Obituaries: Canadian Country Music Industry Booster Tom Tompkins, Filmmaker Mark Hesselink

Tom Tompkins, a radio veteran and former President of the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA), died earlier this month, of cancer. His age has not been reported.

Tompkins was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, as an Industry Builder. The Hall of Fame summarized his career this way: "Born in Toronto, Tom Tompkins grew up in Richmond Hill before moving to Calgary in junior high where he graduated from the Television Stage and Radio course at SAIT.

"He began his 43 year radio career in the spring of 1970 at CKXL Radio in Calgary. He went on to work in all formats from Top 40s to country at stations including CJAX-FM (Edmonton), CFGM-AM (Toronto), CHAM-AM (Hamilton) and CJAY-FM (Calgary), where, while programming, they were named Canada’s FM Station of the Year by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters for their development of Canadian talent through a live concert series entitled, Home Cookin’.

"Tompkins was twice named Country Program Director of the Year by The Record, a national industry publication, he won three CCMA Awards for Country Music Person of the Year, and was gifted a Juno Award in 1992 while managing Tracey Prescott and Lonesome Daddy, for their winning Country Group of the Year.

"Additionally, Tom Tompkins served on the CCMA Board of Directors for 15 years and was the President of the Association in 1991-92 and from 1994-2000."

In a statement, Amy Jeninga, President of the CCMA, reflected on Tompkins' legacy: “Tom Tompkins was a true pioneer in the Canadian country music industry. His dedication to building and supporting the industry, along with his passion for community, has left a lasting impact. Tom’s legacy will continue to be felt through the many lives he has influenced and the industry he helped shape.”

After stepping away from radio, Tompkins partnered with fellow ex-broadcaster Gene Daniel to book concerts in British Columbia.

In 2018, veteran Canadian broadcaster Jim JJ Johnston profiled Tompkins in one of his JJ-365 Salutes Puget Sound Radio features. Check it out here.

As word of his passing spread, music industry colleagues were quick to pay tribute to Tompkins.

In an obituary published in U.S. trade publication Celebrity Access,Larry LeBlanc termed Tompkins "a Canadian country music original. A fireplug of aggression and humor with a passion and knowledge of music unsurpassed. I first met him in the early ’70s when he was a top Calgary, Alberta rock DJ before he transitioned to be one of the most visible and outspoken figures in Canadian country music. He also was a concert promoter of note in Western Canada in his later years.”

As a former Executive Director of the CCMA, Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame member Sheila Hamilton worked closely with Tompkins there for many years. She sent Billboard Canada this tribute to her good friend: "Tom Tompkins was one of the hardest-working people in the music business and a tireless ambassador for Canadian country music, and he never never backed away from sharing his passion.

"Tom and I had the great privilege of working in an industry with extraordinary individuals who devoted their lives to making and promoting music. Tom was a worthy champion of our music community, creating lasting friendships over many decades. It was hard work, challenging at times, but certainly always fun.

"Through those good times, the frustrating moments, and all the chaos in between, Tom always managed to hold fast to his convictions, and he helped to take Canadian country music to the next level. Tom’s love of the music will always be remembered. Tom was a great friend. He had my back, even though at times he could be high maintenance. I will miss him. There won’t be another one like Tom Tompkins."

Veteran record label executive and now head of Jayward Artist Group, Jill Snell posted this tribute on Facebook: "On hearing the news, I immediately went down memory lane. Tom is the reason I worked in country music, well certainly the reason I joined the CCMA around 1990. I was working at Island Records and had a song by Dwight Yoakam and Buckwheat Zydeco and I asked my boss Lee Silversides if I could take it to some country stations even though I was technically the receptionist.

"I met Tom for the first time at CFGM and he told me if I wanted to get into country I should join the CCMA and I did. When I was elected to the board a few years later he was, quite suitably, my chair. We had some great fun in those meetings. Tom had a fiery temper and blustered red-faced and foul-mouthed at us but laughed just as hard. He was at heart, a softy."

Veteran graphic artist and country music stalwart Patrick Duffy offered this reminiscence on Facebook: "I think Tom liked me because I was somewhat of a maverick, shall we say, in those early days. My punk rock nonconformist ways and the world of outlaw country kind of meshed after Tom gave me his seal of approval. And one of my fave memories of Tom is during the CCMAs in Calgary, out back of some joint with him and Chas Hay. Tom was in rare form, ranting about something or other with a lot of 'who gives a F' about this and 'who gives a F' about that and I could not stop laughing. I felt like one of the guys, like I had made it in that I got to hang with Tom."

Mark Gerald Hesselink, a Toronto filmmaker, photographer and music video director and producer, died on Aug. 12, at age 58.

Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Hesselink came to Canada with his family in 1970. He first picked up a camera at the age of 13 to take pictures at a rock concert.

