Saudades de Kirsty MacColl...

Kirsty MacColl morreu há vinte e cinco anos...

     

Kirsty Anna MacColl (Croydon, 10 October 1959 – Cozumel, Quintana Roo, 18 December 2000) was an English singer and songwriter. She wrote and recorded several pop hits between the early 1980s and the 1990s. In addition, she sang on hit recordings produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, notably on tracks by The Smiths and The Pogues.

At the age of 41, MacColl died after being hit by a boat in Mexico.

Early career

Kirsty MacColl was the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl and dancer Jean Newlove. She and her brother, Hamish MacColl, grew up with their mother in Croydon, where Kirsty attended Park Hill Primary School, Monks Hill High School and John Newnham High School, making appearances in school plays. At the time of her birth, her father had been in a relationship with folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Peggy Seeger since 1956 (a relationship that would continue until his death in 1989), and already had a son with her.

She came to notice when Chiswick Records released an EP by local punk rock band the Drug Addix with MacColl on backing vocals under the pseudonym Mandy Doubt (1978). Stiff Records executives were not impressed with the band, but liked her and subsequently signed her to a solo deal.

  

Debut single

Her debut solo single "They Don't Know", released in 1979, peaked at number two on the Music Week airplay chart. However, a distributors' strike prevented copies of the single getting into record stores, and the single consequently failed to appear on the UK Singles Chart.

MacColl recorded a follow-up single, "You Caught Me Out", but felt she lacked Stiff's full backing, and left the label shortly before the song was to be released. The single was pulled, and only a few "white label" promo copies of the single are known to exist.

MacColl moved to Polydor Records in 1981. She had a UK number 14 hit with "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis", taken from her critically acclaimed debut album Desperate Character. In 1983, Polydor dropped her just as she had completed recording the songs for a planned second album (to be called Real) which used more synthesizers and had new wave-styled tracks. She returned to Stiff, where pop singles such as "Terry" and "He's On the Beach" were unsuccessful but a cover of Billy Bragg's "A New England" in 1985 got to number 7 in the UK charts. This included two extra verses specially written for her by Bragg. Also around this time, MacColl wrote and performed the theme song "London Girls" for Channel 4's short-lived sitcom Dream Stuffing (1984).

In the United States, MacColl was probably most recognisable as the writer of "They Don't Know". Tracey Ullman's version, reached #2 in the UK in 1983 and #8 in the United States in early 1984; Ullman's video for the song featured a cameo by Paul McCartney near the end. MacColl also sang back-up on the track, providing the "Baay-byy" as the range was too high for Ullman to reach. It was also played over the closing credits of Ullman's HBO show Tracey Takes On... in 1996. Ullman also recorded three more of MacColl's songs, "You Broke My Heart In 17 Places" and "You Caught Me Out", as the title tracks of her first and second albums respectively, and "Terry" which was released as a single in 1985.

Chart re-emergence

When Stiff went bankrupt in 1986, MacColl was left unable to record in her own right, as no record company bought her contract from the Official Receiver. However, she had regular session work as a backing vocalist, and she frequently sang on records produced or engineered by her husband, Steve Lillywhite, including tracks for Robert Plant, The Smiths, Alison Moyet, Shriekback, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Big Country, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (of ABBA), and The Wonder Stuff among others. She appeared in the videos "Welcome to the Cheap Seats" for The Wonder Stuff and "(Nothing But) Flowers" for Talking Heads (along with ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr).

MacColl re-emerged in the British charts in December 1987, reaching Number 2 with The Pogues on "Fairytale of New York", a duet with Shane MacGowan. This led to her accompanying The Pogues on their British and European tour in 1988, an experience which she said helped her temporarily overcome her stage fright. In March 1989, MacColl sang backing vocals on the Happy Mondays' Hallelujah EP.

After the contract issue was resolved, MacColl returned to recording as a solo artist and received critical acclaim upon the release of Kite (LP) in 1989. The album was widely praised by critics, and featured collaborations with David Gilmour and Johnny Marr. MacColl's lyrics addressed life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain on "Free World", ridiculed the vapidity of fame in "Fifteen Minutes", and addressed the vagaries of love in "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!" Although Kite contained many original compositions, MacColl's biggest chart success from the album was the cover of The Kinks' song "Days", which gave her a UK Top 20 hit in July 1989. A bonus track on the CD version of Kite was a cover of the Smiths song "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby".

