Ralph MacDonald, the Grammy-winning writer, producer and percussionist who worked with everyone from Luther Vandross to Amy Winehouse and composed the classics, “Where Is the Love” and “Just the Two of Us,” died Sunday morning in Stamford, Conn., after a long illness. He was 67.

He had suffered from a stroke and lung cancer in recent years.

Stamford, where he lived for the past 35 years, honored him with a Ralph MacDonald Day in July. He performed a couple of songs, including “Just the Two of Us,” with long-time colleague Dennis Collins, at the event.

Born in Harlem on March 15, 1944, MacDonald was a working musician as well as a writer and producer. Until health problems sidelined him a year and a half ago, he continued to tour regularly as a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.

The son of legendary Trinidadian calypso performer MacBeth the Great, MacDonald began performing as a small boy when his father would have him dance on the drums.

At 17, he landed a job in Harry Belafonte’s steel band, where he remained for the next decade. After telling Belafonte that the singer needed more authentic calypso music, he wrote an album of songs that Belafonte recorded as “Calypso Carnival” in 1966.

Soon afterwards, MacDonald launched his own publishing company, Antisia Music, with his friends Bill Salter and William Eaton.

They gave the company two years to establish itself, and MacDonald later recalled that the time had almost expired when he started working with Roberta Flack. He pitched her a song he had written with Salter, “Where Is The Love,” and her recording with Donny Hathaway became a multi-million-seller.

Through Antisia and as an acclaimed percussionist, MacDonald worked with a who’s who of artists, including Amy Winehouse, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, Diana Ross and Grover Washington Jr., for whom he wrote the hit “Mr. Magic.”

MacDonald won Grammy awards as a performer and producer for “Calypso Breakdown,” which appeared on the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

“Just the Two Of Us” was first released on Washington’s 1980 album “Winelight,” which MacDonald wrote and produced.

He also released several albums of his own over the years.



MacDonald is survived by his wife, Grace, and a daughter, Nefra-Ann.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/ralph-macdonald-dies-67-grammy-winning-artist-wrote-love-article-1.993313#ixzz1guoeCzet


Veteran film and television actor Dan Frazer, best known for his role as Captain Frank McNeil on the 1970s television series "Kojak," has died in New York. He was 90.

Frazer's daughter, Susanna Frazer, said Sunday her father died of cardiac arrest Dec. 16 at his home in Manhattan. She described him as a "very truthful, naturalistic actor."

Frazer started playing character roles in various television series and films in the 1950s. His films include "Cleopatra Jones," "Take the Money and Run" "Gideon's Trumpet" and "Deconstructing Harry." Besides "Kojak," Frazer's television appearances include "Car 54, Where Are You," "Route 66," "Barney Miller" and "Law & Order."

He was a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and an adviser to The Workshop Theatre Co.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/18/4131558/actor-frazer-capt-mcneil-on-kojak.html

According to various online sources, Tasmanian-born director Don Sharp has died. He was 89.

A former small-time actor (The Planter's Wife, The Cruel Sea), Sharp (born April 19, 1922, in Hobart) is best remembered for several low-budget thrillers he directed in the 1960s, such as Hammer's The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), the sci-fier Curse of the Fly (1965), and the The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), starring Christopher Lee as the East Asian fiend.

Sharp's other notable efforts include The Death Wheelers / Psychomania (1973), about a youth gang terrorizing a small town; the IRA drama Hennessy (1975), with A-listers Rod Steiger and Lee Remick; The Thirty Nine Steps, an underrated remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 classic starring Robert Powell in Robert Donat's old man-on-the-run role; and the slow-moving adventure drama Bear Island, featuring Vanessa Redgrave and Donald Sutherland.

Sharp also worked on British television, directing several episodes from The Avengers. Other notable television efforts were a made-for-TV remake of The Four Feathers (1978) starring Beau Bridges and Jane Seymour, and the miniseries A Woman of Substance (1984) and its sequel, Hold the Dream (1986). Adapted from novels by Barbara Taylor Bradford, the latter two are made watchable by the presence of Deborah Kerr, who, as the rags-to-riches businesswoman, elevates the cheesy proceedings to the realm of compelling melodrama whenever she is on screen. Jenny Seagrove plays the young Kerr in both films; the extensive supporting cast features old and new talent, among them John Mills, Liam Neeson, Miranda Richardson, Barry Bostwick, Diane Baker, George Baker, Peter Chelsom, Gayle Hunnicutt, and Christopher Gable.

