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Andy Paley (left) & Brian Wilson
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Obituaries: SpongeBob Composer & Brian Wilson Collaborator Andy Paley, Bond Theme Guitarist Vic Flick
This week we also acknowledge the passing of Bee Gees drummers Dennis Bryon and Colin Petersen and Austin roots music star Toni Price.
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Dennis (Ronald) Bryon, a Welsh drummer best known for his work with the Bee Gees, died on Nov. 14 , at age 76. A cause of death has not been reported.
A Billboard obituary reports that "Cardiff, Wales-bred Bryon took over the drum seat in The Bee Gees following the departure of Colin Petersen in 1973, just as their star was set to shoot to supernova in the midst of the disco revolution. His first recorded appearance was on the band’s 12th studio album, 1974’s Mr. Natural, which presaged their pivot to a more R&B/soul-influenced sound. That direction was further cemented on the following year’s Main Course, which featured the funky singles 'Nights on Broadway' and 'Jive Talkin’.'"
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Bryon was with the band as they pivoted to a disco sound on 1976 album Children of the World, followed a year later by the soundtrack for the blockbuster movie Saturday Night Fever. Billboard notes that "the album was for a time the best-selling album ever — and still ranks in the top 10 on that list." It featured such hits as “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Night Fever,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “More Than a Woman,” “If I Can’t Have You” and others.
Bryon kept recording and performing with the band through the rest of the decade, with his final recorded efforts with the Bee Gees featuring on another hit album, 1979’s Spirits Have Flown.
During the Bee Gees' commercial heyday, Bryon became the only drummer in pop history — besides Ringo Starr — to have five songs in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously.
Pre-Bee Gees, Bryon made a mark as co-founder of the band Amen Corner, alongside Ace British guitarist Andy Fairweather Low (Roger Waters, Eric Clapton). That band's European hits included “Gin House Blues,” “Bend Me Shape Me,” “Hello Susie” and “Living In a World of Broken Hearts.”
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After leaving the Bee Gees, Bryon moved to Nashville and began a long career as a session musician, preforming and recording with Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Jimi Hendrix, Dave Edmunds and The Italian Bee Gees. He released a memoir, You Should Be Dancing, in 2015.
Vic Flick, an English session guitarist best known for playing on the James Bond theme, died on Nov. 14, at age 87, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
In its obituary, The Guardian noted that "the famed session musician also performed with the Beatles, Tom Jones, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Nancy Sinatra and Dusty Springfield."
"Flick had previously performed with the composer John Barry in the John Barry Seven, when Barry was brought in to rearrange Monty Norman’s theme for Dr No, the first James Bond film. The theme song was recorded in 1962; Flick played the famous riff on a 1939 English Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe guitar plugged into a Fender Vibrolux amplifier, which added a 'heavy sound.' He was paid a one-off fee of £6."
Flick discussed this session in a 2021 interview with Guitar Player magazine. He later performed on the soundtrack of several 007 films, including Shirley Bassey’s theme for the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger.
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Other hits he played on included Peter and Gordon’s "A World Without Love," Petula Clark’s "Downtown," Tom Jones’ "It’s Not Unusual" and "What’s New Pussycat?", Bee Gees’ "Spicks and Specks" and "Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)" for the Beatles’ 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night.
In 2008, Flick published a memoir Vic Flick, Guitarman: From James Bond to The Beatles and Beyond. In 2013, Flick received a lifetime achievement award from the National Guitar Museum.
Andy (Andrew Douglas) Paley, a veteran American record producer and musician and film and TV composer, died on Nov. 20 , at age 72, of cancer.
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A Variety obituary notes that "Paley worked with a wide range of artists including Brian Wilson, the Ramones, Madonna, Jonathan Richman, Elton John, Deborah Harry, NRBQ and many others. He also worked extensively in film and television, composing scores and writing songs for such top animated series as SpongeBob SquarePants, Ren & Stimpy, Digimon and others."
A post on Brian Wilson’s official Facebook page reads: “Andy was literally instrumental in Brian starting his solo career with his critically acclaimed 1988 album, Brian Wilson. Andy played electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums, percussion, keyboards, harmonica, and provided backing vocals. He co-wrote three of the songs, including ‘Rio Grande.'"
Paley was once described by Wilson as “the most frighteningly talented person that I’ve met and the greatest musical genius I’ve come across in many years… maybe my whole life.”
In a statement, a rep for the Nickelodeon network said: “We are saddened by the passing of Andy Paley, a longtime friend of Nickelodeon and a creative genius who was instrumental in bringing the wonderful world of Bikini Bottom to life through music and sound. He is greatly missed.”
Born in Albany, New York, Paley drummed in local bands prior to moving to Boston in the early ‘70s, where he formed Catfish Black. Soon renamed the Sidewinders, the band included future members of The Modern Lovers, including Jerry Harrison, later a member of Talking Heads. They were joined by Billy Squier and relocated to New York where they played Max’s Kansas City and signed to RCA Records with Lenny Kaye producing.
After the Sidewinders broke up, Paley recorded and performed with Elliott Murphy, Patti Smith and Jonathan Richman, for whose later recordings Paley would serve as producer.
