Tag: obituary

Bobby Eli, the guitarist and co-founder of disco legends MFSB, who shaped the Philadelphia sound with his playing on various Philadelphia International recordings, has died. The Philadelphia Inquirer confirmed the news with Eli’s wife, Vonnie, who told the outlet that her husband died in his sleep at his home in Havertown, Pennsylvania on August 17. While Eli had a stroke in 2016, his death was the result of natural causes. The Spinners, who enlisted Eli on hits including “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” posted the news on Instagram last week. Eli was 77 years old.

Eli was part of the Philadelphia International label’s Sigma Sound Studios house band, which advanced R&B and soul drawn from Motown and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section toward danceable disco anthems. Working alongside session musicians, producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff developed the style with hits like the O’Jays’ “Love Train” and “Back Stabbers,” both featuring Eli on guitar—songs that pinned soulful, political lyrics to dancier beats that swept through the neighboring New York scene, where disco was incubating at clubs. Eli traced disco itself to drummer Earl Young’s innovations on “The Love I Lost,” Teddy Pendergrass’ 1973 breakout hit with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, on which Eli played guitar.

Gamble and Huff’s house band formed MFSB in the early 1970s, penning their signature song, “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” as a theme for the variety show Soul Train; it was the first theme song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their next single, “Love Is the Message,” became a house staple at David Mancuso’s legendary Loft parties. With MFSB, Eli fused a sense of jazz harmony with a gospel sensibility. Dubbed “Electronic Eli” for his dextrous use of pedals and effects, the guitarist and songwriter fashioned simple melodic figures that served the songs’ momentum, sometimes doubling a bassline or adding a hook that strings and horns would scale up and sugarcoat.

As MFSB rode the disco wave and eventually transitioned into its second iteration as the Salsoul Orchestra, Eli and his bandmates supplemented their income with live performance in-between jobs on disco classics like the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” and Grace Jones’ debut, Portfolio; Eli also played with Sister Sledge (alongside Nile Rodgers), Curtis Mayfield, and, later, Elton John and Isaac Hayes. He described himself as a white Jewish person embedded in the patchwork Philadelphia scene, and was selected for the 1978 Who’s Who of Black Americans before informing them of his background.

Magoo has died, Variety reports, citing the Virginia Chief Medical Examiner. A cause of death was not disclosed. The Virginia rapper, best known for his work with Timbaland in the rap duo Timbaland & Magoo, also collaborated with Pharrell Williams, Missy Elliott, and Aaliyah during his career. He was 50 years old.

Since news of Magoo’s death first broke on Sunday (August 13), multiple artists and industry peers have shared tributes to him, including Missy Elliott, Ginuwine, Digital Black of the rap group Playa, and more. Timbaland, on Instagram, wrote, “This one hits different 🥲🥲🥲 long live Melvin aka magoo !!!💔💔💔 Tim and Magoo forever 🕊️🕊️🕊️ rest easy my king ❤️❤️❤️.”

Born Melvin Barcliff in 1973, Magoo grew up around Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, Virginia. Despite the ostensible reference to the classic cartoon character, Magoo has said he chose his rap name to honor the aunt who raised him. He and Timbaland first connected as teenagers, making music in the group S.B.I. (Surrounded by Idiots) with Larry Live and a then-unknown Pharrell Williams before forming Timbaland & Magoo. Magoo was also a member of DeVante Swing’s Swing Mob collective.

After splitting off into a duo, Timbaland & Magoo released their debut album in 1997. Welcome to Our World, which featured contributions from Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Ginuwine, and more, was certified platinum the next year. Welcome to Our World also yielded the duo’s highest-charting career single, “Up Jumps da’ Boogie.”

Timbaland & Magoo would go on to release two more albums together: 2001’s Indecent Proposal and 2003’s Under Construction, Part II. Magoo did not release any solo albums after that. In 2021, Welcome to Our World became available on streaming for the first time after their label, Blackground Records, signed a distribution deal with Empire.

“We made fun records, but they weren’t corny. I don’t have any regrets,” Magoo told YouKnowIGotSoul.com of Timbaland & Magoo in a 2020 interview. “I didn’t get the street credibility that I got into hip hop for, but I felt if I could make people happy and have a good time, that was contributing to hip hop too but in a different way.”

Robbie Robertson, best known for his work as a member of the Band, died today in Los Angeles surrounded by family, according to his manager. “In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Six Nations of the Grand River to support the building of their new cultural center.” He was 80.

Robertson grew up in Toronto. He learned music from his mother’s side of the family, who were Mohawk and lived on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve. As a teenager, he met the lively Ronnie Hawkins and his group the Hawks on the bar band circuit around Toronto. Robertson took up with the group as a guitarist alongside Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson.

After Robertson and his other colleagues split from Hawkins, Bob Dylan recruited the group to be his backing band in 1965—including at his famed “gone electric” set at the Newport Folk Festival that year. The Band followed Dylan to Woodstock, New York, where they holed up in the house that lent the title to their 1968 debut Music from Big Pink, recorded what became The Basement Tapes, and picked up their name. Over the course of the next decade, Robertson and the Band developed a sound that blended the barroom rock of their Hawks days with the American folk-music revival.

