35
Deep Down in the Dead of Night, I Call Out Your Name
Whatever Happened To
Martin Sharp
It was Eric Clapton who put Martin Sharp on the path to one of his eclectic lifelong passions. Sharp was a lover of old songs, and Clapton suggested he see Tiny Tim perform at the Royal Albert Hall. Sharp was mesmerized by the performance. It would initiate a lifelong professional relationship between the two.
Sharp would design many of the artist’s costumes. His Tiny Tim opera house concert poster was one of his most memorable and famous.
His grand Tiny Tim project took him nine years to complete. It was a 108-minute documentary film titled Street of Dreams. It remains the best and most complete look at Tiny Tim’s life.
Sharp also had the good fortune to become independently wealthy through an inheritance. He established the London OZ magazine and became its editor and chief cartoonist. His work with OZ cemented his reputation as an artist. He did not leave the music world behind as he created posters for Bob Dylan, Donovan, and Jimi Hendrix. His work of the period remains highly collectible today.
By the mid-seventies, he had become a renowned artist and designer in England and Australia.
His other long-term passion was his commitment to Luna Park in his home country of Australia. He was hired as a designer and artist to oversee its renovation.
Luna Park was constructed at the foot of the Sydney Harbor Bridge in 1935 and quickly became the leading amusement park in the country. It was famous for the huge face that was and is located at the entrance. Sharp gave the face a new design.
The project struck a sour and tragic note when arson caused extreme damage to the facility in addition to taking seven lives. He believed the fire was set to destroy the park so the land could be used for modern development. Today, the historic part is protected by the Australian government.
Sharp continues to celebrate his work at exhibitions. His most recent was a major retrospective of his work, which ran from October 2009 through March of 2010 at the Museum of Sydney.
He is now far removed in time and distance from his famous work with Eric Clapton and Cream, but his covers for Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire will always be an immortal part not only of his artistic legacy but of rock history as well.
Otis Spann
Otis Spann was one of the old bluesmen who played hard and lived hard. He died at the age of forty from liver cancer on April 24, 1970. His stint as the piano player for Muddy Waters, 1952–1968, dominated his professional life and remains his last will and testament to the music world.
The solo album he recorded with Eric Clapton and Waters in support was the exception to the rule during his career, as he remained the ultimate sideman until just before his death. It was not until 1968 that he formed his own band, and by then he only had two years to live.
The best example of his style can be found on 1966’s The Blues Is Where It’s At. While it was a studio recording, it has a raw and spontaneous feel that captured the meaning of the blues perfectly.
Spann did branch out on occasion and can be heard on albums by Buddy Guy, Fleetwood Mac, and Peter Green.
Today his legacy is overshadowed by that of Muddy Waters, but many consider him to have been the most important post–World War II blues pianist.
Jackie Lomax
Jackie Lomax’s main claim to fame, fortunately or unfortunately, was his time spent as a recording artist for the Beatles’ prestigious Apple label. While his album for the label, Is This What You Want, only had moderate commercial success, it did show promise and was interesting for its inclusion of some of the rock luminaries of the day.
After the breakup of the Beatles, Apple became less of a priority, and interest in the artists who were signed to it diminished. The label released its last record in 1975, casting Lomax and others to the four winds. The company is still in operation and continues to reissue albums.
During the 1970s, he became a musical vagabond, joining and quickly leaving a number of bands, all with little commercial impact. He first joined the group Heavy Jell, with bassist Alex Dmochowski, guitarist John Moorshead, and drummer Carlo Little. They managed to issue one single, but their album of original songs by Lomax remained unreleased.
In 1971, Lomax was in Woodstock, New York, for a reunion of his early career group the Undertakers. He also released two solo albums for the Warner Brothers label, Home Is in My Head and Three.
By early 1974, he was back in England, where he joined Badger with former and future Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye. It was a progressive rock band that initially took Lomax somewhat out of his comfort zone.
He only recorded one album with the group, but it contained ten songs written or cowritten by him. Allen Toussaint was brought in as the producer. The result was more of a Lomax album than the type of release Kaye had envisioned, which may shed light on the short-term relationship between the two. Jeff Beck plays guitar on the title track.
During the mid-seventies, Lomax was on the move again, recording two more solo albums, Livin’ for Lovin’ and Did You Ever Have That Feeling?
