The death of young musicians, specifically those who were in the 27th year of their lives, is an eerie trend when it comes to musicians and others in the musical world;
Alexander Levy the Brazilian composer/pianist who, in the late Nineteenth Century, had pioneered a fusion of classical music with Brazilian folk songs and rhythms was one of the first to be documented when he passed away prematurely at the age of 27 in 1892.
OnOctober 13, 1970, nine days after her death, Janis Joplin's ashes were scattered off the coast of California. Janis’ death on October 4, 1970 qualified her as an inductee into the ominous “27 Club”
Over the years, but prior to the death of Janis Joplin,
Blues pioneer Robert Johnson,
Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones,
and Jimi Hendrix
had all died at 27 years of age.
After Janis,
Jim Morrison,
Dave Alexander of The Stooges,
Kurt Cobain,
And Amy Winehouse
were added to what is also known as the “Forever 27 Club.”
Gibson Guitars was founded in the late 1890s by Orville Gibson, although the eccentric Mr. Gibson (actually, he was a bit more than “eccentric,” spending many years of his life in mental hospitals) never really incorporated a business at all. Kalamazoo, MI city records do indicate, though, that there was a business address registered to O.H. Gibson, Manufacturer of Musical Instruments as early as 1896, with a change of address in 1899 – 1902.
Around 1890, Orville had settled in Kalamazoo. “Fiddling” with musical instruments was merely a hobby for Orville. His day jobs (clerk at a shoe store and then at Butler’s Restaurant) supported his hobby, and his hobby was soon to play a totally different role in his life.
On May 11, 1896, Orville filed for his first and only patent which, was issued on February 1, 1898. He’d patented the idea of constructing a mandolin with a curved top and back and using solid pieces for the sides (rather than being bent, thin strips). His mandolin also had a hallowed out neck and heel to improve resonance and tonal quality.
On October 10, 1902, The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company, Limited was established by John W. Adams (pres.), Samuel H. Van Horn (treasurer), Sylvo Reams (sec. and also production mgr.), Lewis Williams (later secretary and gen. mgr.), and Leroy Hornbeck. Orville Gibson was not one of the partners, but had been granted a separate contract to be a consultant and trainer. Gibson was also the first to purchase 500 shares of the new company's stock.
In 1915, Orville Gibson and the company negotiated a new agreement in which Orville was to be paid a monthly salary for the rest of his life. That salary reported to be a mere $500 (That’s only $20K/year in 2011 money). In 1916 Gibson was treated at the psychiatric center of St. Lawrence State hospital in Ogdensburg, New York where he died of heart failure on August 21, 1918.
The company produced Gibson-designed mandolins at first, then moved onto acoustic—and of course electric—guitars.
Gibson acquired Epiphone in 1957, and production of Gibson-made Epiphones began in 1959, and lasted until 1969. In 1970, production moved to Japan (or, the Epiphone name was then applied to imported instruments).
ORVILLES (Gibson's nameplate in Japan) AND EPIPHONES ON DISPLAY IN JAPAN
After the release of the Broadcaster (later Telecaster) model, Gibson and guitarist Les Paul collaborated in the release of the solid body Gibson Les Paul in 1952. This model was refined with the introduction of the tune-o-matic bridge/stop tailpiece combination, and P.A.F. humbuckers through the 1950s.
1960 Melody Maker
THE LES PAUL MODEL
The Gibson company attempted to throw off the tag of being "stodgy" and old fashioned when they introduced the Flying V and Explorer models in the late 1950s. In this case, they pre-judged the public's tastes by about 10 years! As guitar players' tastes changed in the late 1950s, Gibson discontinued the single cutaway Les Paul model in favor of the double cutaway SG in 1960. As the popularity of the electric blues grew during the 1960s, Gibson reissued the Les Paul in 1968.
In 1980 the company relocated some of the sales, marketing, administration, and finance personnel from Chicago to the Nashville plant. Main Gibson production was then handled in Nashville, and Kalamazoo became a specialist factory for custom orders. The rest of the manufacturing was being handled in Bozeman, MT.
