hall singer. In 1944, he was discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris and she made him part of her act He lived with her for two years. She became his mentor and co-star in several films.

Montand went on to international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in numerous films. His recognizably crooner songs, especially those about Paris, became instant classics. He was one of the most famous performers at Bruno Coquatrix's famous Paris Olympia music hall, and toured with musicians including Didi Duprat. In October 1947, he sang Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai ? (music by Henri Betti and lyrics by Édith Piaf) at the Théâtre de l'Étoile. Betti also asked him to sing C'est si bon but Montand refused. Following the success of the recording of this song by the Sœurs Étienne in 1948, he decided to record it.

During his career, Montand acted in a number of American motion pictures as well as on Broadway. Montand went on to international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in numerous films. He made his film debut in "Star Without Light" (1946), followed by "Gates of the Night" (1946).

In the late 1940s, he recorded the four greatest hits composed by Henri Betti : "Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai ?" (lyrics by Édith Piaf) in 1947, "C'est si bon" (lyrics by André Hornez), "Rien dans les Mains, rien dans les Poches" (lyrics by André Hornez) and "Maître Pierre" (lyrics by Jacques Plante) in 1948.

In 1951, he married the actress Simone Signoret, and they co-starred in several films throughout their careers. The marriage was, by all accounts, fairly harmonious, lasting until her death in 1985.

Montand embarked on an affair with Marilyn Monroe during filming of the ill fated film Let's Make Love. He had been personally recommended by Arthur Miller (who was married to Monroe) after Miller saw him acting in a foreign movie version of his play The Crucible called Les Sorcières de Salem. Montand always expressed regret over the affair as he considered Miller a "good friend". As Shirley MacLaine wrote in her 1995 memoir, My Lucky Stars, she and Montand maintained an affair during the filming of My Geisha.

A veteran of 60 films, some of his best remembered roles were in the films "The Wages of fear" (1953), "The Crucible" (1957), "My Geisha" (1962), "Grand Prix" (1966), "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" (1970) and "Manon of the Spring" (1986). He was nominated for a César Award for "Best Actor" in 1980 for I comme Icare and again in 1984 for Garçon!

In 1986, after his international box-office draw power had fallen off considerably, the 65-year-old Montand gave one of his most memorable performances, as the scheming uncle in the two-part film Jean de Florette, co-starring Gérard Depardieu, and Manon des Sources, co-starring Emmanuelle Béart. The film was a worldwide critical hit and raised Montand's profile in the US, where he made an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

His recognizably crooner songs, especially those about Paris, became instant classics. He was one of the most famous performers at Bruno Coquatrix's famous Paris Olympia music hall. He was best known for his performance of jazz hit "Autumn Leaves" among other popular songs.

In his later years he maintained a home in St Paul de Vence, Provence until his death from a heart attack November 9, 1991 in Senlis, Oise, France. In an interview, Jean-Jacques Beineix said, "He died on the set of IP5: The Island of Pachyderms On the very last day, after his very last shot. It was the very last night and we were doing retakes. He finished what he was doing and then he just died. And the film tells the story of an old man who dies from a heart attack, which is the same thing that happened!"

Montand's only child, Valentin, his son by his second wife Carole Amiel, was born in 1988. In a paternity suit that rocked France, another woman accused Montand of being the father of her daughter and went to court to obtain a DNA sample from him. Montand refused, but the woman persisted after his death. In a court ruling that made international headlines, the woman won the right to have Montand exhumed and a sample taken. It subsequently showed that he was not the girl's father.

He is buried next to Simone Signoret in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia)

Kenny Roberts (October 14, 1926 – April 29, 2012) was an American country music singer. Best-known for his 1949 hit "I Never See Maggie Alone," Kenny Roberts was one of the last country singers to specialize in the legendary vocal technique of the blue yodel. Inspired by Yodeling Slim Clark, Jimmie Rodgers, and

several singing cowboys, Roberts first came to prominence in the late '40s, and over the next five years he built up a fan base through his recording, frequent tours, and his appearance at yodeling concerts. Though he never had many hits -- he only charted four times, between 1949 and 1950 -- he nevertheless remained a popular concert attraction well into the '80s.

