Obits: Canadian Radio Hall of Famer John Donabie, Rap Mogul Irv Gotti & More

John Michael Donabie, a veteran Canadian radio broadcaster and member of the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame, died on Jan. 30, at age 78, after a long battle with cancer.

In an extensive obituary in Celebrity Access, Donabie's close friend Larry LeBlanc noted that "during his six decade career, Donabie introduced Canadian radio audiences in Oshawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver to a generation of prime rock, folk, country, and jazz performers and their recordings.

"From his early days at CKLB-AM in Oshawa, Ontario in the late ‘60s to his high profile stints at CKFH-AM, CHUM-FM, Q107 (CILQ-FM), CKFM, CJRT-FM, and CIUT-FM in Toronto, as well as at CJFM Montreal, and CKLG-FM Vancouver, Donabie forever championed Canadian music, helping to father the work of so many emerging musicians to a national audience.

"His interviewing skills are legendary, and his background includes highly collectible interviews of John Lennon, Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson of The Band, Meatloaf, Joe Cocker, Melanie, Garth Brooks, Ronnie Hawkins and many others."

Donabie came from Courtice, Ontario, a community near Oshawa. As a music-loving teenager, he would buy 45s at the Wilson and Lee music store in downtown Oshawa, starting in 1959. He began his radio career at that city's CKLB-AM in 1965, as LeBlanc recounts: "Donabie sought out one of its announcers, George Gudgeon, to ask about renting a PA system for Linda and the Chancellors, a local R&B group he was managing. That encounter led to Donabie being hired for his own show at CKLB-AM."

He moved onto an all-night R&B show at CKFH-AM in Toronto in 1967, followed by a high-profile show at CHUM-FM. Following stints at CJFM Montreal, and CKLG-FM Vancouver, Donabie joined newly launched Toronto rock station Q107 (CILQ-FM) in 1977.

Donabie hosted CBC-TV’s news and information series Afternoon Delight in the late 1970s. Later radio station stops included CFRB-AM, CKFM-FM, CISS-FM and JAZZ.FM.91 in Toronto.

Prior to retiring in 2018, Donabie hosted the weekly Mixed Bag show on the University of Toronto campus station CIUT-FM. Station manager Ken Stowar posted on Facebook that "John began his show Mixed Bag in 2016 and it was heard every Saturday from 2-4 pm through to 2018. John and I had been planning for his return to CIUT for a midweek show in the very near future. During the past 10 years we became good friends and I will miss all of our conversations that were full of great stories drawn from John's long and illustrious career in radio."

In 2013, Donabie was awarded the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame Award, and was also honoured with the Allan Waters Broadcast Lifetime Achievement Award at Canadian Music Week in Toronto. At that ceremony, he explained that “I just want to say that I have been in love with the medium of radio since I was a very little boy. I still am."

At a gala dinner and induction ceremony at the Jubilee Pavilion in Oshawa last November, Donabie was honoured by the Oshawa Rotary Club as one of six new inductees to the Oshawa Walk of Fame.

On hearing of his passing, many artists and colleagues of Donabie paid tribute, with Larry LeBlanc collecting some of these for Celebrity Access. LeBlanc's personal homage: “John Donabie was a lifetime friend. We met while he was hosting his show in Oshawa, and I guested as a journalist from the Ajax Advertiser nearby. We worked together at numerous radio stations over the years. We talked usually several times a week, sharing our love of music, especially R&B soul music, and recordings of The Band, Van Morrison, Stax Records, and so many others. Darn I miss him already."

Canadian broadcaster Duff Roman: “Such deeply sad news. I got to work with John, first at FH and then, of course, at CHUM-FM. I came to appreciate his huge talent and amazing gift for interviewing big stars. There is a long list of iconic artists who found a rare comfort level with John. They liked John’s relaxed style and knew he had always done his homework. There was much mutual respect and they would open up and let their secrets out.

"But that was John. Intelligent but humble. A great friend and colleague who touched a lot of radio listeners in the process. Rest in peace old friend.”

Jim JJ Johnston, JJ Media/Management: “I thought he was one of the coolest dudes on-air. He had such a rock star delivery in his voice and was hooked into anything big in the music world. I used to hear his interviews with the biggest, and read all about him in the trade magazines. I met him at a function or two and the guy carried himself like a rock star, and in a good way.”