Sharp's last credits were several episodes of the television series Act of Will (1989), another adaptation of a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel.

http://www.altfg.com/blog/movie/don-sharp-director-death-kiss-of-the-vampire-psychomania/

Keyboard player Dick Sims, a driving force in Eric Clapton’s band for more than 10 years, has passed away.

Dick played on Bob Seger’s landmark album ‘Back in ‘72’ before joining the Eric Clapton band in 1974. He played the keyboards for Clapton’s comeback classic ‘461 Ocean Boulevard’ on songs like ‘I Shot The Sherriff’ and ‘Willie and the Hand Jive’ and continued with Clapton on the tracks ‘Lay Down Sally’, ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and ‘Cocaine’.

During his career he also recorded with J.J. Cale, Peter Tosh, Joan Armatrading, Yvonne Elliman and Vince Gill.

Sims took a 10-year break before returning with his solo album ‘Within Arms Reach’ in 2008.

Noise11.com will publish more details of the death of Dick Sims as they become known.

Dick Sims official bio:

Arguably one of the best rock keyboard players in the world, Dick Sim’s work on the Hammond B-3 Organ is unparalleled. The “Tulsa Sound” musician is most widely recognized for his distinctive keyboard work on such Eric Clapton hits as “I Shot The Sheriff”, “Wonderful Tonight”, “Cocaine” and “Lay Down Sally” just to name a few. He joined Eric Clapton and His Band in 1974 and was instrumental in the making of Eric’s “comeback” album, 461 Ocean Boulevard. It was the beginning of a long-standing period of musical magic involving fellow Tulsa musicians Jamie Oldaker and the late Carl Radle (Derek & The Dominos). There has been much talk among rock fans about the Tulsa influences in Clapton’s music during that time period, with much of that talk centered on Dick’s work on the Hammond B-3 Organ.

It was at the age of five that music first took a hold of Dick and there was never any question of what he was going to do with his life. He grew up in musically rich Tulsa, Oklahoma and was earning money, playing in clubs by the age of 12.

From 1968 through 1972, Dick toured with Phil Driscol and Yurmama, playing both Hammond B-3 Organ and foot bass simultaneously – - – appearing with Yurmama on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1971. He then returned to Tulsa and formed the Tulsa County Band, along with fellow Tulsa musician, (and fellow member of “Yurmama”) famed drummer, Jamie Oldaker.

Prior to that time, and through their friendship with fellow “Tulsa Sound” musicians, Teegarden and Van Winkle, Dick and Jamie were hired by Bob Seger, who, at the time, was forming a new band to record the album Back in ‘72 which contained the original Seger classic “Turn the Page.”

In 1978 Dick recorded To The Limit with Joan Armatrading and accompanied her on a world tour in 1980.

Dick has recorded with legendary producers Tom Dowd, Phil Ramone and Glyn Johns. He has also performed and/or recorded with artists such as J.J. Cale, Peter Tosh, Yvonne Elliman, Marci Levy, Victoria Williams, Delaney Bramlett, Bernie Leaden, Stephen Stills, Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Etta James, Carlos Santana, Victoria Williams, Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction), Richie Hayward (Little Feat), jazz bassist John Heard (Count Basie), Pat Senatore (ex-Tijuana Brass), Lester Chambers (The Chambers Brothers), Vince Gill and Pure Prairie League.

After taking a sabbatical from the music world for nearly ten years, Dick returned to Los Angeles in 1998 and began composing songs that would make up his first solo album, Within Arms Reach. Dick is involved in a number of projects, including performing and promoting his latest CD, State of Mind. As of 2005, Dick makes his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

http://www.noise11.com/news/longtime-eric-clapton-keyboard-player-dick-sims-dies-20111209