When I first began working in the music business in 1969, one of the record labels I represented was RCA. There was a long history of music with RCA, much of it good but, honestly, they went through periods where the people signing the artists (the A&R staff) had ears of clay. An obvious exception was Chet Atkins.

While most know Atkins as a legendary Nashville guitarist, Atkins was also a good judge of country music talent. For example, one of the artists Atkins signed in 1965 was Charley Pride. Someone probably asked Atkins, ‘you know the guy’s black, right?’ That signing—a major label with a dominant place in a very white country music business—was an important first step for the genre. Shortly after I began promoting records for RCA, they released “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone”. I loved that record and I became a Pride fan. We lost Charley Pride in 2020. He was one for the ages. Here are some others we’d like to remember.

Writer Pete Hamill died. When a film is made about New York newspapers or New York writers, many of us think of Hamill. In the years I worked in Manhattan, I loved hearing his voice on radio or tv, and reading his words in the New York Post and the Daily News. It’s safe to say that the announcement of his passing could have been lifted right from the cover of his 1997 novel. New York without Hamill is like Snow in August.

The great Carl Reiner is on our list. Early fame arrived when he teamed with Mel Brooks to create “The 2000 Year-old Man”. His credits included writing, directing and acting. Reiner really entered my consciousness portraying Allan Brady on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”. He did all three on the show from time to time. And later he crafted some terrific films.

Perre Cardin left a legacy of design. Very stylish in the 1960s and '70s, although I left my wide Cardin tie in Milwaukee. In 1977.

This was a tough year for Green Bay Packer fans, losing four players from the “glory years”. Defensive back Willie Wood died in February. Defensive end Willie Davis followed in April, and cornerback Herb Adderley in October. The ‘golden boy’, Paul Hornung, died in November. All four players were stars on a team that won 5 National Football League championships in the 1960s. Hornung won the 1956 Heisman Trophy (at Notre Dame,) and he became more than a triple threat. He was a runner, passer, receiver, kicker and punter, and he could block, return kicks and play defense.

This was also a tough year for music. In addition to Charley Pride, we lost Bonnie Pointer, who gained fame and respect as part of the Pointer Sisters. She died in June. While the group’s biggest success came with producer Richard Perry and their aptly-titled “Break Out” album (with hits like “Jump”, “Neutron Dance” and “Automatic”), my sentimental favorite was the group’s 1974 hit “Fairytale”. Written by Anita and Bonnie, in a style-departure for the Pointers, it even made the C&W charts.

The list of other music makers who passed in 2020 is way too long. It includes Len Barry (lead singer of the Dovells and later a solo artist on “1, 2, 3”), Kenny Rogers, guitarist Eddie van Halen, notable singer/songwriters Helen Reddy and Mac Davis, Country music bad-boy Charlie Daniels, classical legend Julian Bream, and Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio. Trini Lopez became a star performer by taking unlikely genres like Americana, Latin-folk, and Rockabilly and molding them into his own danceable style. Spencer Davies died in October. Dropping the ‘e’, from his band’s name, the Spencer Davis Group, delivered “Gimme Some Lovin’”, one of the most successful, dynamic and best-loved rock n’ roll records from the British Invasion. Let’s also remember Johnny Nash who, aside from Bob Marley, may have been the single greatest influence bringing Ska and Reggae music to success in North America. Who can forget “I Can See Clearly Now”?

Vera Lynn died. During the darkest days of World War II, and other than the speeches of Winston Churchill, Lynn’s voice was a warm call to the people of the British Empire. In those wartime years, Lynn could be heard on record, on the radio and in film singing “We’ll Meet Again”, “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover” and others. And we said goodbye to McCoy Tyner. He was a singular force on the piano in Jazz for more than 50 years, and I’m pleased to have worked with him in the ‘90s. And it’s worth noting the passing of Annie Ross, the last remaining member of a famous vocal trio. Annie Ross died in July, and was central to the success of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross from 1958-62.

We also saw the passing of Jerry Jeff Walker and John Prine. Somewhere in the catacombs of music (also known as my garage) I’ve kept a copy of Walker’s first album which contains “Mr. Bojangles”. As the New York Times described the song, “A waltzing ballad about an old street dancer Mr. Walker had met in a New Orleans drunk tank.” Like love, inspiration often comes from the most unexpected places.

And we lost John Prine. With a large catalog of original songs, Prine was perhaps best known for “Angel From Montgomery”. That song is best heard, live or recorded, through the voice of Bonnie Raitt. She brought Prine’s song to life as she sang the role of a middle-aged woman reflecting on her life. But my favorite Prine song remains “Hello in There”. I first heard Bette Midler’s version and then rediscovered Prine’s original. “Hello in There” is haunting, with a storyline that evokes fearful images of old age and loneliness. And yet, you’re not left empty. The song is more than the sum of its parts.

John Le Carré gave us “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” and the character George Smiley. Perhaps Le Carré put his early adult life experience in the spy agency known as MI6, the British Secret Service, and created the character of Smiley so that he didn’t have to travel those dark roads. Le Carré (and perhaps Smiley) died in December. Sean Connery also died in December. Of course we remember him as the original James Bond on film, as Marko Ramius in “The Hunt For Red October” and from so many other films, but I always loved his role as Jim Malone, the Chicago police officer in 1987’s “The Untouchables”.

It wasn’t necessarily a need for speed that created Chuck Yeager. But Yeager and speed met in the United States Air Force. I met Yeager in the pages of Tom Wolff’s book, “The Right Stuff”. He was a true American original.

There were others we lost this year. Max von Sydow took on Satan in “The Exorcist.” Ken Osmond’s role on “Leave it to Beaver”, a hit 1950s television comedy, managed to typecast him forever as the annoying Eddie Haskell. Kookie is gone. That is, Edd Byrnes died in January. Byrnes played the coolest car-jockey in Hollywood, and became an unforgettable character on “77 Sunset Strip”. And we’re saying goodbye to Mrs. Emma Peel. Diana Rigg brought Peel to life and made British TV’s “The Avengers” a success in America too.

There are many more we lost this year, and with the weight of the pandemic on all of us, I didn’t want to forget some of the people who’ve touched us, even if only on screen, on paper, online and or the field of play.