Roberts was born George Kingsbury in Lenoir City, TN. After Roberts’ mother died when he was a child, the family relocated to a farm near Athol, Massachusetts. He learned guitar, harmonica and fiddle and grew up listening to the music of the singing cowboys and the yodelling of Elton Britt. He won a talent competition when he was 13 years old and first played with the Red River Rangers on WHAI Greenfield in 1942.He made his first radio appearance when he was 15. At the age of 17, he won a New Hampshire radio contest to be chosen as "Eastern States Yodeling Champion" in 1944.

Roberts became part of the Down Homers, a local group who had a regular gig at WKNE, a New Hampshire radio station. Eventually, the group made their way toward the Midwest, playing at radio stations in Iowa and later settling in Fort Wayne, IN, where they regularly played a show called the Hoosier Hop. In a short time, Roberts had developed a reputation as a first-rate singer and yodeler.

The Down Homers -- who also featured Bob Mason, Guy Campbell, Shorty Cook, and Lloyd Cornell -- cut a record released as a Vogue Picture Disc. In early 1945, Roberts decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy; once the war was over, he returned to Fort Wayne, where he began a solo career. After a few months, he moved to St. Louis, where he appeared regularly on several different shows on KMOX, as well as the CBS Saturday morning show Barnyard Frolics. Roberts released one single on Vitacoustic before signing to Coral Records in 1948.

Roberts signed a recording contract with Coral Records in 1949, a division of Decca. His career took off when his first release "I Never See Maggie Alone" was an immediate hit. It sold a million copies. The flip side, "Wedding Bells," also was a hit, reaching

number 15, while his second single, "Jealous Heart," reached number 14. He followed with other hits including "River of Tears,""I've Got the Blues,""Yodel Polka,""She Taught Me to Yodel," and "Hillbilly Style." In the spring of 1950, "Choc'late Ice Cream Cone" became his second Top Ten single; it would also prove to be his last charting single.

Following his chart success, Roberts moved to Cincinnati, where he starred in a children's TV show in 1953, performing in Cincinnati on WLW-TV. He also performed on Arthur Godfrey's CBS network talent program. He became a regional star through television shows in Dayton, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. He began a daily cartoon show on WNEM TV-5 in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1961, as "The Kenny

Roberts Show" where he was known as "The Yodelling Cowboy", or (according to at least one former child guest) "The Jumping Cowboy". The popular black-and-white show featured Roberts singing and playing guitar as he hosted children in the studio, and presented cartoons.

For the remainder of the decade, he concentrated his efforts on the Midwest, becoming a big regional star through his television shows in Dayton, OH (which became his home in 1952), Indianapolis,

Indiana, and Saginaw, MI. Roberts continued to appear regularly on daytime Midwestern television -- and, as of 1962, WWVA's Wheeling Jamboree -- until the mid '60s. Around that time, he released an EP on the independent label Essgee, which led to a contract with Starday Records in 1965. Over the next five years, he released four albums for the label. Once his deal with Starday expired, he recorded briefly in the early '70s for Nashville Records.

In the early '70s, Roberts moved back to Dayton and concentrated on working in the Midwest and Canada. During the mid-'70s, he made a pair of albums for the Canadian label Point. By the end of the decade, he had moved back to his home state of Massachusetts,

where he began playing concerts across the East. Roberts released one album for Palomino around 1980, which was followed by Longhorn's Then and Now, which combined historical cuts with new recordings. A few years later, Roberts moved to a farm near his childhood home in Greenfield. Though he was essentially retired, he continued to give concerts around the Northeast throughout the decade.

Roberts died in April 2012 in Athol, Massachusetts, aged 85.

(Compiled and edited from All Music & Wikipedia)

Fela Kuti, byname of Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, also called Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, (born October 15, 1938, Abeokuta, Nigeria—died August 2, 1997, Lagos), Nigerian musician and activist who launched a modern style of music called Afro-beat, which fused American blues, jazz, and funk with traditional Yoruba music.