Singer and friend Shawne Jackson-Troiano: “Sad, sad news. Another legend gone. John was one of the greatest, most knowledgeable radio personalities ever! He supported Canadian music in every way possible. He was loved. Deepest condolences to lovely Ala, daughter Sam and son James. RIP John.”

Bruce Good of The Good Brothers: “John was an iconic figure in Canadian radio. More importantly he was a friend. Condolences to his family, friends and fans. With heartfelt sympathy and love.”

Rita DeMontis posted this on the Tribute Wall of Donabie's official obituary: "I met John many years ago, when I was privileged to be a guest on his weekend radio spot on CFRB (Newstalk 1010). The moment I met John - he was dashing in a porkpie black hat - I realized I had found a lifelong friend. Kind, compassionate, funny, he was also the consummate teacher, always giving me a much-needed helping hand when it came to understanding the radio industry.

"John was a man of profound integrity, a man guided by a strong moral compass. He was kindness personified, never flaunting how brilliant he was, and always happy to share his stories.. And he was so much fun! I do believe he's playing music to the angels. Soar high, John, you leave behind a legacy and the beautiful gift of your friendship. Love always."

In its obituary, JAZZ.FM91 noted that "Donabie had a brief stint at JAZZ.FM91 back in November 2010 when he hosted the morning show, Good Morning … with John Donabie, which ran until the Summer of 2011."

The station's current Programming Manager, Wayne Williams, wrote that "For decades, John Donabie's voice was a constant companion to his audience and unmistakable presence on the airwaves. His influence and dedication to the craft were undeniable. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, and the countless listeners who welcomed him into their lives. His legacy will live on in the stories he told and the impact he made.”

Heather Bambrick, current host of JAZZ.FM's Wake Up! With Heather Bambrick, remembers Donabie as “just terrific and one of the best in radio.”

“In the 6'0s, John Donabie was one of our most celebrated FM jocks, along with Reiner, Larry Green and Macko. John pioneered FM rock radio,” said BLUZ.FM host Danny Marks. “The man knew and loved music and those who made it, his interviewing skills were par excellence. John brought this sunny energy to JAZZ FM.91 as our morning man. He always had a ready smile and an absolute professional. There’ll never be another like him.”

“John loved music. He knew so much about it, his knowledge ran deep,” remembers Dani Elwell, host of Voice Tracks. “He was a terrific well-experienced radio man, a humble and supportive human being as well but I will always remember how much passion he had for the music he shared. He will sorely be missed.”

Concert promoter and radio host (CFMU) Lou Molinaro grew up listening to Donabie in Oshawa, and he offered Billboard Canada this tribute: "John Donabie was a DJ on an Oshawa station, CKLB, our version of 1050 CHUM. He made radio fun. I listened to CKLB way more than 1050 CHUM or CFTR. As an impressionable kid, I learned a lot from AM radio in those days, especially from JD.

"He would play songs and give you information about the artists, especially if they were Canadian. That’s how I knew that Charity Brown was from Kitchener, Wednesday were from Oshawa and that Fludd had two brothers (The Pilling Brothers) who were from the U.K.. LOVED hearing him on the radio. I met him once at a media Meet N Greet in Oshawa when I was a teen and told him how much he taught me. His presence in Oshawa was mighty for my musical knowledge.

"I was a kid who grew up on K-Tel records. Donabie played a lot of those songs that were featured on those comps. He connected the dots . One profound moment was when he played a Les Emmerson single and then explained that he was the vocalist of the Five Man Electrical Band..:) Funny what you remember. A Teacher."

A visitation will be held from 2-5 p.m. on Thursday, February 20, at Ogden Funeral Home, 4164 Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario. A memorial mass is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, February 22, at St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica, 65 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario Causes suggested for donations in tribute of Donabie are MusiCounts, The St. Michael's Foundation and The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. More information here

International

Gene “Daddy G” Barge, an admired saxophone player, songwriter and producer who worked on hits by Natalie Cole, oversaw recordings by Muddy Waters and performed with the Rolling Stones, died on Feb. 2, at age 98.

An Associated Press obituary notes that "Barge’s career spanned much of the post-World War II era. He was in college jazz combos in the 1940s, backed Little Richard and James Brown when they were starting out, played a long, sweet solo on the ’50s standard 'C.C. Rider' and collaborated with Gary 'U.S.' Bonds on 'Quarter to Three' and other ’60s party favourites.