Bio notes provided to Billboard Canada by his close friend, music industry veteran Jeff Rogers, state that "As an adolescent Hesselink regularly attended concerts and photographed the day’s stars. As a teenager he discovered the emerging post-punk hardcore scene. His camera turned from the glamorous rock stars on stage to the gritty world of his friends in the audience, skateboarding and hanging out in the suburbs."

One of his rock concert photos was featured in a feature story in The Guardian over three decades later, and the striking photo of a leaping Pete Townshend in action at Maple Leaf Gardens in Dec. 1982 confirmed Hesselink's talent. In the story, he states that "I didn’t think that any of the pictures I took were at all special, and didn’t represent how I felt about The Who or what they meant to me – except maybe this one picture of Pete Townshend."

Hesselink enrolled at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) in Inter Media Studies in the Experimental Arts Department studying photography, art criticism and critical theory, and assisting numerous prominent artists during this period. He had several exhibitions of his own work at Ryerson Polytechnic (now Toronto Metropolitan University), OCAD, York University and more. He was a founding member of Ideas and Debates: A Journal of Art Writing, a periodical published by OCAD and also contributed to Guelph University’s Carousel: A Literary/Arts Magazine, The University of Toronto’s UC Review, FUSE Magazine and Vanguard Magazine.

Hesselink graduated from the four-year program with honours, winning the Ross Fletcher Film House Prize for proficiency in film and video for his thesis film Undressing Dominion. Returning for a graduate year in the New Media Program, he split his time between writing and directing what would become Niagara, his third short film, and working at the film co-op LIFT. Niagara toured film festivals including the Toronto, Berlin International, Ankara International Fim Festivals.

After graduation, he went to work in edit rooms as a picture and sound assistant for various independent Canadian filmmakers including Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, Ron Mann, Atom Egoyan, Prieto/McTair and John Greyson. He also worked in post production on Hollywood straight to video pictures with titles like: American Cyborg and American Samurai.

Hesselink began producing and directing music videos for independent Canadian artists and music labels, such as Handsome Boy, for whom he produced many clips. His work earned nominations and awards from broadcaster MuchMusic, and this attracted established production houses who recruited him to produce videos for Canadian and international artists such as Mary J. Blige, Nickelback, Loreena McKennitt, Rihanna, Sean Paul, Staind, The Cranberries and Natalie MacMaster and Alison Krauss. Many of these picked up awards and nominations from Much Music, VH1, The Dove Awards, International Reggae Day Awards and MTV.

He also produced commercials, trailers and videos with other directors such as Noble Jones, Nick Gordon, Lil’X, The Saline Project, Hype Williams, Bruce LaBruce, Peter Christopherson, Gavin Bowden, Nick Egan and Olivier Dahan for offshore production companies from the UK, France and the US.

Hesselink had recently started exhibiting work again and was developing his first book of photography with J&L Books and was in post-production on his first feature length film, a documentary about growing up in the hardcore scene called Punk. Probably Hardcore. He most recently directed the short film The Fighter, based on Craig Davidson’s novel.

Jeff Rogers informs Billboard Canada that "My intention is to help his family publish a book of his work and to exhibit Punk. Probably Hardcore. Many of his friends have pledged to make sure the work gets seen. "

One of his peers in the music video sector, director and cinematographer Roy Pike, told Billboard Canada that "Mark produced Rusty videos that I shot with Kris Lefcoe directing. I also shot some scenes for his Skater Punk movie. He was always a super positive guy and seemed to be in it for the love of music. He basically saved the Rusty 'Groovy Dead' video. Kris and I were having issues with the original producer who just wasn’t getting it. Mark came in with less than a week to pull everything together. Mark’s the guy who found the perfect camper van in an Orangeville scrapyard. He understood Kris’ vision. A good guy."

Jeff Rogers offered this tribute to Billboard Canada: "Mark was always curating people. Introducing then. Bringing them together. Inviting them to a club or restaurant, art event or live music. He would bring together different groups and delight in introductions. After people started having fun, and long before camera phones, Mark would pull out his camera and document them.

"The word selfie had not been invented when he started this practice. The next time you saw him he would hand you an envelope full of 4x6 photos. It was like that envelope was the gallery. He gave photos to everyone. I only now realize that may have been his main discipline in his multi disciplined career."

A Celebration of Life was held in Brampton, Ontario, on Aug. 25. Read the official obituary here.

International

Russell Malone, an acclaimed American jazz guitarist who worked extensively with Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall, died on Aug. 23, at age 60.

Malone was born in Albany, Georgia. He began playing at the age of four with a toy guitar his mother bought him. He was influenced by B. B. King and The Dixie Hummingbirds. A significant experience was when he was twelve and saw George Benson perform on television with Benny Goodman. He was mostly self-taught.

Starting in 1988, he spent two years playing with Jimmy Smith, then three with Harry Connick Jr. In 1995, he became the guitarist for the Diana Krall Trio, participating in three Grammy-nominated albums, including When I Look in Your Eyes, which won the award for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. Malone was part of pianist Benny Green's recordings in the late 1990s and 2000: Kaleidoscope (1997), These Are Soulful Days (1999), and Naturally (2000). The two formed a duo and released the live album Jazz at The Bistro in 2003 and the studio album Bluebird in 2004. They toured until 2007.