Reverend Israel and Funmilayo beside him, Dolu is

behind and Fela in foreground,

baby in arms is not named (most likely Beko),

Olikoye is to the right

Fela was born into an upper-middle-class family. His mother, Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement; his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, an Anglican minister and school principal, was the first president of the Nigeria Union of Teachers. His brothers, Beko Ransome-Kuti and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, both medical doctors, are well known in Nigeria Fela is a first cousin to the Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

He attended Abeokuta Grammar School. Later he was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music, the trumpet being his preferred instrument.While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a fusion of jazz and highlife. In 1960, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to the newly independent Federation of Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. He played for some time with Victor Olaiya and his All Stars.

In 1967, he went to Ghana to think up a new musical direction. That was when Kuti first called his music Afrobeat. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States where they spent 10 months in Los Angeles. While there, Fela discovered the Black Power movement through Sandra Smith, a partisan of the Black Panther Party. The experience would heavily influence his music and political views. He renamed the band Nigeria '70. Soon afterwards, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. The band performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles that would later be released as The '69 Los Angeles Sessions.

Here’s “ Eko IIe” from Afrodisiac album (1973).

He exhorted social change in such songs as “Zombie,” “Monkey Banana,” “Beasts of No Nation,” and “Upside Down.” Fela and his band, which was known variously as the Nigeria 70, Africa 70, and later the Egypt 80, performed for packed houses at the early-morning concerts that they staged at Fela’s often-raided nightclub in Lagos.

The firebrand singer, who gyrated over the keyboard as he sang in English and Yoruba, struck a chord among the unemployed, disadvantaged, and oppressed. His politically charged songs, which decried oppression by Nigeria’s military government, prompted authorities to routinely raid his club, looking for reasons to jail him. Near there he also set up a communal compound, which he proclaimed the independent Kalakuta Republic.

As head of the commune, he often provoked controversy and attracted attention by promoting indulgence in sex, polygamy (he married 27 women), and drugs, especially marijuana. A 1977 raid on the complex by Nigerian authorities resulted in his brief incarceration and the death of his mother the following year due to complications from a fall. In exile in Ghana in 1978, he changed his name from Ransome to the tribal Anikulapo.

In 1979 Fela formed a political party, the Movement of the People, and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of Nigeria. Five years later he was jailed for 20 months on charges of currency smuggling. Upon his release, he turned away from active political protest and left his son, Femi, to carry the torch of Afro-beat music.

Fela's album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In 1993, he and four members of the Afrika '70 organization were arrested for murder, but the charges were eventually dropped. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of Sani Abacha. Rumours were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment.

He died of AIDS complications in Lagos, on August 2, 1997. His funeral prompted three days of processions and a public service. (Compiled and edited from Encyclopaedia Britannica & Wikipedis)

Walter William Bygraves OBE (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves, was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy

sketches between songs. He made twenty Royal Variety Performance appearances and presented numerous programmes, including Family Fortunes. He was famous for his catchphrase “I wanna tell you a story”,

After being born in Rotherhithe by the docks in east London, the family moved to East Ham. He was one of six, with elder bother Henry and four younger sisters called Lily, Patricia, Kathleen and Maureen. His father was a professional flyweight boxer, known as Battling Tom Smith, and a casual dockworker. Brought up Catholic, he attended St Joseph's School, Paradise Street, Rotherhithe, and sang with his school

choir at Westminster Cathedral. Max got his first job aged 10 as a milkman’s assistant, delivering before school as well as having an evening paper round.

However, after leaving school at the age of 14, he went into an advertising agency, WS Crawford, as a messenger boy, ferrying copy to newspapers and popping into the Holborn Empire to see variety acts whenever he could afford it. When the advertising industry slumped at the beginning of the second world war, he got a job as a carpenter's apprentice and built air-raid shelters. After being blown off a roof he was repairing during an air raid, he decided to volunteer for the RAF in 1940 and served as an airframe fitter for five years and. He

met a sergeant in the WAAF, Blossom Murray, and they married in 1942. Together, they had three children, Christine, Anthony and Maxine.

