The RIP Famous Person Thread

[harrybarracuda]

One for the hippies....

DAEVID ALLEN, FOUNDING MEMBER OF GONG, DIES AGED 77
The musician announced his terminal cancer last month



Daevid Allen, the leader and founding member of jazz prog-rock band Gong, has died aged 77.

The Australian musician announced last month that he had been given six months to live after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. As The Guardian reports, Allen said, "I am not interesting in endless surgical operations and in fact it has come as relief to know the end is in sight."

He added, "I am a great believer in 'The Will of the Way Things Are' and i also believe that the time has come to stop resisting and denying and to surrender to the way it is."

News of his death was announced on the Facebook page of his son, Orlando monday Allen, who wrote, "And so dada Ali, bert camembert, the dingo Virgin, divided alien and his other 12 selves prepare to pass up the oily way and back to the planet of love. And I rejoice and give thanks."

He continued, "Thanks to you dear dear daevid for introducing me to my family of magick brothers and mystic sisters, for revealing the mysteries, you were the master builder but now have made us all the master builders. As the eternal wheel turns we will continue your message of love and pass it around. We are all one, we are all gong.

"Rest well my friend, float off on our ocean of love. The gong vibration will forever sound and its vibration will always lift and enhance. You have left such a beautiful legacy and we will make sure it forever shines in our children and their children. Now is the happiest time of yr life. Blessed be."

[palexxxx]

US rock band Toto's longtime bassist Mike Porcaro dies

Mike Porcaro, the longtime bassist for Grammy Award-winning US rock band Toto, died on Sunday morning, his brother and fellow band member said in a brief statement. He was 59.
The band said in February 2010 that Porcaro had been diagnosed with ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and that it planned to tour to generate funds to support his care and to raise awareness about the disease.


US rock band Toto's longtime bassist Mike Porcaro dies

[blue]

To tell the truth never heard of him , but Africa by toto is one of my favourite songs

[harrybarracuda]

Free bass player Andy Fraser dies, aged 62
By Jamie Harris
Wednesday, Mar 18 2015, 05:05 GMT

Fraser co-wrote Free's biggest hit 'All Right Now' in 1970. He co-founded the band at the age of 15 in 1968 with Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke.

In 1972, Fraser left Free to work with guitarist Chris Spedding on the Sharks, before forming his own group the Andy Fraser Band.

Over the years, the Paddington-born songwriter has penned tracks for artists including Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker and Rod Stewart.

The exact cause of death is not yet clear, although Fraser was battling both cancer and HIV.

[dirk diggler]

but Africa by toto is one of my favourite songs

[Happy As Larry]

One for the hippies....

DAEVID ALLEN, FOUNDING MEMBER OF GONG, DIES AGED 77
The musician announced his terminal cancer last month

I was never a hippy but a great fan of Gong. Was listening to some of his solo stuff just last weekend

[Happy As Larry]

Free bass player Andy Fraser dies, aged 62

Bloody hell they are dropping like flies. I thought he was a great bass player. The Free farewell tour was one of the first concerts I attended.
I actually thought he died sometime back and was surprised to find an interview with him early last year.
I'll have to put some of Andy Fraser Band tracks on the ipod

[billy the kid]

Daevid Allen, the leader and founding member of jazz prog-rock band Gong, has died aged 77.

Good band back in the day. went down well with a few beers and stiffs.

[palexxxx]

Must be a hazardous business being a bass player,

First Jack Bruce (Cream) only in October last year,
then Mike Porcaro (Toto) last Sunday (15th March)
and now Andy Fraser of Free.

[Loy Toy]

Free bass player Andy Fraser dies

Devastated. Simon Kirk and Andy Fraser perfected off-beat music which will remain forever.

Thanks Andy. Love ya!

[withnallstoke]

Free are one of the bands i still listen to from that era.

Fooking great player - thanks.

