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To be honest, most Britons would know him from his racehorses. I pocketed a wad on Kayhasi at the Derby, was inside Tattenham corner when it cruised round with a few horses puffing and panting in front of it and I knew it was going to win.
Sweet that was.
Group 1 Winners - Aga Khan StudsQuote:
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims, has died at age 88
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims, has died at age 88 | CNN
Tony Roberts, versatile actor and longtime Woody Allen sidekick, dies aged 85
Roberts had a long career on Broadway and in movies, and is most fondly remembered for playing Allen’s best friend in a string of successful films
Tony Roberts, a versatile, Tony Award-nominated theatre performer at home in both plays and musicals and who appeared in several Woody Allen movies – often as Allen’s best friend – has died. He was 85. Roberts’ death was announced to the New York Times by his daughter, Nicole Burley.
Roberts had a genial stage personality perfect for musical comedy and he originated roles in such diverse Broadway musicals as How Now, Dow Jones (1967); Sugar (1972), an adaptation of the movie Some Like It Hot; and Victor/Victoria (1995), in which he co-starred with Julie Andrews when she returned to Broadway in the stage version of her popular film. He also appeared in campy roller-disco Xanadu in 2007 and The Royal Family in 2009.
“I’ve never been particularly lucky at card games. I’ve never hit a jackpot. But I have been extremely lucky in life,” he wrote in his memoir, Do You Know Me? “Unlike many of my pals, who didn’t know what they wanted to become when they grew up, I knew I wanted to be an actor before I got to high school.”
Roberts appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen’s 1966 comedy Don’t Drink the Water, repeating his role in the film version, and in Allen‘s Play It Again, Sam (1969), for which he also appeared in the movie. Other Allen films in which Roberts appeared were Annie Hall (1977), Stardust Memories (1980), A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Radio Days (1987).
Roberts first met Allen backstage when he was starring in Barefoot in the Park, having replaced Robert Redford. Roberts had unsuccessfully auditioned four times for Allen’s first Broadway play, Don’t Drink the Water. Seeing Roberts perform in Barefoot in the Park convinced Allen that Roberts was worth casting. According to his memoir, Allen told him, “You were great. How come you’re such a lousy auditioner?”
“Roberts’ confident onscreen presence – not to mention his tall frame, broad shoulders and brown curly mane – was the perfect foil for Allen’s various neurotic characters, making them more funny and enjoyable to watch,” the Jewish Daily Forward wrote in 2016.
In Eric Lax’s book Woody Allen: A Biography, Roberts recalled a complicated scene in A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy that Allen shot over and over – even after the film had been edited – to get his intended effect. “When you go back to see [Allen‘s work] two, three, four times, you begin to see the amazing amount of art in it, that nothing is accidental,” Roberts said.
Among his other movies were Serpico (1973) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). He was nominated twice for a Tony Award — for How Now, Dow Jones and Play It Again, Sam, when he was billed as Anthony Roberts.
One of Roberts’ biggest Broadway successes was Charles Busch’s hit comedy The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (2000), in which he played the title character’s husband.
Roberts made his Broadway debut in 1962 in the short-lived Something About a Soldier, and was a replacement in some of its longest-running hits including Barefoot in the Park, Promises, Promises, They’re Playing Our Song, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, The Sisters Rosensweig and the 1998 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Cabaret.
“I was lucky enough to get in on the last years of the Golden Age of Broadway. In that era there was a lot more going on that seemed to have high quality about it and great conviction,” he told Broadway World in 2015.
In London, he starred with Betty Buckley in the West End production of Promises, Promises, playing the Jack Lemmon role in this stage version of The Apartment.
Roberts’ television credits include the short-lived series The Four Seasons (1984) and The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985) as well as guest spots on such well-known shows as Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order.
Roberts was born in New York on 22 October 1939, the son of radio and television announcer Ken Roberts. “I was raised in the middle of a lot of actor talk,” he told the AP in 1985. “My cousin was Everett Sloane, who was a very fine actor. My father’s friends were mostly actors. I’m sure that in some way I needed to prove myself in their eyes.”
He attended the High School of Music and Art in New York and graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois. His marriage to Jennifer Lyons ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughter, actor Nicole Burley.
