Life after death Music continues to resonate after artists leave for the great gig in the sky By: David Sanderson Posted: 3:15 PM CST Monday, Nov. 20, 2023

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This article was published 20/11/2023 (1023 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A quick check of the Official U.K. Singles Chart tells us that Now and Then, the new single by the Beatles, featuring the late John Lennon on lead vocals and the equally deceased George Harrison on guitar, continues to be a top seller in the Fab Four’s homeland for the second week in a row.

The song — which was originally written and recorded by Lennon in 1977 and was resuscitated this year by his ex-bandmates, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with the aid of a few studio tricks — has also been well-received on this side of the pond.

Now and Then, described as the “final masterpiece the Beatles — and their fans — deserve,” debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Digital Song Sales chart for the week ending Nov. 11.

The 4:08 track, which is being made available on red vinyl by Apple Records, also cracked the Top 10 on the Canadian Hot 100 days after its Nov. 2 unveiling.

While it isn’t uncommon for an artist to enjoy chart success posthumously — Buddy Holly was the first to turn the trick with It Doesn’t Matter Anymore, which soared to No. 1 two months after the Texas-born singer perished in a plane crash in April 1959, at age 22 — it is somewhat unusual for a song to hit No. 1 so long after the death of its chief architect, which, in the case of Lennon and Now and Then, is almost 43 years.

To toast that remarkable achievement, here is a look back at other musicians who, through the years, were also rocking — and rolling — in their graves.

Otis Redding

American soul singer Otis Redding put the finishing touches on (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay on Dec. 7, 1967.

Three days later, Redding, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, was one of five people killed when a plane carrying him and members of his band, the Bar-Kays, crashed into Lake Manona, Wis., six kilometres short of its intended destination.

(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay came out as a single on Jan. 8, 1968. Soon thereafter, it became Redding’s first and only Billboard No. 1.

The wistful tune was ranked 26th in the 2021 edition of Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Janis Joplin

The first time Kris Kristofferson heard Janis Joplin’s version of Me and Bobby McGee, which he wrote for his 1970 debut album, Kristofferson, was the day after she died in October 1970.

Kristofferson, who had dated Joplin, agreed with music critics, who hailed her version of the song, all about two drifters who were “busted flat in Baton Rouge, and headin’ for the trains,” as the “perfect matching of performer and material.”

Joplin’s cover of Me and Bobby McGee hit No. 1 in the United States and Australia, and peaked at No. 6 in Canada.

It also earned her a Grammy nomination for best pop vocal performance by a female. Alas, she lost to a living-and-breathing Carole King.

Jim Croce

Jim Croce wasn’t a stranger to the pop charts when he died in a plane crash in September 1973. His debut single, You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, cracked the Top 10 in 1972. A followup release, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, went all the way to No. 1.

Time in a Bottle, a cut from his first album, was promptly reissued following his death.

The reflective number, written during his wife’s pregnancy, became the Pennsylvania-born singer-songwriter’s second No. 1 hit when it spent two weeks at that position in January 1974.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley recorded A Little Less Conversation in 1968, for the film Live a Little, Love a Little, in which he also starred.

The track, still featuring Presley on lead vocals, was remixed for the 2001 flick Ocean’s Eleven, and subsequently hit No. 1 in 13 countries, including Australia, Ireland, Sweden and Canada.

It wasn’t the first time the King of Rock and Roll was triumphant in the wake of his death in August 1977 at the age of 42. Way Down, from Moody Blue, his final studio album, topped country charts in the U.S. in September 1977.

Freddie Mercury

These Are the Days of Our Lives, from Queen’s 14th studio album Innuendo, was released as a single in the United Kingdom 15 days after Freddie Mercury, the group’s always flamboyant lead singer, died of AIDS in November 1991.

These Are the Days of Our Lives was parked at the top of the U.K. charts for five consecutive weeks, and won a Brit Award for British Single of the Year months later.

Mercury wasn’t done yet. In 1992, Bohemian Rhapsody, the operatic anthem Mercury penned for the band’s 1975 A Night at the Opera album, rose to No. 2 on Billboard, thanks in large part to its role in a memorable scene from the movie Wayne’s World.

The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher Wallace, better known by his stage name the Notorious B.I.G., settled on Life After Death as the title for his sophomore effort.

The move proved to be prophetic. The double album was released in March 1997, two weeks after the Brooklyn-based rapper was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.

Lauded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, Life After Death spawned a pair of hit singles, Hypnotize and Mo Money Mo Problems, both of which peaked at No. 1., on the Billboard Hot 100.

Furthermore, Wallace’s death was the inspiration for Puff Daddy’s I’ll Be Missing You, 1997’s third biggest-selling single.

Laura Branigan

The 1982 chart-topper Gloria, by Laura Branigan, enjoyed renewed popularity in 2019, after the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues chose the uptempo tune as the club’s unofficial victory song.

It worked: the Blues won the Stanley Cup that season, egged on by fans screaming “Play Gloria” at the top of their hockey-loving lungs.

As streaming sales of Gloria increased in the spring of 2019, Branigan’s management team was besieged with requests for live appearances by the American singer.

One problem: Branigan, the voice behind other ‘80s hits such as Self Control and Solitaire, died from a cerebral aneurysm in 2004, 15 years before Blues players drank from the cup.

david.sanderson@winnipegfreepress.com