Passage: They made music
"Sunday Morning" remembers just some of the talented musicians we've lost since last year's Grammy Awards ceremony:
Peter Tork
The Monkees
Peter Tork was a struggling club musician when he won a spot on "The Monkees" TV show, which premiered in 1966. He joined co-stars Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, and Davy Jones as members of a quirky rock band. Though the series' producers initially relied upon studio musicians, the popularity of the show forced them to relent, allowing the on-camera Monkees to write and perform their own music. And even after the show went off the air in 1968, The Monkees occasionally reunited for tours – still monkeying around.
- Peter Tork, Monkees bass player, has died at 77 (CBS News, 2/21/19)
- Hey, hey, The Monkees are back ("Sunday Morning," 5/29/16)
The Monkees perform Peter Tork & Joey Richards' "For Pete's Sake":
André Previn
Composer, Conductor and pianist
André Previn was a versatile performer who blurred the lines between classical, jazz and pop. A child prodigy, Previn began studying music at age six, and in his early teens he worked in a movie theater improvising piano scores for silent films. He would eventually write and arrange film scores, winning four Oscars.
By 40, he was leading the Houston Symphony, before moving on to the London Symphony Orchestra and eventually the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But unlike many classical artists, Previn was equally at home playing jazz, as he told "Sunday Morning" back in 1993: "I've arrived at a point in age and arrived at a point in career where … nobody's going to raise an eyebrow anymore," he said. "I can more or less do what I like … and I think it's great fun to play jazz."
- Passage: André Previn ("Sunday Morning," 3/3/19)
- André Previn, renowned musician, dies at 89 (2/28/19)
André Previn performs and conducts Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue":
Nipsey Hussle
Rapper
Born Ermias Asghedom, Hussle created a buzz among rap purists with a number of successful mixtapes he sold out of the trunk of his car. In 2010 he placed on hip-hop magazine XXL's "Freshman Class of 2010," a coveted list for up-and-coming hip-hop acts. He scored big when Jay-Z bought 100 copies of his 2013 mixtape "Crenshaw" for $100 each, and sent him a $10,000 check.
"Victory Lap," his critically-acclaimed major-label debut album from Atlantic Records, debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's 200 albums charts and featured collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Diddy, CeeLo Green and more. It made several best-of lists, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Album.
Nipsey Hussle performs "Blue Laces 2":
Doris Day
Singer and Actress
It was 1939 when a 17-year-old Doris Kappelhoff, of Cincinnati, began her singing career with the big bands of that era. Her stage name became Day, and she was as charming as the songs she sang, rooted, she said in one film, in one basic fact: "Most boys and girls don't know how to say 'I love you.' So, you've got to say it, in 32 bars of music. No more. No less."
- Doris Day, "Que Será, Será" singer and star of Hollywood's Golden Age, has died at 97 (5/13/19)
- Doris Day: Why she left Hollywood ("Sunday Morning," 7/14/08)
Doris Day performs "Sentimental Journey":
Leon Redbone
Singer
With his gravelly voice and a Panama hat, singer-guitarist Leon Redbone sang an eclectic mix of songs, everything from Mississippi Delta Blues to ragtime to jazz, recording 16 albums in all.
- Passage: Leon Redbone ("Sunday Morning," 6/2/19)
Leon Redbone performs "My Walking Stick":
Dr. John
Pianist and Singer
A true son of New Orleans, Malcolm John Rebennack Jr – better known by far as Dr. John – mixed blues, jazz, rock, and faux voodoo in a musical gumbo all his own. He crafted his Dr. John alter ego in the late 1960s, and had a Billboard hit with "Right Place, Wrong Time" in 1973. He would win six Grammys, and earn a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- Passage: Remembering Dr. John ("Sunday Morning," 6/9/19)
Dr. John performs "Iko Iko":
João Gilberto
Bossa Nova Master
The self-taught guitarist and songwriter was considered one of the fathers of Brazil's iconic bossa nova sound. A fusion of samba and jazz, bossa nova emerged in the late 1950s and became a worldwide sensation in the 1960s with Antonio Carlos Jobim's hit song, "The Girl From Ipanema," recorded by Gilberto and others. Over his career Gilberto won two Grammy awards and was nominated for six, and inspired an entire generation of Brazilian musicians.
- "The Girl from Ipanema" turns 50 (7/21/12)
João Gilberto and Stan Getz perform "The Girl From Ipanema":
Eddie Money
Singer
Born Edward Mahoney in New York City, he broke with his family's tradition of police work, choosing a musical career instead under the name Eddie Money. He had a hit in the late '70s with "Two Tickets to Paradise," and received a Grammy nomination for "Take Me Home Tonight" in 1987. Other hits included his debut single, "Baby Hold On"; "Think I'm in Love"; "I Wanna Go Back"; "The Love in Your Eyes"; "She Takes My Breath Away"; and "Walk on Water."
- Passage: Eddie Money ("Sunday Morning," 9/15/19)
- Eddie Money, "Two Tickets to Paradise" singer, has died at age 70 (9/13/19)
Eddie Money performs "Two Tickets to Paradise":
Ric Ocasek
The Cars
Ric Ocasek was a founder and lead singer for the rock band The Cars, which enjoyed a string of hits from the late 1970s through the '80s, and were among the most popular of music video performers in the early years of MTV. In 2018 The Cars were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
- Passage: The Cars' Ric Ocasek ("Sunday Morning," 9/22/19)
- Ric Ocasek, The Cars lead singer, has died (9/16/19)
The Cars perform "My Best Friend's Girl":
Jessye Norman
Opera Singer
The native of Augusta, Georgia, made her operatic debut in 1969 in Berlin, and wowed audiences around the world on stages in Milan, London and New York. Renowned for her performances in "Carmen," ''Aida" and Wagner's "Ring" cycle, and for her interpretations of lieder by Brahms, Mahler and Strauss, Norman was not limited to opera or classical music; she also performed spirituals, and songs by Duke Ellington, Cole Porter and George & Ira Gershwin. She told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002, "Pigeonholing is only interesting to pigeons."
Watch a recording session in which Norman performs "Près des remparts de Séville" from Bizet's "Carmen"
Jerry Herman
Broadway Composer
The composer and lyricist created 10 Broadway shows and contributed to several others. He won two Tony Awards for Best Musical, for "Hello, Dolly!" and "La Cage aux Folles." He also won two Grammys and was a Kennedy Center honoree.
The composer for such melodic productions as "Mame," "The Grand Tour," "Mack & Mabel" and "Milk and Honey" told the Associated Press in 1995, "Critics have sort of tossed me off as the popular and not the cerebral writer, and that was fine with me. That was exactly what I aimed at."
Carol Channing returns to "the lights of 14th Street" in this 1979 production of "Hello, Dolly!":
Neil Peart
Drummer and Lyricist
Born in Ontario, Neil Peart replaced the original drummer of the Canadian band Rush before the group's first U.S. tour in 1974. He would place fourth on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time (just behind Ginger Baker, Keith Moon and John Bonham). Peart's percussion skills – precise and deliberate behind his sprawling drum kit – were jaw-dropping, but his innovative lyrics helped set Rush apart from other progressive rock bands.
Rush performs "By Tor and the Snow Dog"
Story produced by David Morgan.