Tony Roberts, versatile actor and longtime Woody Allen sidekick, dies aged 85 | Film | The Guardian
Creator of "Silent Witness", Nigel McCrery.
Silent Witness creator dies, aged 71
Asil Nadir, Thatcher golden boy and creator of the UK's answer to Enron.
Asil Nadir, Polly Peck business tycoon turned fugitive, dies aged 83
Italian chemist Francesco Rivella, best known as the inventor of Nutella, died on Valentine's Day, according to various news outlets. He was 97.
Dubbed the "father" of Nutella by the Italian media, Rivella helped create the world's most famous hazelnut spread.
Rivella began working at Ferrero – an Italian chocolate and confectionary company – in 1952, a dozen years before Nutella was introduced to the world, news agency Jam Press reported.
'''Father of Nutella''' Francesco Rivella dies at age 97 | Fox News
Jerry Butler, R&B singer and early leader of the Impressions, dies at 85
Jerry Butler, who found R&B stardom in the late 1950s as the first lead singer of the Impressions before moving on to a solo career and a second life in Chicago politics, died Thursday. He was 85.
His death was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, which cited a family friend and said that Butler (who had Parkinson’s disease) died at his home.
MORE https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainm...85/ar-AA1zxJcO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAohwPAFTLk
First Pee Wee now Miss Yvonne is gone.
Actress Known for ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ and ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Dies at 78
Lynne Marie Stewart, a comedian and actress best known for appearing in Pee-wee’s Playhouse and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, has died at 78, according to a report. Stewart’s death was confirmed Friday to The Hollywood Reporter by a spokesperson for her former sketch troupe, the Groundlings. A cause of death was not disclosed. An industry veteran, Stewart got her big break as Miss Yvonne (“the most beautiful woman in Puppet Land”) alongside Paul Reubens’ Pee-wee Herman, a role which she reprised throughout the 1980s. Stewart also portrayed Charlie Kenny’s mother on the long-running dark comedy series It’s Always Sunny. She was a member of the Los Angeles-based troupe the Groundlings from the 1970s and 80s. “We are heartbroken to hear of the passing of our dear sweet Lynne Stewart,” the Groundlings wrote in a statement to THR. “She wasn’t just the most beautiful woman in all of Puppetland—she was the most beautiful woman that we ever met, inside and out... She will be deeply missed.”
Actress Known for ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ and ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Dies at 78
She was right you know, I never heard a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrudT410TAIQuote:
American singer Roberta Flack passed away February 24, 2025 at the age of 88., according to reports from various credible internationalnews sources. She retired from performing in 2022 after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Regarded as a big influence on pop-flavored modern soul and R&B music, she was the firat artist to ever win the Grammy Record of the Year award in two consecutive years for "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in 1973 and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" in 1974. She is also known for many other hits such as "Feel Like Makin' Love" and "Tonight I Celebrate My Love", a duet with Peabo Bryson.
https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainmen...rta-flack-0022
Clint Hill, Secret Service Agent, 93.
Clint Hill: Who was Clint Hill? Secret Service agent who tried to shield JFK during assassination dies at 93 - The Times of India
Attachment 122583
Do you recognize the cowboy, in the opening clip?
Quote:
Originally Posted by misskit
^ I know who it is. Reckon anyone else does? :)
Roberto Orci, the writer and producer behind franchises like Star Trek, Hawaii Five-0 and Transformers, has died. He was 51.
Orci died Tuesday in his home in Los Angeles following a battle with kidney disease, his manager told The Hollywood Reporter.
Orci began his career as a writer on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in the late 1990s.
For a time, Orci was among the hottest screenwriters in Hollywood. He and partner Alex Kurtzman had hands in multiple franchises, with the duo earning credit on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Michael’s Bay’s Transformers (2009) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
The duo was also entrusted to expand Sony’s Spider-Man universe on films that never came to fruition, such as Amazing Spider-Man 3 that would have starred Andrew Garfield and a Venom movie that was scrapped before Tom Hardy’s incarnation. The duo also worked on The Mummy, Now You See Me, Ender’s Game, Cowboys & Aliens, The Proposal and Mission: Impossible III.
For television, he was among those who developed Hawaii Five-0 and was also heavily involved with Sleepy Hollow, Matador, Transformers Prime, Fringe and Alias.
His latest venture was Rubber Room Media, a writer-driven production company.