During this time, MacColl was also featured on the British sketch comedy French and Saunders, appearing as herself, singing songs including "15 Minutes" and "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sunny Jim!" (from Kite), "Still Life" (the B-side of the "Days" single), "Girls On Bikes" (a reworking of B-side "Am I Right?") and, with comedy duo Raw Sex, the Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit "Somethin' Stupid". She continued to write and record, releasing the album Electric Landlady (coined by Johnny Marr, a play on the Jimi Hendrix album title Electric Ladyland), including her most successful chart hit in North America, "Walking Down Madison" (co-written with Marr and a Top 30 hit in the UK), in 1991. Despite the song's U.S. chart success, Landlady was not a hit for Virgin Records, and in 1992, when Virgin was sold to EMI, MacColl was dropped from the label.

Later work

She released Titanic Days, informed by her failing marriage with Lillywhite, in 1993, but ZTT Records had agreed only to release the album as a "one-off" and declined to sign her to a contract. In 1995, she released two new singles on Virgin, "Caroline" and a cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" (a duet with Evan Dando), together with the "best of" compilation Galore.

Galore became MacColl's only album to reach the top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, but neither of the new singles, nor a re-released "Days", made the Top 40. MacColl did not record again for several years; her frustration with the music business was exacerbated by a lengthy case of writer's block. MacColl herself admitted that she was ready to give up her music career and become an English teacher in South America.

In 1998, the album What Do Pretty Girls Do? was released, containing BBC Radio 1 live sessions (featuring Billy Bragg on two songs) that were broadcast between 1989 and 1995.

After several trips to Cuba and Brazil, MacColl recorded the world music-inspired (particularly Cuban and other Latin American forms) Tropical Brainstorm, which was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. It included the song "In These Shoes?", which garnered airplay in the U.S., was covered by Bette Midler and featured in the HBO show Sex and the City. After MacColl's death it was adopted by Catherine Tate as the theme tune for her BBC TV show and featured on the soundtrack to British film Kinky Boots.

TV work

MacColl featured regularly in the third series of the French and Saunders Show, a comedy show on the BBC. Unlike other guests on the show, she was not part of any of the sketches but sang her songs whilst performing as in a music video. She also made regular appearances on Jools Holland's TV shows, also on the BBC, singing during the 1995 Hootenanny a rendition of "Miss Otis Regrets" with the Pipes and Drums of the Irish Guards.

MacColl appeared in the 1991 Channel 4 historic musical fantasy The Ghosts of Oxford Street as Kitty Fisher, performing "Fairytale of New York" opposite Shane MacGowan as the Duke of York.

Death

In 2000, following her participation in the presentation of a radio programme for the British Broadcasting Corporation in Cuba, MacColl took a holiday in Cozumel, Mexico, with her sons and her partner, musician James Knight. On 18 December 2000 she and her sons went diving at the Chankanaab reef, part of the National Marine Park of Cozumel, in a designated diving area that watercraft were restricted from entering. With the group was a local veteran divemaster, Iván Díaz. As the group were surfacing from a dive a powerboat moving at high speed entered the restricted area. MacColl saw the boat coming before her sons did; Louis (then 13) was not in its path, but Jamie (then 15) was, she was able to push him out of the way (he sustained minor head and rib injuries) but in doing so she was struck by the boat and died instantly. MacColl's body was repatriated back across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom, and was cremated after a humanist funeral at Mortlake Crematorium in South-West London.

The powerboat involved in the collision was controlled by Guillermo González Nova, multimillionaire president of the Comercial Mexicana supermarket chain, who was on board with members of his family. The boat was owned by Carlos González Nova, brother and founder of the chain. One employee of Guillermo González Nova, boathand José Cen Yam, stated that he was in control of the boat at the time of the incident. Eyewitnesses said that Cen Yam was not at the controls and that the boat was travelling much faster than the speed of one knot that González Nova said.

