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All Things Must Pass

This site celebrates the giants of a generation of musicians that is now, slowly but surely, leaving us. The focus might appear morbid, even mawkish - it is not meant to be.

Rather, it celebrates the longevity and continuing creativity of a generation of musicians who never dreamed they could make life-long careers in the then-new rock 'n roll. (The Beatles famously had plans for life after fame, including Ringo opening a chain of hair salons.) But, it turns out, they could and many did. We hope to show that the 27 Club has a much smaller membership than you would think, and certainly much smaller than the 80-And-Still-Going-Club (current documented membership 300+ and still growing).

An even more elite club is the 90-And-Still-Going-Club, which has had eight new members so far in 2026:

John Stokes (13 August) The Bachelors

Buddy Guy (30 July)

Engelbert Humperdinck (2 May)

Robert Lee Smith (18 March) Formed in Atlanta, GA in the late 1950s, and nicknamed The Tams after their distinctive tam o’shanter hats (their nickname soon becoming the official band name), they had chart success in the US in the 60s, and for longer in the UK, partly because they were popular in the Northern soul scene. There are two versions of the band still touring today, one is led by Robert Lee Smith, an original member. Although they were big in the UK for a while, they never saw a penny from all the records they sold here, due to an early, onerous contract.

Jess Conrad (24 February) He was an actor before he was a singer, and it was a role as a pop singer that brought him his singing break. His singing career barely lasted two years (1960 - 61), and then he was an actor again. Although he had chart hits, he had the later ignominy of seeing a number of them lampooned by Kenny Everett in his World's Worst Record feature. But he might have had the last laugh, as he was still working as an actor into the 2020s.

John Leyton (17 February) An actor trying singing, his Johnny Remember Me was a UK #1 in 1961 (it was also Joe Meek's first #1), and was followed by a #2 single. But he didn't chart after 1964. He kept busy in the 60s with film (The Great Escape) and TV (Jericho on US TV) work. In the 70s both music and stage work dried up, and by the mid 80s he had quit show business. But the nostalgia tour beckoned in the 90s, and that, along with some cameo film roles, has kept him busy enough ever since.

Doug Kershaw (24 January) Brought up in French Louisiana by a musical family steeped in Cajun music, he learnt the fiddle aged five, subsequently adding many instruments to his repertoire. He was in a duo with his brother Rusty, originally singing in French. They joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. His biggest hit was Louisiana Man, which he recorded with Rusty, and which sold millions. His career probably peaked in 1969, during which he opened for Eric Clapton at the Fillmore East, heard Louisiana Man beamed back from the moon by the Apollo 12 crew, and played at the Newport Folk Festival. In later life he beat alcohol and drug addictions to enjoy an Indian summer of success that included being in a band with his grandson.

John Gorman (4 January) He was a founder of The Scaffold comedy musical group, who had two hits in the late 60s, including the UK's 1968 Christmas #1, Lily The Pink . In 1974 Scaffold morphed into GRIMMS, with the addition of many new members. In the late 70s he was involved with the TV programme Tiswas, and then its adult derivative O.T.T. He then became a TV presenter, before moving to France. On his return he followed a portfolio life of activities in the theatre, visual arts and literature. Scaffold have occasionally reformed for one-off shows, most recently in 2018. In 2020 they re-recorded vocals for Thank U Very Much, in support of the NHS

New members of the 80ASG club include:

Richard Carpenter (15 October) .

Justin Hayward (14 October) Not an original member of the Moody Blues, but when he and John Lodge joined the remnants of the first, R&B-oriented line-up in 1966, the band changed musical direction. With Hayward’s more folky sound and Mike Pinder’s Mellotron leading the way, and under the guidance of new producer Tony Clarke, the band became more experimental, innovative, and psychedelic. A string of hit albums followed, starting with the symph-rock Days of Future Passed, which featured Hayward’s biggest, and most enduring, hit, Nights in White Satin. He was the frontman of the Moodies until their dissolution in 2018, after Graeme Edge’s retirement, and their principal songwriter. He is the sole remaining member of their classic line-up. He ran a successful solo career in parallel, and is still touring today.