As a bandleader, Malone released 15 albums on such noted labels as Columbia, Impulse!, Verve, Telarc, Maxjazz and HighNote, beginning with his self-titled 1992 debut and closing out with 2017's Time for the Dancers.

He recorded eight albums with Diana Krall in all, from 1996 to 2020, and three albums each with Ray Brown, Harry Connick Jr., Houston Person and David Sanborn.

Malone was a core member of Diana Krall's trio, from 1996 to 1999, prior to following his own path in jazz. In a feature profile of Malone in 2000, Globe and Mail jazz critic Mark Miller reflected that "it stands to reason that the recording industry might be trying to push him toward the Krall and Connick crowd. He doesn't deny the suggestion, but he's resisting the pressure. 'The thing about the record industry,' he observes, 'it has a tendency to rely on formulas. Formulas are safe.'"

His extensive list of credits includes recording work with Mose Allison, Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Gary Burton, The Chieftains, May Gray, Natalie Cole, Roy Hargrove, B.B. King, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Gladys Knight, Sonny Rollins, Joss Stone, Jimmy Smith and many more.

Canadian musicians and record label executives who met and worked with Malone were effusive about his talent and personality in social media tributes.

Then at Verve Records/Universal Music Canada, Scott Morin, on Facebook, recalled being present at Allaire Studios in upstate New York for a recording session by Canadian jazz vocalist Denzal Sinclaire that featured Russell Malone. Morin urged people to "Just listen to Russell's guitar solo on this recording of 'Always On My Mind,' for Verve Records. I've been singing this solo in my head (and making everyone I know listen to it at thousands of hangs) for almost 20 years now. Effortless Mastery."

Morin also posted that "We did a lot with Russell when he was on Verve. In 2000, Glenda Rush got him an award at the Markham Jazz Festival that Hal Hill presented him. Verve went through some eras where we had our favourite instrumental artists to work with. Herbie, Charlie Haden, Kenny Barron, Roy Hargrove and Russell were the five that I think Glenda and I worked most closely with in Toronto and Montreal."

On Facebook, Glenda Rush posted her own tribute: "Rest in Peace to one of the greatest of the greats, Russell Malone. The sudden and shocking news today is just heartbreaking. How fortunate I am to have had the honoured opportunity to not only meet Russell but to have worked with him back in my days with Verve-Universal Music Canada with Scott Morin and Rick Dunlop."

Michael Occhipinti, one of Canada's top jazz guitarists, posted on Facebook: "I was very happy to present Russell Malone at Hugh’s Room in Toronto back in February 2020, and got to take him and his group out for breakfast the next day, before we headed to the airport. Very nice guy, and he touched base with me a few times via Facebook during the pandemic. So sorry to not be able to present him again, and that he’s passed on at way too young an age. My condolences to all who knew him, he was a great guitarist."

Journalist and former jazz critic Paul Wells also contributed on Facebook: "This is just shocking news. Russell was one of the finest guitarists of our generation, and I'm still at a loss trying to process the news of his sudden death. I'm grateful for the conversations we had during the decade after he was in Diana Krall's band. Wherever he was, he was always eager to get out and hear the local guitarists. He had a list of them in every city."

Stuart Raymond Samuels, an American academic, film and television producer, writer and award-winning documentarian, passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer on August 2 in Los Angeles. He was 84.

Samuels graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts at Rutgers University, then obtained a Ph.D in British Intellectual History from Stanford University. From 1968 to 1981, Dr. Samuels was a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, where he pioneered the teaching of cultural history using feature films from around the world. His course “Film as Social and Intellectual History” was the first in a history department in the United States to use feature films as the primary content for understanding the relationship of pop culture to intellectual history.

Samuels developed into a film and television producer, writer, and award-winning documentary filmmaker in the ‘80s. Spanning four decades, his early work is comprised of the groundbreaking late-night music video series Nightflight (for the USA Network)and the making of the first HD music videos.

In 1986, Samuels teamed up with the Academy Award-winning Polish film and music video director Zbigniew Rybczynski to produce the first works in the U.S. to use High Definition (HD), music videos for Herb Alpert, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Supertramp. The Orchestra, made for PBS, won an Emmy for Best Visual Effects (1989), the L'Prix Italia (1990) and the Grand Prize at Tokyo's International Electronic Film Festival (1990).

His notable documentaries include Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography; Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies, and the American Dream; Midnight Movies: From The Margin to the Mainstream based on his1993 book Midnight Movies), RasTa: A Soul’s Journey; The Beatles: Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years; (directed by Ron Howard) and his most recent project, The Lost Weekend: A Love Story. Many of these titles were favorites at international festivals. Each explored the relationship of popular culture to the broader historical context of their times.