Cen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide and was sentenced to 2 years 10 months in prison. He was allowed under Mexican law to pay a punitive fine of 1,034 pesos (about €63, £61 or US$90) in lieu of the prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay approximately US$2,150 in restitution to MacColl's family, an amount based on his wages. People who said they spoke to Cen Yam after the killing said he received money for taking the blame.

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Nicolette Larson morreu há vinte e oito anos...

   

Nicolette Larson (Helena, 17 de julho de 1952 – Los Angeles, 16 de dezembro de 1997) foi uma cantora americana mais conhecida por sua versão da canção de Neil Young "Lotta Love", em 1978. Esta canção, o seu single de estreia, foi número 1 na Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks e obteve a 8ª posição na lista pop daquele ano. Sucederam-se mais quatro sucessos nessa categoria, dois dos quais obtiveram algum resultado nas paradas pop. Em 1985 mudou o foco da sua carreira para a música country, atingindo seis vezes as paradas de Hot Country Singles (hoje Hot Country Songs). O seu único sucesso no Top 40 Country foi "That's How You Know When Love's Right", um dueto com Steve Wariner.

 

(...)

 

Larson faleceu em 16 de dezembro de 1997 em Los Angeles, Califórnia em consequência de complicações de um edema cerebral desencadeado pela falência do fígado. De acordo com a sua amiga, Astrid Young, Larson tinha tido sintomas de depressão e o seu ataque fatal "estava em grande parte relacionado com um abuso crónico de Valium e de Tylenol".

O seu enterro foi feito em Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery, em Los Angeles. Um concerto beneficente foi feito em nome de Larson no mês de fevereiro seguinte, assim como concertos de tributo no décimo aniversário da sua morte, em dezembro de 2007 e também no ano seguinte.

 

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Kate Wolf morreu há 39 anos...

    

Kate Wolf (born Kathryn Louise Allen; San Francisco, California, January 27, 1942 – San Francisco, California, December 10, 1986) was an American folk singer and songwriter.  Though her career was relatively short, she had a significant impact on the folk music scene. Her best-known compositions include "Here in California", "Love Still Remains", "Across the Great Divide", "Unfinished Life", “Green Eyes” and "Give Yourself to Love". She recorded six albums as a solo artist. She was elected to the NAIRD Independent Music Hall of Fame in 1987. Her songs have since been recorded by Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris (whose recording of "Love Still Remains" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999).

 

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Hoje é dia de ouvir Tom Waits...

Tom Waits nasceu há setenta e seis anos

Thomas Alan Waits (Pomona, 7 de dezembro de 1949) é um músico, instrumentista, compositor, cantor e ator norte-americano. A sua voz, grossa e rouca, e as suas letras, por vezes estranhas e intrigantes, marcam a sua música. Ativo há mais de quatro décadas, Waits possui uma considerável obra, constituída de quase 30 álbuns (incluindo álbuns de estúdio, compilações e álbuns ao vivo), e mais de 50 participações diretas (como ator) e indiretas (compondo bandas sonoras) em filmes. Já foi nomeado para um grande número de prémios musicais, tendo ganhado o Grammy com dois álbuns: Mule Variations e Bone Machine.

Waits atualmente vive no condado de Sonoma, Califórnia, com a sua esposa, Kathleen Brennan, e os seus três filhos.

       

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Música de luso-descendente aniversariante de hoje...

Nelly Furtado faz hoje quarenta e sete anos

     
Nelly Kim Furtado (Victoria, 2 de dezembro de 1978) é uma cantora, compositora e atriz luso-canadiana, filha de emigrantes portugueses, mais propriamente da freguesia de Ponta Garça, em São Miguel, nos Açores.
     

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Denny Doherty, dos The Mamas & The Papas, nasceu há 84 anos...

Da esquerda para a direita: Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty e John Phillips, no Ed Sullivan Show  (1967)

   

Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty (Halifax, Canadá, 29 de novembro de 1941 - Mississauga, Canadá, 19 de janeiro de 2007) foi um cantor e compositor canadiano, fundador e vocalista da famosa banda dos anos 60 The Mamas & The Papas.