He moved to America in 1978, and there he would remain for the next twenty-two years. He became a session player and backup musician. His lifelong passion for soul music prompted him to serve in the backing bands of such early soul and vocal groups as the Drifters, the Diamonds, and the Coasters. In between touring with these groups, he continued to make some appearances of his own. During this period, his sound also began to move in a blues direction.
In 2001, he released his first solo album in twenty-four years, The Ballad of Liverpool Slim. He finally returned to England in 2003 and performed at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, bringing his career full circle. He continues to tour and be active in the music industry.
Leon Russell
Anyone who has played with Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Shindogs, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan must have stories to tell.
The career of Leon Russell has woven itself through the music scene for almost fifty years. While he is primarily remembered for his association with other artists, he had a number of very successful solo albums in the United States. Leon Russell and the Shelter People from 1971 (#17), 1977’s Carney (#2), and 1973’s Leon Live (#9) were all huge successes. All told, he has had fifteen solo albums reach the Billboard Top 200 album chart.
My first exposure to him was during the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, 1969–1971, with Joe Cocker, where he was the pianist and bandleader. It was a legendary and larger-than-life tour with thirty members, who partied and played together for close to two years. The title of the tour and resulting album was taken from an early song by Noel Coward.
Mad Dogs & Englishmen made Joe Cocker a star as it reached #2 on the Billboard album chart. Its energy and musicianship help it remain one of the better albums from the era. “Honky Tonk Women,” “Cry Me a River,” “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” and “Delta Lady” are all exuberant and passionate rock/soul performances. Cocker and Russell were joined by Rita Coolidge, Chris Stainton, Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Carl Radle, and many of the other characters who inhabited the music world at the time and entered Eric Clapton’s world on occasion. A deluxe CD edition was issued in 2005 and another in the fall of 2010. The most spectacular document of the day is a six-CD set issued in 2006, which contains two complete Fillmore East concerts for both March 27 and 28 dates recorded in 1970.
Leon Russell was back in the news recently for his collaboration album with Elton John. Released October 19, 2010, in the United States, it quickly climbed to the #3 position. Guest musicians included Neil Young and Brian Wilson. Russell wrote or cowrote six of the songs.
The album proved Leon Russell is alive and well and that you are never too old to create good music and enjoy life. He received his due on March 14, 2011, when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Billy Preston
William Everett Preston died at the age of fifty-nine from kidney failure. Despite his long and successful solo career that produced thirty gospel/rock/R&B albums, he is often remembered as a Beatles sidekick and one of the ultimate session musicians.
Preston was many times referred to as the Fifth Beatle, and it reached the point during the “Get Back” sessions that John Lennon proposed to make the designation official. Paul McCartney brought the idea to an abrupt halt by commenting that it was bad enough with four.
At the conclusion of his Beatles career, Preston became a regular with the Rolling Stones. He appeared on Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ’N Roll, and Black and Blue. He also toured with the Stones in 1973 and 1976. He returned for 1981’s Tattoo You and again for 1997’s Bridges to Babylon.
He had his own addiction problems in the eighties, but in the nineties he would become active again touring with the likes of Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton. In 2004, he toured with both Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.
His final session work was with Neil Diamond for his 12 Songs album and the Clapton/Cale collaboration The Road to Escondido.
Preston’s final public performance was a three-song set in support of an appearance for the rerelease of The Concert for Bangladesh movie. This final song, “Isn’t It a Pity,” featured Ringo Starr on drums.
His final resting place is in the Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Martha Velez
After her collaboration with Eric Clapton, Martha Velez headed for Jamaica to become the only American artist for whom Bob Marley agreed to be musical producer. The result of the pairing was Escape from Babylon.
Her output as a solo artist was meager in the years ahead. There was American Heartbeat (1977) and a compilation album, Angels of the Future Past (1989).
Velez became active as an actor. She had a role in the short-lived Norman Lear sitcom AKA Pablo. This was followed by a role in the hit TV series Falcon Crest during the 1988 season. She has appeared in films with Samuel L. Jackson, Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, and Dennis Hopper.
She has not released a studio album in twenty years as of late 2010.
Arthur Louis
Since Arthur Louis’s adventure with Eric Clapton on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” he has gone on to a successful and critically acclaimed solo career, especially in Europe and Japan.
