2009

Honky-tonk entertainer Billy Brown dies By RICK DE YAMPERT Entertainment writer

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- When local country singer Billy Brown heard a Jim Reeves song on his car radio in 1960 -- a song that sounded suspiciously like one he had recorded -- Brown crashed his car on Turnbull Bay Road.

Disillusioned, Brown "got saved on the roadside that night," said his wife, Jan. Brown mothballed his dreams of country music stardom and hit the road as an itinerant evangelist.

After seven years of preaching, Brown "backslid" into music again, Jan said. He returned here and became, along with his brother Tommy, one of Volusia County's most popular honky-tonk entertainers in the 1970s, before retiring in 1993.Brown, 79, died Saturday at his home in New Smyrna Beach with Jan, his wife of 17 years, by his side. Brown had battled emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for many years.

Brown (whose full name was William George Brown) told The News-Journal in 1977 that he had "signed a contract with the Grand Ole Opry and was headed for Nashville when the Korean War broke out."After serving in the military in Korea, Brown returned to the area and to country music. He recorded a version of the song "He'll Have to Go" for Columbia Records, "but Columbia just didn't push it." Country legend Jim Reeves recorded the same song and scored a career-defining hit with it in 1960.

"But Billy put the low note in it that made the song," Jan Brown said. "Jim Reeves did it exactly like Billy's version, except for the last few bars."

After his traveling preacher days and return to country music, Brown suffered a stroke in 1983. He recovered and continued singing, but he no longer could play guitar. Jan became Brown's sixth wife when they married in August 1991, five weeks after she first met him as he performed at an area nightclub."He never met a stranger," Jan said. "I loved him not because of the music. We were on the same wavelength. We shared everything."





"Lost in Space" Actor Has Died Posted Jan 18th 2009 4:08PM by TMZ Staff

Bob May -- who played the robot in "Lost in Space" -- died early this morning at the Lancaster Community Hospital in California. A rep for Bob said he was taken to the hospital on Friday, and died at around 3 AM this morning of congestive heart failure. Back in November, Bob had a stroke soon after a fire consumed his California home. Patricia Arthur, May's long time friend and agent, "Asks all his fans to take a moment of silence as one of Science Fiction's greatest has passed. Family and friends will miss him dearly." Bob was 69.



Producer Charles H. Schneer dies Hollywood vet worked with Ray Harryhausen By VARIETY STAFF


Producer Charles H. Schneer, who worked with Ray Harryhausen on films including "Jason and the Argonauts," died Jan. 21 in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 88. Schneer started out at Columbia's B-picture unit, producing Harryhausen's special effects-laden films including "It Came From Beneath the Sea," box office hit "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers" and "20 Million Miles to Earth." He also produced films including "Hellcats of the Navy" and "Face of a Fugitive."


Convincing Harryhausen to work in color, Schneer produced their biggest hit of the 1950s, "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad." They continued with Columbia sci fi titles including "The Three Worlds of Gulliver," "Mysterious Island" and the influential "Jason and the Argonauts," while Schneer remembered as his favorite title of the collaboration. Schneer continued as an independent producer in London, shepherding films including "Half a Sixpence" and "The Executioner." He reteamed with Harryhausen on "The Valley of Gwangi," "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad," "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" and their final film, the bigger-budget "Clash of the Titans" for Universal. Born in Norfolk, Va., Schneer graduated Columbia University and made training films while serving in the Signal Corps during WWII. He was an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was Chairman of the London Events Committee from 1989-1998. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Shirley, two daughters; three grandchildren and four great grandchildren and a sister.

‘Wales’ greatest guitarist’ Mickey Gee diesJan 23 2009

by Nathan Bevan, Western Mail

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to a rock musician dubbed “the best guitarist ever to come out of Wales”.Mickey Gee, who had played alongside such famous Welsh exports as Tom Jones, Dave Edmunds and Shakin’ Stevens during his lengthy career, passed away at the University Hospital of Wales on Wednesday morning, aged 64, following a long battle with emphysema.

Last night influential Welsh music industry figures paid tribute to the man best known to many for his distinctive work on Edmunds’ 1970 Christmas number one I Hear You Knockin’ and Stevens’ 1980s’ hits like Green Door.Kingsley Ward of the Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth, said: “He was purely a great guitar player, very individual.“Whenever I met famous people back then, they often asked me about Mickey Gee. He never received the acknowledgment of his true ability and was the unsung hero of Welsh guitar playing.”

Former Amen Corner guitarist Andy Fairweather Low said: “He was there doing it before all of us. Anyone who knows anything about music knows and respects Mickey Gee.”BBC Radio Wales presenter Owen Money said: “He was one of the greatest guitarists Wales has ever produced.”