Orci was born in Mexico City and moved to the U.S. when he was 10. He is survived by his father, Roberto Orci Sr.; mother Macuqui Robau-Garcia; siblings J.R Orci, Taylor Orci and Courtney Ford; and his dog, Bogey.
“He was a visionary storyteller with a boundless heart and a beautiful soul,” his brother J.R. said in a statement. “But beyond his creative talents, he was a compassionate friend who would put his life on hold to help a stranger and find room in his home for the most overlooked pup at the shelter.”
Roberto Orci Dead: 'Star Trek,' 'Transformers' Writer Was 51
Laurence FishburneQuote:
Originally Posted by beachbound
Gene Hackman found dead alongside wife and dog at home in N mexico
A tremendous talent in many roles my pix
The Conversation
Popeye Doyle french Connection
RIP
Hollywood star Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa found dead at their home – The Irish News
One would assume a suicide pact or murder suicide.
Very sad.
One of the greats.
Add to the list Mississippi Burning.
Killed the dog as well.....
Laurence FishburneQuote:
Originally Posted by beachbound
I very much doubt the dog consentedQuote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Gene Hackman was the best. Royal Tenenbaum was my favorite of his characters.
"Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog had been dead for some time and were found in different rooms when officers found them, according to a search warrant from police in Santa Fe."
Sounds more like carbon monoxide poisoning to me. The gas company has been assisting the police.
Going For Gold presenter Henry Kelly dies at 78
Journalist and TV presenter Henry Kelly has died aged 78, his family has announced.
Kelly was a journalist who later pivoted to light entertainment, hosting TV gameshow Game For A Laugh and Going For Gold in the 1980s and 90s.
He also presented programmes on BBC Radio 4, LBC and Classic FM.
In a statement, Kelly's family said he "died peacefully" on Tuesday "after a period of ill health".
"Henry will be sorely missed by his friends and family," it continued, "including his partner Karolyn Shindler, their son Alexander, Henry's daughter Siobhan and her mother Marjorie".
Born in Dublin on 17 April 1946, Kelly started his journalistic career in newspapers.
He worked for The Irish Times in the 1970s during civil unrest and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
He left the newspaper and moved to London to join the BBC in 1976, working as a reporter and presenter for Radio 4's The World Tonight.
But in 1980, aged 34, he left journalism to become a light entertainment presenter.
He went on to front ITV's Game For A Laugh, and the first iteration of Good Morning Britain on TV-am, alongside Toni Arthur.
Game For A Laugh largely involved practical jokes and elaborate set-ups, often on members of the studio audience or filmed on location on unsuspecting members of the public.
Kelly also fronted lunchtime quiz show Going For Gold for 10 seasons from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.
The theme tune for Going For Gold was composed by Hans Zimmer, who went on to become a hugely successful film and TV composer.
The show saw contestants from different European countries compete against each other to answer questions to win prizes.
Going For Gold was briefly revived in the late 2000s by Channel 5, presented by John Suchet.
Kelly later became one of the launch presenters of Classic FM and also hosted shows on speech station LBC, BBC Radio London.
He hosted a show on BBC Radio Berkshire for 10 years from 2005.
Speaking to Challenge TV about his memories of Going for Gold, Kelly – who almost missed the hosting audition as he was planning to play golf – noted how "the whole point" of the show "was that it was Pan-European".
"We were the only people in this country at the time, and probably since, who were really European, and so we had contestants from all over Europe," he said.
Recalling one example of comedic cross cultural confusion on episode one of the new show, he added: "The question for all the contestants was, what is the name of the piece of least value on a chessboard?
"Bang, goes [Swedish contestant] Ida-Britt, and looked at me and said: 'the farmer'.
"'Right, I think not' [he replied]. But we checked, only to discover that in Sweden, a pawn is in the shape of a little Swedish farmer. So she was right!"
Kelly also appeared in Victoria Wood's comedy show Dinnerladies, and hosted journalistic talk show After Dark.
In 1994 he was voted national broadcaster of the year in the Sony Radio Awards
TV presenter and journalist Henry Kelly dies
I loved that movie, also in Enemy of the State and Crimson Tide. He was such a great actor. I hope they find out what happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
It is very sad, but I found this online, and it is very funny. Great tribute to him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1aUGp2vr5U
^ Good one. I don’t remember that episode of Laugh In.