"He later recorded with such blues greats as Waters, Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon, co-produced Cole’s Grammy Award-winning single 'Sophisticated Lady,' toured with the Stones in the early 1980s and even played on Public Enemy’s New Whirl Odor album, for which he was credited as 'the legendary Mr. Gene Barge.'"

"Often cited as a precursor to the E Street Band’s Clarence Clemons, he held rare status among saxophonists — so well known that he was called out by name on two hits of the early ’60s — 'Quarter to Three' and the uptempo doo-wop number 'Bristol Stomp.'

In the 1970s and after, he had success as a character actor in thrillers and crime stories. When the musician was in his 80s, Public Enemy’s Chuck D called him “the flyest octogenarian I know.”

An early career break came when rhythm and blues singer Chuck Willis invited Barge to join his touring band, resulting in his playing on the chart-topping hit “C.C. Rider,” in 1957. Barge had even greater success a few years later, via “Quarter to Three,” a No. 1 hit in 1961 that became a rock standard and a featured part of Bruce Springsteen’s concerts.

With Chicago’s Chess Records, he played on such hits as Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me” and produced albums by Waters and Little Milton among others. He also arranged gospel tracks for Stax Records

He later befriended the writing-producing team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancey and helped produce and arrange the 1970s hit Natalie Cole albums Natalie and Unpredictable, among others.

Barge’s own album, Dance With Daddy G, came out in 1965. A later album, Olio, included cameos from bluesman Buddy Guy and soul star Otis Clay, and Barge was on stage often as a member of the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings.

Irv Gotti (Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr.), a rap music mogul who co-founded the hitmaking Murder Inc. Records label and helped make early 2000s superstars out of Ja Rule and Ashanti, died on Feb. 5, after suffering a stroke. He was 54 years old.

A Billboard obituary reported that "alongside brother Chris, Irv Gotti launched Murder Inc. in 1998 as an imprint of Def Jam. Ja Rule was the label’s flagship artist, and Murder Inc.’s first release was his 1999 debut album Venni Vetti Vecci, which included the rapper’s first top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit 'Holla Holla.'"

Gotti also discovered singer Ashanti as a teenager, and she went on to find fame with rap hits as well as her own solo R&B success. Ashanti’s three biggest hits all came in 2002: Ja Rule’s “Always on Time,” featuring Ashanti, was a two-week Hot 100 No. 1; Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?,” featuring Ashanti, peaked at No. 2; and her own “Foolish” spent 10 weeks atop the Hot 100.

Between 1999 and 2005, Ja Rule amassed 17 total Hot 100 hits, including three No. 1s.

Gotti won a Grammy in 2003 for co-producing Ashanti’s eponymous debut album, which won for best contemporary R&B album. He was nominated again the following year for co-writing Ashanti’s “Rock Wit U (Awww Baby),” a finalist for best R&B song.

Legal issues over the years included a federal raid at the label’s headquarters in 2003 as part of an investigation linking the Gottis to accused drug lord Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff. In 2005, Irv and Chris were found not guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money.

In July 2024, Irv Gotti was sued for sexual assault and rape by a Jane Doe plaintiff who said the alleged abuse occurred while she was in a relationship with him from 2020 to 2022.

Read a tribute to Gotti from Ashanti here, and other tributes here.

Dave Jerden, a renowned American record producer, audio engineer and mixer, died on Feb. 5, at age 75.

He is best-known for work on albums from the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990s by such rock favourites as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains, Social Distortion, the Offspring, Anthrax, Fishbone, the Meat Puppets and Public Image Ltd. He also engineered and mixed albums by the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, David Byrne & Brian Eno and Frank Zappa, and preferred to describe himself as an engineer, rather than producer.

He developed his engineering and mixing skills at Eldorado Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, beginning in the late 1970s, and it was work a decade later with albums by Jane's Addiction and Alice in Chains that launched him into prominence.

By the mid-1990s, Jerden pivoted away from production, preferring to experiment with recording equipment involved in the transition from digital to analogue domains. He told Musicradar in 2013 that "When I found myself making corporate-type records and feeding the radio machine, I realized that I lost my bearings. I wasn't making records for the right reasons anymore."

He later cofounded Tranzformer Studio in Burbank, Calif., receiving his last production credit in 2015.

In a Facebook post, Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz paid tribute to Jerden: "One reason Remain In Light sounds so great is because, in a large part, Dave Jerden was the recording and mixing engineer. He was asked to come down to Compass Point when engineer Rhett Davies quit on the second day of recording after a disagreement with Eno.

