2005 – Irish vocalist Sinead O’Connor makes a rare live appearance at the fifth annual Jammy Awards in New York. O’Connor’s performance with reggae legend Burning Spear constitutes her first on-stage appearance in New York in more than five years.
2003 – Reggae artist Ziggy Marley releases his first solo album, “Dragonfly,” via Private Music. The oldest son of Bob Marley, the artist fronted the Melody Makers through nine studio albums on Capitol, Virgin, and Elektra.
2002 – Two sons of the late reggae star Bob Marley are arrested in North Florida after officers find marijuana in their car. Julian and Stephen Marley, also reggae musicians are released on $500 bail each.
1999 – Reggae star Dennis Brown dies at University Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, of a collapsed lung. He is 43.
by Dotun Adebayo Saturday July 3, 1999
Were it not for a fundamental flaw in his character, Dennis Brown, who has died aged 42, should have been crowned the undisputed king of reggae in May 1981 after the death of Bob Marley. Fans were practically gagging to hand him the title. Even Marley himself had selected Brown as his successor, dubbing him the “crown prince”.
Raised in the badlands of west Kingston, Jamaica, where boys become men before they reach puberty, Brown was nine years old when he was billed as the “boy wonder-singing sensation” and hoisted onto a beer crate to face an audience as the novelty act with the island’s leading big band, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. By the age of 12, he was already a veteran of the music scene, and followed the same route as Bob Marley to Studio One Records on Brentford Road, Kingston, the birthplace of reggae royalty from Burning Spear to Toots and the Maytals.
In a two-day session, presided over by Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, the young Brown recorded two classic albums – No Man Is An Island and If I Follow My Heart – that confirmed him as Jamaica’s own Michael Jackson, with a mini-afro to boot. Though the albums sold well, it wasn’t until his voice had broken two years later that Brown was able to establish himself – on the album Super Reggae And Soul Hits – as a classy interpreter of the understated soul ballad, with a honeycoated voice that glided like a gentle breeze and went on to influence a generation of reggae vocalists, from Maxi Priest to Drummie Zeb, of Aswad.
It didn’t take long before every producer in Jamaica was knocking on the 14-year -old’s door, enticing him with little more than small change to record for them. Brown was incapable of saying “no” and duly obliged, setting a pattern that would result in at least 78 albums for 37 record labels in his 30-year career, releasing six or seven albums a year at his peak.
Reggae fans, however, could not get enough of Dennis. All he had to do was sing, and his records would sell in tens of thousands, if not millions – as did his only UK Top 10 hit, Money In My Pocket, in 1977. The odd dud track was unable to distract from the countless reggae classics that he seemed to knock out – Some Like It Hot, My Time, Cassandra, Westbound Train, How Could I Leave, Easy Take It Easy and Ghetto Girl, itself recently covered by Mick Hucknall, of Simply Red.
By the mid-1970s, Brown had followed further in Marley’s footsteps – to the door of the Twelve Tribes Of Israel rasta church on Hope Road, New Kingston. When he came out, the afro had been replaced by dreadlocks, and the soul ballads had been beefed up with a heavy dub bassline and the occasional rasta revolutionary lyrics, such as on the album Wolf And Leopards.
Brown seemed to have found a similar mix of lovers’ music and third-world militancy that catapulted Marley into international stardom.
From that same session came the tune that was to become Brown’s signature, Here I Come (With Love And Not Hatred). Success brought him to England, where he set up DEB Records, which established lovers’ rock as one of only three reggae styles indigenous to the UK and launched the career of a roster of female singers, including formerSoul II Soul frontwoman, Caron Wheeler.
In 1981, reggae drum and bass duo Sly and Robbie, who had assumed the semi-retired Coxsone Dodd’s mantle, invited Brown to ascend the throne made vacant by Marley’s death. Again, Brown could not say “no” when they took him into the studio, and dusted him down with a pop reggae beat and an international recording contract that saw him release three mediocre albums in successive years for A&M, Foul Play, Love Has Found Its Way and The Prophet Rides Again.
Though an international audience ignored these blatant attempts to wear Marley’s crown, the reggae audience forgave Brown his flirtation with pop and welcomed him to a sellout concert at the Brixton Academy as if it were his coronation. But Brown would never become king. He had been unable to say “no” to a cocaine habit, which would torment him for the rest of his life and see his career slide into parody. In May, while touring in Brazil, he was arrested for possession of drugs. A sad, undignified footnote to the life and times of the boy who couldn’t say “no”.
He is survived by his wife, Yvonne, and his 13 children.
Dennis Emmanuel Brown, musician, February 1957 – July 1 1999
1985 – The Beach Boys finally hold their July 4 bash in Washington, D.C., where they’re joined by Jimmy Page on “Lucille.”
Fun, Fun, Fun With Jimmy Page
Beach Boys
Sugarcane Records, SC 52021/22
CD 1: Live at Montego Bay, Jamaica Music Festival, November 26th 1982.
See for comment the All Summer Long CD.