This is the clip from The Royal Tenenbaums, when Royal takes his over-protected grand children out for an exciting afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Hbs0s6_sQ
Could be, but CSI:TD needs to get on the case. Why would you put your dog in the closet?Quote:
Originally Posted by pickel
Added:Quote:
A prescription bottle and scattered pills were on the bathroom countertop close to her body. The couple's German Shepherd dog was found dead in a bathroom closet near to Ms Arakawa.
Hackman was discovered wearing grey tracksuit bottoms, a blue long-sleeve T-shirt and brown slippers. Sunglasses and a walking cane were next to the body.
The detective suspected that the actor had fallen suddenly.
The circumstances of their death were "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation", said the search warrant, because the person who called emergency services found the front door of the property open.
Quote:
The local utility company tested gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were found and did not find any sign of problems, the warrant said.
MOSCOW (AP) - Boris Spassky, a Soviet-era world chess champion who lost his title to American Bobby Fischer in a legendary 1972 match that became a proxy for Cold War rivalries, died Thursday in Moscow. He was 88.
The death of the one-time chess prodigy was announced by the International Chess Federation, the game's governing body. No cause was given.
Spassky was "one of the greatest players of all time," the group said on the social platform X. He "left an indelible mark on the game."
The televised 1972 match with Fischer, at the height of the Cold War, became an international sensation and was known as the "Match of the Century."
When Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, the then-29-year-old chess genius from Brooklyn, New York, brought the U.S. its first world chess title.
Fischer, known to be testy and difficult, died in 2008. After his victory of Spassky, he later forfeited the title by refusing to defend it.
Boris Spassky, Soviet chess champion who lost famed... | Daily Mail Online
It doesn't say the closet door was closed. Perhaps the dog ate some of the pills. And they haven't ruled out carbon monoxide yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Big house with the door open...Quote:
Originally Posted by pickel
Not some Bt3000 room with a charcoal heater in it.
Haha, you know, I don't think I have seen this movie. I will have to look for it. It doesn't look familiar to me, so I will have to watch it.Quote:
Originally Posted by misskit
9 days. That must’ve been a horrible scene.Quote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Gene Hackman Was Likely Dead for 9 Days Before His Body Was Found: Sheriff
David Johansen has died at the age of 75
David Johansen, the wiry, gravelly-voiced singer and last surviving member of 1970s glam and protopunk band the New York Dolls who later performed as his campy, pompadoured alter ego, Buster Poindexter, has died. He was 75.
Johansen died Friday at his home in New York City, according to Rolling Stone, citing a family spokesperson, the Associated Press reported on Saturday. It was revealed in early 2025 that he had stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor.
The New York Dolls were forerunners of punk and the band’s style – teased hair, women’s clothes and lots of makeup – inspired the glam movement that took up residence in heavy metal a decade later in bands like Faster Pussycat and Mötley Crüe.
“When you’re an artist, the main thing you want to do is inspire people, so if you succeed in doing that, it’s pretty gratifying,” Johansen told The Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011.
Rolling Stone once called the Dolls “the mutant children of the hydrogen age” and Vogue called them the “darlings of downtown style, tarted-up toughs in boas and heels.”
“The New York Dolls were more than musicians; they were a phenomenon. They drew on old rock ‘n’ roll, big-city blues, show tunes, the Rolling Stones and girl groups, and that was just for starters,” Bill Bentley wrote in “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen.”
The band never found commercial success and was torn by internal strife and drug addictions, breaking up after two albums by the middle of the ’70s. In 2004, former Smiths frontman and Dolls admirer Morrissey convinced Johansen and other surviving members to regroup for the Meltdown Festival in England, leading to three more studio albums.
Buster Poindexter, and acting
In the ’80s, Johansen assumed the persona of Buster Poindexter, a pompadour-styled lounge lizard who had a hit with the kitschy party single “Hot, Hot, Hot” in 1987. He also appeared in such movies as “Candy Mountain,” “Let It Ride,” “Married to the Mob” and had a memorable turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the Bill Murray-led hit “Scrooged.”
Johansen was in 2023 the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” which mixed footage of his two-night stand at the Café Carlyle in January 2020 with flashbacks through his wildly varied career and intimate interviews.
