Saturday, December 31, 2016

New Members of Rock & Roll Heaven, Part 15

We wonder if when people heard all the great music, they really appreciated the amazing times they were listening to, which featured some of the best music ever written.  We want to make sure you do, for we lost an awful lot in 2016:

Brian Rading, co-founder and former bassist with the Five Man Electrical Band, died June 20 at age 69.




The group from Ontario, Canada landed a #3 smash in 1971 with "Signs".










Matt Roberts, former founding guitarist of Three Doors Down, died August 20 in a West Bend, Wisconsin hotel, according to his father, Darrell, who was staying in an adjoining room.  Roberts was 38.




Roberts founded Three Doors Down with lead singer Brad Arnold and bassist Todd Harrell in 1996.  Roberts left the group in 2012 because of health reasons.  The group is best known for their #3 smash "Kryptonite", which is featured above.






Roberts rehearsed the previous morning for a "Rockin' for Heroes" benefit concert at a local restaurant.  Detectives woke up the elder Roberts up yesterday morning to tell him his son had died.  West Bend police received a call Saturday that a man was "either asleep or passed out in the hallway of his hotel," according to a statement from the department.




 
Three Doors Down burst on the scene with their debut album The Better Life, which has sold over six million copies and contained "Kryptonite" and "Loser", a Mainstream Rock hit.  The group continued that success with the album Away from the Sun, which has gone over four million in sales and generated the Top 10 hits "When I'm Gone" and "Here Without You".










Troy Shondell (real name Gary Shelton) died January 7 of complication of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease in Picayune, Mississippi at age 76.





Shondell scored his biggest hit with "This Time" in 1961.







Leon Russell November 13 at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, his health going downward as he tried to recuperate from a quadruple bypass.  Russell was 74.




Russell was the pianist for Joe Cocker and wrote many songs, including "Superstar" and "A Song For You", both recorded by the Carpenters.





Russell played at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in 1971.






His biggest solo hit was "Lady Blue" in 1975.

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