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her to remarry four days before dying from an undiagnosed heart condition, 11/12)
Tom ‘Thumb’ Blessing (US rock ‘n’ roll saxophonist/guitarist with Pacific Northwest bands The Notions, The Newports and Tom Thumb & The Casuals; auto accident on the way to a gig)
Earl Bostic (US jazz/R & B saxophonist; born Oklahoma, 25/4/1913; heart attack, 28/10)
Dorothy Dandridge (popular US actress/singer; born Ohio, 9/11/1922; overdose - possibly suicide, 8/9)
Spike Jones (eccentric US comic/percussionist who formed The City Slickers and influenced the likes of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band; born Lindley Armstrong Jones, California, 14/12/1911; emphysema 1/5)
Peter LaFarge (US folk singer/writer who worked with Johnny Cash and hung with the young Bob Dylan - he claimed to be of Native American extraction; born 1931; stroke or alcohol/pills overdose, 27/10)
Ira Louvin (US bluegrass singer with The Louvin Brothers; born Lonnie Ira Loudermilk, Alabama, 21/4/1921; having survived a near-fatal fight with his third wife, he died in a car crash, 20/6)
Todd Rhodes (US jazz/R & B pianist; born Kentucky, 31/8/1900; having already lost a leg, he died from complications arising from inept hospital treatment for his diabetes, 4/6)
Terry Thompson (US R & B/rock guitarist who penned ‘A Shot of Rhythm and Blues’ and played with the Muscle Shoals FAME Studio Rhythm Section; born Mississippi, 1941; alcohol/drug overdose, 10/11)
Harrison Verrett (US jazz guitarist and brother-in-law of Fats Domino; born Los Angeles, 26/2/1907; undisclosed, 10/1965)

1966
    MARCH
    Monday 7
    Mike Millward
    (Bromborough, Merseyside, 9 May 1942)
    The Fourmost
    (Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes)

    Millward – formerly of the intriguingly named Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes – was singer/rhythm guitarist with early Brian Epstein discoveries The Fourmost. In an era overrun with quartets, the band underwent almost as many changes of identity as personnel: in their brief history they were known as The Blue Jays, The Four Jays and even the extremely clunky Four Mosts when it transpired that an American band had the same name. No matter, the group – Millward, Brian O’Hara (vocals/guitar), Billy Hatton (bass) and Dave Lovelady (drums) – enjoyed a number of Top Forty singles (the first two Lennon and McCartney songs) while Merseybeat was the hot phenomenon. The pinnacle for the group was the UK number-six hit ‘A Little Loving’ (April 1964) and an appearance alongside Liverpool contemporaries in the film Ferry across the Mersey. It was at this point that Mike Millward was diagnosed with throat cancer, which by and large put paid to his singing career. On recovery, Millward learned that he had leukaemia, which forced him into complete retirement. The most popular member of the group, Millward died at just twenty-three, and The Fourmost rapidly settled for a career as a cabaret turn, with the hits drying up. O’Hara fronted regular reunions for the group until his own unfortunate suicide ( June 1999).
    APRIL
    Saturday 30
    Richard Fariña
    (Brooklyn, New York, 8 March 1937)
    Richard & Mimi Fariña

    Described variously as ‘America’s least-known superstar’ or ‘a scattered mind with a death wish’, Richard Fariña had a short and eventful life. Born to a Cuban engineer and his Northern Irish wife, it was Fariña’s mother’s background that would become the source of his early interests: a visit to her homeland in 1953 saw him affiliate himself with the IRA. But, believing statistics were ‘not as much fun as stories’, Fariña became an archetypal anti-authority writer and musician, the dulcimer being his unlikely instrument of choice. A young man with opinions and wild oats to sow, Fariña made the ‘oppressive regime’ of his university’s segregation policy the target of early protests – his actions causing his suspension and high-profile police intervention. Ever a restless soul, Fariña dropped out of studies, short-term employment at an advertising