Saturday Reads: A Couple of Obits

Obituary:  Original member of the Lettermen and lead singer Jim Pike,  82, died of complications from Parkinson's disease a couple of weeks ago:

Pike died June 9 at his home in Prescott, Arizona, his sister-in-law Becky Pike told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The cause was complications of Parkinson's Disease.

Pike and Bob Engemann, a college buddy from Brigham Young University, formed The Lettermen in Los Angeles in 1961 with fellow singer Tony Butala.

They were looking for a name that would resonate with young people, Pike's younger brother, Gary, said Wednesday, when Engemann suggested The Lettermen. Butala noted that he'd briefly sung with a group using that name and he'd have to ask its leader for permission.

"Tony called him up and he said he wasn't using it, so they said, 'Yay. We're going to use it,' " Gary Pike recalled with a laugh.

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From last month is this obituary of Charles Barksdale, who was a member of the popular fifties doo-wop group The Dells.  He was 84 and in declining health.

Barksdale had been active as a singer at least since high school, when he formed a group called The El-Rays with fellow students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Under a slightly different lineup, the group ultimately became The Dells (sometimes known as The Mighty Dells) and signed with Chicago label Vee-Jay Records and, later, Chess Records. They eventually toured with the likes of Dinah Washington and Ray Charles.

“All the 1970s bass singers learned a lot from Charles Barksdale,” said Marshall Thompson of The Chi-Lites in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times announcing Barksdale's death. “We learned how to sing under them.”

The original lineup of The Dells consisted of five members: Barksdale, Mickey McGill, Verne Allison, Marvin Junior and Johnny Funches, the latter of whom was replaced by Johnny Carter in the early 1960s. Following a 1958 car crash that resulted in serious injuries to some of the group members, The Dells temporarily disbanded, and Barksdale briefly joined R&B group The Moonglows featuring future superstar Marvin Gaye. Upon re-forming, they stayed together for another five decades.

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