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With his younger brother Jonathan, he formed the popular power-pop combo the Paley Brothers. They recorded a single for Sire Records that was produced by Jimmy Iovine (which preceded their 1978 debut album) and appeared in the Ramones’ film Rock ‘N’ Roll High School.
Post Paley Brothers, Andy became a staff producer at Sire Records, where he produced Brian Wilson’s eponymous 1988 solo album, co-writing several songs.
In his later career as a screen composer, his credits include the soundtracks for Dick Tracy, A Walk on the Moon, Wild Orchid, A Rage in Harlem and the score for Showtime’s The L Word.
Paley's production and composition work on the music of the smash hit SpongeBob SquarePants brought him plenty of recognition. For the show's 20th anniversary, he and collaborators including Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, were interviewed by Billboard for a feature you can read here.
Paley and Kenny co-wrote the It's a SpongeBob Christmas! Album (2012) and were also both members of Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas.
Tom Kenny told Variety that “My friendship with Andy and our collaboration — writing songs and my fronting the band that he formed — is one of the greatest true joys I’ve ever experienced. He possessed not only encyclopedic knowledge of all pop music — especially rock ‘n’ roll and girl group — but was also astoundingly astute when it came to art and literature."
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Colin (Frederick Colin) Petersen, an Australian child actor, record producer and drummer who was the first professional drummer of The Bee Gees, died on Nov. 18 at the age of 78, following a fall.
Petersen began his showbiz career as a child actor, known for his role in the 1956 film Smiley, which was the origin of his nickname, among a few other movies in the late ’50s. His first significant band was Steve and the Board.
Petersen was acquainted with the Gibb brothers in Australia, prior to his moving to England in 1966. He reconnected with the Gibbs then, and was the first non-Gibb brother to become an official member of the Bee Gees. In 1968, he played drums on the Marbles' debut single, "Only One Woman."
Billboard reports that "Petersen joined the English-Australian band formed by brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb in 1966, playing on a string of early hits that cemented the trio’s vocal prowess, including 'To Love Somebody,' 'I Started a Joke,' 'I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You,' 'Massachusetts' and 'Words.'"
He played on the group's first five international albums, Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal, Idea, Odessa and Cucumber Castle, then left the Bee Gees in August 1969. The first musician he worked with after leaving the Bee Gees was Jonathan Kelly. Petersen produced some of his early solo singles, and in 1970 the two decided to form a band together, Humpy Bong. The trio recorded their debut single and appeared on Top of the Pops, but the group broke up without having playing any official concerts.
Petersen returned to Australia in 1974 where, having lost his rights to royalties after a court case against the Bee Gees, eventually became a painter residing in Sydney. He would later often play in "The Best of the Bee Gees tribute show."
Coincidentally, a subsequent Bee Gees drummer, Dennis Bryon, passed away four days before Petersen (see above).
Toni (Luiese Esther) Price, an Austin-based roots music singer who was a fixture on that city's scene, died on Nov. 22 at age 63, of a brain aneurysm.
In its obituary, the Austin Chronicledescribed Price as "a country-blues vocalist who issued some of Austin’s best-selling albums and hosted one of its most revered live residencies."
The Philadelphia-born Price grew up in Nashville and released a few country singles before relocating to Austin in 1989. The Chronicle observes that "The move set off a 30-year love affair with the city. Price found a home at Antone’s nightclub, and sisterhood with reigning local blues queens Lou Ann, Marcia Ball, and Angela Strehli."
"Never a songwriter, Price lent her honeyed alto to compositions by David Olney, Herb McCullough, Blaze Foley, J.J. Cale, Shelley King, and, most notably, Gwil Owens, her principal collaborator since 1986. She was always content being a singer. Five of her releases ranked among Waterloo Records’ 100 all-time bestsellers in 2018."
Price rarely performed outside Austin, as she had a large and loyal local following. For 22 years, she hosted a weekly Tuesday night "Hippie Hour” residency at the famed Continental Club, playing with top local musicians. I was followed by residencies at the Little Darlin’ and then the Devil's Backbone Tavern in Fischer.
Price took home 12 Austin Music Awards from 1993 to 2004, including Best Female Vocals, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Blues,"and in 2017, she was inducted into its Hall of Fame.
Price’s family requests that any memorial donations be made in Toni's memory to Hospice Austin's Christopher House. A tribute show will reportedly be announced soon.
Amongst those paying tribute to Price on social media was Canadian blues artist and recent Grammy nominee Sue Foley. In a Facebook post, she termed Price "an extraordinarily talented singer and a legendary part of the Austin music community. Toni and I go back to the early days, as we got to Austin around the same time, and we were both signed to Antone’s Records Company. We all hung out at the club, watched each other play, and grew up together. And, we had a. Shit ton of fun! My sincere condolences to Toni’s beautiful daughters, Amber and Della."
Toronto club booker Yvonne Matsell tells Billboard Canada that "I did try to book her after a couple of trusted Austinites had turned me on to her music, but for some reason that I can remember, it didn’t work out . I saw her play a couple of times at the Continental club, and she had a very cool unique sound."
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