John Stewart has passed away.

[face of glass]

A songwriter legend gone, sigh. :distress:

http://leftinaboite.blogspot.com/2008/01/singer-john-stewart-dead-at-68.html

John Stewart has died today at the age of 68. The folk singer suffered suffered a massive stroke or brain aneurysm early Friday morning in San Diego. Doctors had determined that any difficult surgical remedies that might have been employed to save his life- even if successful - would have left him immobile and unable to speak. He departed this world from the same hospital that he was born in on September 5th, 1939.


Stewart spent a lifetime writing and recording songs that chronicle the unique people and culture that is America. At age nineteen, John recorded an album for Roulette Records with his first folk group, The Cumberland Three and had several of his songs recorded by The Kingston Trio, whom he later joined. The group released sixteen albums which includedthe hits "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", "The Reverend Mr. Black" and "Greenback Dollar". As a member of the Trio, he also composed many of the group's recordings including Road To Freedom and One More Town.

John set out on his own in 1968 and established a world following based on over 25 solo releases. His Nashville recorded LP, California Bloodlines was chosen by Rolling Stone as one of the 200 best albums of all times. His music has been at the center of many of the most dramatic and vital episodes of the times.

While America answered John Kennedy's challenge, NASA asked John to score a film depicting his country's historic quest to reach the moon.

When black Americans intensified their struggle for racial equality, John was in Selma, Alabama and was inspired to write and record songs about the Freedom marches and his experience.

When Robert Kennedy staged his last campaign in 1968, John and his music were with Kennedy and his message of hope for America.

When a nation needed to smile and sing, The Monkees re-recorded John's song Daydream Believer which sold 5 million copies in 1968. (Anne Murray's own hit version sold another 2 million in 1980.)

John had his biggest commercial success at the beginning of the '80s with his top ten RSO album Bombs Away Dream Babies, which included the hits "Gold" (which reached #5), "Midnight Wind" and "Lost Her in the Sun".

[joe]

wow...this caught me offguard. RIP John. :(

I remember hearing and liking "Gold" on the radio when it was a single in 1979. This is by far the earliest memory I have of hearing Stevie but not knowing anything further. So, I credit this song as introducing me to the entity of FM...I also seem to recall John doing this song on Solid Gold way back then and I think it was just him playing an acoustic. Any "old timers" out there remember? I was only 9 at the time.

Anyway, sad news. :(

[Nixxxed]

wow...this caught me offguard. RIP John. :(

I remember hearing and liking "Gold" on the radio when it was a single in 1979. This is by far the earliest memory I have of hearing Stevie but not knowing anything further. So, I credit this song as introducing me to the entity of FM...I also seem to recall John doing this song on Solid Gold way back then and I think it was just him playing an acoustic. Any "old timers" out there remember? I was only 9 at the time.

Anyway, sad news. :(

Same here! It was after I first noticed Stevie in the background on "Gold" that my brain synched "Dreams" to her voice. I got the "Gold" single a few weeks after this broadcast, but it took several more years for poor Stevie to latch on to me.

John's at #14 (about 1:50 in) - but surely you don't want to skip all the fabulous dancing:

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[Gypsy4Doves]

A songwriter legend gone, sigh. :distress:

http://leftinaboite.blogspot.com/2008/01/singer-john-stewart-dead-at-68.html

SHOCKED !
I wonder if Stevie will be there ?

[kathy1]

i have never heard of him.

[trackaghost]

Very sad indeed :(
I listened to Bombs Away Dream Babies today and it's such a great album.

There's a touching tribute to him by his friend Tom DeLisle on Stewart's official website

http://www.chillywinds.com/

[michelle2677]

this is so sad and tbh, i was a little taken aback. kinda like everyone else-not prepared for it.

Bless his family during this difficult time :distress:

[gldstwmn]

May he rest in peace.

[Miss Vicky]

I am literally in shock right now. He was one of my favorite musicians and while my collection of his music is far from complete, the recordings that I do have are really beautiful.

He really had a gift and was an insightful lyricist. He will be missed.

[danax6]

I've been away all day and this is what I come home to. Quite shocking indeed.

RIP, John.

