Reggae Musician Dies At 70

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Cedric Brooks, a Jamaican saxophone player and influential roots reggae musician, has died. He was 70.

One of Brooks' sisters, Paulette Keise, said he died Friday of cardiac arrest at New York Hospital Queens. She said Saturday that he suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes and fell ill several years ago, losing his ability to speak.

Brooks began his music career in the late 1960s as a studio musician, playing in songs such as Burning Spear's "Door Peep." He also had hits with trumpet player David Madden including "Money Maker" and "Mystic Mood."

Brooks also was a member of the Jamaican ska band The Skatalites.

He is survived by seven children and four sisters.

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David Lynch is now a musician (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – David Lynch refers to himself as a "non-musician," but don't think that such a technicality would keep the free-spirited "Twin Peaks" creator from releasing an album of his songs anyhow. Because it didn't. His debut album, "Crazy Clown Time," will arrive on November 8.

The avant garde filmmaker wrote each of the LP's 14 tracks, and he also plays guitar and sings on them. Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs contributes guest vocals on one song.

Two singles from "Crazy Clown Time" -- "Good Day Today" and "I Know" -- have already been released, and sound very much like the kind of things that Donna Heyward and Laura Palmer might have listened to while hanging out with James Hurley.

In a press release, Lynch summed up the experience of recording "Crazy Clown Time" in a typically Lynchian way.

"There were so many accidents," he said. "This album should be in the hospital."

You can see the official videos for the songs here: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/david-lynch-crazy-clown-time-album-release

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Rock musician uses cell phone stickup note in robbery (Reuters)

CONWAY, Mass (Reuters) – A musician, using a stickup note posted on his cell phone, robbed a Massachusetts pharmacy of prescription pain pills just hours before his scheduled rock concert, authorities said on Monday.

Michael Todd, 30, a bass player and singer with New York rock band Coheed and Cambria, was arrested Sunday at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, several hours before the group was set to open for headliner Soundgarden.

Prosecutors say Todd went to a Walgreens in nearby Attleboro Sunday afternoon and showed a pharmacy employee a text message on his Blackberry saying he had a bomb and demanding prescription painkillers.

"It is somewhat routine that in robberies, the robber gives a note to the clerk, but obviously this was a little bit more high-tech," said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.

A frightened employee allegedly then handed over a half-dozen bottles of oxycodone pills, and Todd fled the store, taking a taxi to his parked tour bus outside the hall, said Miliote.

Attleboro police managed to track down Todd after piecing together details from surveillance video at the pharmacy and a witness's description of the taxi, he said.

At his arraignment Monday in Attleboro District Court, Todd was charged with armed robbery and drug possession, Miliote said. Judge Dan O'Shea ordered Todd held on $25,000 cash bail.

"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," said a statement from the band on its Facebook page.

Musician Wes Styles will take on bass duties starting Monday for the remaining dates in Poughkeepsie, New York; Quebec City and Halifax, Canada; it added.

"We are surprised, to say the least, and will address the situation with Michael after the tour. For now, we just want to have a great time out here and finish with some killer shows," the band statement said.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

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No regrets for resurgent musician Leon Russell (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Leon Russell toiled in obscurity for decades, until recording with Elton John brought him an unlikely hit, but says he was never bitter his fame disappeared because that's just what happens to aging rockers.

"I didn't start out to become famous, so when it disappeared I thought, well, that happens sometimes," Russell told Reuters in an interview in New York where he was inducted last week into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. "It does happen."

Wearing dark sunglasses with a long gray beard and hair, the musician known for his gravelly voice and blues-influenced piano playing admitted his distaste of the media was no help.

"I was avoiding the press, I really didn't like doing (interviews), so that more than anything is what it was," he said. "I didn't like to talk to people who didn't really know me and didn't care about me."

A session musician who throughout the 1960s played on countless records made by everyone from Frank Sinatra to The Beach Boys, Russell is best known as Joe Cocker's bandleader and won critical acclaim and commercial success for his early 1970s solo records.

"I have never been off stage for the past 50 years," said Russell, known for writing such rock classics as "Delta Lady" and "A Song For You."

At the height of his fame in the 1970s, Russell filled arenas. As his fame waned, he played small nightclubs.

"I was used to playing in front of 20,000 and then with only 300 seats, the audience was right up in my face," he said. "That took a bit of getting used to. It was different to what I was used to, but they all have their charms."

"HAPPY WITH WHAT COMES"

That all changed when Elton John called unexpectedly to invite him to record an album. The resulting album "The Union" was released in 2010 and has revived Russell's career. The album peaked at No. 3 on U.S. album charts, his first hit since his 1979 album "One for the Road" with Willie Nelson.

"It's a wonderful thing, it's all up to Elton," said Russell of the accolades which followed, including induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. "I am very thankful."

A documentary of the recording of the album, directed by Cameron Crowe, will show on HBO in January.

Now, the 69-year old who has played live since he was 14 is back touring in larger venues, including many shows this summer with Bob Dylan. And he says he plans a solo album although, "I can't tell what the album is going to be like because I only have one song."

Indeed, Russell isn't one for talking about plans. "I am going to make millions of dollars and have a castle and ride into space," he said sarcastically. "I am happy with what comes, I don't have expectations of any stature."

But ask him about the musicians he has known and he lights up.

