Larry Knechtel, Bread memberDeaths elsewhere | - CharlotteObserver.com
Larry Knechtel, a member of the '70s soft-rock group Bread who had a wide-ranging career as a studio musician, died Thursday at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Wash. He was 69.A hospital official would not give a cause of death, but a report in the Yakima Herald-Republic said he apparently had a heart attack.
Knechtel played keyboards, bass guitar and harmonica in the Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles studio musicians whose members included future headliners Glen Campbell and Leon Russell.
Knechtel played with Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas and many others. He won a Grammy in 1970 for best arrangement accompanying vocalists for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel.
In 1971, he joined Bread after its second album.
Knechtel played on the Dixie Chicks' “Taking the Long Way” album and toured with the group in 2006.
Gordon Woods, cloning scientist
Gordon Woods, a veterinary scientist who helped create Idaho Gem, the world's first cloned mule, has died unexpectedly at 57. No cause of death was released.
“He was a brilliant scientist,” said Dirk Vanderwall, who worked with Woods on the mule-cloning project at the University of Idaho. “Over the last 30 years he's conducted groundbreaking research in several different areas.”
In 2003, Woods, Vanderwall and Ken White of Utah State University led a team that cloned Idaho Gem as part of a project to aid understanding of human diseases.
The mule, one of three produced at the university, went on do well on the mule-racing circuit in Nevada and California. Associated Press
John E. Carter, R&B singer
Lead tenor John E. Carter performed with two important R&B groups: the Flamingos and the Dells.
Because of that, he, along with such luminaries as John Lennon, is one of the few artists who have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
Carter, 75 – best known for the Dells' hit “Oh, What A Night” – died of lung cancer Thursday at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Ill., according to his family.
Carter first found fame with the Flamingos, a doo-wop group he formed at age 18 in 1952.
The group eventually had nine national hits.
In 1960 he joined the Dells. The group's breakthrough came a year later when it was hired as a backup band for Dinah Washington, with whom it toured for two years.
“Oh, What A Night” was inspired by a party thrown for the band and was originally recorded in 1956, before Carter joined. Re-released in 1969 with him singing back-up vocals, it hit the top of the R&B charts and the top 10 on the Billboard singles chart, selling over 1 million copies.
The Dells inspired the 1999 film “The Five Heartbeats,” and continued to perform until last summer, when Carter's cancer was diagnosed, said his daughter, Jewel Carter. Chicago Tribune