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The Spectacle Blog
Songwriter, producer and percussionist Ralph MacDonald passed away on Sunday of lung cancer. He was 67.
He’s one of those musicians whose name and face you don’t know but chances are you know his music. MacDonald is best known for co-writing “Where is the Love?” which became a hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway in 1972 and for the 1981 hit “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers.
Rooted in Calypso music, MacDonald had long stints with both Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Buffett and played on recordings by the likes of Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross amongst many, many others.
View all comments (3) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/20/ralph-macdonald-rip
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Rick V.| 12.21.11 @ 9:20AM
Very sad news indeed. Mr. MacDonald also contributed heavily to Steely Dan's most prolific period, as well as numerous other jazz artists and bands. It would be hard to imagine George Benson's "Weeken in L.A." without MacDonald's drive.
Rick V.| 12.21.11 @ 9:22AM
Sorry - that's "Weekend in L.A.", of course.
Dave | 12.21.11 @ 10:01AM
Too many R.I.P. posts this year. And I'm hoping any others scheduled to push their way onto the list will hold-off a little longer. Then again, you never know when the bright light will come shining through a front window.
And the watch goes on ...
It's always sad and a little nostalgic to see an aging star, one who was gifted with a special talent, kind of fade away into the silent swish groove of an old 45 that's played-out its last few seconds. I grimace a bit at the way Whitney Houston ended up, along with too many others to mention here. You probably have your own list. Last week I rented the movie Cadillac Records. It was a decent film, but one that took a lot of creative liberties in telling the story of Leonard Chess and how he developed his legendary stable of artists for Chess Records in 1950's Chicago. I won't do a long history re-take. Your takes are probably already in the can, and contain most of what you need to know about that era, and the artists who made their music marks during the dinosaur days of blues and rock. Music marks that eventually created the opening for a lot of us grizzed gray hairs to enjoy some pretty nice careers in the business.
Just read this past weekend that one of Leonard Chess's biggest discoveries and legendary talents is apparently slipping into that final swish groove. According to the news links, Etta James is very ill. But her caretakers, along with family and associates are doing what they can to make her comfortable.
Maybe it's me, or maybe it's just the way the business is, but I always felt that people like Etta and Whitney had a lot more creative miles on them before they decided to make that turn down the dark alley. Sure, Whitney's still around, but I doubt she'll ever grab the level of success she might still have had if she'd not gone to the bad place. Etta, on the other hand, seemed to flame-out near the peak of her early starburst. To her credit, though, she did manage to get back in the game later, but there might have been much more. Either way, in both cases, it looks like ol' demon rum 'n stuff ended up playing on their last sessions.
There are a lot of stories and careers like these two, but reading about Etta James got me to thinking about Whitney Houston, and how both ended up doing themselves wrong ... too early. Of course, Whitney could make a comeback. It can happen. On the plus side, at least both women managed to get out of Dodge with more than the two nickles they brought to their first recording sessions. That's something, at least. Or maybe I should say ... At Last.