[harrybarracuda]

Shaw Taylor obituary

Wednesday 18 March 2015 13.12 GMT Last modified on Wednesday 18 March 2015 17.55 GMT



Shaw Taylor, who has died aged 90, was the first presenter to make television out of the solving of real crimes, with his Police 5 programme. His forthright attitude to the police, the public, criminals and his own television fame made him a distinctive and memorable figure in 1960s and 70s television, as did his catchphrase “Keep ’em peeled”, urging viewers to stay on the lookout for crime.

The ITV programme came about in 1962 when Lew Grade, then running the London weekend commercial TV station, wanted a six-week filler to plug a five-minute hole in his schedules. Within two weeks it was obvious that Police 5 and Taylor were going to be a successful combination. Two of the three cases covered in the first programme were solved as a result of information supplied by viewers: a stolen car used as a getaway vehicle was recovered, and abandoned baby twins were returned to their parents.

The show became regular, greatly lengthened, and offshoot programmes were established in other regions. A German television producer, on holiday in Britain, saw Police 5 and went back to Germany to create his own version. Other countries quickly followed suit. It was a breakthrough in criminology.

Taylor was born and brought up in the East End of London, the son of a father who worked for the Gas Light and Coke Company and a mother employed in the local box factory. It was a close and happy family. His father was resistant to having electricity in the house (why help the opposition?), but finally succumbed when Shaw got an acting part in Robin Hood, and his parents wanted to see their son on the telly.

Shaw served in the RAF and then went to Rada to train as an actor. After a short period treading the boards, in the 50s he became a radio and television quizmaster, featuring in such forgotten programmes as This Is Your Chance and Dotto. He appeared in two films, Tell the Truth (1955) and What a Carry On! (1973), had a spell presenting a music show, Friday Spectacular, on Radio Luxembourg with Muriel Young, commentated on minor sports such as figure skating and ten-pin bowling, and fronted Royal Command Performances. He also presented ITV’s Drive-In motoring programme (1971-78).

But it was with Police 5 that his firm bond with the public was established. The programme’s results were often highly successful, as when he appealed for the recovery of a set of priceless medallions stolen from a “distinguished lady who was not amused” at Kew Palace. Viewers were not told that this was, in fact, the Queen, but she thanked Taylor for his part in the recovery of the loot in appointing him MBE in 1986.

After some items stolen from a photographic college in Birmingham were shown on Police 5, the burglar was soon arrested. He demonstrated the ambivalent attitude of criminals to the programme by remarking: “Wait till I tell the boys inside. They’ll be green with envy.” The pull of television and its power to confer fame was recognised by criminals even when it was being used against them.

Taylor, who was known in the underworld as Whispering Grass, might well have continued with Police 5 until well into his old age, but when the programme had made 25,000 appeals for the solving of crimes, television industry politics intervened.

In the 70s Police 5 had gone out under that name in London and the Midlands, while the similar Crime Desk went out in the south of England and Police File in the Channel Islands. But in 1992 Meridian won the south of England franchise from TVS. The production company of Police 5, and of Crime Stoppers, of which Taylor was a director, negotiated with Meridian. Taylor announced his “semi-retirement” and the field that had once been his pioneering responsibility was taken over by the BBC’s Crimewatch UK, now Crimewatch.

He retired to his home in Totland, at the western end of the Isle of Wight, where he was an enthusiastic supporter of local theatre. In 2014 Channel 5 revived Police 5 with new presenters and, at the age of 89, Taylor appeared on each programme for a short segment.

His wife Ianette (known as Jane), predeceased him. He is survived by their son, Richard, and by his partner, Shirley Ferrari.

• Eric (Shaw) Taylor, television presenter and actor, born 26 October 1924; died 17 March 2015

[billy the kid]

“Keep ’em peeled”,

yea great, our Lone Ranger.

[Bobcock]

What did Shaw Taylor have in common with John Terry?






Both their fathers sold Coke

[harrybarracuda]

I never knew his name was Eric. Must have been working undercover.