He appeared in well over 1,000 RAF concert parties acquiring on the way the title of the ‘Best Act in Fighter Command’ as well as being Aircraftsman Second Class 1212094 and doing his share of guard duties on draughty airfields. He demonstrated his skills as an entertainer by impersonating Frank Sinatra, the Ink Spots and Max Miller, which gave him the nickname Max.

Max was by now performing to larger camps and becoming known as an entertainer. After the war the BBC invited Max to join an ex-servicemen’s show called They’re Out with other later stars such as Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, Jimmy Edwards, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan.

By the time the war ended, he had resolved to turn professional. At the Grand theatre, Clapham, he was spotted by the agent Gordon Norval, who got him six weeks' work. Further engagements followed but the going was tough. Despite their love of Britain, he and Blossom had just decided to emigrate to Australia when a letter arrived from the BBC asking him to repeat the audition act he had recently given. This earned him an appearance in the radio series They're Out,

which featured other demobbed entertainers such as Spike Milligan, Jimmy Edwards, Frankie Howerd, Harry Secombe and Benny Hill.

In 1946 he did a touring revue, For the Fun of It, with Howerd. He then made his first films, Bless 'em All and Skimpy in the Navy (both 1949), and had another radio hit in the 1950s, performing in the comedy Educating Archie, written by Eric Sykes. He made a handful of films in that decade, taking the title role in Charley Moon (1956), in which he performed his single Out of Town, and appearing in Lewis Gilbert's social drama A Cry from the Streets (1958).

Meanwhile, the London Palladium had become something like his professional home. He made his debut there in 1950, after he was seen at the Finsbury Park Empire by the leading impresario Val Parnell and was asked to stand in for the comedian Ted Ray at the

Palladium. He appeared in 14 shows there over a period of 10 years and eventually starred in 19 Royal Variety Performances. After the first of these, in 1950, Judy Garland asked him to appear with her at the Palace theatre in New York where, wrongly, he did not expect his cockney humour to register.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Bygraves appeared as a guest on several television variety programmes, both in the UK and United States. These included Ed Sullivan, Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason, in America, but his place as a broadcasting icon was founded, along with several fellow artists, by appearing as guest "tutor" to Peter Brough's ventriloquist dummy, Archie Andrews, in the long running BBC radio show Educating Archie.

In the 50s, he had reached the Top 5 with the singles Meet Me on the Corner, You Need Hands/Tulips from Amsterdam and Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be. Often nostalgic or comedic in tone (such as You're a Pink Toothbrush), Bygraves's recordings were also released in a series of crowd-pleasing "singalong" albums. He picked up 31 gold discs in total..

Max by now was a known star; he had a Rolls-Royce with the number plate MB 1.In 1977, UK Publishing House W. H. Allen published Bygraves' comic novel The Milkman's on His Way. In

1982, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). From 1983 to 1985, Bygraves hosted Family Fortunes, taking over from his friend and fellow comedian Bob Monkhouse.

In the 1990s he bought an 84 acre property in northern New South Wales, Australia called Attunga Park. He semi retired from the UK in 2002, with a tour finishing with a sell out concert in Bournemouth, with the Beverley Sisters and moved to his Australian home. However Max returned in 2005, playing his final UK concerts in September 2006.

Max’s wife Blossom died at their Australian home in 2011, aged 88. Max died on 31 August 2012, aged 89, at his home in Hope Island, Queensland, Australia, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)

William Randolph "Cozy" Cole (October 17, 1909 – January 9, 1981) was an American jazz musician who was a versatile percussionist. A highlight of Cole’s drumming career was the 1958 hit Topsy, the only recording featuring a drum solo to sell more than one million copies.

Cozy" Cole was born in East Orange, NJ, on October 17, 1909. He moved to New York City with his family in 1926 and soon became fascinated with the work of Duke Ellington's percussionist Sonny Greer. By 1928 he was performing with clarinetist and bandleader Wilbur Sweatman, and his first recordings (including the feature number "Load of Cole") were made with Jelly Roll Morton in 1930.

