FAREWELL

Below are brief tributes to some recent losses from across the world of music

Sly Dunbar

Born: 10 May, 1952

Died: 26 January, 2026

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Ralph Towner

Born: 1 March, 1940

Died: 18 January, 2026

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Bob Weir

Born: 16 October, 1947

Died: 10 January, 2026

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Perry Bamonte

Born: 3 September, 1960

Died: 25 December, 2025

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Chris Rea

Born: 4 March, 1951

Died: 22 December, 2025

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Joe Ely

Born: 9 February, 1947

Died: 15 December, 2025

A tough Texas upbringing didn't stop, and maybe helped, him learn violin and guitar, and opt for a (initially) precarious living as a musician. His first group, The Flatlanders, was based in Lubbock, TX but after it broke up he followed a largely solo, but collaborative, career (save for Flatlanders' reunions). Although identified with "progressive country", he was no prisoner of genre boundaries, and famously collaborated with The Clash. He also toured with big names from rock (The Rolling Stones, Springsteen). He released studio and live albums regularly up to 2015, and The Flatlanders, last album, Treasure of Love was released in 2021.

Steve Cropper

Born: 21 October, 1941

Died: 3 December, 2025

His early bands evolved into the Stax Records house band, based in Memphis, where a multi-racial band was not the norm. Cropper later became the label's A&R man. The house band played on many songs released by Stax (such as "Dock of the Bay" and "Soul Man"), but also, as Booker T and the M.G.s, released their own records - "Green Onions" etc. He left Stax in 1970, relocated to LA and set up his own label. He joined a reformed M.G.'s; then he joined the Blue Brothers Band (appearing in the 1980 film). Later he moved to Nashville, and joined a reformed Blues Brothers Band. The rest of his long career was a mixture of recording, producing and touring, playing with anyone and everyone who played guitar, most of whom he had influenced.

Jimmy Cliff

Born: 30 July, 1944

Died: 24 November, 2025

The second Jamaican in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he did as much as the first one (Bob Marley) to popularise reggae internationally. He just did it a different way, often arranging pop and mainstream hits in a reggae version, and appearing in films. A songwriter, he was famously covered by Springsteen (""Trapped") and John Lennon ("Many Rivers To Cross"), but his own versions of his own songs are what we will remember - "You Can Get It If You Really Want It" and "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" are the ones I think of when I think of him.

Gary 'Mani' Mounfield

Born: 16 November, 1962

Died: 20 November, 2025

Not only the bassist in the Stone Roses, but also in Primal Scream. He joined the Roses after a chance meeting in Manchester with the rest of the band (he had already worked with John Squire). His rhythmic bass lines became an integral part of the Roses' distinctive sound (sort of acid meets rave meets harmonious folk-rock) that made the band the Madchester band. A happy person, with a passion for Man U (his dad had been a chef for the team), he is gone way too soon.

Gilson Lavis

Born: 27 June, 1951

Died: 5 November, 2025

Not a great picture - apologies - but it puts Gilson where he was always happiest, on the drums and holding the whole thing together. Initially a session and pick-up drummer, he was the drummer with Squeeze twice (1976 - 82, 1985 - 92), with his alcoholism causing both departures. Retreating to Lincolnshire he got sober, became a portrait artist (mainly of music celebrities) and was lured out of retirement by Jools Holland, in whose Rhythm & Blues Orchestra he played for 30 years till retiring last year

Lô Borges

Born: 10 January, 1952

Died: 2 November, 2025

Not someone I had heard of till last week, so thanks to my cousin Lance in Vancouver for pointing me to the obituary in The Guardian (and, of course, to his music). A Brazilian guitarist and songwriter, he was a founder of Clube da Esquina, a group of musicians from the state of Minas Gerais. He co-authored the eponymous album in 1972 with Milton Nascimento. His compositions were widely recorded in Brazil - and he was even cited as an influence by Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys.

Donna Jean Godchaux

Born: 22 August, 1947

Died: 2 November, 2025

A session singer at the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with credits on at least two #1 singles, she moved to California, married, and with her husband Keith joined the Grateful Dead, where Keith filled the gap left by Tom Constanten and Pigpen. The only woman ever to be a member of the Dead, she and Keith were with the band from 1972 to 1979, when their increasingly fractious marriage became too much for the band to stand. Keith died in a car crash in 1980. Donna remarried, started her own band, and remained part of the Dead's network of spin-off bands; she also worked on a number of the Dead's archival projects.

Photo credits

Joe Ely, Ron Baker (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kingsnake), CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Steve Cropper, Alberto Cabello, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Jimmy Cliff, Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Gary Mounfield, public domain, donated by author Katherine Barton, as edited by Gaz Davidson

Gilson Lavis, CC BY-SA 3.0,author Threefoursixninefour at English Wikipedia, extracted from another file: Sam Brown 2006.jpg

Lô Borges, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, author Selphox

Donna Jean Godchaux, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic, author Matt Tillett

Page last updated 10 January 2026