songs as “Georgia On My Mind”
by Ray Charles and “The First
Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Ro-
berta Flack. He can be heard on
recordings from an impressive list
of artists that includes Paul Mc-
Cartney, Frank Avalon, Dion & The
Belmonts, Sarah Vaughan, Aretha
Franklin, Carly Simon, Neil Seda-
ka, Rosemary Clooney, and many
more.
Bucky is survived by his sons
John and Martin, daughters Mary
and Anne, and four grandchil-
dren. Sadly, his wife Ruth passed
away just one week later on April
8th. They were married for 66
years. Music fans and fellow art-
ists will have to wait to pay tribute
on stage to Bucky. We are living
through a period in which there
are no proper funerals and no
live performances to salute artists
who have passed on. What we still
have though are the memories
and the recorded music and vid-
eos that trace his career.
“We’re all better for having
known a guy like him,” said Laub.
“He was a sharing musician. So
many guitar players have licks
that they learn and keep to them-
selves. Bucky shared his music
all of the time. We would be in
performances, take a break, and
somebody would come backstage
and want to see something. He’d
just sit down, grab another gui-
tar, put it in their hands, and say,
‘Let me show you how to do this.”
And he’d show him the exact lick
or chord that he played. He was
never afraid of anybody steal-
ing his stuff and becoming better
than him. That wasn’t what he was
about. He was always sharing his
music and that’s something you
just don’t see very often.”
w
Some of the material was originally used in a Jersey Arts feature.
That piece can be found here.
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 70
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