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Chuck Mangione in 1977.
FYI
Obituaries: 'Feels So Good' Jazz Star Chuck Mangione, English Vocalist Dame Cleo Laine
This week we also acknowledge the passing of Golden Earring guitarist George Kooyman, American songwriter/musician Sally Tiven, Family member Poli Palmer and Jamaican singer Owen Gray.
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Chuck (Charles Frank) Mangione, a leading figure in contemporary jazz and the Grammy-winning musician behind crossover hit “Feels So Good,” died on July 22, at age 84.
A Billboard obituary reports that "Mangione grew up listening to jazz music and learning from the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, who was a 'family friend,' An alum of Eastman School of Music — where he would later serve as faculty director of the Eastman Jazz Orchestra — Mangione played in a quintet called the Jazz Brothers with his brother, keyboardist Gap, and performed in Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson’s big bands.
"As an artist in his own right, Mangione infused his compositions with lighter, pop-inspired techniques that ultimately helped him reach the mainstream, despite his more niche musical background. He scored five entries on the Billboard Hot 100 in his lifetime with the tracks; 'Hill Where the Lord Hides,' 'Chase the Clouds Away,' 'Land of Make Believe,' 'Give It All You Got' and his signature tune, 'Feels So Good,' which reached No. 4 on the chart in 1978 — a rare feat for an instrumental pop-jazz recording."
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The Rochester-based Mangione charted 17 albums on the Billboard 200, with 'Feels So Good' earning him his career highest peak at No. 2. He was also a Grammy winner, taking home two of his 14 total nominations. In 1977, he won best instrumental composition for “Bellavia,” and two years later, he was awarded best pop instrumental performance for “Children Of Sanchez.”
Billboard notes that "both a trumpeter and flugelhorn player, Mangione became recognizable not just for his music, but also for his distinct look. Voicing himself as a recurring character on King of the Hill, he was always depicted with his signature hat and long hairstyle on the animated series."
Notable moments in Mangione’s career also included his association with the Olympics, which used his track “Chase the Clouds Away” in the 1976 Games. Two years later, he performed “Give It All You Got” at the 1980 Winter Games closing ceremony in Lake Placid, New York.
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Cleo Laine (born Clementina Dinah Campbell), considered Britain's greatest jazz vocalist and a Tony-nominated theatre actress, has died, at age 97.
News of her passing was reported on July 25 by The Stables, a charity and venue Laine founded with her late jazz musician husband John Dankworth. They stated that they were “greatly saddened” by the news that “one of its founders and Life President, Dame Cleo Laine has passed away.”
In its obituary, Associated Press declared that Laine's husky contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz and who was regarded by many as Britain’s greatest contribution to the quintessentially American music."
"Laine’s career spanned the Atlantic and crossed genres: She sang the songs of Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg and Robert Schumann; she acted on stage and on film, and even played God in a production of Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde.
The Guardian called Laine "a celebrated singer with an agile contralto voice who, with her husband John Dankworth, helped bring new audiences to jazz. She was not only the most creatively and materially successful jazz singer the UK scene has known, but was also respected worldwide as one of a handful of truly original jazz-inspired vocalists.
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"From modest beginnings in the pubs and dancehalls of austerity Britain in the 1950s, the diminutive singer with the majestic and agile contralto voice went on to achieve international fame in a career that also embraced acting and writing."
In 1997, Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight. “It is British jazz that should have received the accolade for its service to me,” she said when the honour was announced. “It has given me a wonderful life, a successful career and an opportunity to travel the globe doing what I love to do.”
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At age 12, Laine she got a role as a movie extra in The Thief of Bagdad. Leaving school at 14, she faced repeated rejection in her efforts to get a job as a singer, but in 1951, she tried out for the Johnny Dankworth Seven, and succeeded, with a name change following.
The AP reports that "Recognition came swiftly. Laine was runner-up in Melody Maker’s 'girl singer' category in 1952, and topped the list in 1956 and 1957. She married Dankworth — and quit his band — in 1958, a year after her divorce from her first husband."
Laine forged a career independent of Dankworth, and she ventured into theatre via an award-winning lead performance in 1958 in a West Indian play, Flesh to a Tiger, at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Valmouth followed in 1959, The Seven Deadly Sins in 1961, The Trojan Women in 1966, Hedda Gabler in 1970 and Show Boat in 1971.
Laine began winning a following in the US in 1972 with a concert at the Alice Tully Hall in New York.The following year, she and Dankworth drew a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall, launching a series of popular appearances. Cleo at Carnegie won a Grammy award in 1986, the same year she was a Tony nominee for The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
An obituary in Variety noted that "at one point, Laine was claimed to be the only musician to have been nominated in jazz, pop and classical categories for the Grammy Awards. Her sole Grammys win came in 1985, when she was awarded best jazz vocal performance, female in 1985 for her album Cleo at Carnegie – The 10th Anniversary Concert. Eleven years earlier, she had been nominated for that album’s prequel, Cleo Laine Live at Carnegie Hall, albeit in the best pop vocal performance, female category. In 1975, Laine was nominated for best classical vocal soloist performance for the album Cleo Laine Sings Pierrot Lunaire and Songs by Ives. Her other jazz vocal performance nominations were for the albums Porgy and Bess and Smilin’ Through."
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George Jan Kooymans, a Dutch rock guitarist, songwriter and vocalist best known for his work with the band Golden Earring, died on July 22, at age 77.
In 2021, Kooymans announced his retirement from the music business after he was diagnosed with ALS.
Kooymans wrote Golden Earring's international 1973 hit, "Radar Love." It went to number one on the Dutch chart, reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, and went to number 13 on the United States chart. That song has become a rock classic and has been covered by wide-ranging acts including REM, Def Leppard, and the Blue Man Group. It has amassed 174 million Spotify streams and helped spearhead Europe's hard rock evolution, influencing such bands as Iron Maiden.