[pompeysbroke]

^^^^^^ RIP Daevid Allen..great legacy indeed.

"it's not the first it's not the last time we'll be born. Our time will come again".

Hoping there's plenty of tea in flying teapots for you

[dirk diggler]

Mike Porcaro (Toto) last Sunday (15th March)

Beware the Ides of March

[Gazza]

Nah, surely that's got to be Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseu.

[panama hat]

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser dead at 84

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has died.

"It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March 2015," a statement read.

"We appreciate that this will be a shock to all who knew and loved him, but ask that the family be left in peace at this difficult time."

Mr Fraser was prime minister of Australia and leader of the Liberal Party from 1975 to 1983.

He was Australia's 22nd prime minister, taking the job in events so dramatic they still reverberate decades on.

Mr Fraser was sworn in as caretaker prime minister in 1975 after the Whitlam government was dismissed in a constitutional crisis that followed months of budget deadlock in the Senate.

He led the Liberals to victory in the 1975 election before being succeeded by Labor's Bob Hawke in 1983.

While the political left loathed Mr Fraser for his role in the 1975 "coup" against Gough Whitlam, the pair developed a close friendship post politics.

Mr Whitlam died in October last year.

In recent years, Mr Fraser had become an outspoken critic of the Liberal Party and quit the party in 2010 over the party's lurch to the right on issues such as immigration.

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser dead at 84

[harrybarracuda]

Withnail will be inconsolable, what with getting done by the Eagles at the weekend and all.

'Neighbours' theme singer Jackie Trent dies, aged 74

Singer-songwriter died in hospital in Menorca, Spain yesterday (March 21)



Jackie Trent, the British singer-songwriter known singing the theme to TV show Neighbours plus for her work for Frank Sinatra and Petula Clark, has died.

Trent was 74 and died in hospital in Menorca yesterday (March 21), BBC News reports. Trent first reached Number One in 1965 with her song 'Where Are You Now'.

She formed a prolific and successful song writing partnership with her first husband, Tony Hatch, with the couple writing hits for Shirley Bassey, Jack Jones, Nancy Wilson, Des O'Connor, Val Doonican, Vikki Carr, and Dean Martin among others.

Trent and Hatch also wrote Stoke City's 1972 League Cup final song 'We'll Be With You' before divorcing in 2002 having separated in 1995. The song is still played at all of the Premier League team's home games.

In recent years Trent remarried and moved to Spain. She has been a regular live fixture however, touring the UK in the musical High Society and performing live around the country. A stage musical based on her life, adapted from a yet-to-be published autobiography will open at Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre in May 2015.

[billy the kid]

^ her original name was Yvonne Sturgess or Burgess.

[panama hat]

LKY RiP

[Looper]

Lee Kuan Yew, the statesman who transformed Singapore from a small port city into a wealthy global hub, has died at the age of 91.



The city-state's prime minister for 31 years, he was widely respected as the architect of Singapore's prosperity.

But he was criticised for his iron grip on power. Under him freedom of speech was tightly restricted and political opponents were targeted by the courts.

A state funeral will be held on 29 March, after a week of mourning.
In a televised address, his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong paid tribute to him.

"He fought for our independence, built a nation where there was none, and made us proud to be Singaporeans. We won't see another man like him."
Mr Lee oversaw Singapore's independence from Britain and separation from Malaysia. His death was announced early on Monday. He had been in hospital for several weeks with pneumonia and was on life support.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply saddened" by Mr Lee's death. US President Barack Obama described him as a "giant of history". The Chinese foreign ministry called him "a uniquely influential statesman in Asia".

'Incalculable contributions' A charismatic figure, Mr Lee co-founded the People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore since 1959, and was its first prime minister.
The Cambridge-educated lawyer led Singapore through merger with, and then separation from, Malaysia.
Speaking after the split in 1965, he pledged to build a meritocratic, multi-racial nation. But tiny Singapore - with no natural resources - needed a new economic model.
"We knew that if we were just like our neighbours, we would die," Mr Lee told the New York Times in 2007.
"We had to produce something which is different and better than what they have."


