Artist: Obits

Sorry to hear of the cruel, untimely death of Alex McCulloch , lead guitarist with Preston's Me Vs Hero. The band are asking for people to respect Alex's family and their privacy; the comments on their blog entry is offered as a space for online tributes.

Joe Beck, session jazz guitarist, has died . Splitting his career between farming and music, Beck worked with an impressive line-up of artists, including Gloria Gaynor, Miles Davis, James Brown and Frank Sinatra. He told George Cole in an interview for The Last Miles how he'd got into playing: I was around five or six I found a banjo in the attic in my house and I started fiddling around with that and I was able to figure out to play a chord or two and have fun. Then I heard [Spanish classical [...]

The death has been announced of Michael Berniker , who won nine Grammy Awards during a long career. Berniker's greatest work was as a producer of Broadway Cast albums, achieving the difficult task of moving the atmosphere of a crowded theatre to a recording studio. His first Grammy came as a producer for Barbra Streisand. After leaving his first label, CBS, in 1968, Berniker enjoyed some success as an executive at a number of other companies. It was he who brought Darryl Hall and John Oates to RCA. Berniker, who was 73, died [...]

Artie Traum, a key player in the New York Folk scene of the 1960s, has died . Traum formed a Woodstock-based duo with his brother, the spectacularly named Happy Traum. Represented by Albert Grossman, whose stable also included Peter Paul And Mary. A trio of successful albums followed, before the brothers went their separate musical ways in 1977. They continued to work together, however, presenting a radio show together before reuniting on record in 1994. During the 1970s and 80s, Artie was a key member and producer for the Woodstock Mountains Revue, a loose grouping [...]

Photo by Linda Wildemann Who : The Obits What do they sound like : Surf Like Jehu Why YOU should listen : Former Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes member Rick Froberg has a new band! Although his credentials are always looming, The Obits should please all fans of his previous work. They take the aggression of his previous bands and kick it up with a garage rockin', Fuzztones-esque groove. The Obits do not have any recorded material yet but [...]

Need I remind you of the awesomeness of Hot Snakes ? If the answer is yes, watch this: "Braintrust" (ughh.. wmv). Now we've already heard John Reis' new band The Night Marchers . Listen (if you haven't already): "Who's Lady R U?" (AOL mp3) So what is Rick Froberg up to? He got the Obits . These recordings may be rough, plus one appears to be cut out a little too soon, but these make me pretty excited for an album recorded in a studio [...]

• Double Dagger - The Psychic
• Obits - Obits_-_Talking_To_The_Dog__Live.mp3
• Obits - Obits_-_Widow_Of_My_Dreams__Live.mp3

Korean actress and pop singer U-nee has been found hanged, in what is believed to have been a suicide. Originally making a name for herself as an actress in Korean TV's Grown Ups Just Don't Understand, U-nee (born Lee Hye-ryeon) had started making the shift to pop in 2003. She had been scheduled to release her third album, Honey, on February 1st. Korea's Daily Chosun reports that U-nee had been upset by malicious internet postings "for some time" - something which continued following the announcement of her death. Several Korean websites carried [...]

The death has been announced of Denny Doherty, Mamas and the Papas songwriter. He was 66. Doherty was born in Nova Scotia in 1940, and started singing on the Canadian folk scene in his teens. His first serious band, The Halifax Three, managed a deal with Colombia and a minor hit The Man Who Wouldn't Sing Along With Mitch before falling apart. The band's demise left Doherty and Zal Yanovsky broke in New York, from which they were rescued by "Mama" Cass Elliot. Hearing of their plight, she persuaded her management to augment her band, The Big Three [...]

After a period in a nursing home with Alzheimer's Disease, Sneaky Pete Kleinow , Flying Burrito Brother, has died. Born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1934, Pete's original career was working as a visual effects artist - he had a lot of input to Christian kid-and-dog cartoon Davey and Goliath in the 1960s. But while he spent his days helping animate the "I don't know, Davey" hound, at night he would play steel guitar with various bands in the developing country-rock scene. It was his evening escapades that led him to a meeting with Chris [...]

We've just heard, further to our posting earlier, that James Brown has died . Brown was born in South Carolina in 1933 into extreme poverty - at the age of seven he was living in an Atlanta brothel, helping make money through shoeshine and busking. At the age of 16 he had his first serious run-in with the law when he was caught stealing a car, a crime that saw him spend three years inside. He would go on to be dogged by combinations of cars and cops, winding up inside again for an incident [...]

