Sky Saxon RIP: Legendary vocalist for The Seeds dies in Austin

June 25, 3:25 PMLA Vinyl Records ExaminerJason Gelt

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the LA Vinyl Records Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

As the world mourns Farrah Fawcett and breathlessly awaits news of Michael Jackson's cardiac arrest, another passing -- one that features much less glitter, gossip and sordidness -- slips quietly through the cracks of the blogosphere. Sky Saxon, legendary singer for popular Sunset Strip garage-psych band The Seeds, died in an Austin, Texas hospital today.

The band's seminal "Pushin' Too Hard" was a Top 40 hit in 1967 but they also scored mainstream success with the tortured "Can't Seem To Make You Mine." Saxon's unmistakable plaintive-yet-sincere vocals bore him through a career that lasted better than four decades and a multitude of albums recorded with various other bands, including The Starry Seeds Band, Sky Saxon & Firewall, King Arthur's Court and his final effort, Shapes Have Fangs.

Sources vary on how old Saxon was (sometime between 1937 and 1946), but he was definitely in at least his '60s. Take a few minutes to watch he and the Seeds lip-synch "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" on American Bandstand and mourn yet another passing of a true 20th Century legend, iconoclast and artist.