In 1983, then-Gibson president Marty Locke informed plant manager Jim Deurloo that the Kalamazoo plant would close. Final production was June 1984, and the plant closed three months later.
Rather than give up on the 65 year old facilities, Jim Deurloo, Marv Lamb, and J.P. Moats started the Heritage Guitar Company in April of 1985. The company is located in the original 1917 building.
Robert John (born Robert John Pedrick, Jr., 1946, Brooklyn, New York) is an American singer-songwriter.) ( INFORMATION COMPLIMENTS OF WIKIPEDIA) He is best remembered for the 1979 hit, "Sad Eyes". This song, which features John's falsetto vocals, reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. Earlier, in 1963 he recorded as the lead singer with Bobby & the Consoles. Recording for Diamond records, they had a small local hit with "My Jelly Bean". Hold on all you non-Doo-Wop lovers, for y’all, it gets better…
John, then known as Bobby Pedrick, first hit the pop chart in 1958 when he was only 12 years old with "White Bucks and Saddle Shoes", written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.
By 1965 he had changed his name and signed with MGM records for two ill fated singles. In 1967 he signed a contract with Columbia records and released a string of singles with help from writing partner Mike Gately. After a short tenure with Herb Alpert's A&M records (1970–71) 1971 brought his next hit, a cover of The Tokens' 1961 hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" which climbed to #3 in 1972. This disc sold over one million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America on March 15, 1972 Unfortumately, this million seller can’t be found on the internet (I’ll keep looking)
On his 1979 album, “Robert John” he had a minor hit, in his own right, with LONELY EYES-- The single reached #41 in the US charts.
Robert John’s only in his ownright “monster” hit, “Sad Eyes” hit Number One on the Billboard Chart on October 6, 1979
In 1980Robert John killed on a cover of the 1970 Eddie Holman classic “Hey There Lonely Girl” but never got the recognition he deserves
SO MANY "Blue Eyed Soul" singers have just come short of making it (Ann Arbor/Detroit Michigan's SCOTT MORGAN, for example). Keep on keepin' on, my brothers and sisters, your day will come...
Johnny Ace (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. He scored a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s before dying of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.After serving in the navy during the Korean War (Going AWOL more often than not, John Marshall Alexander had soon been given his walking papers)
Out from under the thumb of the U.S. Navy, he bounced around, did a short prison term in Mississippi, and found himself back in Memphis in 1949 (where radio WDIA had just gone to on-air talent which was 100% African-American). Circulating through the city's extraordinarily fertile music scene which in the years after World War II featured such artists as B. B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Junior Parker, Ace held his own.
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Alexander joined Adolph Duncan's Band as a pianist. He then joined B.B. King’s Band.
He gravitated toward the Beale Street area, for decades the nerve center of urban Southern blues, and joined with Bland, Parker, and other musicians in a band first called the Beale Street Blues Boys and later the Beale Streeters.
Young B.B. King
After B.B. departed for Los Angeles and Bobby “Blue” Bland joined the army. Alexander took over vocal duties and renamed the band The Beale Streeters, also taking over King's radio show on WDIA, the pioneering all-rhythm-and-blues Memphis radio station.
Johnny Ace's first professional recording date as a leader was "Midnight Hours Journey" in 1951 for the L.A.-based Modern Records (the same label recording B.B. King at the time). The record wasn't released for a few years--after Johnny Ace had already had a string of hits on the Duke label (out of Memphis).
(SORRY, NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
During this point in his life, however, Ace's personal life was in disarray. He had married ninth-grader Lois Jean Palmer and fathered a son by her; mother and child were installed in Ace's parents' house, but Ace himself was not permitted to stay there. Despite these problems, his musical career was ready to take off. His breakthrough came in 1952, when the program director of WDIA launched his own label, Duke, and planned to record and release a single featuring Bobby "Blue" Bland on vocals. Bland botched the performance, and Acewas called on to replace him. Quickly cobbling together a melody of his own, Ace recorded the romantic ballad "My Song" and it became a regional hit. It was at that point that John Alexander became "Johnny Ace with the New Blues Sound."
