Felix Pappalardi

Felix Pappalardi had a very interesting and fruitful career as a producer, musician and songwriter..... sadly he was shot and killed by his wife, lyricist Gail Collins in 1983.... (the two of them wrote the Cream song "Strange Brew")

Felix Pappalardi - Wikipedia

Felix A. Pappalardi Jr. (December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983) was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist. He is best known to the public as the bassist and vocalist of the band Mountain, whose song "Mississippi Queen" peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has become a classic rock radio staple. Originating in the eclectic music scene in New York's Greenwich Village, he became closely attached to the British power trio Cream, writing, arranging, and producing for their second album Disraeli Gears. As a producer for Atlantic Records, he worked on several projects with guitarist Leslie West; in 1969 their partnership evolved into the band Mountain. The band lasted less than five years, but their work influenced the first generation of heavy metal and hard rock music. Pappalardi continued to work as a producer, session musician, and songwriter until he was shot and killed by his wife Gail Collins in 1983.

Contents

• 1Early life
• 2Career
• 3Later life and death
• 4Selected discography
  • 4.1As producer
  • 4.2Other appearances and contributions
• 5References
• 6External links

Early life[edit]
Pappalardi was born in The Bronx, New York City. A classically trained musician, he graduated from New York City's The High School of Music & Art and attended the University of Michigan.[1]

Career[edit]
In 1964 Pappalardi was a member of Max Morath's Original Rag Quartet (ORQ) in their premier engagement at New York's Village Vanguard with several other famous musicians. Along with Felix on guitarrón (Mexican acoustic bass) were pianist/singer Morath, who revived classic ragtime played in the Scott Joplin manner, Barry Kornfeld, a well-known NYC studio folk and jazz guitarist, and Jim Tyler, a famous Baroque and Renaissancelutenist playing four string banjo and mandolin. The ORQ then toured the college and concert circuit during the following year, and opened four engagements with the Dinah Shore show in Las Vegas and elsewhere. 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 as well as Vince Martin 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.

As a producer, Pappalardi is perhaps best known for his work with Cream, beginning with their second album, Disraeli Gears. Pappalardi has been referred to in various interviews with the members of Cream as "the fourth member of the band" as he generally had a role in arranging their music. He contributed instrumentation for his imaginative studio arrangements and he and his wife, Gail Collins, wrote the Cream hit "Strange Brew" with Eric Clapton. He also produced The Youngbloods' first album.

As a musician, Pappalardi is widely recognized as a bassist, vocalist, and founding member of the American hard rock band/heavy metal forerunner Mountain, a band born out of his working with future bandmate Leslie West's soul-inspired rock and roll band The Vagrants, and producing West's 1969 Mountain solo album. The band's original incarnation actively recorded and toured between 1969 and 1971. Felix produced the band's albums, and co-wrote, and arranged a number of the band's songs with his wife Gail Collins and Leslie West.

The band's signature song, "Mississippi Queen" is still heard regularly on classic rock radio stations. They also had a hit with the song "Nantucket Sleighride" written by Pappalardi and Collins.

Felix generally played Gibson basses live and on Mountain's recordings. He is most often shown with an EB-1 but there are photographs of him playing an EB-0 live. 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.[citation needed]

Later life and death[edit]

The grave of Felix Pappalardi in Woodlawn Cemetery
Pappalardi was forced to retire because of partial deafness, ostensibly from his high-volume shows with Mountain. He continued producing throughout the 1970s, released a solo album (Don't Worry, Ma) and recorded with Kazuo Takeda's band Creation (who had opened for a reunited Mountain during their 1973 tour of Japan).

In May 1973, the British music magazine NME reported that Pappalardi would be producing and playing bass on Queen of the Night, the debut album for Maggie Bell, former singer of Stone the Crows,[2] but this proved to be a false rumor.[3]

He also worked on the NBC show Hot Hero Sandwich in 1979.

Pappalardi was shot and killed by his wife, Gail, on April 17, 1983, in their East Side Manhattan apartment, with a derringer he had given her as a gift a few months previously. Gail Pappalardi was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and was found guilty of the lesser criminally negligent homicide.[4]

He is interred next to his mother at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.[5]

Selected discography[edit]
For his work with Mountain, see their page.

• 1976: Creation (in collaboration with the Japanese rock band of the same name)
• 1979: Don't Worry, Ma

As producer[edit]

• 1967: The Youngbloods - The Youngbloods
• 1967: Cream - Disraeli Gears
• 1968: Bo Grumpus - Before the War
• 1968: Kensington Market - Avenue Road
• 1968: Cream - Wheels of Fire
• 1969: Cream - Goodbye
• 1969: Kensington Market - Aardvark
• 1969: Leslie West - Mountain
• 1969: Jack Bruce - Songs for a Tailor
• 1969: Jolliver Arkansaw - Home
• 1969: David Rea - Maverick Child
• 1973: Bedlam
• 1974: Back Door - 8th St Nites
• 1975: Busta Cherry Jones & Donald Kinsey "White Lightnin'"
• 1975: The Flock - Inside Out
• 1976: Natural Gas - Natural Gas
• 1977: Gasolin' - Killin' Time
• 1977: Jesse Colin Young - Love on the Wing
• 1978: The Dead Boys - We Have Come for Your Children
• 1978: Hot Tuna - Double Dose
• 1981: Kicks - Kicks featuring Marge Raymond - Recorded at RPM Studios, NY, NY
• 1982: George Flowers & Gary Byrd - The Day That Football Died