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Bjork celebra hoje sessenta anos...!

  

Björk Guðmundsdóttir (Reykjavík, 21 de novembro de 1965), conhecida simplesmente por Björk é uma aclamada e influente cantora e compositora islandesa, vencedora do Polar Music Prize, conhecido como o "Prémio Nobel da Música". Björk também é atriz, instrumentista e produtora musical. Já lançou nove álbuns de estúdio e duas bandas sonoras. O seu estilo musical eclético alcançou o reconhecimento popular, e este inclui rock, jazz, música eletrónica, clássica e folclórica. A sua voz também tem sido aclamada por suas qualidades distintivas, com um timbre incomum e incomparável.

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Gordon Lightfoot nasceu há 87 anos...

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot (Orillia, Ontário, 17 de novembro de 1938 - Toronto, 1 de maio de 2023) foi um cantautor e poeta canadiano que alcançou sucesso internacional através da música folk, country e rock.

Gordon Lightfoot era filho de Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Sr. e Jessica Lightfoot. Na década de 50, frequentou a escola de música em Hollywood, Califórnia. Ele voltou para o Canadá nos anos 1960 e já se apresentava em cafés, em Toronto. Em 1966, lançou o seu álbum de estreia, intitulado Lightfoot!. Neste período, ficou mais conhecido como compositor para artistas como Johnny Cash e Elvis Presley, entre outros.

Lightfoot foi um dos primeiros cantores pop canadiano que ficou famoso no seu próprio país, sem ter de se mudar para os Estados Unidos. Mas ele também obteve sucesso nos Estados Unidos, entre outros singles, Sundown, em 1974. Quase dois anos depois, um outro hit, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, uma composição em memória do naufrágio do navio graneleiro SS Edmund Fitzgerald ocorrido a 10 de novembro de 1975, no Lago Superior. Ambos os singles ainda são populares em estações de rádio que executam rock clássico.

Lightfoot recebeu 15 prémios Juno e foi indicado cinco vezes para um Grammy Award. Ele está listado no Canadian Music Hall of Fame e no Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Possui uma estrela na Calçada da Fama do Canadá desde 1998. Em maio de 2003 recebeu a Ordem do Canadá, a mais alta condecoração civil do país. Lightfoot é também um membro da Ordem de Ontário, a mais alta honra na província do Canadá.

Em 2002, devido a um aneurisma da aorta, Lightfoot ficou em coma durante seis semanas.

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Jeffrey Buckley nasceu há 59 anos...

Jeffrey Scott Buckley (Anaheim, 17 de novembro de 1966 - Memphis, 29 de maio 1997) foi um cantor, compositor e guitarrista norte-americano. Conhecido por seus dotes vocais, Buckley foi considerado pelos críticos umas das mais promissoras revelações musicais de sua época. Entretanto, Buckley morreu afogado enquanto nadava no rio Wolf, afluente do Rio Mississipi, em 1997. O seu trabalho e seu estilo único continuam sendo admirados por fãs, artistas e músicos no mundo todo.

   

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Bonnie Raitt - 76 anos

Bonnie Lynn Raitt (Burbank, California, November 8, 1949) is an American songwriter, blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk, and country. She was also a frequent session player and collaborator with other artists, including Warren Zevon, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, the Pointer Sisters, John Prine, and Leon Russell. 

 

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Johnny Rivers celebra hoje oitenta e três anos

      

Johnny Rivers (nome artístico de John Henry Ramistella; Nova York, 7 de novembro de 1942) é um cantor, compositor, produtor e guitarrista de rock 'n' roll norte-americano. O seu reportório inclui pop, folk, blues e rockabilly, incluindo vários covers. Fez sucesso durante as décadas de 60 e 70, colocando nove canções no Top 10 (e dezassete no Top 40) da Billboard Hot 100 entre 1964 e 1977. Entre elas, "Memphis" (cover de Chuck Berry), "Mountain of Love", "The Seventh Son", "Secret Agent Man", "Poor Side of Town" (número 1 nos EUA), "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" (cover do The Four Tops) e "Summer Rain". Vendeu cerca de 30 milhões de discos ao longo da sua carreira musical. A canção Secret Agent Man também esteve presente na banda sonora do filme Ace Ventura em África.

