Stompin Tom, Reg; The Other Presley, and some other other early Rockers

Reg Presley was the singer for the British Beat group The Troggs who of did the classic hits "Wild Thing", (a massive hit which has since been covered by Jimi Hendrix, X, The Cult, Runaways, Cheap Trick, Divinyls, um...Sam Kinison and lord knows how many other bands), "I Can't Control Myself" and "Love is All Around". He was 71

THE TROGGS ~ "WILD THING";


THE TROGGS ~ "I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF";


George Shadow Morton ~ Songwriter and Producer with 1960's Girl Group The Shangri-La's with classic hits "The Leader of The Pack" & "(Remember) Walking in the Sand" and later Janis Ian, Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly and The New York Dolls ~ 72

THE SHANGRI-LA'S ~ "THE LEADER OF THE PACK";


VANILLA FUDGE ~ "YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON";


THE NEW YORK DOLLS ~ "PERSONALITY CRISIS";


THE NEW YORK DOLLS ~ "LOOKING FOR A KISS";


Alvin Lee, singer guitarist for Blues Rock super group Ten Years After, best known for their epic performance at Woodstock ~ 68

TEN YEARS AFTER ~ "I'M GOING HOME";


TEN YEARS AFTER ~ "SPOONFUL";


Rick Huxley ~ English bassist with 1960's Beat Band The Dave Clark Five w/ hits like "Glad All Over", "Bits & Pieces" (later covered by Joan Jett), "I Like it Like That", "Catch us if You can" ~ 72

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE ~ "DO YOU LOVE ME" & "GLAD ALL OVER";


THE DAVE CLARK FIVE ~ "BITS AND PIECES";


THE DAVE CLARK FIVE ~ "I LIKE IT LIKE THAT";


Tony Sheridan ~ British 1960's Skiffle and Mersey Beat singer, had The Beatles as his back-up band and did their first recordings ~ 72

TONY SHERIDAN ~ "SHAKE IT SOME MORE";


John Doyle ~ Singer/Guitarist with 1960's Miami Garage Punk band The Evil ~

THE EVIL ~ "FROM A CURBSTONE";


Cecil Womack was one of the Womack Brothers (including Bobby, Harry, Friendly and Curtis) who started out in Cleveland as a Gospel group and were discovered by Sam Cooke who signed them to his S.A.R. Record label in 1961 renamed as The Valentinos. They recorded the original version of "It's All Over Now" which was later covered by The Rolling Stones. After Cooke's death in 1964 S.A.R Records folded and Bobby Womack left the group and married Cooke's widow which created some outrage from Cooke's fans. The remaining brothers kept the band together and signed to Chess Records and recorded a few singles which failed to chart. They then signed to Jubilee Records with no greater success. The Valentinos broke up when Henry Womack was stabbed to death by his girlfriend. The renaming brothers became backup singers for their by no more successful brother Bobby's solo career.

THE VALENTINOS ~ "IT'S ALL OVER NOW";


Deke Richards ~ Songwriter and Producer for Motown. Wrote hits like "Love Child" for The Supremes and produced songs like "I Want You Back" and "ABC" for The Jackson 5 ~ 68

THE SUPREMES ~ "LOVE CHILD";


Bluesman Magic Slim was a cousin of the great Magic Sam, he would go on to record several respected albums for Alligator Records died at 75

MAGIC SLIM & THE TEARDROPS ~ "LET ME LOVE YOU BABY";


And of course Stompin Tom Connors, the legendary Canadian Folk/Country singer died at 77. It's been a little hard for Canadians to explain to Americans exactly what made Stompin Tom such an icon. Or even to come up with a real comparison. Woody Guthrie? Sort of, both were working man's troubadours and champions of a nationalism that was never right wing or racist. Johnny Cash? Both wore black and both were coolly charismatic. But Connors had a goofy sense of humour that Guthrie and Cash would have found undignified. The closest I can come up with is Guthrie as done by Lonnie Donnegan.

STOMPIN TOM CONNORS ~ "BUD THE SPUD";


STOMPIN TOM CONNORS ~ "MARGO'S GOT THE CARGO";