Becoming "Johnny Ace", he signed to Duke Records (originally a Memphis label associated with WDIA) in 1952. "My Song" his first recording, topped the R&B charts for nine weeks in September. ("My Song" was covered in 1968 by Aretha Franklin, on the flipside of "See Saw".)
Ace began heavy touring, often with Willa Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. In the next two years, he had eight hits in a row, including "Cross My Heart," "Please Forgive Me," "The Clock," "Yes, Baby," "Saving My Heart for You," and "Never Let Me Go." In December, 1954 he was named the Most Programmed Artist Of 1954 after a national DJ poll organized by U.S. trade weekly Cash Box.
Ace's recordings sold very well for those times. Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that the three 1954 Johnny Ace recordings, along with Thornton's "Hound Dog", had sold more than 1,750,000 records
CHECK OUT "YES BABY" BY JOHNNY ACE AND BIG MAMA THORNTON:
After touring for a year, Ace had been performing at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas on Christmas 1954. During a break between sets, he was playing with a .22 cal revolver. Members of his band said he did this often, sometimes shooting at roadside signs from their car...
It was widely reported that Ace killed himself playing Russian roulette. Big Mama Thornton's bass player Curtis Tillman, however, who witnessed the event, said, "I will tell you exactly what happened! Johnny Ace had been drinking and he had this little pistol he was waving around the table and someone said ‘Be careful with that thing…’ and he said ‘It’s okay! Gun’s not loaded…see?’ and pointed it at himself with a smile on his face and ‘Bang!’ – sad, sad thing. Big Mama ran outta that dressing room yelling ‘Johnny Ace just killed himself!" Big MamaThornton said in a written statement (included in the book The Late Great Johnny Ace) that Ace had been playing with the gun, but not playing Russian roulette. According to Thornton, Ace pointed the gun at his girlfriend and another woman who were sitting nearby, but did not fire. He then pointed the gun toward himself. The gun went off, shooting him in the side of the head. Ace's funeral was on January 2, 1955, at Memphis' Clayborn Temple AME church. It was attended by an estimated 5000 people… R.I.P. JOHNNY ACE
NOTE: John Marshall Alexander, Jr. A/K/A JOHNNY ACE, should not be confused with my good friend, Johnny Ace, the GREAT NYC-Born bass player who, in his own right, is alive and well and sounding great with his band LemonAce.
Martha Jean “The Queen” Steinbergwas born in Memphis, Tennessee as Martha Jean Jones on September 9, 1930 . She started doing her DJ thing on WDIA in Memphis in the early 1950s. She was Martha Jean “The Queen” Jones back in those days…
WDIA is still known as THE HEART & SOUL of Memphis…
(Click on logo to listen live)
As one of the first female disc jockeys in the United States, her program included the latest R&B hits along with the typical "household hints" programming—Just the way it was, at the time, for ladies on the air.
It was 1963 when she moved to Detroit, Michigan, and became an immediate hit on WCHB-AM and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s on WJLB. While at WJLB, she led the station's on-air staff in protest of the fact that the station at the time had no African-American employees outside of the air staff. She was even featured on the Eric S tune “You Are Somebody”
WJLB went to the FM dial (where it remains to this day) in 1980 and Martha Jean’s show was cancelled.
The former WJLB-AM became WMZK with an ethnic format. In 1982, Martha Jean “The Queen” acquired WMZK-AM—YEP, SHE BOUGHT THE STATION!!!-- and changed the call letters to WQBH in order to offer more gospel music oriented programming. Steinberg remained on the air at WQBH (1400 on the AM dial) until her death. (WQBH is now WDTK) Martha Jean “The Queen” passed away on January 29, 2000. She is buried in Detroit's Elmwood Cemetery. R.I.P. MARTHA!!!
Alexander Levy the Brazilian composer/pianist who, in the late Nineteenth Century, had pioneered a fusion of classical music with Brazilian folk songs and rhythms was one of the first to be documented when he passed away prematurely at the age of 27 in 1892. 
