Aussie Musos Dead

[Australis]

Wow, we've lost two big ones over the weekend and today.

First, Harvey James, guitarist for Sherbet, lung cancer. While I was never a huge Sherbs fan, I admired their musicianship, and one song off the Howzat album, 'Blueswalkin'', is constantly on my playlists. Very good with the soaring notes. Only 58.

No sooner did I read this, then I saw on the ABC site that Steve Prestwich, drummer and songwriter for Cold Chisel, succumbed to a brain tumour today. They'd operated on it on Friday, but he never recovered conciousness. He wrote a couple of CC's big songs, 'Flame Trees' (a personal favourite), and 'When The War Is Over'.

These came from nowhere. I'm... a bit taken aback. Especially because I'm writing a pilot for a TV series about older musos. It just makes me shake my head and wonder what the hell's going on.


Big losses.

 

[scotpens]

Must be sad for Australian music fans, although I can’t say I’ve heard of either of them.

Also, this is the first time I’ve seen the word “musos.”

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Heard about this via facebook and twitter this morning. Not really a huge fan of either band. Sad day.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I wasn't a fan of either though I did go and see Sherbet perform at Hobart City Hall in around 1975. It was my friend's idea to go and see them, I only tagged along.

 

[Australis]

Yeah, not a big fan of either. Really like Chisel's first album, and as I said about Blueswalkin'

Musos is a common word in Australia. We abbreviate everything. Brickies (bricklayers), chippies (carpenters) and sparkies (electricians) are common on a building site. Instead of Richard, David, John, Thomas and Ritchie, they'd be Dicko, Davo, Jonno, Tommo and Ritcho.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I'm sorry to hear this. It's always sad to see people die at such a young age.

Just this weekend, I learned that my high school Latin teacher-- best teacher I ever had-- died at age 60 from melanoma.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It is sad to think of the Australian musos from the 1970s who are now dead

Bon Scott - AC/DC - died aged 33 alcoholic poisoning
Graeme 'Shirley' Strachan Skyhooks - died age 49 helicopter accident
Ted Mulry - Ted Mulry Gang - died the day before his 52nd birthday of brain cancer

Who else?

 

[Australis]

Billy Thorpe. Lobby Lloyd.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I actually thought of Billy Thorpe last night when I was thinking about those musos from the 1970s that had died. When I came to posting the above thread I couldn't remember the 4th muso I had thought off - it was he.

I was also thinking of those musicians that I hadn't heard of in a long time such as

Marty Rhone
Keith Lamb (and the other members of Hush)
Russell Morris etc etc

 

[Australis]

After Denim and Lace, I never think of Marty Rhone.

Keith Lamb got busted on some charge, then went into selling pyramids (you know,t eh 80s craze for sharpening razor blades etc).

Russell Morris tours with Daryl Cotton and Jim Keays as Cotton Keays & Morris. They've been on that Basement Live show, they're pretty good.

 

[scotpens]

Musos is a common word in Australia. We abbreviate everything. Brickies (bricklayers), chippies (carpenters) and sparkies (electricians) are common on a building site. Instead of Richard, David, John, Thomas and Ritchie, they'd be Dicko, Davo, Jonno, Tommo and Ritcho.

Yeah, you Aussies and your habit of shortening words! To us Yanks it sounds a bit infantile.

Or course, in the UK a “chippie” is a fish-and-chips shop, and in America it’s a cheap, slutty young girl (though the expression is a bit old-fashioned).