Author Archives: lestweforgetmusicians.org

B.B. Dickerson

Rarely if ever has a band been defined by the bass lines of its best songs to the extent that the band WAR is defined by B.B. Dickerson. Cisco Kid, Slippin’ Into Darkness, Spill the Wine, Low Rider and The World is a Ghetto, to name a few, are songs that reverberate from the bottom up. In the 70s, and ever since, Dickerson’s syncopated grooves have been the foundation on which great parties are built and great memories are made. Sadly, in recent years, a legal conflict has meant that Dickerson and all but one of his bandmates toured under a pseudonym, the Original Lowriders. But by any name, when B.B. Dickerson left us at age 71, he took the party with him.

Bunny Wailer

Bunny Wailer, was an inspirational singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of the Jamaican reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. He was a 3-time Grammy Award winner, and is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music.

Pat Martino

The life of guitar virtuoso Pat Martino can be told in two chapters. Before 1980, he was a prodigy, who quit school at age 15, moved from Philadelphia to Harlem and became a prodigious session player. At 22, he recorded a landmark debut album. Then, at age 35, after suffering seizures, he experienced a brain aneurism and couldn’t remember his own name. This was chapter two. Over the next two decades, Martino would work to recover his speech and memory and remaster his instrument, reaching new levels of musical artistry and acclaim before finally succumbing to respiratory disease in November 2021. Pat Martino. No one ever worked harder to make music sound so effortless.

Rusty Young

You might not have known his name, but his tone will always strike a chord. As a founding member of the L.A. band Poco, Rusty Young was responsible for putting the pedal steel guitar on the rock ‘n roll map and pioneering the Laurel Canyon sound that brought country and pop into harmony. When original songwriters Jim Messina and Richie Furay left the band in the early 70s, Young would step up to author several of the band’s biggest hits. He continued to perform with various versions of Poco until shortly before his death in April of 2021. Rusty Young has left us, but his sound will sustain.

Paul Cotton

Paul Cotton was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who was a key member of the band Poco. Cotton’s best known song with the band is “Heart of the Night,” which was a major hit from the group’s Legend album. He also penned the song “Barbados.” Paul Cotton passed away in July 2021.

BJ Thomas

BJ Thomas will forever be famous for the lucky break he almost didn’t get. Composer Burt Bacharach was turned down by his top two choices to record a song for the soundtrack of a quirky western in 1969. But when Bob Dylan and Ray Stevens put up their umbrellas, Thomas would step in to ride “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” to the top of the US charts and a Best Song Oscar. Despite battles with drug and alcohol addiction, Thomas’s honeyed baritone would lead him to become a mainstay of the pop and country charts and, after recovery and a religious awakening, he would record a handful of gospel hits. In May 2021, lung cancer took Billy Joe Thomas from us, but thanks to his time here, many of us will never hear a rainstorm the same way.

Baron Browne

Baron Browne was a joy to hear and a pleasure to play with, as dozens of the most accomplished players in electric jazz will gladly attest. Closely associated with drummer Steve Smith and violinist Jean Luc Ponty, Browne was also sought after as a sideman for both his flawless technique and his warm sense of humor. After a year at Berklee School of Music, where his classmates included Bill Frisell and Kevin Eubanks, Browne would become the bassist of choice for bandleaders like Ponty and fusion pioneer Billy Cobham, as well as vibraphonist Gary Burton among many others. Baron Browne. When it comes to blending in, he stood out.

Doc Gibbs

Leonard “Doc” Gibbs Jr., also known as Doc Gibbs, was an American percussionist. He acquired the nickname “Doc” after suggesting herbal remedies to jazz saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the early 1970s, and toured with artists such as Anita Baker, Whitney Houston, Bob James, Al Jarreau, Erykah Badu, and of course, for a long time, Grover Washington, Jr. Doc also led the house band on the popular Food Network television show Emeril Live, hosted by Chef Emeril Lagasse. Gibbs died from cancer in September 2021, at the age of 72.

Roger Hawkins

Roger Hawkins was an American drummer best known for playing as part of the studio backing band known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (also known as the Swampers) of Alabama. Hawkins’s drumming can be heard on dozens of hit singles, including tracks by Percy Sledge (“When A Man Loves A Woman”), Aretha Franklin (“Respect”), Wilson Pickett (“Mustang Sally”), The Staple Singers, Bobby Womack, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Paul Simon, Boz Scaggs, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson and Bob Seger. He also recorded with Eric Clapton in the early 80’s. Roger Hawkins died at age 75 in May 2021.