[David]

John had a rabid following, too. We used to go see John & Buffy up at the Palms in the college town of Davis. He & she would set up mics & play guitar & percussion & sing. They sang everything. I saw John with some Macsters a couple of times, once just after the 1980 tour ended, & then I saw John open Stevie's shows in Beverly Hills (where he joked once about a broomstick). My dad loved the Kingston Trio even though he didn't know the names of individual members. In fact, it was my parents whom I went with to Magic Mountain to see the PBS show. Nobody had any idea Lindsey would play. We went simply to see the Kingston Trio.

I can't think of another artist -- not Matthew Sweet, not Sheryl Crow, not Billy Corgan -- who understood Lindsey's craft as completely & accurately as John Stewart did. The proof is in the pudding: John plays the electric guitar part (on a Turner) on Gold, but everybody thinks it's Lindsey because it sounds just like him. And listen to John's lead guitar on "You Can't Go Back to Kansas" at Magic Mountain -- that's Lindsey Buckingham, man! I don't mean this to denigrate John, but the "Bombs Away" album is like a Fleetwood Mac tribute album (& it's twenty times better than the fake "tribute" that Mick put together in 1998): it has Lindsey's trademark guitar & production sound (both of whom did guitars & production), it has Stevie Nicks on a couple of things, it was recorded at Fleetwood Mac's hangouts (Larrabee, Village Recorder, Wally Heider), & Herb Worthington even did the photography!

RIP

[Tango]

Very sad to hear of John's death. The Penguin was fortunate to have a Q&A with John, kathy1, if you want to take a look at it:


http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/johnstewart_qa1.htm

[Livia]

This is very sad indeed. I never thought of "Bombs Away..." as a FM tribute album, but you've got a point! Here's another article:

'Daydream Believer' Songwriter, 68, Dies
By JOHN ROGERS – 2 hours ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Stewart recorded some of pop music's most acclaimed solo albums, helping create a style that came to be called Americana, but he was always best known for writing the Monkees' enduring hit "Daydream Believer."

Stewart, who came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of folk music's Kingston Trio, died Saturday at a San Diego hospital after suffering a brain aneurism. He was 68.

"He was a lovely man and a very gentle soul and I guess the only thing you can say today is that the world is less one great songwriter," the Monkees' Mickey Dolenz told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Stewart left the Kingston Trio shortly before the Monkees released "Daydream Believer" in 1967, then went on to record nearly four dozen solo albums, including the critically acclaimed "California Bloodlines" and "Bombs Away Dream Babies." The latter included the hit single "Gold," in which he dueted with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks.

Still, as with "Daydream Believer," he was likely best known for writing songs for others, including Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, Roseanne Cash and Anne Murray.

"He was a cult hero, he never made it super huge," said his manager, Dean Swett. "He was one of those outlaw rebels, one of the people who refused to conform to what the record labels expected him to be."

A husky-voiced singer and accomplished guitarist who delivered his lyrics in a poignant, often longing voice, his music was hard to classify. It fell somewhere between rock, country and folk and eventually came to be called Americana.

He wrote "Runaway Train," a country hit for Roseanne Cash, and "Strange Rivers," which Joan Baez included on her 1992 "Play Me Backwards" album. Nanci Griffith dueted with him on "Sweet Dreams" and Murray, like the Monkees before her, had a hit with "Daydream Believer."

"There are certain songs that you just go in humming. It was one of those," Dolenz said of "Daydream Believer," which also was Stewart's best-known recording. Although he sang background to Davy Jones' lead on the Monkees' version, Dolenz performs the song himself at his solo shows.

"To this day it is one of the biggest songs that I do in concert," he said.

Stewart joined the Kingston Trio in 1961, replacing Dave Guard in the group that had helped usher in an American folk music revival in the late 1950s.

"John truly was the right fit. A first rate entertainer and gifted songwriter," the group said in a statement on its Web site.

He recorded more than a dozen albums with the trio before going on to a solo career in 1967. A year later he released "California Bloodlines," which included the minor hit "July You're a Woman." "Bombs Away Dream Babies" came out in 1979.

He eventually recorded more than 40 solo albums. Others included "The Lonesome Picker Rides Again, "Airdream Believer" and "Rough Sketches," the latter a collection of songs about the iconic American highway "Route 66."

Stewart was said to be at work on still another album at the time of his death.

Stewart's wife, Buffy, and children were at his side when he died, according to a statement on the Kingston Trio's Web site. There was no immediate word on funeral arrangements.