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He also wrote Golden Earring's other major hit, "Twilight Zone", the group's only top 10 entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and a single that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart in 1982.
Kooymans formed Golden Earring – who were initially known as The Tornados – in 1961 at the age of 20. Their first taste of success came as a pop-rock band when the 1965 debut single "Please Go" was a moderate hit. In 1968, Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong topped their home nation’s charts.
During their long career they had nearly 30 top ten singles on the Dutch charts and released 25 studio albums.
Kooymans also wrote and produced for other artists. In the '60s, he launched the musical career of Bojoura and wrote "Everybody's Day" for her. Between 2017 and 2023 he released three albums as a member of Vreemde Kostgangers (Strange Boarders), a Dutch-language supergroup he formed with Henny Vrienten and singer-songwriter Boudewijn de Groot.
Kooymans released two solo albums, Jojo (1971) and Solo (1987), plus two albums as Kooymans-Carillo (with Frank Carillo); On Location (2010) and Mirage (2022).
Read more in this Guitar World obituary.
Owen Gray, a pioneering Jamaican vocalist, died on July 20, at age 86.
An obituary issued by VP Records reports that "Gray’s exceptional talents developed early, playing and performing on stage from when he was just nine years old. His talents were nurtured at Alpha Boys School, an institute that helped shape the cultural and musical identity of the island, thanks to their now world-renowned music programme, spearheaded by Sister Mary Ignatius Davies.
"Gray’s earliest recordings came at the turn of the 60s, when Jamaican music was in its transformative period, shifting away from the American-influenced rhythm and blues into Ska, scoring hits on Blue Beat and Coxson Dodd’s Cariboo label as well as becoming one of the first artists to release music on Chris Blackwell’s Island imprint.
"During this time, Gray was introduced to a young singer called Millie Small by Dodd, who encouraged Gray to tutor her on vocal tone and range. This culminated in a song called 'Sugar Plum,' an island-wide smash hit that prompted Chris Blackwell to buy out Small’s contract from Coxson and produce one of the biggest-selling ska hits of all time, 'My Boy Lollipop.'"
"After a run of popular singles in the early '60s, Gray found success in the UK, prompting him to emigrate and settle in London in May 1962. In a career spanning six decades, he continued to record and perform his vast catalogue of ska, rocksteady, reggae, rhythm and blues, ballads and gospel music for generation upon generation of fans."
John 'Poli' Palmer, an English rock multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of Family, died on July 22, aged 82
In its obituary, Louder noted that "Palmer joined Family in late 1969, replacing fellow multi-instrumentalist Jim King. Palmer first featured on the band's 1970 album A Song For Me and appeared on Anyway (1970), Fearless (1971) and Bandstand (1972), before leaving ahead of 1973's It's Only A Movie.
"Prior to joining the band Palmer had featured in The Hellions, alongside Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason [both later of Traffic], and was also involved with psych band Blossom Toes, heavy blues rockers Bakerloo with future Colosseum guitarist Clem Clempson and Matthews Southern Comfort. He performed at the 1969 Isle Of Wight Festival with short-lived folk prog outfit Eclection.
Following his departure from Family, Palmer went on to work with Peter Frampton, noted English vocalists Linda Lewis and Elkie Brooks. He was featured on Pete Townshend's 1982 solo album All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes and Kevin Ayers' 1986 album As Close As You Think, and worked with former Family frontman Roger Chapman on both his Streetwalkers project and his solo albums.
He also released his own solo album in 1985, Human Error, and wrote the music for a 1976 rock opera titled Hero. Palmer was part of the Family reunion that took place between 2013 and 2016."
Palmer was proficient on saxophone, vibraphone, keyboards, flute and drums.
Sally Tiven, (Born Sally Young), a prolific American songwriter and musician who worked primarily in the blues and soul genres, died on July 23, at age 68.
In its obituary, Celebrity Access reported that "Tiven played guitar on recordings by B.B. King (All You Ever Give Me Is the Blues) and bass guitar on Wilson Pickett’s It’s Harder Now (1999), Don Covay’s Adlib (2000), and Sir Mack Rice’s This Is What I Do (2001). She also contributed as a songwriter to those projects.
Tiven's songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists, including Huey Lewis & The News (“He Don’t Know”), Buddy Guy (“Heavy Love”), Shemekia Copeland (“Married to the Blues,” “Big Lovin’ Woman,” and “Has Anybody Seen My Man”), Irma Thomas (“Trying to Catch a Cab in the Rain”), Australian star Ian Moss (“Mr. Rain”), and Canadians Dave Rave ("Weight Of The World") and the Jeff Healey Band (“River of No Return”).
Then Sally Young, she met music journalist and record producer Jon Tiven in New York in 1977. The couple married in 1979, beginning a 46-year marriage and a close musical partnership. Sally Tiven joined his group, the Yankees, and, Celebrity Access reports, "together they played in bands that backed a formidable list of artists including P.F. Sloan, Syl Johnson, Bettye Harris, Billie Ray Martin, Al Franken, Marty Brown, Howard Tate, Garnet Mimms, Willie Jones, Bebe Buell, Creed Bratton, Troy Turner and Little Milton."
Jon Tiven's notable production credits include Alex Chilton, Wilson Pickett, Don Covay, Frank Black and Don Nix, as well as tribute albums for Covay, Arthur Alexander, Otis Blackwell, Van Morrison and Curtis Mayfield.
After the Tivens relocated to Nashville in 2002, Sally immersed herself in the Nashville Adult Literacy Program, dedicating time to teaching English to individuals unfamiliar with reading and writing in the language.
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