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Fontella Bass Dead At 72

T

Thomps2525

Guest
So many of the 1950s-60s recording artists have died in 2012---including Etta James, Earl Scruggs, Robin Gibb, Tony Martin, Kitty Wells, Levon Helm, Jimmy Jones, Joe South, Scott McKenzie, Dave Brubeck, Dorothy McGuire, Russell Arms, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Earl "Speedo" Carroll, Doc Watson, Doug Dillard, Andy Williams, R.B. Greaves, Mickey Baker, Jimmy McCracklin, Davy Jones, Billy Strange, Herb Green of the Platters, and Fred Milano of Dion & the Belmonts---if the moderators have no objections, I'd like to start a 2013 obituary thread for this forum. Yeah, it might be sad to look at when 2013 is over but I think it would be better than sdtarting a new thread each time someone dies. We could also share our memories of the deceased: records, concerts, etc.

We still have a few more days left in 2012 and now there's another death to add to the above list: Fontella Bass, most known for Rescue Me in 1965, died December 26 from complications of a heart attack. She was 72.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2012/12/27/rescue-me-singer-fontella-bass-dies/1794147/
 
In 1963, Ruby & the Romantics had a number-one hit with Our Day Will Come. Frankie Valli had a #11 hit with the song in 1975. Cher, Bobby Darin, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton, Brenda Lee, Dionne Warwick, Doris Day, Isaac Hayes, the Supremes, the Carpenters and dozens of other artists have recorded the song. Fontella Bass included the song on her 1966 album The New Look. The "lounge" instrumentation doesn't fit her vocal style...but here is the song on good ol' YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibsTLLug65o
 
We should add Cleve Duncan of the Penguins to the above list. Quite a few of the singers who died in 2012 had number-one hits---in some cases, several.

Some fun trivia about Fontella Bass: In 1961, she played piano and sang with Leon Claxton's "Harlem In Havana" traveling stage show during its two-week stay in St. Louis. R&B singer Little Milton heard her and hired her to play piano on his recordings and concert tours.
 
For some reason I always imagined the Beatles doing a version of "Rescue Me" (with John on lead) in, say, 1966, if they were still doing the occasional r&b cover. But they'd outgrown that by '66.

RIP, Fontella.

Shall we "rescue" memories of "Rescue Me"'s use in Bryant commercials ("Can't you see that I'm freezing"/"Can't you see I'm on fire" [depending on season])?

ixnay
 
rnigma said:
And there are a lot of people who think Aretha Franklin sang that song.
Click to expand...

there are alot of people that pronounce her last name (Bass) like the instrument...
 
This is off the subject, I know, but in November 1964 US radio stations started playing Petula Clark's Downtown. She had been recording since 1949 and had already had seven top-ten hits in Great Britain but she was still unknown here in "the States." Almost every DJ initially pronounced her name as "Petch-uh-la" insttead of "Pe-too-la."

I never heard Fontella Bass's last name pronounced as "base" though. Maybe the '60s DJs were thinking of Johnny Cymbal's hit Mr. Bass Man. ;)
 
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