   

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Joni Mitchell nasceu há oitenta e dois anos

   

Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell, nascida Roberta Joan Anderson, (Fort Macleod, 7 de novembro de 1943), é uma cantora, vocalista solo, artista plástica e poetisa canadiana. Foi considerada a 75º melhor guitarrista de todos os tempos pela revista norte-americana Rolling Stone, que também a citou como "uma das melhores compositoras da história". De acordo com uma declaração da AllMusic, "Quando a poeira baixar, Joni Mitchell pode vir a ser a artista musical feminina mais importante e influente do século XX".

Alcançou o sucesso na década de 70, fazendo uma música influenciada pelo jazz e pelo folk rock. As suas composições frequentemente refletem ideias sociais e ambientais assim como seus sentimentos sobre romance, confusão, desilusões e alegria. Ela recebeu muitos prémios, incluindo nove Grammys. Gravou dois discos que entraram para a história: Clouds, de 1969, e Blue, de 1971, que ocupa a 30ª posição na lista dos 500 melhores álbuns de todos os tempos da revista Rolling Stone. 

 

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Eva Cassidy morreu há 29 anos...

Eva Marie Cassidy (Washington, D.C., February 2, 1963 – Bowie, Maryland, November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, born with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by the 1996 live solo album titled Live at Blues Alley. Although she had been honored by the Washington Area Music Association, she was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, D.C. She died of melanoma in 1996 at the age of 33.

Two years after her death, Cassidy's music was brought to the attention of British audiences, when her versions of "Fields of Gold" and "Over the Rainbow" were played by Mike Harding and Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. Following the overwhelming response, a camcorder recording of "Over the Rainbow", taken at Blues Alley in Washington by her friend Bryan McCulley, was shown on BBC Two's Top of the Pops 2. Shortly afterwards, the compilation album Songbird climbed to the top of the UK Albums Chart, almost three years after its initial release. The chart success in the United Kingdom and Ireland led to increased recognition worldwide. Her posthumously released recordings, including three number-one albums and one number-one single in the UK, have sold more than ten million copies. Her music has also charted within the top 10 in Australia, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

 

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Ali Farka Touré nasceu há 86 anos...

      

Ali Ibrahim "Farka" Touré (Kanau, Mali, 31 de outubro de 1939 – Bamako, 7 de março de 2006) foi um cantor e guitarrista malinês e um dos músicos mais internacionalmente reconhecidos do continente africano.

A sua música é amplamente considerada como representando um ponto de intersecção da tradicional música de Mali e os blues. A crença de que este último é, de facto, historicamente derivado da primeira reflete-se nas frequentes citações de Martin Scorsese caracterizando a tradição de Touré como constituindo "o DNA do blues". Ele foi classificado como o número 76 na lista 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (100 Melhores Guitarristas de Sempre) da revista Rolling Stone.

 

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John Mayer faz hoje 48 anos

   

John Clayton Mayer (Bridgeport, Connecticut, 16 de outubro de 1977) é um cantor e compositor, guitarrista e produtor musical norte-americano.

     

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Leaving On a Jet Plane...

John Denver morreu há vinte e oito anos...

   

John Denver (Roswell, 31 de dezembro de 1943 - Pacific Grove, 12 de outubro de 1997), nascido Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., foi um cantor, compositor, músico e ator americano. Compunha e cantava canções de "country music". Denver morreu, aos 53 anos, na região costeira de Monterey, na Califórnia, enquanto pilotava um avião experimental, feito de fibra de vidro.

John Denver é mais conhecido pela sua balada Annie's Song, mas grandes sucessos mundiais foram também as canções Take Me Home, Country Roads, Sunshine On My Shoulders, Perhaps Love (em dueto com Plácido Domingo), Leaving on a Jet Plane, Don't Close Your Eyes Tonight e Come And Let Me Look In Your Eyes. Ficou também famoso por outras paixões, além da música: aviões, natureza e mulheres.

      

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