“I used to think about my voice like: ‘What’s it gonna sound like? What’s it going to be when I do this song?’ And I’d get myself into a knot about it,” Johansen told the Associated Press in 2023. “At some point in my life, I decided: ‘Just sing the (expletive) song. With whatever you got.’ To me, I go on stage and whatever mood I’m in, I just claw my way out of it, essentially.”
Beginnings
David Roger Johansen was born to a large, working class Catholic family on Staten Island, his father an insurance salesman. He filled notebooks with poems and lyrics as a young man and liked a lot of different music – R&B, Cuban, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding.
The Dolls – the final original lineup included guitarists Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane and drummer Jerry Nolan – rubbed shoulders with Lou Reed and Andy Warhol in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1970s.
They took their name from a toy hospital in Manhattan and were expected to take over the throne vacated by the Velvet Underground in the early 1970s. But neither of their first two albums – 1973’s “New York Dolls,” produced by Todd Rundgren, nor “Too Much Too Soon” a year later produced by Shadow Morton – charted.
“They’re definitely a band to keep both eyes and ears on,” read the review of their debut album in Rolling Stone, complementary of their “strange combination of high pop-star drag and ruthless street arrogance.”
Their songs included “Personality Crisis” (“You got it while it was hot/But now frustration and heartache is what you got”), “Looking for a Kiss” (“I need a fix and a kiss”) and “Frankenstein” (“Is it a crime/For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?”)
Their glammed look was meant to embrace fans with a nonjudgmental, noncategorical space. “I just wanted to be very welcoming,” Johansen said in the documentary, “’cause the way this society is, it was set up very strict – straight, gay, vegetarian, whatever… I just kind of wanted to kind of like bring those walls down, have a party kind of thing.”
Rolling Stone, reviewing their second album, called them “the best hard-rock band in America right now” and called Johansen a “talented showman, with an amazing ability to bring characters to life as a lyricist.”
Belated praise for the Dolls
Decades later, the Dolls’ influence would be cherished. Rolling Stone would list their self-titled debut album at No. 301 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, writing “it’s hard to imagine the Ramones or the Replacements or a thousand other trash-junky bands without them.”
Blondie’s Chris Stein in the Nolan biography “Stranded in the Jungle” wrote that the Dolls were “opening a door for the rest of us to walk through.” Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe called them early inspirations.
“Johansen is one of those singers, to be a little paradoxical, who is technically better and more versatile than he sounds,” said the Los Angeles Times in 2023. “His voice has always been a bit of a foghorn – higher or lower according to age, habits and the song at hand – but it has a rare emotional urgency.”
The Dolls, representing rock at its most debauched, were divisive. In 1973, they won the Creem magazine poll categories as both the year’s best and worst new group. They were nominated several times for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but never got in.
“Dirty angels with painted faces, the Dolls opened the box usually reserved for Pandora and unleashed the infant furies that would grow to become Punk,” wrote Nina Antonia in the book “Too Much, Too Soon.” “As if this legacy wasn’t enough for one band, they also trashed sexual boundaries, savaged glitter and set new standards for rock ‘n’ roll excess.”
By the end of their first run, the Dolls were being managed by legendary promoter Malcolm McLaren, who would later introduce the Sex Pistols to the Dolls’ music. Culture critic Greil Marcus in “Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century” writes the Dolls played him some of their music and he couldn’t believe how bad they were.
“The fact that they were so bad suddenly hit me with such force that I began to realize, ’’I’m laughing, I’m talking to these guys, I’m looking at them, and I’m laughing with them; and I was suddenly impressed by the fact that I was no longer concerned with whether you could play well,” McLaren said. “The Dolls really impressed upon me that there was something else. There was something wonderful. I thought how brilliant they were to be this bad.”
After the first demise of the Dolls, Johansen started his own group, the David Johansen band, before reinventing himself yet again in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter.
Inspired by his passion for the blues and arcane American folk music, Johansen also formed the group The Harry Smiths, and toured the world performing the songs of Howlin’ Wolf with Hubert Sumlin and Levon Helm. He also hosted the weekly radio show “The Mansion of Fun” on Sirius XM and painted.
He is survived by his wife, Mara Hennessey, and a stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/david-joha...l?guccounter=1
Jack Vettriano. Scottish painter.