CD 2: Live in Philadelphia, Parkway. July 4th 1985.
Average quality (sound and performance). A lot of guests at the show. The Oak Ridge Boys join in at “Come Go…”, Christopher Cross sings lead on “G.V.” (and forgets part of the second verse), John Stamos takes place behind the drums, Jimmy Page joins on guitar for Lucille (and the songs after that one), and Mr.T drums on Surfin’ Safari. Also present is Joan Jett.
CD 1:
1. Introduction (1:22)
2. California Girls (2:42)
3. I Can Hear Music (2:20)
4. Sloop John B. (2:38)
5. Darlin’ (1:58)
6. Dance Dance Dance (1:51)
7. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (2:25)
8. In My Room (2:14)
9. Do It Again (2:58)
10. 409 + Shut Down (3:24)
11. Little Old Lady From Pasadena + Little Deuce Coupe (2:20)
12. I Get Around (1:54)
13. Runaway (2:15)
14. God Only Knows (2:17)
15. Come Go With Me (2:17)
16. Be True To Your School (2:28)
17. Surfer Girl (2:15)
18. All Summer Long + Help Me Rhonda (3:56)
19. Rockin’ All Over The World (2:53)
20. Rock N’ Roll Music (2:28)
21. Surfin’ Safari (2:04)
22. Surf CVity (1:56)
23. Surfin’ USA (2:16)
24. Good Vibrations (Reggae Version) (5:07)
25. Barbara Ann (3:01)
26. Fun Fun Fun (2:29)
CD 2:
1. California Girls (2:36)
2. Getcha Back (3:01)
3. Sloop John B. (2:58)
4. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (2:21)
5. Do It Again (3:10)
6. Little Deuce Coupe (2:00)
7. I Get Around (2:04)
8. Surfer Girl (2:18)
9. God Only Knows (2:33)
10. Come Go With Me (2:25)
11. Good Vibrations (4:35)
12. Rockin’ All Over The World (2:53)
13. Lucille (3:42)
14. Help Me Rhonda (3:06)
15. Surfin’ Safari (2:25)
16. Surf City (1:54)
17. Surfin’ USA (2:24)
18. Barbara Ann (2:48)
19. Fun Fun Fun (2:57)
1981 – Reggae star Bob Marley dies of cancer in a Miami hospital at the age of 36. Rastaman Vibration is the highest-charting album by Bob Marley & the Wailers, reaching Chart Toppers’s top 10 in 1976.
1947 – Don Felder of the Eagles is born in Topanga, Calif.
Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947 in Gainesville, Florida) is an American rock musician who was a member of the Eagles from 1974–1980 and from 1994–2001. Felder was the primary guitar soloist and co-writer of the Eagles’ hit song “Hotel California”. He also released ‘Heavy Metal’ for the movie of the same name that has become a cult classic.
Early life and influences
Don Felder was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on the Ed Sullivan show. He got his first guitar when he was around 10, which he is believed to have exchanged with a friend for a handful of cherry bombs. He was heavily influenced by rock and roll and when he was 15, started his first band, The Continentals, which also had Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame. Around this time he also met Bernie Leadon, later one of the founding members of the Eagles. He and Bernie both attended the same high school, Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Florida. Bernie replaced Stills and the band became the Maundy Quintet. An interesting note: in the 1966 Gainesville High School Yearbook the Maundy Quintet is pictured next to another Gainesville High student and his band that was destined for fame — Tom Petty and his early band the Epics. Felder has said that he gave Tom Petty guitar lessons for a year and a half at a local music shop.
After the band broke up, Felder went to New York with a band called Flow, which released only a single jazz album. While in New York, Felder improved his mastery of the guitar and learned various styles.
After Flow broke up, Felder moved to Boston, where he got a job in a recording studio. There he met the rest of the Eagles in 1971, while they were on their first tour. In 1972, Felder moved to California where he was hired as guitar player for an album by David Blue. He helped Blue put together a tour, in which they opened for Crosby and Nash for around nine months.
Eagles
In 1974, Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song “Good Day in Hell”. The following day he was invited to join the band, with the belief among some people that it came after a similar offer made to Joe Walsh was rejected. Walsh, in turn, joined the band a year later, after Bernie Leadon quit. Felder and Walsh were already friends, and together they added a harder edge to the Eagles’ musical sound. The band started moving away from their earlier country rock style, towards rock. On the band’s fourth album, One of These Nights, Felder sang lead vocal on the song “Visions”, which he co-wrote with Don Henley, and was the only Eagles song that Felder ever sang lead vocal on.
The first album to be released by the Eagles after their makeover was Hotel California, which became a major international bestseller. Felder wrote the music for the album’s title track, “Hotel California”, and had originally introduced it, as an instrumental demo, to Henley and Frey who dismissed it as “Mexican Reggae”, though it would become the band’s most successful recording. After the release of Hotel California and the tour that followed, the Eagles found themselves under tremendous pressure to repeat this success. Their next album, 1979′s The Long Run, took almost three years to complete, after which the band broke up in 1980.
