Felix Pappalardi
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Felix Pappalardi(Felix A. Pappalardi Jr) (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitar player.
As a producer, Pappalardi is best known for his work with the psychedelic, blues-inspired rock trio Cream, beginning with their second album, Disraeli Gears. As a musician, Pappalardi is most widely recognized as a bassist, vocalist, and founding member of American hard rock band Mountain, a band born out of Atlantic Records asking him to work with The Vagrants. Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" is still heard regularly on classic rock radio stations.
Pappalardi studied classical music at the University of Michigan. Upon completing his studies and returning to New York, he was unable to find work and so became part of the Greenwich Village folk-music scene where he made a name for himself as a skilled arranger; he also appeared on Tom Paxton and Fred Neil albums for Elektra Records. From there he moved into record production, initially concentrating on folk and folk-rock acts for artists such as The Youngbloods and Joan Baez. However, it was Pappalardi's late-1960s work with Cream that established his reputation. He contributed instrumentation for his imaginative studio arrangements and he and his wife, Gail, wrote the Cream hit "Strange Brew" with Eric Clapton.
Pappalardi was forced to retire because of partial deafness, apparently from his high-volume shows with Mountain. He continued doing studio work and released a solo album and an album with Blues Creation.
Pappalardi died on April 17, 1983 at 30 Waterside Plaza on 28th Street and the FDR Drive in Manhattan from a gunshot wound at the age of 43, when he was shot by his wife, Gail Collins Pappalardi, who was subsequently charged with murder. She claimed it was an accident, and was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. He is interred with his mother at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York.
Pappalardi was close with his relatives, one who is now a cop in the borough where he was killed. Most are residing in the New Rochelle area.
He was known for playing a Gibson EB-1 violin bass through a set of Sunn amplifiers that, he claimed, once belonged to Jimi Hendrix.
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| Cream | |||||
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| Ginger Baker - Jack Bruce - Eric Clapton Pete Brown - Felix Pappalardi - Martin Sharp |
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| Discography | |||||
| Fresh Cream - Disraeli Gears - Wheels of Fire - Goodbye Live Cream - Live Cream Volume II - BBC Sessions - Royal Albert Hall 2005 |
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| Songwriters covered by Cream | |||||
| William Bell - James Bracken - Howlin' Wolf - Tony Colton - Willie Dixon - Skip James Robert Johnson - Booker T. Jones - Blind Joe Reynolds - Ray Smith - T-Bone Walker - Muddy Waters |
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| Related bands | |||||
| The G.B.O. (Baker/Bruce) |
The Bluesbreakers (Bruce/Clapton) |
The Powerhouse (Bruce/Clapton) |
Blind Faith (Baker/Clapton) |
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