Categotry Archives: Musicians

Karl H. Mueller, the bass guitarist of the grunge rock band Soul Asylum, died on June 17 after a yearlong battle with esophageal cancer. He was 41.
The Minneapolis native was a teenager when he visited a friend in London and became utterly fascinated by punk rock. When Mueller returned home, he hooked his classmates onto the music too. In 1981, Mueller joined forces with drummer Dave Pirner and guitarist Dan Murphy to form the punk band Loud Fast Rules. Over the next three years, Pirner switched to rhythm guitar and vocals, the trio hired the first of several drummers and the band’s name changed to Soul Asylum.
Soul Asylum recorded four albums and received airplay on college radio stations in the mid- to late-1980s, but was mostly known as the opening act for Twin Cities’ denizens the Replacements and H

Paul Newell Hester, the former drummer of the pop/rock band Crowded House, committed suicide on March 26. He was 46.
The Melbourne native was born to Mulga Mike Hester, a legendary bushman, and Ann Hester, a jazz drummer who taught him how to play percussion instruments at an early age. Hester’s passion for music overrode any interest in education, and he dropped out of school to pursue a career in show business.
Hester joined the New Zealand New Wave group Split Enz in 1983. Although the band dissolved less than a year later, Hester and the group’s singer/songwriter Neil Finn soon hooked up with bass player Nick Seymour and guitarist/keyboardist Craig Hooper to form the Mullanes. When Hooper left the band in 1985, the trio moved to Los Angeles, signed a record contract with Capitol Records and changed the band’s name to Crowded House.
One of Australia’s most successful bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Crowded House found international fame with the hits “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong.” Hester quit the band in 1994, citing declining motivation and the pressures of a grueling tour schedule. The band released four studio albums before breaking up in 1996.
In recent years, Hester played with several bands, including Rose Amongst Thorns, the Chris Bailey Combo, Ultrasound, Largest Living Things and Tarmac Adam. He hosted The Music Max Sessions, a series of intimate concerts featuring top-shelf music acts, for Australia’s cable music channel Music Max, and enjoyed a recurring role as Chef Paul on the children’s TV show, “The Wiggles.” Two weeks ago, he appeared on the SBS music quiz show, “RockWiz.”
Hester took his two dogs for a walk on Friday and hanged himself from a tree in Elsternwick Park near his home in Melbourne. His body was found the next day. Hester is survived by his two daughters, aged eight and 10.
Download MP3s by Crowded House

Danny Joe Brown, the original lead singer of the Southern rock band Molly Hatchet, died on March 10 of renal failure and pneumonia. He was 53.
The Jacksonville, Fla., native graduated from high school, spent two years in the U.S. Coast Guard then made a living as an insurance salesman. His passion, however, was music and in 1974, he joined Molly Hatchet, a hard-rockin’ six-piece band that was named after a 17th century prostitute who allegedly beheaded and mutilated her clients.
Brown served as the frontman and lone vocalist for the group, and lent his deep, gravelly voice to the songs “Dreams I’ll Never See” and “Gator Country.” Molly Hatchet’s self-titled debut went platinum in 1978. A year later, the band released its sophomore effort, “Flirtin’ With Disaster,” which sold over 2 million copies.
Citing diabetes and exhaustion from constant touring and partying, Brown left the band in 1980. He created a short-lived side project — The Danny Joe Brown Band — before rejoining Molly Hatchet in 1982 to record the albums “No Guts…No Glory” and “The Deed Is Done.”
Molly Hatchet disbanded several times in the 1980s, but reunited for a reunion tour in 1996. When Brown’s diabetes worsened, vocalist Phil McCormack replaced him. His musical career ended in 1998 after he suffered a debilitating stroke.
Download MP3s by Molly Hatchet

Rodney William Roach, a champion banjo player known as “the gentle giant,” died on Feb. 23 of brain cancer. He was 63.
Roach was just a boy when he took up the ukulele and the guitar. He continued to experiment with string instruments, teaching himself to play the mandolin, fiddle and dobro. After hearing bluegrass legends Flatt and Scruggs play the five-string banjo, however, Roach made the instrument his own.
The 6-foot-7 musician attended Middlebury College in Vermont and played with numerous bluegrass bands, including the Otter Creek Ramblers, Apple Country, Tasty Licks, Stoney Lonesome and Eel River Bog Trotters. He was named the New England 5-String Banjo Champion in 1971 and 1972.
Roach made a living as a senior insurance claims adjuster for Encompass Insurance in Quincy, Mass., but his passion for music never waned. In recent years, he taught banjo workshops and performed with The Back Eddy Bluegrass Band. A prolific songwriter, Roach was best known for writing a song to commemorate Massachusetts’ observance of the U.S. bicentennial in 1976.

Jeanette Schmid shall never purse her lips again.
Austria’s last professional whistler, Schmid was better known by her stage name: Baroness Lips von Lipstrill. Born a man in Czechoslovakia, Schmid underwent a sex change in Egypt in 1964.
She went into show business after landing a job dancing for the shah of Iran. When her costume was deemed too skimpy, Schmid changed into a more conservative outfit and entertained the monarch by whistling a polka by Johann Strauss Jr.
Schmid whistled professionally for the next four decades and shared the stage with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. In recent years, she performed on television and worked the circus and cruise line circuits, entertaining audiences by hitting the high C note.
Schmid died of the flu at the age of 80. The exact day of her death was not released.

Edward Roy Patten, a member of the Grammy Award-winning R&B group Gladys Knight & The Pips, died on Feb. 25 from complications of a stroke. He was 65.
The Atlanta native had music in his soul. He grew up singing in his church and accompanying local doo-wop groups. In 1959, Patten’s cousin, Gladys Knight, invited him to join her singing group. Together with her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight, and cousin William Guest, the extended family formed the R&B quartet known as The Pips. Their 1961 debut, “Every Beat of My Heart,” hit #1 on the R&B chart and #6 on the pop chart. The following year, however, a small record company encouraged the group to give Gladys’ name more prominence.
Gladys Knight & The Pips moved to Detroit in 1966 and became a staple of the Motown line-up. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the group scored Top 40 hits with “Friendship Train,” “It Should Have Been Me,” “The End of Our Road,” “If I Were Your Woman,” “Neither One of Us” and the original version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” Patten sang bass and tenor for the group and choreographed many of its stylish dance routines.
In 1973, Gladys Knight & The Pips switched to Buddah Records and attained superstardom on pop and R&B radio stations with “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.” The group continued performing into the 1980s and won four Grammy Awards before disbanding. Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
In recent years, Patten co-founded Crew Records. He worked as a back-up vocalist to the label’s recording artists until 1995 when a series of strokes robbed him of his ability to sing.
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Download MP3s From Gladys Knight & The Pips