DAVE'S DIARY - 17 JANUARY 2004 - RANDY VANWARMER RIP
RANDY
VANWARMER RIP AT 48
BORN MARCH 30, 1955, INDIAN HILLS, COLORADO.
DIED JANUARY 12, 2004 - SEATTLE
FROM ROCK TO AS HARD PLACE - COUNTRY
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Colorado
born singer songwriter Randy VanWarmer may have better known for his
name than his own hits. But when he died at 48 after a year-long battle with leukemia he also left a bevy of songs. The singer died in Seattle after his body rejected a bone marrow transplant and he was on life support while attempts were made to source an alternative organ. VanWarmer suffered a relapse three months ago. |
A donor was
located near Seattle, but after what appeared to be a successful transplant,
he stopped breathing and was put on a respirator, according to his wife,
Suzie.
Randy's biggest pop hit - You Left Me Just When I Needed You Most
- hit #4 on the Billboard chart and was also covered by Dolly Parton.
The guitarist wrote the song when he was 18 and released albums on Bearsville
- Warmer in 1979 and The Things That You Dream in 1983.
VanWarmer also won acclaim for I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
- #1 hit for Alabama in 1992 and I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes
- a #1 hit for Oak Ridge Boys in 1984.
More recently VanWarmer and Neal Coty co-wrote Playboys Of The Southwestern
World - a single from Blake Shelton's 2003 album, The Dreamer.
He recently recorded a duet with singer Razzy Bailey, who toured Australia
with Charley Pride in his RCA era, on the song Sandcastles.
"A lot of people think he disappeared after Just When I Needed
You Most but he had a good run as a songwriter," revealed Jeff
Pearson - close friend and fellow songwriter.
"I've seen audiences mesmerized by him when he performed," Pearson
said.
"His voice, in one word, was angelic."
INDIAN HILLS TO OLD COUNTRY
Randy spent
much of his childhood in Cornwall, England, after his father died.
As a young man he lived in New York City and then Los Angeles before moving
to Nashville in 1985.
Vanwarmer, a prolific writer, was a regular performer at the Bluebird
Café - launch pad for many writers and artists.
It was the subject of the River Phoenix's final movie Thing Called
Love featuring a duet by Pam Tillis and Kevin Welch who returns here
in March with performing and record company partner Kieran Kane.
His novelty songs included At Ten of An Evening I'd Rather Munch Green
covered by Turbonegro
He also recorded the John Skinner tune My Perforated Prophylactic.