Earl Palmer, 84, the session drummer whose backbeats were recorded on such classics as Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” and The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” has died. Palmer died Friday at his Los Angeles home after fighting a lengthy illness.
His beats form the backdrop on Ike and Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High,” Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man” and “I Hear You Knockin”‘ by Smiley Lewis. Palmer drummed for music producer Phil Spector and Motown, and his session credits include artists as diverse as the Monkees, Neil Young and Frank Sinatra.
Johnny Hayes, 67, a Democratic fundraiser for the presidential campaigns of former Vice President Al Gore, has died.
A family statement said Hayes died Saturday in Tennessee after a battle with stomach cancer.
Hayes was finance chief for Gore’s first presidential campaign in 1988 and again in 2000. He also managed Gore’s campaign finances when Gore first won a U.S. House seat in 1976 and for later Senate elections.
Gore also nominated Hayes as a director of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the country’s largest public utility. He held that post until 1999.
Henry Z. Steinway, 93, the great-grandson of the founder of the legendary piano-making company, died Thursday in Manhattan, N.Y.
Henry Zeigler Steinway was the last of his family to run the company founded by Henry Engelhard Steinway in 1853. Its handcrafted pianos were the instruments of choice for such greats as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz and Artur Rubinstein.
