Saturday 23 March 2013

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Floyd McRae (1933-2013)



The Chords in their heyday: (From l.) Ricky Edwards, Jimmy Keyes, Floyd 'Buddy' McRae, Claude Feaster and Carl Feaster

MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

The Chords in their heyday: (From l.) Ricky Edwards, Jimmy Keyes, Floyd 'Buddy' McRae, Claude Feaster and Carl Feaster

Floyd "Buddy" McRae, the last surviving original member of the Chords, who popularized the seminal rock 'n' roll classic "Sh-Boom" almost 60 years ago, died Tuesday at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. He was about 80 and had been in declining health in recent years. Last summer the city renamed Jennings St. between Prospect and Union Sts. "Chords Way," to honor the group and recognize the significance of the song, which became a major national hit in the summer of 1954 and helped blow open the doors to the rock 'n' roll era that followed. McRae was too ill to attend the ceremony, but he called it "wonderful."

Read on...

No comments:

Post a Comment

...BECAUSE SOME OF US THINK THAT THIS STUFF IS IMPORTANT
What happens when you mix what is - arguably - the world's most interesting record company, with an anarchist manic-depressive rock music historian polymath, and a method of dissemination which means that a daily rock-music magazine can be almost instantaneous?

Most of this blog is related in some way to the music, books and films produced by Gonzo Multimedia, but the editor has a grasshopper mind and so also writes about all sorts of cultural issues which interest him, and which he hopes will interest you as well.