The Band had hits with “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” Music from Big Pink, 1969’s The Band, and 1970’s Stage Fright were critical and commercial hits, with Robertson taking the bulk of the songwriting credit and thus getting a larger share of the group’s money. Helm was consistently vocal in his claim that the majority of their songs had been written collaboratively and that Robertson’s publishing share was unfair. In the 2020 documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, Robertson—one of two living members of the band upon its release—claimed that the others had not contributed due to their drug use.

As the group grew exhausted of their time together with 1973’s Moondog Matinee and 1975’s Northern Lights – Southern Cross, the Band eventually decided to call it quits. Their final performance on Thanksgiving in 1976 was documented by Martin Scorsese in The Last Waltz, which was released in 1978 and is widely considered an all-time classic music documentary.

Robertson continued to work with the other members of the Band on side projects, occasionally joining them in the studio. Though the Band reunited in other iterations in the 1980s and 1990s Robertson did not participate. Before his death in 2012, drummer Levon Helm maintained that Robertson’s actions contributed to Richard Manuel’s death by suicide in 1986 and the substance abuse that contributed to Rick Danko’s death in 1999.

John Gosling, who played keyboard and piano in the Kinks for the better part of the 1970s, has died. The band revealed the news on their official social media accounts, writing: “We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of John Gosling. We are sending our condolences to John’s wife and family.” Gosling was 75.

“Condolences to his wife Theresa and family. Rest in peace dearest John,” the Kinks frontman Ray Davies wrote in the statement. Guitarist Dave Davies added: “I’m dismayed deeply upset by John Gosling’s passing. He has been a friend and important contributor to the Kinks music during his time with us. Deepest sympathies to his wife and family. I will hold deep affection and love for him in my heart always. Great musician and a great man.”

Former drummer Mick Avory also paid tribute to Gosling, writing: “Today we lost a dear friend and colleague, he was a great musician and had a fantastic sense of humour, which made him popular member of the band, he leaves us with some happy memories. God Bless him.” Find the band’s full post here.

Gosling joined the Kinks in 1970, following the band’s success amid the British Invasion of the 1960s. During his audition for the group, the Kinks were readying their next album, Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One. Gosling wound up recording on demos of “Powerman,” “This Time Tomorrow,” and “Lola” during the tryout. In 2009, Gosling recalled that fateful day in an interview, saying that the Kinks were “such an easy-going bunch of blokes! Dave handed me a beer from a crate in the middle of the room when I walked in and there was no starry behaviour.”

Widely considered their comeback single, “Lola” became a top 10 hit in the States and the United Kingdom, and it is still one of the Kinks’ most recognizable tracks to-date. Gosling played in the band until his departure 1978; during that time, he played keys and accordion on the Kinks’ country-rock experiment Muswell Hillbillies, and recorded on Percy, Everybody’s in Show-Biz—Everybody’s a Star, Preservation Act 1, Preservation Act 2, Soap Opera, and more.

In 1994, Gosling founded a group called the Kast Off Kinks alongside former members Avory, Jim Rodford, and John Dalton. Gosling played with the band until he retired in 2008.

Angus Cloud, the actor best known for his role as Fezco “Fez” O’Neill in Euphoria, has died, Variety reports. “It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today,” his family said in a statement. “As an artist, a friend, a brother and a son, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways.” Cloud was 25 years old.

“Last week, he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss,” his family’s statement continues. “The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend. Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence. We hope the world remembers him for his humor, laughter and love for everyone. We ask for privacy at this time as we are still processing this devastating loss.”

Cloud starred as Fez, a drug dealer with a big heart, in the first two seasons of the Emmy-winning drama series Euphoria, winning fans over with his slow drawl and good intentions. He was famously hired with no prior acting experiencing, having been found on the street by a casting scout while hanging out with his friends, but was not playing a dramatized version of himself. “It does bother me when people are like, ‘It must be so easy! You get to go in and be yourself,’” Cloud told Variety in 2022. “I’m like, ‘Why don’t you go and do that?’ It’s not that simple. I brought a lot to the character. You can believe what you want. It ain’t got nothing to do with me.”

Euphoria creator and director Sam Levinson shared a statement about Cloud, noting the impact he had on the cast and viewers alike. “There was no one quite like Angus,” wrote Levinson. “He was too special, too talented, and way too young to leave us so soon. He also struggled, like many of us, with addiction and depression. I hope he knew how many hearts he touched. I loved him. I always will. Rest in peace and God Bless his family.”

Beyond the HBO series, Cloud also acted in the 2021 movie North Hollywood as well as this year’s feature film The Line. He was recently cast in a new horror movie by Scream 6 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, which does not yet have a title, as well as the independent film Your Lucky Day, which has reportedly wrapped already. 

Though he didn’t perform music in Euphoria, Cloud was vocal about his love of music offscreen and how he would film music videos for his friends as a teenager. After becoming an actor, Cloud made cameos in several music videos for high-profile artists, including Juice WRLD’s “Cigarettes,” Becky G and Karol G’s “Miamiii,” and Noah Cyrus’ “All Three.”