At the scene: BBC South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head As the long wait for the inevitable continued, the floral tributes piled up right outside the city-state's main hospital, often laid by tearful, older Singaporeans who truly see this sharp-tongued, tough-minded man as a father figure.


And while there were many affectionate comments from well-wishers, there was still some fear of this extraordinary leader, who has dominated Singapore for the whole of its independent existence, and once threatened to rise from the grave if he saw things happening that he did not like.
For all of its impressive successes, this is still a country with Lee Kuan Yew's imprint visible everywhere. He was unapologetic about the repressive measures he used to impose order, and unapologetic about believing his prescriptions alone were the right ones. No-one is quite sure what direction Singapore will now take without him.

Obituary: Lee Kuan Yew
Reaction in pictures and tweets



Mr Lee speaks during a rally at Farrer park in Singapore on 15 August 1955


Mr Lee had been critically ill at Singapore General Hospital, where people left tributes to him


As the news broke, people began arriving at the hospital to pay their respects

Mr Lee set about creating a highly educated work force fluent in English, and reached out to foreign investors to turn Singapore into a manufacturing hub.
The city-state grew wealthy and later developed into a major financial centre.


But building a nation came with tight controls - and one of Mr Lee's legacies was a clampdown on the press, tight restrictions that remain in place today.
Dissent - and political opponents - were ruthlessly quashed. Today, Mr Lee's PAP remains firmly in control. There are currently six opposition lawmakers in parliament.


Other measures, such as corporal punishment, a ban on chewing gum and the government's foray into matchmaking for Singapore's brightest - to create smarter babies - led to perceptions of excessive state interference.
But Mr Lee remained unmoved.



"Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him. Or give it up," he told a rally in 1980. "I've spent a whole lifetime building this and as long as I'm in charge, nobody is going to knock it down."


BBC News - Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew dies at 91

[harrybarracuda]

Plan 9 From Outer Space star Gregory Walcott dies at 87
BY JONATHON DORNBUSH • @JMDORNBUSH



Posted March 22 2015 — 7:00 PM EDT

Actor Gregory Walcott, perhaps most recognizable for his role in Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space, died on March 20 at the age of 87.

Walcott’s son, Todd Mattox, announced Walcott’s passing on his Facebook page earlier this weekend.

Walcott’s career extended far beyond his role in the Ed Wood cult classic, with dozens of credits in film and television. The actor frequently had roles in Clint Eastwood projects, beginning with CBS’ Rawhide and continuing through several other projects like Joe Kidd.

His first role came in 1952 in an uncredited role in Red Skies of Montana, and he appeared in many other projects from Mister Roberts in 1955 to Prime Cut in 1972 to Norma Rae in 1979. Walcott had a number of recurring or notable roles on television as well, including in shows like 87th Precinct, Dallas, and Land of the Lost. His final appearance came in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood biopic in 1994. He also released a memoir in 2003, Hollywood Adventures: The Gregroy Walcott Story.

Walcott was raised in Wilson, North Carolina, and is survived by three children, including Todd Mattox.

[harrybarracuda]

24, Nikita Actress Dies at 60
by Robyn Ross | Mar 23, 2015 9:28 AM EDT



Canadian actress Alberta Watson has died at the age of 60, ET Canada reports.
"Alberta passed away on Saturday evening at Kensington Hospice in Toronto," her agent told the outlet. "Her husband Ken was by her side. We await details of a memorial service for her."
See other celebrities we've lost this year
Watson, who appeared in several films, including In Praise of Older Women, Spanking the Monkey and The Sweet Hereafter, was best known for her TV roles. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she appeared on Hill Street Blues and Law & Order. Her most recent roles included CTU head Erin Driscoll in Season 4 of 24 and as Senator Madeline Pierce in the CW's Nikita, a part she originated on La Femme Nikita.