Bass player for Elton John found dead of apparent suicide

LOS ANGELES - Robert Wayne Birch, a backup musician and bass player for Elton John, was found dead in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday of an apparent suicide resulting from a gunshot wound to the head, officials said.

Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter said Birch's body was found after 1 a.m. PDT (0800 GMT) in a community of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The case is "being investigated as a possible suicide," Winter said.

Birch, who also played saxophone, worked as the bass player in John's band starting in the early 1990s, opening the door for Birch to play with other famous musicians and bands such as Billy Joel, Keith Emerson, and The Replacements. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Bass Player for Booker T. and the MGs, Dead at 70

Donald "Duck" Dunn, bass player for the influential studio band Booker T. and the MGs, died this morning at the age of 70.

Dunn was in Japan at the time, playing a series of shows at the Blue Note in Tokyo. Steve Cropper, Dunn's friend and bandmate who was on the same tour in Japan, announced the bassist's passing on his Facebook page:

"Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live. Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club."

Dunn was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1941. He met Cropper in high school, where the two formed their first band, the Royal Spades. After changing their name to the Mar-Keys, they scored a hit in 1961 with the song "Last Night." In 1964, Cropper invited Dunn to join Booker T. and the MGs, the house band for Stax Records. While the band had a number of instrumental hits in their own right, including "Green Onions" and "Time is Tight," their backing role for Stax stars like Otis Redding, the Staple Singers and Sam and Dave helped define the sound of Southern soul.

After the MGs split up in 1971, Dunn found work playing as a session musician, recording with Eric Clapton, Levon Helm and Bob Dylan, among others. In 1978, Dunn and Cropper joined Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as back-up for the Blues Brothers on their album Briefcase Full of Blues and later played themselves in the duo's movies.

As a member of Booker T. and the MGs (who would reunite periodically over the years), Dunn was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2007.

source: rollingstone.com

MC5 Bassist Michael Davis Dies

Michael Davis, the bassist for the politically-charged proto-punk band MC5, died on Friday of liver failure. He was 68.

Davis had been studying fine art at Wayne State University in Michigan when the Detroit-based MC5 recruited him in 1964. He promptly dropped out of art school to join the band. MC5 were soon taken under the wing of poet John Sinclair, whose affiliation with the radical-leftist anti-racist White Panther Party galvanized the band’s political energies. Kick Out the Jams, the first of the band’s three albums, was released by Elektra Records in 1969.

After MC5 split up in 1972, Davis went on to join the band Destroy All Monsters with Ron Asheton of the Stooges. He would later join MC5 again when they reunited for a tour in 2004. Davis also co-founded the non-profit Music is Revolution Foundation, which supports music education in public schools.

Davis died at the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California after receiving a month-long treatment for liver disease. He is survived by his wife, Angela Davis, as well as three sons and a daughter.

source: rollingstone.com