Day: January 2, 2016

Dal Richards, Vancouver’s King of Swing, dead at 97

Vancouver big band leader Dal Richards has died. He would have turned 98 on Jan. 5, 2016.

Dallas Murray Richards, born in Vancouver in 1918, has long been known as Vancouver’s “King of Swing”.

The musician was honoured with the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C. and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and was an inductee of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Over the years, he hosted national radio and television shows, including on CBC, helped launch the careers of talented young musicians and played countless concerts.

After 79 consecutive New Year’s Eve gigs, and nearly as many shows at the Pacific National Exhibition, it’s hard to imagine anyone has kept the music going for longer.

His reign began in 1940, at the brand new Panorama Roof of the Vancouver Hotel. Generations of people have rung in their new year with Dal Richards, who played every New Year’s Eve from 1936 to 2014.

Ever the gentleman, he never lost his enthusiasm for the big night, as Richards told CBC Radio just before he played his 76th New Year’s Eve.

Richards first turned to music as a boy. He was hit by a slingshot in the left eye and his doctor recommended trying out an instrument to lift him out of depressed state.

His natural affinity for the clarinet eventually helped him forget about his injury.

By the time he entered high school at Kerrisdale’s Magee Secondary, he yearned to be in a band like the ones he heard on the radio, so he rounded up a band which became his first orchestra.

When he began his life as a professional musician, Richards joined the band at the Palomar Ballroom, the city’s original Hotel Vancouver at Georgia and Burrard Street, and soon took over as the bandleader.

His passion for music and the audience continued well into his nineties.

In an interview with CBC Music on his 95th birthday, Richards shared his secret.

“Well, if you find something you like doing in life, pursue it with your heart. That is what I’ve done with music. I found that it was my love, so it enveloped my life totally.”

Wayne Rogers Dies: ‘M.A.S.H.’s Trapper John Was 82

Actor and entrepreneur Wayne Rogers, best known for playing Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre from 1972-1975 on the long-running CBS dramedy M.A.S.H. has died today following complications from pneumonia. His publicist confirmed the news to Deadline: he was 82.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1933, he was a graduate of The Webb School in Tennessee and earned a history degree from Princeton, then served in the US Navy before embarking on his career as an actor. Acting on both television and film, among his early roles he played Slim Davis on the soap Search for Tomorrow in 1959, appeared on Odds Against Tomorrow in 1960, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Rogers also co-starred on the ABC Western drama Stagecoach West as Luke Perry from 1960-1961.

Other early roles include appearances on The Invaders, The F.B.I., Gunsmoke, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Death Valley Days, and The Fugitive. Rogers also had a small supporting role in the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke.

He was of course most famous for his three-year stint as “Trapper” John on M.A.S.H., an adaptation of Robert Altman’s hit 1970 film based on the book by Richard Hooker. Originally intending to audition for the role of Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, Rogers found that character too cynical and instead opted for the character whose outlook he considered sunnier. He was known to have enjoyed his time on the series, and became close friends with co-star Alan Alda, but was dissatisfied after Alda’s Hawkeye became the center of the show at, he felt, the expense of his own role, and chose to leave after the third season.

Rogers was the second of three actors to play the character. Elliott Gould originated the role in Altman’s film, and Pernell Roberts famously portrayed him for seven seasons on CBS’ Trapper John, M.D..

Following M.A.S.H., Rogers continued to work steadily. In 1975, he played an FBI agent on the 1975 TV movie Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan, he starred in the short lived NBC series City of Angels, he starred on the CBS series House Calls, as well as the miniseries Chiefs. He also guest starred five times on Murder, She Wrote.

Among his other television and film roles, he co-starred in the TV film I Dream of Jeannie… Fifteen Years Later, the 1981 film The Hot Touch, and later he played Civil Rights attorney Morris Dees in Rob Reiner’s Ghosts of Mississippi.

“His humor, honesty, knowledge and caring.. not to mention talent.. made him a very special guy and friend. One of the proudest experiences of my career was arranging, at his request, for him to appear in 1988 and again in 1990 as expert witness on the House of Representatives investigative hearing into the possible repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act preventing banks from non-banking activities,” said publicist Dick Guttman. “The word about his testimony moved out very quickly throughout the Capitol, and when we lunched in the Senate dining room, he was table-hopped by a who’s-who of Senators and Congressmen. Wayne, a banker, said it was a prescription for disaster. Pro repeal advocates on the panel argued that these were permitted in Japan and that, as result, eight of the ten most successful banks in the world were Japanese. Wayne predicted correcting the resultant problems those banks would experience. He definitely was a key factor in preventing the repeal. Unfortunately, the repeal prevailed a dozen years later, and we had to live the consequences. Here was a banker arguing regulation of banks. That was Wayne, clear-headed and persuasive in his knowledge.”

Later in life Rogers became well known as a business investor, having started doing so knowing that his income as an actor was not necessarily reliable long term. He eventually earned a sizable income from real estate and other ventures, penning the book Make Your Own Rules about his experiences, and was a regular panelist on the Fox Business Network show Cashin’ In. He also served on the Board of Directors of the electronics components manufacturer Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., and as the head of Wayne Rogers & Co., a stock trading investment corporation.

He is survived by his wife Amy Hirsh, whom he married in 1988.

Singer Natalie Cole Dies at 65: “Our Beloved Mother and Sister Will be Greatly Missed”

“Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived..with dignity, strength and honor.”

Natalie Cole, the singer and songwriter best known for the songs “Unforgettable,” “Inseparable” and “This Will Be,” has died, THR confirmed. She was 65.

Publicist Maureen O’Connor said that Cole, the daughter of legendary performer Nat King Cole, died Thursday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to “complications from ongoing health issues.”

Her family released a statement:

“It is with heavy hearts that we bring to you all the news of our Mother and sister’s passing. Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived..with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever.”

Cole’s mother was the late singer Maria Hawkins Cole.

She received a kidney transplant in May 2009 and had battled Hepatitis C. Through the years, she struggled with drug addiction.

Cole’s 1991 jazz album, “Unforgettable … With Love,” featuring numerous standards sung by her father, sold 14 million copies.

The album reached the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on July 27, 1991. It featured a duet (“Unforgettable”) with her father.

“Unforgettable … With Love” won multiple Grammys, including the 1992 Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, Arrangement Accompanying Vocals and Producer of the Year.

Cole was a frequent performer at fundraisers and helped raise millions for various charitable causes.

The Recording Academy released the following statement on the passing of Cole:

We are very saddened to learn of the passing of one of music’s most celebrated and iconic women, Natalie Cole. A nine-time Grammy winner and MusiCares Person of the Year honoree in 1993, Natalie followed her legendary father into the music business with magnificent hits like “Inseparable,” “This Will Be” and “Unforgettable,” achieving multiplatinum, worldwide success in her own right. We’ve lost a wonderful, highly cherished artist and our heartfelt condolences go out to Natalie’s family, friends, her many collaborators, as well as to all who have been entertained by her exceptional talent.