After working for several years with Blanche Calloway & Her Joy Boys and the Benny Carter Orchestra, Cole accelerated his involvement in the swarming swing scene, making records with bands led by Willie Bryant and pianist Teddy Wilson and backing vocalists Billie Holiday, Midge Williams, Mildred Bailey, and

Vocalion's assigned Fats Waller emulator, Putney Dandridge. Cozy Cole assisted with Henry "Red" Allen's original recording of
"Algiers Stomp," and made records with Bunny Berigan, Bud Freeman's Windy City Five, Chu Berry's Stompy Stevedores, Stuff Smith's Onyx Club Orchestra, Frankie Newton's Uptown Serenaders, and Lionel Hampton. During the year 1939 he worked with Pete Brown & His Jump Band, Joe Marsala & His Delta Six, Leonard Feather's All-Stars, and one-armed trumpeter Wingy Manone.

In 1940, Cozy Cole took his decade of experience and descended upon the Cab Calloway Orchestra during that brief period when the extroverted leader, reluctant to surrender the spotlight, begrudgingly assigned instrumental features to his star players. Cole was the main focus of "Ratamacue,""Paradiddle," and "Crescendo in Drums." In 1943 he worked with bandleader Raymond Scott and performed "Beat Out Dat Rhythm

on a Drum" in the Broadway production of Oscar Hammerstein II's Carmen Jones. While playing in Scott’s band, Cole studied piano, clarinet, vibraphone and percussion at the Juilliard School of Music.

The year 1944 was a triumphant one for Cole, as he led several all-star groups for the Keynote and Savoy labels and served with bands led by trumpeter Roy Eldridge, saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, bassist Billy Taylor, and cornetist Rex Stewart. He also sat in with pianist Johnny Guarnieri and saxophonist Lester Young, clarinetist Hank D'Amico, tenor man Walter "Foots" Thomas, and several groups working for the Armed Forces V-Disc project.

In 1945 he played in the Broadway performances of 'Carmen Jones' and 'Seven lively arts', as well as in the soundtrack of the animated film 'Make mine music’. He also played for Benny Goodman and since 1947 with Louis Armstrong and his All Stars, whom he accompanied on his European tours of 1949 and 1952. In 1954 he founded a drum academy in New York with his colleague Gene Krupa . Other appearances of his in the cinema in the fifties include 'The Strip' (1951) in which Cozy dubs Mickey Rooney , who plays the role of the drummer of Louis Armstrong's band and 'The Glenn Miller Story' (1953) in which Cole performs a battery duel with Gene Krupa , a duel that would repeat several more times in his life.

In 1957 he accompanied Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines on their tours of Europe. The following year, with his new combo, he got a surprise hits on the pop charts with "Topsy I" and "Topsy II". "Topsy II" peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at No. 1 on the R&B chart. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The track peaked at No. 29 in the UK Singles Chart in

1958. The recording contained a long drum solo and was one of the few drum solo recordings to make the charts at Billboard magazine. The single was issued by Love Records, a small record label in Brooklyn, New York. Cole's song "Turvy II" reached No. 36 in 1959.

In 1962 the U.S. Department of State sent Cole and his band on a tour of Africa. Cole appeared in music-related films, including a brief cameo in Don't Knock the Rock. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he continued to perform in a variety of settings. Cole and Gene Krupa often played drum duets at the Metropole in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1969 Cole began gigging with his old session mate Jonah Jones and worked with the trumpeter's group intermittently for several years. Late maturity found him jamming at a jazz festival in Nice, France, in 1974 and participating in a Louis Armstrong alumni project under the leadership of Lionel Hampton in 1977. Cozy Cole received an honorary degree from Capital University in Columbus, OH, in 1978, and lectured there periodically for the rest of his life. He died from cancer in Columbus, Ohio, January 1981 at age 71.

(Compiled & edited mainly from Wikipedia, britannica.com & All music)

Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Hall's long career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death and she was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hall entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world's most enduring recording artist having released material over eight consecutive decades.

Adelaide Louise Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her family moved across the East River to Harlem, and it was here, among the rich and fertile renaissance of black culture in the 1920s, that Adelaide nurtured her dreams of becoming a star. Her first stage role was in 1921 in the chorus line of the all-black Broadway musical "Shuffle Along", which gave her a taste of the limelight. The show ran for 504 performances and then went on tour.