Louis has established himself as a reggae/rock crossover artist. He received international exposure, the United States being an exception, for his interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.”
He has released two solo albums during the last dozen years. Back from Palookaville (1998) and Black Cat (2009) were both commercially successful in Europe and Japan.
Dr. John
Dr. John is one of those musicians who can make a person smile.
His career the last three-plus decades has revolved around a fusion of various styles of music with his New Orleans roots.
He has remained an in-demand session musician and has worked with such diverse artists as the Rolling Stones, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Maria Muldaur, Van Morrison, and Rickie Lee Jones. He even wrote the theme song, “My Opinionation,” for the TV sitcom Blossom.
Dr. John branched out into movies with appearances in The Last Waltz, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Blues Brothers 2000.
He has released twenty-five solo albums during his career. His 1968 debut, Gris-Gris, was ranked #143 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. His latest album, Tribal, was released in 2010. He has won five Grammys along the way.
Jesse Ed Davis
After Jesse Ed Davis’s brush with history, he went on to play with John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Leonard Cohen, Keith Moon, Steve Miller, Harry Nilsson, Van Dyke Parks, and Jackson Browne. Next time you listen to the guitar solo on Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes,” be aware you are listening to the skill of Jesse Ed Davis.
Like many of his contemporaries, he descended into alcohol and drug abuse, which caused him to virtually disappear at the beginning of the eighties. He reappeared in the middle of the decade as a member of the band Graffiti, which combined his music with the poetry of Native American John Trudell.
His drug addiction was never fully dealt with, and on June 22, 1988, he died of a heroin overdose. He was forty-three at the time.
Today he is remembered as a footnote of the era, but the man could play the guitar with the best of them.
Marc Benno
Marc Benno has had a long and varied career in addition to his early professional relationship with Leon Russell as a member of Asylum Choir.
In early 1971, he was hired as a session musician by the Doors for their L.A. Woman recording sessions, where he formed a friendship with Jim Morrison. He can be heard on “Been Down So Long,” “Cars Hiss by My Window,” “L.A. Woman,” and “Crawling King Snake.”
After his Lost in Austin album with Eric Clapton, he returned to Texas and formed Marc Benno and the Nightcrawlers. The group featured guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, drummer Doyle Bramhall (whose son would become a member of Clapton’s backing band), bassist Tommy McClure, and keyboardist Billy Etheridge. Crawlin’ was the only album they recorded together, but their label, in all its wisdom, decided not to release it. Benno finally issued it privately in 2006 and internationally in 2009.
During 1974–1975, Benno had a job that would have made even Eric Clapton envious: he was the second guitarist in Lightnin’ Hopkins’s backing band.
He remains very active in the studio, as he has released eleven albums in the last twenty years.
Kinky Friedman
Friedman’s association with Eric Clapton may have been brief, but his story is too good to pass up. Anybody who produces a song with the title “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” deserves to have his story told. His most famous song is probably “Asshole from El Paso,” which was a take on Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee.” He has also toured with Dylan, appeared on Saturday Night Live, and performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
His interests have traveled far beyond his music. He authored two successful detective novels and wrote a regular column for Texas Monthly.
Friedman mounted a 2006 campaign for governor of Texas. One of his goals was the dewussification of Texas. He received a little over 12 percent of the vote cast. I’m not sure what that says about the other 88 percent of the state’s voters.
Pattie Boyd
Many people, rightly or wrongly, have portrayed Pattie Boyd as a villain in the lives of Eric Clapton and George Harrison. She is an easy person to blame for many of the ills and low points of their lives. But the fact cannot be ignored that both men pursued her, and Clapton did so relentlessly for a number of years. Both men also married her of their own free will.
Today, Boyd is a photographer and writer. She lives in a cottage built in the 1600s in West Sussex.
She has exhibited photographs taken during her time with Harrison and Clapton; first in August–September 2008 in Dublin and Toronto, next November–December in Australia, and then December 2009–January 2010 in Barbados.
Her recent high-profile claim to fame was her autobiography, Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me. It reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list.
Boyd has stated she did not tell all, but she did tell enough to be both reviled and praised by fans of both musicians.
Like her or not, she remains a fascinating character who was part of an important musical era and the lives of two of its leading figures.
One thing is certain: she has lived an interesting life!