"Dave was a wonderful engineer and a very perceptive listener. He worked tirelessly. He was open to experimentation, but only if it sounded great. Dave was a real cool cat and not afraid to stand up to Brian Eno when he felt it was important to do so. We send our love to his family and friends at this terrible time and we will never forget how great he was to work with."

Sal (Salvatore) Maida, the bassist in cult glam/powerpop group Milk ‘N’ Cookies who also played with Roxy Music, Sparks, Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven, Ronnie Spector, The Runaways and more, died on Feb. 1, at age 76. The Hollywood Reporter stated that "he died of complications resulting from a fall in December."

Born in New York, Salvatore Maida was raised in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Little Italy, where he “heard a multitude of sounds emanating from the jukebox below my window, from Sinatra to the Stones, Motown, Ray Charles, The Beatles and Dinah Washington,” he once wrote.

In its obituary,THR called Maida "a devoted Anglophile. He traveled to London after graduating from Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and was working in a record store when he met Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson.

"Maida joined the art rock band for their Stranded Tour in 1973 and the next year became a member of Milk ’N’ Cookies, who had recently come out of Long Island to be signed to Island Records by Muff Winwood, the head of the label. Though short-lived, the power-pop sound of Milk ’N’ Cookies proved to be influential on the burgeoning punk scene, and when their debut album was reissued in the mid-2000s, they briefly reformed and played occasional shows through the 2010s."

In recent years, Maida hosted a radio show, Spin Cycle, and wrote the 2017 memoir Four Strings, Phony Proof and 300 45s — the last bit of the title is a reference to his prodigious collection of 45s — published by HoZac Books.

HoZac recently released an updated edition of the book, adding Bottoms Up, where Maida wrote about his top bassists from 1960-70. Also for HoZac, he co-authored and co-edited two volumes of the White Label Promo Preservation Society, collections of essays on under-achieving classic albums.

Said the publisher on Facebook: “Sal had such an incredible life that it just had to be made into a book, and we’re so glad we got to not only make that happen several times but also got to meet him in person, as he was like the cool older brother we’d never had.”

David Lowery of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven posted this tribute on Facebook: "We had the pleasure of having Sal Maida as a bass player for many years. We made some of our best recordings when he was our bass player. But more than that he was incredible person with a huge heart. We will miss him. Rest easy, Sal."

In his Facebook post, Johnny Hickman, Lowery's bandmate in those two bands, noted that "It is with a very heavy heart that I share the sad news of our long time bassist and dear friend Sal Maida’s passing. Many of you are aware of Sal’s years with and fine musical contributions to Cracker, but his remarkable career extends back to legendary bands like Sparks, Roxy Music and Milk and Cookies.

"Long before we were so very fortunate to have him join our band for a long, successful run, 'Sally Bones' was already an authentic rock icon. We toured the US and the world together and Sal was a major creative element in the making of one of our very best albums Sunrise in The Land of Milk and Honey. Sal was a not only a great bassist, friend and bandmate, his ear and arranging instincts were remarkable. Love and respect, Johnny."

Mike Ratledge, the keyboardist and a co-founder of English progressive rock band Soft Machine, died on Feb. 5, at age 81, after a brief illness.

That band’s guitarist, John Etheridge, confirmed Ratledge's passing on Facebook. He posted that "Mike was the backbone of Soft Machine in the early years and a man with an absolutely incisive mind – a marvelous composer and keyboardist. A real renaissance man – so talented, cultured, charming – and wonderful companion.”

Rolling Stone reports that "Ratledge was born in Kent, England, and he learned to play classical music on the piano as a child. After earning a degree in psychology, he co-founded Soft Machine in 1966 alongside Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. The group has had many lineups over the decades, with Ratledge in the band until 1976. He was the band’s longest-tenured original member upon his departure following the release of 1976’s Softs, appearing on Soft Parade’s first nine studio albums. Soft Machine was influential for fusing jazz into its psychedelic rock sound." The publication also commended Ratledge’s “typically nuts” keyboard work.

Rolling Stone named Soft Machine’s 1970 album Third as one of the greatest prog rock albums of all time back in 2015, with Ratledge writing two of the album’s four tracks, “Slightly All the Time” and “Out-Bloody-Rageous.”

Ratledge also contributed to Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs and former band mate Kevin Ayers’ Joy of a Toy.