Taylor among notable musicians who recently have died
Depending on your definition of notable music performers, nearly 100 artists who impacted the national music charts have died this year – and it’s only August.
Surely, Pittsburgh’s B.E. Taylor will be counted among those artists. Although he had two national hits in the mid-1980s, “Vitamin L” and “Karen,” Taylor, who died last week, is especially well-known in this area for his Christmas concerts.
The appeal of Taylor’s music was such that his stellar interpretation of one song, “Mary’s Boy Child,” has become a holiday staple on many area stations, even though it was originally recorded specifically for a 3WS Christmas CD.
Taylor will very much be missed; let’s hope WQED repeats its B.E. Taylor Christmas Show in December.
Taylor was just 65, joining a disproportionate number of artists this year who have died at a relatively young age. Some other notable musicians and performers who have died recently:
• Roye Albrighton, 67, of progressive rock group, Nektar, that had a half-dozen chart albums in the ’70s.
• Bonnie Brown, 77, of the Browns (“The Three Bells,” “Old Lamplighter,” “Scarlet Ribbons”).
• Padraig Duggan, 67, founding member of the Celtic group, Clannad.
• Richard Fagan, 69, country songwriter (“Be My Baby Tonight,” “Real Good Feel Good Song”) and “The Good Lord Loves You,” which was recorded by Neil Diamond.
• Pete Fountain, 86, who recorded 42 albums and was an iconic jazz musician.
• Ricci Martin, 62, son of Dean Martin, who has been performing tribute concerts to his father for more than a decade. He also had been an opening act for the Beach Boys, and released an album with the Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson.
• Gary Paxton, 77, half of Skip and Flip (“Cherry Pie”) and the Hollywood Argyles (“Alley Oop”), and producer of “Monster Mash,” “Along Comes Mary” and “Sweet Pea,” among many others.
• Sir Mack Rice, 82, of the Falcons (“You’re So Fine,” “I Found a Love”) and writer of “Mustang Sally” and “Respect Yourself.”
• Danny Smythe, 67, drummer for the Box Tops (“The Letter,” “Cry Like A Baby”).
• Lewie Steinberg, 82, bass player for Booker T and the Mgs (“Green Onions”).
• Pat Upton, 75, lead singer of Spiral Starecase (“More Today Than Yesterday”).
Among the more familiar Pittsburgh area radio voices lost over the past few weeks, in addition to Bill Cardille (WJAS), are Jim Carnegie, a 1970s weekend disc jockey at KQV before founding and publishing Radio Business Report; Jerry Doyle, syndicated night-talk host heard on WJAS; Lori Jaye, who worked at WSNQ-AM 1620 in Butler County; and Ray Walker (Weitzel), executive producer of the Pittsburgh Penguins radio network, who previously worked at 3WS, WLTJ, The Point, Smooth Jazz and The Beat.
WLTJ last week named Pittsburgh native Chris Diaz as its new morning host, replacing Jim Krenn. Diaz most recently had worked at a country music station in Louisville. The remainder of the revamped schedule includes Debbie Wilde from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Zak Szabo from 3 to 6 p.m. and Jenny from 6 to 10 p.m.
3WS has replaced its Sunday Night Oldies Diner with rebroadcasts of Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” countdown. The station’s website steers “Diner” fans to 3WS HD2 for “Real Oldies,” a syndicated format of ’50s, ’60s and ’70s hits (although its focus is clearly on the ’60s). The “Diner” show specialized in pre-Beatles and Pittsburgh hits, and was especially popular when hosted by R.D. Summers (Thomas Renkenberger), who died in 2010.
In the most recent Nielsen ratings (July), 3WS remains the top radio station in Pittsburgh, followed by WDVE, WDSY, WKST (KISS-FM) and WRRK (BOB-FM). The top AM station, as always, is KDKA, which is eighth overall. And even though they’ve been pretty much on autopilot lately, WLTJ remained in 12th place, despite dismantling its morning show.
As a reminder, several Pittsburgh and suburban stations do not subscribe to the ratings survey, so are not included in the tally.