Cricket is mourning the death of former England batsman Robin Smith at the age of 62, only a week after he spoke to Andrew Flintoff's Lions team at Lilac Hill near his home in Perth. Smith, born in Durban, had made Western Australia his home more than 20 years ago, after retiring from first-class cricket with more than 26,000 first-class runs to his name, and 61 hundreds – 49 of them for Hampshire. But it was a powerful middle-order batsman for his adopted England that he made his name, playing 62 Tests between his debut in 1988 and his final game, in his native South Africa in January 1996, and averaging 43 during a difficult period for the Test team. For sheer ferocity, his square-cut may never have been surpassed.
steve cropper, 84, guitarist for booker t and the mgs, also stax houseband, also blues brothers, also wrote numerous top tracks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Cropper complete with hull's own aljaxon (whatever happened to aljaxon?) on drums:
Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84. The musician, who played on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Nashville, the Associated Press reported, citing a source who was informed by Cropper's family. Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the house band of influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone magazine. "While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added. A cause of death was not immediately known. Associate Eddie Gore told the AP he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where he had been working on new music. "He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