Jack Vettriano: a life in pictures | Art and design | The GuardianAttachment 122764
Roy Ayers, jazz-funk pioneer behind Everybody Loves the Sunshine, dies aged 84
Family announces on Facebook that the musician died in New York City after a long illness
Roy Ayers, the jazz-funk pioneer whose hit Everybody Loves the Sunshine has become a summer staple across the globe, has died aged 84.
A post on the musician’s official Facebook page said: “It is with great sadness that the family of legendary vibraphonist, composer and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4th, 2025 in New York City after a long illness.
“He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed. His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time, a celebration of Roy’s life will be forthcoming.”
Ayers was born in Los Angeles on 10 September 1940. His mother, Ruby, was a schoolteacher and local piano instructor while his father, Roy Sr, worked as a parking attendant and a trombonist. Ayers began learning the piano from an early age, and went on to be taught by the jazz musician Bobby Hutcherson who lived nearby. He studied advanced music theory at Los Angeles city college before releasing his debut album, West Coast Vibes, in 1963, which led to a string of solo records.
He then formed his band Roy Ayers Ubiquity and developed his signature jazz-funk sound that featured him on vibraphone, an instrument he was inspired to learn after meeting the jazz musician Lionel Hampton, who gave him a pair of mallets when he was five years old.
After the release of his debut album in 1963, Ayers’ output was prolific. By the time Everybody Loves the Sunshine was released, Ayers had already put out more than a dozen albums, earning himself the title of Godfather of Neo Soul. In the early part of his career, Ayers collaborated with Herbie Mann, with the pair working together for four years and playing at Newport jazz festival.
When asked about his genre-hopping approach to music, Ayres said: “I don’t think I’m really so unique. What we call ‘soul’ has been around a long time. It comes out of a particular culture that is African in origin, but influenced by 250 years of slavery, as well as other forms of racial oppression.”
Ayers had several hits in the UK. Get on Up, Get on Down; Heat of the Beat, and Don’t Stop the Feeling all reached the top 50, and in 1973 Ayres composed the score for the Blaxploitation film Coffy. The film starred Pam Grier, who would go on to become a mainstay of the genre, but Ayres soundtrack was critically acclaimed in its own right, and featured vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and Harry Whitaker on piano.
In 1976 he released his most famous track, Everybody Loves the Sunshine, a mellow song about lazy summer days. In 2017, Ayers told the Guardian about the process behind the hit.
He recorded it at Electric Lady studios in New York on a hot summer day. “I just got this phrase in my head,” he said. “‘Everybody loves the sunshine.’ I started singing: ‘Feel what I feel, when I feel what I feel, what I’m feeling.’ Then I started thinking about summer imagery … It was so spontaneous. It felt wonderful.”
The song became one of the most sampled jazz records ever. Mary J Blige’s My Life, Common’s Book of Life and Mos Def’s Life Is Real all feature elements of the track, and its popularity ensured Ayers was a regular feature at festivals around the world, including London’s Maiden Voyage, which he headlined in 2019.
“The song changed everything for me,” Ayers said. “It’s still the last song of my show. People always join in and it’s been sampled over 100 times, by everyone from Dr Dre to Pharrell Williams. It seems to capture every generation. Everybody loves the sunshine – except Dracula.”
Roy Ayers, jazz-funk pioneer behind Everybody Loves the Sunshine, dies aged 84 | Music | The Guardian
He was a bit saucy too oo er missus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3wgbUebris
New Mexico officials have announced the cause of death for actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, a week after they were found dead at their home in Santa Fe. Hackman died of heart disease, with Alzheimer's disease as a contributing factor, and Arakawa died several days before him of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Heather Jarrell announced Friday.Gene Hackman's cause of death was heart disease, wife died of hantavirus days earlier, officials say - CBS News
How incredibly sad.
They mentioned earlier that the dog probably died due to dehydration as it couldn't get of its cage.Quote:
The doctor said Arakawa likely died on 11 February, the date she was last known to have communicated with people via email.
She said Hackman had advanced Alzheimer's and died from heart disease, with data from his pacemaker last registering on 18 February.
Due to his Alzheimer's, "it's quite possible he was not aware that [his wife] was deceased," Dr Jarrell added.
^
Sad way to go, for all three of them. It’s a shame, there was no one in their lives to check on them.