We've just heard of the death of Mega City 4 frontman Wiz , or Darren Brown as he was to the government. Formed in Farnborough during the mid-80s, Mega City 4 were one of those tireless indie bands who poured enormous energy both into their music and their pursuit of it; the turns of the nineties saw them in an apparently never-ending slog round the Harlow Square-Liverpool Planet X venue circuit. Deals with Fire, Big Life and Decoy saw them amassing six albums, but they were at their best with the short, punky single: the mighty Awkward [...]

Although he had been unwell for some time, it's still crushing to hear the news of the death of Alan Freeman , the man who set the standard for chart rundown programmes during his time hosting Pick of the Pops. Born in Melbourne in 1927, Freeman's original career plan had been to become an opera singer. He even spent two years training for the job, but eventually accepted that his future lay somewhere else than the twilight of the gods. Opera's loss was radio's gain, as he relocated to Tasmania and embarked on a career filling the [...]

The death has been announced of Ruth Brown , one of the first inspirational voices of R&B who became a thorn in the music industry's side. Known both as "the girl with a tear in her voice" and "Miss Rhythm", Brown was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1928; like many of her background, her first public performances were in church, and then around local army bases. It was her militaryfanbases who scraped together the railfare to allow her to attend a talent show in Harlem, and that win at the Harlem Apollo led to a role in [...]

NME features writer between 1972 and 1977, and organist with the Patrick Samson Set, Tony Tyler died on Saturday. Bristol-born but Liverpool bred, Tyler stowed away to spend time with the Beatles and other early beat acts during their Hamburg period; only a bout of pneumonia and a forced repatriation split him from playing cards with John Lennon. His first major role as a music journalist came editing trade title Beat Instrumental in 1969; after a short period working as PR man for T-Rex's management team at EG, Tyler joined the NME where, according [...]

The death has been announced of Paul Walters , producer of the Terry Wogan breakfast show on Radio 2. Walters joined Radio 2 in 1977 after a spell with the BBC film department, first linking up with Wogan in 1980. When Terry returned to breakfasts on the network, Walters was the obvious choice to oversee the programme; even after his illness took him away from day-to-day duties in November last year, he continued to be involved with choosing the tracks to sit in between Wogan's talking. Walters, who also produced You, The Night and The [...]

Sad news from Liverpool, where solicitor Robert Broudie has been found dead, after apparently falling from the top of the Anglican cathedral. Police say there are no suspicious circumstances relating to the death of Robert, brother of Lightning Seed and producer Ian Broudie. His business partner, Paul Thompson, said: "He was the most able, conscientious and committed lawyer I have ever known. "He had a national reputation for fighting fearlessly on behalf of all those he represented. "He had the respect of all who worked for him." [...]

The country singer and Grammy winner Freddy Fender has been announced. Born Baldemar Huerta, Fender left school at sixteen and became a marine, completing a three year tour of duty in 1953. Returning to Texas, he started a career as a jobbing musician, playing largely to a Latino audience and eventually recording Spanish language covers of Elvis Presley for sale south of the border. The name change came in 1959, as he started to record in English - Fender, of course, after his guitar. A hit with Wasted Days and Wasted Nights seemed to [...]

Kerrang DJ and West Midlands music promoter Robert Dentith has died at the age of 29. Colleague Loz paid tribute: "Those of you that knew Rob will understand how radio and unsigned music were his passion and his life. He has worked tirelessly for years on bringing new music to the fore, helping bands where help did not previously exist and to use his favourite quote: ‘provided a voice for the underground’. "His voice is no longer here but it will live on as the scene continues to [...]

We've only just heard of the death of Sabine Dunser, singer with Lichensteinian goth band Elis. Dunser fell ill during a rehearsal session for the band, who had just finished work on their second album. The 29 year-old suffered a cerebral haemorrhage; although she was hospitalised she died the following day. At the time, the band issued the following statement: "Deeply confused and sad, we have to inform you, that Sabine isn't among us anymore! "[During] the band's rehearsal on Friday [July 7], Sabine suffered a cerebral hemorrhage [from] which [...]

The writer of Catch A Falling Star, Paul Vance , has died in his Florida home. Born Paul Van Valkenburgh, Vance's most famous work - he was also responsible for Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - was written with partner Lee Pockriss. Vance boasted that his hits took just 25 minutes to write. Maybe so, but it took him even less time to sign away the rights; he never made any money from the works - although if anyone would want to profit from Timmy Mallett and Andrew Lloyd Webber's cover of Polka Dot [...]