Her next stint on stage came in 1923, when she was featured in the all-black Broadway musical "Runnin' Wild." Of her performance, Variety wrote, " . . . picked from the chorus is Adelaide Hall, who can be termed a real find. She jazzes a number as Paul Whiteman would have it done, and her singing of 'Old Fashinoed Love' is a knockout." The show ran for 213 performances and then went on

tour. In 1925 she toured Europe as lead in "The Chocolate Kiddies Revue". She introduced Europe to the Charleston dance and performed it to Duke Ellington's "Jig Walk" (the fact is that she was a sensation in Europe before the better known Josephine Baker--who always gets credited for introducing Europe to the Charleston--did.

In 1927 she recorded "Creole Love Call" on a record, backed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The record caused a furore after its release because of its blatantly sexual overtones, but it went on to sell millions of copies and is still selling. It is widely regarded as

among the most famous and important jazz recordings ever made. It introduced "scat singing" to the general public, and catapulted Adelaide and Ellington to international stardom.

In 1928 she starred (with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson) in Blackbirds of 1928. It was this revue that made her name, both in the U.S. and in Europe when the show was taken to Paris. Her performances in it included the songs "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby", "Diga Diga Doo", and "I Must Have That Man", which continued to be audience favourites throughout her career.

She married a British sailor, Bert Hicks, and he started a nightclub in Paris, France (La Grosse Pomme) for her. After many years performing in the U.S. and Europe, Hall went to the United Kingdom in 1938 in order to take a starring role in a musical version of Edgar Wallace's The Sun Never Sets at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She was so successful, and became so popular with British audiences, that she stayed, becoming one of the most popular singers and entertainers of the time. She lived in London from 1938 until her death.

Hall's career was an almost uninterrupted success. She made over seventy records for Decca, had her own radio series (the first black artist to have a long-term contract with the BBC), and appeared on the stage, in films, and in nightclubs (of which she owned her own, in London and Paris). In the 1940s, and especially during World War II, she was hugely popular with both civilian and ENSA audiences, and became one of the highest paid entertainers in the country (despite the destruction in an air raid of the London nightclub owned by her and her husband, the Florida Club).

During an extremely long career (since 1991 she has held the world record as the most enduring recording artist), Hall has performed with major artists such as Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, and Jools Holland, and has recorded as a jazz singer with Duke Ellington (with whom she made her most famous recording, "Creole Love Call" in 1927), Fats Waller, and Art Tatum. She appeared in the London run of Kiss Me, Kate, starred with Lena Horne in Jamaica on Broadway in 1957, and made two jazz recording with Humphrey Lyttelton in 1969–1970. This was followed by theatre tours and concert appearances.

She sang at Duke Ellington's memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 1974, and presented a one-woman show at Carnegie Hall in 1988. Her final U.S. concert appearances took place in March 1992 at Carnegie Hall, in the "Cabaret Comes to Carnegie" series. She died from pneumonia in 1993 at the age of ninety-two at London's Charing Cross Hospital.

Without knowing it, just about everybody singing jazz today is influenced by Adelaide, for she helped create the whole genre, although perhaps her only direct successor would be someone like Lena Horne (and they did perform together) or today maybe somebody like Diana Ross. Adelaide Hall was of the gracious side of jazz, but she was an original. You can’t say she sounds like anyone else. Even her phrasing swings in a different way to many later singers, but it swings nevertheless.(info mainly Wikipedia)

(Compiled and edited mainly from Wikipedia & IMDb)

Robert Gaston Fuller (October 22, 1942 – July 18, 1966) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for "Let Her Dance" and "I Fought the Law", recorded with his group The Bobby Fuller Four.

Born in Baytown, Texas, Fuller had a maternal older half brother, Jack, and a younger brother, Randy. Fuller moved as a small child to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he remained until 1956, when he and his family moved to El Paso, Texas. His father got a job at El Paso Natural Gas at that time. It was the same year that Elvis Presley became popular, and Bobby Fuller became mesmerized by the new rock and roll star. Fuller soon adopted the style of fellow Texan Buddy Holly, fronting a four-man combo and often using original material.