Post-1970s career
Following the break up of the Eagles, Felder focused more on his family but also embarked on a solo career. He worked on The Bee Gees’ 1981 album Living Eyes as a session guitarist. In 1983, he released a rock and roll album titled Airborne which to date remains his only solo LP, although he contributed the songs “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)” (with former Eagles Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit contributing backing vocals) and “All of You” to the 1981 film Heavy Metal, as well as the title track from the movie The Wild Life. In 1985–86 he hosted a musical comedy show entitled FTV. In 1986 he wrote and performed all the music and the theme song to the animated series Galaxy High.
Felder appeared in the 1980 film Caddyshack, particularly the synchronized-swimming scene in the golf-club pool.
In 1994, the Eagles (including Felder) regrouped for a concert aired on MTV, which resulted in the new album Hell Freezes Over. Felder continued as a member of the Eagles through their 1999–2000 New Year’s concerts.
In 1999, Felder divorced his wife of 29 years, Susan Felder. The couple met when he was a struggling musician in Gainesville, Florida, and had four children together. He was engaged to real estate broker Kathrin Nicholson in 2007. He claims that Nicholson was the driving force in helping him get over his split from the Eagles and form a new band.
Felder penned the tell-all book Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974 – 2001) in 2006. The book was released in early 2008. The book allows Felder to set forth his position regarding the personalities of Glenn Frey and Don Henley, as well as telling his version of the truth behind his termination from the band in 2001.
Termination and lawsuit
On February 6, 2001, Don Felder was fired from the Eagles. Felder responded by filing two lawsuits against “Eagles, Ltd., a California corporation; Don Henley, an individual; Glenn Frey, an individual; and Does 1-50″, alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, reportedly seeking $50 million in damages.
In his latter complaint, Felder alleged that from the 1994 Hell Freezes Over tour onward, Henley and Frey had “…insisted that they each receive a higher percentage of the band’s profits…”, whereas the money had previously been split in five equal portions. Felder also accused them of coercing him into signing an agreement under which Henley and Frey would receive three times as much of the Selected Works: 1972-1999 proceeds as would Felder. This box set, released in November 2000, has sold approximately 267,000 copies at about $60 apiece.
Henley and Frey then counter-sued Felder for breach of contract, alleging that Felder had written and attempted to sell the rights to a “tell-all” book. The book, Heaven and Hell with Felder embarking on a full publicity campaign surrounding its release.
On January 23, 2002, the Los Angeles County Court consolidated the two complaints and on May 8, 2007, the case was dismissed after being settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Discography
Eagles albums
* On the Border (1974)
* One of These Nights (1975)
* Hotel California (1976)
* The Long Run (1979)
* Eagles Live (1980)
* Hell Freezes Over (1994)
Solo albums
* Airborne (1983)
Eagles Songs
Eagles songs co-written by Don Felder
* “Visions” from One of These Nights (co-written with Don Henley)
* “Too Many Hands” from One of These Nights (co-written with Randy Meisner)
* “Victim of Love” from Hotel California (co-written with Henley, Glenn Frey, and J.D. Souther)
* “Hotel California” from Hotel California (co-written with Henley/Frey)
* “The Disco Strangler” from The Long Run (co-written with Henley/Frey)
* “Those Shoes” from The Long Run (co-written with Henley/Frey)
Eagles song featuring Don Felder on lead vocal
* “Visions” from One of These Nights
Trivia
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2008)
* The third minute of Mojo Nixon’s 1990 song “Don Henley Must Die” contains an exaggerated rendition of the “Hotel California” guitar solo, which was originally performed by Felder. This segment is followed by Nixon’s voiceover to the guitarist “Quit playing that crap! You’re out of the band!” Felder, however, would not be fired until eleven years after the song’s release.
* One of Felder’s songs “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)” was featured in the South Park episode “Major Boobage” as the background music when Kenny has a psychedelic trip. This is an homage to the 1981 film “Heavy Metal” in which Felder’s songs originally appeared in a similar context.
* Felder and guitarist Stephen Stills were good friends growing up in Gainesville, Florida. According to Felder’s 2008 book Heaven and Hell: My Life with The Eagles (1974 – 2001), he and Stills performed a few gigs before Stills left for Los Angeles, California. Felder claims he didn’t hear anything from Stills until he flipped on the radio and heard Stills’ voice singing the Buffalo Springfield smash For What It’s Worth. The two have reconnected and collaborated numerous times since the late-1960s.
* Felder was good friends with guitar legend Duane Allman. It was Allman who taught Felder how to play slide guitar, a trait that would impress Eagle Glenn Frey and help make him a member of the Eagles.
* Childhood friend Bernie Leadon, founding member of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles, encouraged him to come out and live with him in Los Angeles, California for many years. After years of resistance, Felder finally agreed. The move to the west coast would prove as a smart decision, as two years later Felder would find himself jamming with Leadon and his band the Eagles. The Eagles, at that time, were still relatively unknown but after Felder joined in 1974, they became superstars.
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