RIP Marvin Rainwater

Marvin Rainwater (1925 - 2013)

Marvin Rainwater, who hit the country top ten and pop top twenty in 1957 with Gonna Find Me a Bluebird, died on Tuesday after a short illness. He was 88.

Rainwater's early life took a very different path as he studied classical piano until losing part of his thumb as a teenager in a work accident. He then began studies to be a veterinarian before spending time in the Navy.

After his time in the service, Rainwater took up the guitar and became fascinated in country music, especially that of Roy Acuff. Being 1/4 Cherokee, Marvin began wearing a buckskin jacket and headband while performing at local venues.

In the early 50's, Rainwater hooked up with guitarist Roy Clark and, together, they recorded a number of demos for 4 Star Records, but it was a 1955 win on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts that became his first big brake. It led to regular appearances on the Ozark Jubilee and a contract with MGM.

In 1957, Rainwater scored his biggest hit with the self-penned Gonna Find Me a Bluebird. The record went to number 5 on the Country Singles and 18 on the Pop Singles and was followed by the number 1 U.K. hit Whole Lotta Woman (1958 / #15 Country / #60 Pop), Nothin' Needs Nothin' (Like I Need You) (1958 / #11 Country) and Half Breed (1959 / #16 Country / #66 Pop).  Marvin was also one of the first to record John D. Loudermilk's The Pale Faced Indian which would eventually become the hit Indian Reservation for both Don Fardon and Paul Revere & the Raiders.

Rainwater's voice gave out in 1960 and he and MGM parted ways. After a couple of years of vocal rehab, Marvin returned to record for a series of labels but without a hit. In the late-70's, he developed throat cancer which he beat.

Marvin move to Aitkin, Minnesota during his time recovering from cancer where he remained for the rest of his life. He is survived by three daughters and two sons.

Source : http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2013/09/passings-marvin-rainwater-1925-2013.html

July 2, 1925 – September 17, 2013

RIP Mac Curtis

Rockabilly Pioneer Mac Curtis R.I.P. 1939-2013

16/01/1939-16/09/2013

Death follows earlier car accident.

 By Fred Mills

 Rockabilly fans received sad news yesterday: the legendary Mac Curtis (“Say So,” “If I Had Me A Woman,” “You Ain’t Treatin’ Me Right”) passed away Monday night in Weatherford, TX, following a car accident injury a month ago that put him in the hospital and, latter, a nursing home. His sister, Cindy Winters, is quoted as telling the Dallas Morning News,“He went to the nursing home for rehab after the accident, and it turned out he had a subdural hematoma that kept growing and growing and ultimately burst. It was a shock. It was sudden. He was taken to the hospital after the accident, and they did a CAT scan and didn’t determine anything. All they can say is it must have been a tiny brain bleed that just grew and grew and grew.”

 He was 74. The Fort Worth-born Wesley Erwin Curtis Jr., a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, had been performing since the early ‘50s, having signed to the King label and going on to weather the periodic rise and fall of rockabilly’s popularity in the United States. He was considered a much bigger star in Britain and in Europe and he performed well into the modern era.

 According to the report, Curtis’ sister indicated that a memorial will take place “one week from Saturday at the Spring Creek Baptist Church in Weatherford… [She] says it was where her brother started performing when he was a teenager.”

Source : http://blurtonline.com/news/rockabilly-pioneer-mac-curtis-r-i-p-1939-2013/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Curtis