Jill Gascoigne husband, Alfred Molina, went to my old school, Cardinal Manning in Ladbroke Grove. Such an awful illness. Rest in Peace Jill


RIP, total genius.Really quite gutted about this - we managed to see him play a couple of years back with The Good, The Bad and The Queen....in the same league as Ginger Baker and Keith Moon, a total legend
Tony Allen: 'World's greatest drummer' and afrobeat pioneer dies
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Tony Allen has been described as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived"
Pioneering Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, a co-founder of the afrobeat musical genre, died in Paris on Thursday aged 79, his manager says.
Eric Trosset told NPR radio that he had died of a heart attack. AFP said his death was not linked to coronavirus.
Allen was the drummer and musical director of musician Fela Kuti's famous band Africa '70 in the 1960-70s.
Fela, as he was widely known, died in 1997. He once said that "without Tony Allen, there would be no afrobeat".
Afrobeat combines elements of West Africa's fuji music and highlife styles with American funk and jazz.
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Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen on learning to drum, working with Fela Kuti and Damon Albarn.
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World stars pay their tributes
Allen has also been described by UK musician Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived".
Trosset led tributes in a Facebook post saying "your eyes saw what most couldn't see... as you used to say: 'There is no end'".
Beninois singer Angelique Kidjo told the BBC's Newsday programme that she had been hit hard by both Allen's death and the passing of Cameroonian saxophone legend Manu Dibango in March.
"What I want to remember from them is our musical conversation, our laughter, our joy. They are gone, but they are not gone for me," she said.
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On Instagram, she said that Allen had "changed the history of African music".
Ghanaian rapper M.anifest tweeted that Allen "put the beat in afrobeat" and thanked him "for a lifetime of being quietly epic".
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You put the beat in Afrobeat. A giant. Rest in paradise and thank you for a lifetime of being quietly epic. Honored that some of my most memorable times on this journey were in studios and on stages with you. Journey well Tony AllenYou must log in or register to see imagesYou must log in or register to see images
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Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who spent time with Allen in London, called him "one of the greatest drummers to ever walk this earth" and described him as his "hero".
"What a wildman, with a massive, kind and free heart and the deepest one-of-a-kind groove," Flea said on Instagram.
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Image captionAllen is credited with inventing the afrobeat genre with Fela Kuti
One of Fela's sons, musician Seun Kuti, tweeted "rest in power and journey well".
Who was Tony Allen?
Allen's career and life story were documented in his 2013 autobiography Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat.
Allen, who was born in Lagos in 1940, taught himself how to play drums when he was 18.
He said he learnt his technique by listening closely to American jazz drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. He then created the distinctive polyphonic rhythms of afrobeat and was said to be able to play four different beats with each of his limbs.
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Media captionHow Fela Kuti's legacy and music lives on
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Allen first met Fela in 1964, and they went on to record dozens of albums in Africa '70, including Gentleman and Zombie.
Allen left the band in 1979, after reported rifts with the band leader over royalties. Fela needed four separate drummers to fill the void.
Allen emigrated to London in 1984, and later moved to Paris.
He collaborated with a number of artists during his long music career, and was the drummer in The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with Damon Albarn, Paul Simenon and Simon Tong.
An instantly recognisable sound
By Will Ross, former BBC Nigeria correspondent (and afrobeat aficionado)
There is a beautiful bounce to Tony Allen's drumming style that makes any track he played on instantly recognisable.
That's not to say he stood still. He was forever learning, forging new musical relationships and evolving his sound.
The combination of the bass, snare and hi-hat is uniquely Tony Allen-flavoured, whether you are listening to him as the driving force behind Fela Kuti's band in the 1970s, on his own hypnotic 1999 album Black Voices or playing live last year alongside Damon Albarn with The Good, The Bad and the Queen.
He once said Art Blakey must have been a magician because it sounded like more than one person was sitting behind the kit.
I recently got right up close to the stage to study the flow of Tony Allen's hands and feet. I was mesmerised by HIS magic.
He didn't seem to age much and looked set to keep drumming for many more years.
As he put it: "I'm looking forward to the future because it's a long, long way to go. There's no end. I'm very sure of that."
RIP, total genius.
I could never work out how he put up with Paul Simenon, who although he is undoubtedly a style and attitude icon, was never a good bassist (in my opinion), and always seemed more interested in art than music, though he improved after Mick Jones taught him to play and he had a few years practice. Pretty sure only people like Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle and Chris Squire could keep up with Allen’s brain, though Squire would probably just turn his bass pedal to 11 and drown the drums out. Actually probably only Bruce could handle it.
Don’t get me wrong I love Simenon, and the Clash were properly important to me as a kid (though not quite up there with the Pistols). Just the gulf in skill between him and Allen to seems to be huge. I’m sure they discovered a workaround so everyone was comfortable.As I said, we saw him a couple of years back - he was superb. My son is a drummer (and a very good one at that) and he was awestruck by how he played - he made it look so effortless.
Simonen was his usual aloof, laid back self, but there was a connection between them - maybe it was Damon Albarn holding it together? An excellent show, and I'm now even more pleased that we got to see the great man before he passed.
Dave Greenfield, keyboard player for The Stranglers, has died of coronavirus aged 71. RIP.
Just saw this on the BBC. So glad I got to see the Stranglers in Guildford
RIP
Dave Greenfield: The Stranglers keyboard player dies at 71
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The Stranglers keyboard player Dave Greenfield has died at the age of 71 after testing positive for Covid-19.
Greenfield died on Sunday having contracted the virus after a prolonged stay in hospital for heart problems.
He penned the band's biggest hit, Golden Brown, a song about heroin, which went to number two on the UK singles chart in 1982.
The Stranglers bass player Jean-Jacques "JJ" Burnel paid tribute to Greenfield as a "musical genius".
He said: "On the evening of Sunday May 3rd, my great friend and longstanding colleague of 45 years, the musical genius that was Dave Greenfield, passed away as one of the victims of the Great Pandemic of 2020.
"All of us in the worldwide Stranglers' family grieve and send our sincerest condolences to Pam."
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Image caption (Left to right) Dave Greenfield, Jean-Jacques Burnel, Jet Black and Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers in 1980
Drummer Jet Black added: "We have just lost a dear friend and music genius, and so has the whole world.
"Dave was a complete natural in music. Together, we toured the globe endlessly and it was clear he was adored by millions. A huge talent, a great loss, he is dearly missed."
'Musical skill and gentle nature'
Singer and guitarist Hugh Cornwall posted on Twitter he was "very sorry" to hear of his old bandmate's passing.
"He was the difference between The Stranglers and every other punk band," wrote Cornwall.
"His musical skill and gentle nature gave an interesting twist to the band. He should be remembered as the man who gave the world the music of Golden Brown.
The Stranglers, who formed in 1974 in Guildford, Surrey, recently postponed their farewell tour from this summer due to the pandemic.
Greenfield joined the band within a year of their formation.
The band's other hits include No More Heroes, Peaches and Something Better Change.
Dave Greenfield, keyboard player for The Stranglers, has died of coronavirus aged 71. RIP.

That’s a bummer. RIP Dave, those baroque keyboards set the Stranglers apart.Dave Greenfield, keyboard player for The Stranglers, has died of coronavirus aged 71. RIP.

That’s a bummer. RIP Dave, those baroque keyboards set the Stranglers apart.
I think they were both rather influenced by one JS Bach. Which is fair enough.Craig Charles just compared him to Ray Manzarek from The Doors - can kinda see the comparrison





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