Influential Big Star member Alex Chilton dies - San Jose Mercury News: "Singer and guitarist Alex Chilton, who topped the charts as a teen and later became a cult hero with Big Star, died Wednesday. He was 59.
Chilton died at a hospital in New Orleans after experiencing what appeared to be heart problems, said his longtime friend John Fry. Fry said Chilton's wife, Laura, was very distressed by the unexpected death.
'Alex was an amazingly talented person, not just as a musician and vocalist and a songwriter, but he was intelligent and well read and interested in a wide number of music genres,' said Fry, the owner of Memphis-based Ardent Studios.
As the teenage singer for the pop-soul outfit the Box Tops, Chilton topped the charts with the band's song 'The Letter' in 1967. Their other hits were 'Soul Deep' and 'Cry Like a Baby.' Chilton grew up in Memphis, Tenn., and formed the band with friends from school."
3 comments:
As good as the Box Tops could be, Big Star's 3RD/SISTER LOVERS remains my favorite rock album of any kind...from the brilliantly despondent "Holocaust" (heavily covered by other musicians) and "Kanga Roo" to the heartbreaking "Take Care" to the sardonic "Thank You Friends" (and if you're going to contribute a single song to your band's repetoire, see if you can top drummer Jody Stephens's exhilarating love song "For You": "Sometimes I can't help but worship you..." it begins)...and this after they were down a man and primary fellow songwriter, Chris Bell, from the first two albums that gave the world "September Gurls." "I'm in Love with a Girl" and "Thirteen." At least, I guess, unlike Fess Parker's demise, it wasn't a birthday gift for his wife.
I know Big Star gave him cred and all, but I'll take "Soul Deep" and "Cry Like A Baby" any day.
Not just "cred" but they were more personal expressions...and the solo albums, maybe even more personal, were less engaging to me. But, as I wrote, I'm a Box Tops fan, too. "The Letter" is still one of the shortest chart-toppers so far.
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