REGGAE singer PLUTO SHERVINGTON (b.1950) played in Jamaican groups including The Presidents, The Hurricanes and Tomorrow’s Children in the ’60s and ’70s, and ran a Kingston recording studio.

Later, as a solo singer, he had witty UK hits with Dat (1976, the year he narrowly missed the Top 40 with Ram Goat Liver) and Your Honour (1982), both of which found him on Top Of The Pops. He also had success as a producer and continued to perform until 2023.

COMPOSER LAURIE

JOHNSON (above, b.1927) was best known for his TV themes for ’60s and ’70s programmes including The Professionals, The Avengers, This Is Your Life and many more. Born in Hampstead, he studied at the Royal College Of Music under Vaughan Williams before working as an arranger for band leader Ted Heath. He also wrote and recorded for the KPM Music Library from 1960, while his movie scores included Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter and others.

AVANT-GARDE COMPOSER PHILL NIBLOCK (b.1933) was drawn to making music after seeing a Morton Feldman concert in the ’60s.

Feldman’s durational minimalism was a key influence on Niblock as he began manipulating tapes into vast, micro-detailed drones. He became a mainstay of the New York experimental scene – peer of La Monte Young, collaborator with everyone from Arthur Russell to Thurston Moore – eventually switching from tape to computer-generated music. He was also director of Experimental Intermedia – aNew York foundation for avant-garde music – a filmmaker and photographer.

PRODUCER, writer and blues archivist NEIL SLAVEN (b.1945) recorded LPs in the late-’60s for Decca, Deram and Chess, including Fleetwood Mac’s Blues Jam and LPs for Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack and Keef Hartley. He also published R&B Monthly magazine, compiled sleevenotes and, in 1968, co-published encyclopaedic discography Blues Records 1943-66.

VOCALIST JAY CLAYTON (b.1941) was a rarity in the jazz milieu of 1960s New York – a singer in what were predominantly instrumental free jazz circles.

A fearless collaborator and scene-booster who held concerts in her own home, Clayton worked with jazzers including Steve Lacy, Muhal Richard Abrams and Charlie Haden, as well as avant-garde composers John Cage and Steve Reich. Clayton also served as artistic director for 1979’s Salute To Women In Jazz Festival, and, from 1982, taught jazz at universities and workshops across the US.

ACTOR/SINGER DAVID

SOUL (b.David Solberg, 1943) was born in Chicago and began his music career singing Mexican folk songs in coffee houses. His masked act, David Soul The Covered Man, got him signed to the William Morris Agency in the mid ’60s and his acting career took off. He found massive screen fame in US cop show Starsky & Hutch from 1974 to 1979, and scored international solo hits with ballads Don’t Give Up On Us (a UK Number 1 in 1976) and 1977’s Silver Lady. Living in the UK in the 1990s, Soul recorded the jazzier Leave ALight On… and in 2004 played the title role in Stewart Lee’s Jerry Springer The Opera.

GUITARIST/violinist/sax and oud player CHRIS KARRER (left, b.1947) co-founded Amon Düül in Munich in 1967: the following year he formed communedwelling offshoot Amon Düül II, who recorded Krautrock picks including Phallus Dei (1969), Yeti (1970) and Carnival In Babylon (1972) before their 1981 split. He also recorded solo, played with jazz-rockers Embryo, and re-formed Amon Düül II, releasing Düülirium in 2014.

SEATTLE music scene eminence and social campaigner, SUSIE TENNANT (b.1962) was known for her early role as publicist at the Sub Pop and Geffen labels. A tribute written by her friend Nils Bernstein recalls her early championing of Nirvana, Weezer, Beck, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub, Hole, and more: “With a steadfast belief that great art deserves exposure, Susie insisted that commercial success didn’t have to clash with integrity.”

GUITARIST and songwriter TONY CLARKIN (b.1946) co-founded Birmingham rock icons Magnum in 1972. Their progressive instincts took shape with In The Beginning, the eight-minute opener of 1978 debut Kingdom Of Madness. Over 50 years and 23 studio LPs, Magnum’s sound became more melodic, with 1982’s Chase The Dragon and 1985’s On AStoryteller’s Night among their most commercially successful. The group’s final LP Here Comes The Rain was released in January.

MUSIC JOURNALIST NEIL KULKARNI (b.1972) contributed incendiary prose to Melody Maker from 1993 until its closure, after writing a letter to the paper decrying its lack of coverage of black music. He later wrote about rap, rock, metal and pop for numerous publications, played with Coventry band Moonbears, taught journalism, and wrote books including 2015’s The Periodic Table Of Hip Hop. Chuck D tweeted a sketch of him, drawn from memory, in tribute.

PRODUCER/SINGER FRANK FARIAN (below, b.1941) performed and worked in ’60s West Germany, where he had solo pop success in the ’70s. In 1974 he recruited and orchestrated dance-pop outfit Boney M, who had massive late-’70s hits includingBrown Girl In The Ring, Mary’s Boy Child and Rasputin, which Farian sang lead on. He also masterminded Milli Vanilli and rock supergroup Far Corporation, and produced Meat Loaf, Eruption and more.

Jenny Bulley, Chris Catchpole, Ian Harrison and John Mulvey