"I would have to say Sam Cooke is the one I admired most," he said when asked who was the best he ever played with. "His artistry and vocal, just the way he did it. I had never heard anybody sing like he sang and still haven't."

That's no small compliment since the list of Russell's recording appearances reads like a who's who of rock royalty.

Among others, he contributed to the records of Jerry Lee Lewis, George Harrison, Doris Day, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Herb Alpert, Sinatra, Dylan, Cocker, The Rolling Stones and was also in Phil Spector's studio group.

Russell recalled his first recording session with Joe Cocker, asking after the session if the Englishman cared to hear some songs Russell had written for him, among them "Delta Lady" which became one of his signature songs.

"I played them for him and Joe had this astonished look on his face. He said, 'So you're sitting there quietly playing for this whole time and now you do this? It's an entirely different thing,'" he said, recalling telling Cocker, "Well it is -- when you are playing for somebody, you keep your mouth shut and you do what you are told. Performing, that's a different thing."

And just like he's not one for talking about plans, Russell doesn't much like talking about any regrets either.

"I wish I had gone into industrial plumbing," he said, adding just in case his meaning was missed, "That's a joke."

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Musician John Walker of Walker Brothers dead at 67 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – John Walker, a member of the 1960s pop trio the Walker Brothers, has died in Los Angeles, a statement on his web site said.

He was 67, and had reportedly been suffering from liver cancer. He died at his home on Saturday evening.

The Walker Brothers -- who were not brothers, nor named Walker in real life -- enjoyed bigger success in Britain than in their native United States. Bandmate Scott Walker retains a large cult following across Europe.

The group topped the U.K. charts with covers of "Make It Easy On Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." The songs peaked at No. 16 and No. 13, respectively, in the U.S.

They formed in Hollywood in 1964, and promptly moved to London where they secured a recording contract. Their version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Make it Easy On Yourself," first popularized by soul singer Jerry Butler, was released in 1965. "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," first sung by Frankie Valli, came out the following year.

They broke up in 1968, but a mid-1970s reunion yielded a top-10 U.K. hit with a version of Tom Rush's "No Regrets." All told, the group sold more than 23 million records, according to Walker's Web site.

John Walker was born John Maus in New York City in 1943, and raised in the Los Angeles area. After working as an actor and session musician, he formed the Walker Brothers with Noel Engel (Scott Walker) and Gary Leeds (Gary Walker). His role as lead vocalist was gradually taken over by Scott Walker.

"He was also a fantastic guitarist which a lot of people didn't realize," Gary Walker said in a statement. "He was a compassionate song-writer and a gentleman with lots of style.

"The three of us had the most incredible adventure together, all the time not realizing that we were part of pop history in the making. His music will live on, and therefore so will John," he added.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Musician John Walker, 67, dies of liver cancer (AP)

LOS ANGELES – John Walker, the American-born musician who was the frontman for the Walker Brothers, one of the most successful bands of Britain's Golden Age of rock `n' roll, has died at age 67.

Walker died Saturday of liver cancer, his personal assistant, Polly Klemmer, told The Associated Press. He had continued to work until just a few weeks ago, making his last concert appearance in Los Angeles in March, Klemmer said Sunday.

He had his greatest success as the guitarist and vocalist for the Walker Brothers, which produced such 1960s hits as "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," "Love Her," "Make it Easy on Yourself" and "My Ship Is Comin' In."

While the Beatles and other British groups were remaking the face of rock `n' roll during the so-called British invasion of America in the mid-1960s, Walker moved from the United States to England instead.

There, he and two other Americans, bassist Scott Engel and drummer Gary Leeds, called themselves the Walker Brothers and each adopted Walker as his surname, although they were not related. They had instant success with their first British recording, 1964's "Love Her," and a string of hits quickly followed.

Walker, who was born John Maus, had begun using the name Walker professionally when he was 17, adopting it, according to some accounts, so he could obtain a fake I.D. that allowed him to play at nightclubs he was too young to legally enter.

He, Engel and drummer Al "Tiny" Schneider, first used the name Walker Brothers when they worked as the house band at the Hollywood nightclub Gazzari's, shortly before he and Engel moved to Britain and joined Leeds.

As part of the Walker Brothers, he toured the world and sold more than 23 million records, according to his website.

The group also appeared on numerous British television shows in the 1960s, including the popular music programs "Ready, Steady, Go," "Top of the Pops" and the "Billy Cotton Band Show." He also appeared in the film "Beach Ball," the German music series "Beat Club" and other shows.

Walker, who took up the guitar at age 14, began performing professionally in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s he was a regular at such popular Hollywood clubs as Pandora's Box on the Sunset Strip and on the college circuit.

During those years, he worked with such musicians as Ritchie Valens and Glen Campbell, with producer Phil Spector and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who wrote for the Monkees and other groups.

Although he returned to the United States in the 1980s, Klemmer said Sunday that Walker continued to tour England every year as part of a "Silver 60s" show until his health declined last year. He was diagnosed with cancer in December.

"He had put together an LA-based band and had planned to do more performing here," she said.

Walker is survived by his wife, Cynthia; a sister, Judy Hoyt; children Jamie Maus Anderson, Nickoletta Drew Maus, Adam Sarrazin and Heather Stewart, as well as several grandchildren.

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