Delaney Bramlett, RIP

[GA Russell]

For a while there, Delaney & Bonnie were really big. I can't say that I was impressed until I learned that he was a member of The Shindogs!

In 1971 I saw Roberta Flack perform Superstar. This was a year or two before she hit it big nationally, and about the same time period before The Carpenters had a hit with it.

Here's his LA Times obit:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...0,3451708.story

Delaney Bramlett; songwriter who wrote 'Let It Rain'

December 28, 2008

Delaney Bramlett, 69, a singer, songwriter and producer who penned classic rock songs such as "Let It Rain" and worked with musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton, died Saturday at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles as a result of complications from gallbladder surgery, his wife Susan Lanier-Bramlett said.

Born in Mississippi in 1939, Bramlett came to Los Angeles in the 1960s and played guitar in the house band for the TV pop show "Shindig".

With his then-wife Bonnie Lynn he formed the short-lived Southern blues-rock band Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. The band toured as the opening act for Blind Faith, the supergroup that featured British guitarist Clapton.

After Bramlett and his first wife divorced in the early '70s, they parted professionally as well, and he faded from the spotlight.

During his career, Bramlett performed, co-wrote or recorded with stars such as Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Dave Mason, Billy Preston, J.J. Cale, the Everly Brothers and Mac Davis. He also produced artists including Etta James and Elvin Bishop.

He is perhaps best known for standards such as "Superstar," co-written with Leon Russell, which has been recorded by many artists, most recently by Sonic Youth in a version featured on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of the movie "Juno."

Bramlett also co-wrote "Let It Rain" with Clapton, who also recorded it, and "Never Ending Song of Love," which was recorded by more than 100 artists including Ray Charles, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

Bramlett recently released an album, "A New Kind of Blues," on independent label Magnolia Gold Records.