Thursday, December 27, 2012

Fontella Bass, R. I. P.

FOX2: The music world lost a great voice overnight Wednesday.  St. Louis born R&B and Gospel great, Fontella Bass, passed away Wednesday night. 

According to Bass` daughter, Neuka Michell, the singer suffered a heart attack on December 2nd, 2012.  Bass tried to hold on, but died of complications around 9:45 p.m. 

Fans most fondly remembered live performances of ‘Rescue Me’.  Bass co-wrote and sang the 1965 hit.  That single sold more than a million copies and stayed at #1 for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 R&B Chart.  The hit has been covered by such music goddesses as Aretha Franklin, Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar.

2 comments:

Deb said...

Bass always claimed that the humming at the end of the song was because she dropped her music sheet and couldn't remember what, if anything, she was supposed to sing. True or not, it makes a good story. Farewell, Fontella--even Tom Jones's version of "Rescue Me" couldn't touch yours.

Anonymous said...

Bummer. Some years ago she did a free July 4 concert at the Fort Hamilton Army Base (just down the road from us) and we went. Sadly, she didn't sing "Rescue Me" that day but we still enjoyed the show.

RIP


Jeff