Jake Black - aka The Reverend D Wayne Love - Singer with the Alabama 3, passed away just days after his last gig.

A few weeks after their last UK tour, UFO's Paul Raymond has passed away, aged 73 - also part of MSG and Waysted

Shawn Smith - honey voiced singer from Pigeonhed, Satchell who got noticed after being swept in the grunge scene after singing on Pearl Jam spin-off band Brad's Shame album which came out as PJ were getting massive. They made more albums, and he sung on the first album of Afghan Whigs spin-off The T...

Another Saturday TV star gone - Jan Michael Vincent from Airwolf, died aged 74

Luke Perry, of Beverley Hills 90210, Oz and Riverdale, died of a stroke aged 52. Just finished in Quentin Tarantinos new Charles Manson movie Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Mark Hollis of Talk Talk - had hits in 80s with Life's What You Make It and Its My Life (later a hit for No Doubt) before going prog. Mentioned on stage by Steven Wilson last year as an influence on his 'pop' album To The Bone

Don't know how for the rabbit hole into conspiracy territory this goes, but the 'Independent Group' is not a political party, its a loose collective of MPs but the group is registered as a private company. This means its not subject to the same disclosure, funding and discipline codes of conduct tha...

Couple over the last few days:

Bruno Ganz - German actor, face of a million memes after playing Hitler in Downfall

John Stalker - odd career arc, from deputy head of Manchester Police to advertising garden shades on daytime TV. Presented various crime programs after he retired.

A good article about the state of our political parties: https://unherd.com/2019/01/could-brexit-fix-our-broken-politics/ His main point is that both Lab and the Cons are coalitions of more than one group each, so voting for either party is not a real choice. Possibly some truth in there - think we...

Ted McKenna, drummer with loads of bands, last back with Schenker in the Michael Schenker Fest after being in MSG in the early 80s. Also played with Rory Gallagher (on the Top Priority and Photo Finish albums, plus Stage Struck, which is one of the best live albums ever). Also played with Sensationa...

As I see, the problem with a second referendum is: what would the result give? if it was 52/48 last time, and this mess is the result, what would be required to be to get anyone out of it? Would a significant number swap to the other side to give an even more significant result, if a few did, and it...

Otis Rush - key blues player and big influence on the blues boom of the 60s - Led Zep covered I Can't Quit You Baby on their first album and All Your Love was covered by The Yardbirds, Aerosmith, Gary Moore

Another British TV stalwart gone: Dudley Sutton - Tinker from Lovejoy, but also turned up in lots of other things on TV - Z Cars, Porridge, Smileys People, Holby City, EastEnders, plus films like the Devils.

Burt Reynolds, dead at 82 ☹️

Ed King - guitarist and writer on the first three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums - he's the guy that counts in the riff to Sweet Home Alabama