(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Jack Emerson, who cofounded E-Squared Records with Steve Earle and Andy McLenon in 1995, died November 22 in Nashville at age 43 after battling lung and respiratory illness.
Emerson was also the original bassist for Jason and the Scorchers before becoming their full-time manager. He released their records on his Praxis International Records, which later became part of Zoo Records. He also worked with Georgia Satellites, Billy Joe Shaver, Steve Forbert and John Hiatt. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
Singer, Songwriter Jerome Evans Dies At 65
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jerome Evans, the lead singer and frontman for the Furys, one of the more popular rhythm and blues groups to come out of Los Angeles in the early 1960s, has died at age 65.
Evans, who also worked with the Coasters and Drifters, died Sunday night of a heart attack at Antelope Valley Hospital, his wife, Joy said.
Although the Furys are largely remembered as an R&B and soul group, Evans' vocal versatility made them hard to peg. He could perform a variety of styles, including doowop, disco and rock 'n' roll.
"He was a showman. He'd get the audience right in his hand," recalled Chico Vega, a former member of the Drifters and longtime friend who called Evans "a little ball of dynamite."
The Los Angeles native started singing early, harmonizing with the radio when he was 3. By the time he was in his teens he was performing in amateur shows, and he and friends formed a group called the Cyclones in the mid-1950s.
The group had evolved into the Furys by the early 1960s when producer Jimmy McEachin heard them and brought them into the studio to record "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart."'
"That was the start of everything," Evans once said, noting the group suddenly became well known around Los Angeles, appearing on local radio and TV shows and recording a string of local hits.
After the group disbanded in the early 1970s, Evans went on to sing with versions of the Coasters and Drifters.
He met his wife, a concert promoter, in 1998 and the two were married the following year. She recalled him as lighthearted and fun-loving.
"He'd give his shirt off to anyone," she said, "and he had a voice as smooth as silk."
Evans, who had continued to work regularly, was busy putting together a new CD at the time of his death and had written a song with Vega for his adult daughter, Teresa, last year.
"We did that right at my studio," Vega said. "It was so beautiful and I don't know what to do with it."
He also wrote "I'll Do Anything For You," which was recorded by Freda Payne.
Besides his wife and daughter, Evans is survived by two grown sons, Kenneth and Jerome Jr.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
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