Musicians and actors have shared tributes to Angus Cloud after learning of his death, including Kid Cudi, Questlove, Janelle Monáe, Kerry Washington, Chloe Bailey, Flavor Flav, and Denzel Curry. Javon Walton, the teenage actor who portrays Fez’s adopted little brother Ashtray on Euphoria, posted a photo of the two hugging on Instagram, captioned, “rest easy brother ❤️🕊.”

Neal Langford, an early bassist for indie outfit the Shins, has died. The Shins frontman James Mercer announced the news in a statement on the group’s official Instagram, writing, “one of the best friends I’ve ever had has passed.” He added that Langford was a “very important figure” in his life, and that his former bandmate helped him overcome his shyness and perform live. “An invaluable person,” Mercer added, “who turned me onto Dinosaur Jr. and Interview Magazine and the Cocteau Twins.” Find Mercer’s full eulogy below.

Langford played with Mercer prior to the Shins forming, when the two men were members of Flake Music (formerly known as Flake) in the early 1990s. After banding together in 1992, Flake Music issued just one album: 1997’s When You Land Here, It’s Time to Return.  That record included a prophetic song title: track nine is called “The Shins.” Sub Pop reissued the LP in 2014.

In addition to Mercer and Langford, Flake Music’s lineup featured Jesse Sandoval, Martin Crandall, and Phil Higgs—all of whom played on the Shins’ 2001 debut, Oh, Inverted World. But by the time the Shins recorded their sophomore album Chutes Too Narrow, Langford was no longer in the band. At the time, Langford said that he had taken up hot-air ballooning.

On July 21, NBC affiliate WITN in North Carolina reported that Langford, whom they referred to as a local hot air balloonist, was found dead in Bath Creek near a private dock. A cause of death was not revealed, but law enforcement officials do not suspect foul play.

In a 2020 interview with Radio Milwaukee, Mercer spoke at length about his early friendship with Langford, specifically discussing Langford’s influence on his musical tastes. “He was just the coolest kid I’d ever met,” Mercer said, adding that Langford was living in North Carolina with his partner at the time, and “doing great.”

Mercer concluded his tribute to Lanford by saying: “There’s too much to the story but I loved him. And I owe him a lot. Neal Langford you were always loved and you always will be.”

Just want to let you guys know one of the best friends I’ve ever had has passed. He was in several bands with me including the Shins. A very important figure in my life you could say. I mean this is the guy who talked me into getting over my shyness and up on the stage. He put me in front of the microphone! He was the catholic school kid who showed me how to sneak into the back of the old El Rey theatre and get a “free” beer. An invaluable person! Who turned me onto Dinosaur Jr. and Interview Magazine and the Cocteau Twins and countless other piles of cool stuff.

He would pick me up in his stepdad’s El Camino and we’d listen to his latest mixtape. With our swerve on. Driving when we probably shouldn’t have been. Where we shouldn’t have been. We were like that. A long time ago. There’s too much to the story but I loved him. And I owe him a lot. Neal Langford you were always loved and you always will be.

Sinéad O’Connor has died, RTÊ reports. O’Connor’s family confirmed the news in a statement to the Irish news outlet, writing: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.” O’Connor was 56 years old.

The incomparable singer and songwriter, who became internationally famous with 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got and its hit single, her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” had been hospitalized last year after her 17-year-old son Shane died. 

In the recent past, O’Connor’s public life has been a tumultuous one. In 2017, she posted a message to her Facebook page detailing how she was living alone in a New Jersey Travelodge. “I’m all by myself, there’s absolutely nobody in my life,” she said. Throughout her career, O’Connor recorded 10 studio albums. Her last album was 2014’s I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss.

O’Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland. In the late 1980s, she was discovered by record executives while performing in the band Ton Ton Macoute. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987. She had a brief film career, starring as Emily Brontë in a 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. 

It was around this time when she established herself as a provocateur. She voiced her support of the Irish Republican Army, reportedly refused to perform at a U.S. concert if it was preceded by the National Anthem, boycotted the Grammy Awards in 1991 due to the show’s commercialism, and famously tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live” before asking viewers to “fight the real enemy.”

Her family life and emotional health was, at times, fraught. She reportedly attempted suicide in 1999 following a public falling out with Irish journalist John Waters—the father of her daughter. O’Connor revealed she was living with bipolar disorder in 2007. In November 2015, her Facebook page featured posts detailing family turmoil and messages implying that she might harm herself. Months later, it was reported to Chicago police that O’Connor had threatened to jump off a bridge. (O’Connor would later call those reports “bullshit.”)

O’Connor continued to speak openly about her mental health struggles and slowly returned to the public eye. In 2018, she released “Milestones” under the moniker Magda Davitt, marking her first new song in four years. She also announced her first string of tour dates in just as long. In 2021, O’Connor released her memoir Rememberings, which chronicled her difficult childhood, mental health challenges, and her remarkable contributions to popular music.