Keith Christmas (13 October) He played acoustic guitar on David Bowie's Space Oddity, and appeared at the first Glastonbury. He toured with many major acts in the early 70s, and spent time in the US where he recorded with "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper. Largely unsupported by his record company, he quit the business for a while but resumed his acoustic career in Bristol in the late 80s. His acoustic work was supplemented by blues bands he formed, and recorded with. He released a steady stream of material, with his last release coming in 2019.

Gary Mallaber (11 October) He graduated from local bands in Buffalo to a long spell with The Steve Miller Band as their drummer, and an occasional keyboardist. Multi-skilled as a composer, arranger, producer and engineer, he has worked with many headline bands. He was offered the drum seat in Kiss when Peter Kriss left, but did not accept. He worked with Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, John Lennon and the Beach Boys, among others. He was the studio drummer for Eddie Money and the touring drummer for Dave Mason for many years. Recently he has been touring with A.J. Croce.

P.P. Arnold (3 October) Raised in LA, she became an Ikette at 18. She quit the Ike & Tina Turner Revue after two years, and stayed in England, to start a solo career. She had a number of hit singles, and supported, and was supported by, a number of top UK rock acts, most notably the Small Faces. She went slightly out of fashion in the late 70s, and suffered the loss of her daughter in an accident, but continued recording and musical stage work. She provided backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, and has worked continuously for the past 40 years, both as a solo act and as a collaborator. A soul survivor...

Helen Shapiro (28 September) She was a star at 14 (not a child star, a star), with two #1 UK singles, famous for her deep singing voice. She headlined a tour in which the Beatles were a support act, and Lennon and McCartney wrote a song for her (that her manager stopped her recording). Before then, aged 10, she had been in a school group that featured Marc Bolan on guitar. But her last chart hit came before she was 18, and she briefly segued into the cabaret world, before moving into musical theatre and jazz, working continuously and successfully until 2002, when she took a break. She returned to performing in 2015, informed by her religious conversion, in a Gospel trio.

Some sad news recently of too many departures including Dolly Parton and Glen Hansard. Brief tributes to some of these, and to other recent losses from across the world of music, are on our Farewell page.

To celebrate rock's 80 year olds, and other feats of longevity, please visit our Analyses of these living legends.

Best place to start is probably with the Bands pages. We've grouped the bands into five categories, dependent on the survival rate of the membership. We're only focusing, initially, on major line-ups, although our database aims to track all recording line-ups. We're much less interested at this stage (although not uninterested) in touring line-ups.

An "On this day..." feature is on our Celebrations page.

Please note - the site is still (yes, still) undergoing a major refresh, during which old, outdated material will still be available for a while - please bear with us while we clean everything up, including proper attribution of all the photos we have used.

Photo credits

The Who, Jim Summaria, (Wikipedia:Contact us/Photo submission), licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

The Small Faces, Billboard , now in public domain

The Kinks, unknown photographer, public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Helmfrid-sofa4.JPG

The Beatles, unknown photographer, public domain

Robert Lee Smith, unknown photographer, retrieved from Facebook

Jess Conrad, Jack1956, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

John Leyton, public domain press photo from 1967

Doug Kershaw, David Simpson (cajunzydecophotos), CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Clarence Carter, John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

John Gorman, Jo Bell, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Richard Carpenter Robert LeRoy Knudsen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Justin Hayward, Derek Russell, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Keith Christmas Keithmas, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Gary Mallaber garymallaber.com

P.P. Arnold: A. Vente, A & F. van Geelen, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

Helen Shapiro, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands license

Page last updated 14 October 2026

Rock Your Clogs

Celebrating a generation of rock giants

All Things Must Pass