On the Net:
Kingston Trio: http://www.kingstontrio.com/

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGO97U870NfzEZkeXyVuAM1i7vAAD8U9RR700

[wondergirl9847]

I was VERY shocked to read this a few moments ago on the LB board. :( As I said over there, I saw John at Lindsey's San Francisco concert in November 2006, but didn't say anything to him. I wish I had now.

RIP Johnny Stew. You will be greatly missed.

Will listen to Bombs Away Dream Babies as a tribute. :)

[DavidMn]

You know, it just makes me think how lucky we all are that all of the people that have been in Fleetwood Mac over the years are still alive, especially considering everything that went on back in the day. WHen you get to be the age they all are, anything can happen. SO I think the lesson to be learned here is be thankful for everyday for our own lives and everyday we get to enjoy our musical heroes.:angel:

[Carol Lee]

Here's a video of Lindsey with John from the Kingston Trio reunion show.

<embed src="http://www.veoh.com/videodetails2.swf?permalinkId=v32889805Gjytm6x&id=1100001&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0" allowFullScreen="true" width="540" height="438" bgcolor="#000000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.veoh.com/">Online Videos by Veoh.com</a>

[dnightshade]

Wow! I didn't realize what a great musical history he had. What a shame he's gone. 68 isn't old anymore. May he RiP.

One of my favorite songs is "Midnight Wind" from the Bombs Away Dream Babies album. I got it back in the early 80s and wore that song out! Thank God for CDs. I'll play that song too, as a personal tribute.

[Street_Dreamer]

You know, it just makes me think how lucky we all are that all of the people that have been in Fleetwood Mac over the years are still alive, especially considering everything that went on back in the day. WHen you get to be the age they all are, anything can happen. SO I think the lesson to be learned here is be thankful for everyday for our own lives and everyday we get to enjoy our musical heroes.:angel:

I have harped on this for years for Fleetwood Mac. I think a lot of people feel that I go overboard with my feelings on the matter, but the loss of John really hits home for me and it further instills my feeling that Fleetwood Mac needs to be doing something ASAP either on the road or making an album. And I don't care who's on it either, so long as it's John and Mick and any of the other 14 members who choose to participate. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.

Matt

[wondergirl9847]

Reading his friend, Tom's message on John's website made me cry. That was beautiful.

www.chillywinds.com

[David]

SHOCKED !
I wonder if Stevie will be there ?Where . . . ? :confused:

[Gypsy4Doves]

Where . . . ? :confused::angel: Show some support to his loved ones :angel:

[rbs3676]

I can't think of another artist -- not Matthew Sweet, not Sheryl Crow, not Billy Corgan -- who understood Lindsey's craft as completely & accurately as John Stewart did. The proof is in the pudding: John plays the electric guitar part (on a Turner) on Gold, but everybody thinks it's Lindsey because it sounds just like him. And listen to John's lead guitar on "You Can't Go Back to Kansas" at Magic Mountain -- that's Lindsey Buckingham, man! I don't mean this to denigrate John, but the "Bombs Away" album is like a Fleetwood Mac tribute album (& it's twenty times better than the fake "tribute" that Mick put together in 1998): it has Lindsey's trademark guitar & production sound (both of whom did guitars & production), it has Stevie Nicks on a couple of things, it was recorded at Fleetwood Mac's hangouts (Larrabee, Village Recorder, Wally Heider), & Herb Worthington even did the photography!
RIP


I totally agree with this entire post! :wavey:


rbs

[macmar71]

I am so sad...I never got to see him in concert and I always wanted to. Now, it will never be....:distress:

[chiliD]

John plays the electric guitar part (on a Turner) on Gold,


Nope, "Gold" & Bombs Away Dream Babies pre-dates Turner guitars. Both John & Lindsey were still playing the alpine white Gibson Les Paul Customs at the time (like the one John's playing on the cover of the album).

Although, when I saw him (at the old Golden Bear nightclub) about a year later, after his follow-up album Dream Babies Go Hollywood, he was playing a Turner Model 1. He wasn't having the greatest of nights with all the electronics (a whole rack of FX)...but, he soldiered on through. When he finally just gave up the electric bit and picked up the acoustic guitar and finished his set by himself acoustically, he was phenomenal!

After I'd read he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, in some small way, it was a blessing he went quickly before he and his family had to deal with the "long goodbye".

RIP, John, you'll be missed.