Looking back on 2020 - Flashback Radio

With 2020 in the rearview mirror, January is a good time to stop, acknowledge and pay tribute to some of the great music artists who have passed away.

One in particular who I followed with the group Rush was drummer Neil Peart.

Living just north of Toronto, some of my high school friends and I had the opportunity to see Rush play at the Piccadilly Tube in downtown Toronto on a number of occasions in the early 70’s.

That was before Peart joined them when they seemed to be, to some extent, just a loud, over-amped garage band covering many Led Zeppelin songs.

However, they improved quickly over time and when Neil Peart joined Rush in 1974, along with group members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, the band was now solidly three strong.

After having released their first LP “Rush” in 1974 just before Peart joined, they followed it up in 1975 with “Fly At Night” an album that started getting them significant airplay in Canada. In fact, the single, “Fly By Night”, has become one of the most played Rush songs on Canadian radio since 1995.

Over the years since then, Peart has become a well-respected and admired drummer and lyricist.

Until 2012 with the final release, “Clockwork Angels”, Rush has recorded and released 19 Albums – many of which were very successful right across North America.

In the last Rolling Stone magazine’s edition of the Top 100 drummers of all time, Neil was rated number 4. In 2018, Rush agreed to call it a day, and following a three and a half year battle with brain cancer, Neil Peart died on January 7 at the age of 67.

Another great rocker, Eddie Van Halen, also died of cancer at the age of 65 on October 6th.

Eddie and his brother Alex Van Halen started playing together as teenagers but they really took off when David Lee Roth and bass player Michael Anthony joined them in 1974 and they changed their name to Van Halen.

By 1978 they were making it big on the charts and peaked in 1983 with “Jump”. But with all the hit singles and albums they had, Eddie is by far probably best remembered for his scorching guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s big hit “Beat It” in 1982.

Mac Davis was 78 years old when he passed away on September 29th. His career was very diversified being an actor, singer, songwriter and, as he often used to joke, “an old country boy from Lubbock, Texas”.

No doubt his biggest break came in the late 1960’s when he penned several hit songs for Elvis Presley including “In The Ghetto”, “Don’t Cry Daddy”, “Memories” and “A Little Less Conversation”.

Other big hits he wrote included Bobby Goldsboro’s “Watching Scotty Grow”, Kenny Roger’s “Something’s Burning” along with his own crossover songs, “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”, “Stop and Smell the Roses” and “I Believe in Music”.

He also hosted his own TV Variety program, “The Mac Davis Show”, for three years in the mid-70’s.

Another country singer who sold millions on both the country and top 40 charts was Kenny Rogers. In fact, he had so many popular songs in his wheel well that the biggest complaint his fans had who went to see him in concert was that he would shorten or leave out some of his popular hits.

The real problem was there wasn’t enough time for him in his 90 minute on-stage allotment to sing all of his hits. Now that’s a problem many other stars would love to have.

Kenny passed away last March.

Among some of the other big names in the music industry who checked out in 2020 included Helen Reddy, Bill Withers, Trini Lopez, Charlie Daniels, Little Richard and Phil Phillips.

May they all rest in peace.