During the early 1960s, he played in clubs and bars in El Paso, and he recorded on independent record labels in Texas with a constantly changing line-up. The only constant band members were Fuller and his younger brother, Randy Fuller (born on January 29, 1944, in Hobbs, New Mexico) on bass. Most of these independent releases (except two songs recorded at the studio of Norman Petty in Clovis), and an excursion to Yucca Records, also in New Mexico, were recorded in the Fullers' own home studio, with Fuller acting as the producer. He even built a primitive echo chamber in the back yard. The quality

of the recordings, using a couple of microphones and a mixing board purchased from a local radio station, was so impressive that he offered the use of his "studio" to local acts for free so he could hone his production skills.

Fuller moved to Los Angeles in 1964 with his band The Bobby Fuller Four, and was signed to Mustang Records by producer Bob Keane, who was noted for discovering Ritchie Valens and producing many surf music groups. By this time, the group consisted of Fuller and his brother Randy on vocals/guitar and bass respectively, Jim Reese on guitar and

DeWayne Quirico on drums; this was the lineup that recorded "I Fought The Law". (There are actually two versions of "I Fought The Law" by Fuller: the original hit was released as a 45-rpm single, and the re-recording was issued on an album. The arrangements are identical but the vocals by Fuller are slightly different.)

At a time when the British Invasion and folk rock were the dominant genres in rock, Fuller stuck to Buddy Holly's style of classic rock and roll with Tex Mex flourishes. His recordings, both covers and originals, also reveal the influences of Eddie Cochran, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and The Everly Brothers, as well as surf guitar. Less well known was Fuller's ability to emulate the reverb-laden surf guitar of Dick Dale and The Ventures.

His first Top 40 hit was the self-penned "Let Her Dance". His second hit, "I Fought the Law", peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 12–19, 1966. The song was originally written and recorded by Sonny Curtis, who became a member of Buddy Holly's former group The Crickets after Holly's death. The group's third Top 40 single was a cover of Holly's "Love's Made a Fool of You."

Within months of "I Fought the Law" becoming a top 10 hit, Fuller was found dead in an automobile parked outside his Hollywood apartment. The Los Angeles deputy medical examiner, Jerry Nelson, performed the autopsy. According to Dean Kuipers: "The report states that he found no bruises, no broken bones, no cuts. No evidence of beating." Following autopsy, the L.A. Country Coroner’s office classified the death as “accidental, or suicide,” caused by “asphyxia due to inhalation of gasoline.” Despite the official cause of death, some commentators believe Fuller was murdered.

Erik Greene, a relative of Sam Cooke, has cited similarities in the deaths of Cooke and Fuller. Fuller bandmate Jim Reese suspected that Charles Manson played a role in Fuller's death, but never provided credible evidence. A sensationalist crime website has speculated that the Los Angeles Police Department may have been involved because of Fuller's connection to a Mafia-related woman.

Fuller was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. His death was profiled in a segment of Unsolved Mysteries.

His death was explored in the May 11, 2015 episode of the NPR program All Things Considered. The program references the book I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller, by Miriam Linna, with contributions by Randy Fuller.

Sometime after the Unsolved Mysteries segment in question initially aired, the cause of Fuller's death was officially changed from "suicide" to "accident. (Info Wikipedia)

Colette Dereal born 22 September 1927

John Coltrane born 23 September 1926

Peggy Connelly born 25 September 1931

Merrill Moore born 26 September 1923

Gene Autry born 29 September 1907

Cissy Houston born 30 September 1932

Mariska Veres born 1 October 1948

Larry Collins born 4 October 1944

Janet Vogel born 6 October 1941

Gordon Terry born 7 October 1931

Karel Vlach born 8 October 1911

France Gall born 9 October 1947

Billy Ternent born 10 October 1899

Yves Montand born 13 October 1921

Kenny Roberts born 14 October 1926

Fela Kuti born 15 October 1938

Max Bygraves born 16 October 1922

Cozy Cole born 17 October 1909

Adelaide Hall born 20 October 1901

Bobby Fuller born 22 October 1942