Other appearances and contributions[edit]

• 1963: Vince Martin and Fred Neil - Tear Down the Walls - guitarrón and backing vocals
• 1964: Tom Paxton - Ramblin' Boy - guitarrón
• 1965: Tom Paxton - Ain't That News! - guitarrón
• 1966: Buffy Sainte-Marie - Little Wheel Spin and Spin - credited as "instrumental ensemble arranger and conductor" on "Timeless Love"
• 1966: Ian and Sylvia - Play One More - bass
• 1966: Ian and Sylvia - The French Girl - credited as "arr. and conducted"
• 1966: Ian and Sylvia - When I Was A Cowboy - bass
• 1966: Ian and Sylvia - Short Grass - bass
• 1966: Ian and Sylvia - Lonely Girls - bass
• 1967: Devil's Anvil - Hard Rock From the Middle East - bass, guitar, tambura, percussion and vocals, credited as "arranger and musical director"
• 1967: Richie Havens - Morning, Morning - credited as "arranger'
• 1967: Jackie Washington [Landrón] - Morning Song - credited as "backup ensemble conductor'
• 1968: Bo Grumpus - Before the War - keyboards, trumpet, bass, guitar, percussion, ocarina
• 1968: Kensington Market - Avenue Road - vocals on "Aunt Violet's Knee"
• 1969: Kensington Market - Aardvark - bass, piano, trumpet, organ
• 1969: Jolliver Arkansaw - Home - keyboards, guitar, ocarina and bass on "Hatred Sun"
• 1970: Ian and Sylvia - Greatest Hits - bass
• 1970: Fred Neil - Little Bit of Rain - bass
• 1971: John Sebastian - The Four of Us - bass on "Apple Hill"
• 1971: Richard & Mimi Fariña - The Best of Richard & Mimi Fariña - bass
• 1973: Bedlam - Bedlam - keyboards, credited as songwriter on "Looking Through Love's Eyes (Busy Dreamin')"
• 1973: Eddie Mottau - No Turning Around - Mellatron, organ, ocarina and trumpet on "Circus Tent" and "Waitin' Out The Winter"
• 1975: The Flock - Inside Out - backing vocals on "Straight Home"
• 1977: Jesse Colin Young - Love on the Wing - backing vocals and string arrangements on "Drift Away" and "Fool", horn arrangements on "Louisiana Highway"
• 1981: Kicks - "Kicks featuring Marge Raymond" - backing vocals on "Raceway" and "All Over Again" along with Steven Tyler

 

Looks like Felix is a forgotten man..... he did some good work.

 

I wonder who recommended Felix to work with Cream, as most of his previous production work was in the folk field. There must have been some connection through someone.

 

I haven't forgotten him. I was in the third row for one of their New Year's Eve shows at the Fillmore East in 1970. Definitely one of the most memorable nights in my fifty years of attending rock concerts.
Didn't see this mentioned in the bio, but Gail Collins, before killing Felix, was the artist who painted most of Mountain's best-known album covers.
They did use big SUNN stacks. Leslie West famously played through SUNN P.A. heads, which contributed to his distinctive guitar tone.

 

There were lots of "Fifth Beatles" but Felix was the one person who might be described as a fourth member of Cream......(and the third Beatle was a fifth member of Cream for "Badge"!!).

 

I just played one of his solo albums the other day! Love his work!

 

Did not know that.. those are beautiful paintings.
Cream lyricist Gail Collins, who killed husband Felix Pappalardi, dies aged 72 | Daily Mail Online

 

There was a bit of a stramash when Pete Townshend invited Felix P to the Who's Next sessions. Felix dutifully turned up, bass in hand, much to Mr Entwistle's disgust.

Turned out Pete T actually wanted Felix Cavaliere!

 

I'll never forget him. I saw Mountain (with Felix) and Black Sabbath on a twinbill an the Houston Coliseum in the early 1970s. Mountain was huge back then, and their album Mountain Climbing is absolutely choke full of great songs and riffs. (I like the album Nantucket Sleighride as well.) Leslie's voice was great for the hard rockers, but the range of the band was expanded with Felix's voice. His voice was perfectly suited for the softer side of Mountain -- Theme from an Imaginary Western, Nantucket Sleighride, etc.

I think if Jack Bruce had been shot, I think Cream would have been mortally wounded. I actually think Felix played that role in Mountain, so his absence couldn't be made up. They lost his bass playing, his song writing, and his singing. So Mountain became a molehill. One sad fact I read about him (about six months ago) was that his hearing was "shot to hell." I am really surprised we don't hear more of such hearing loss in the early classic rock period (e.g., Townshend is probably the most well known player who lost much of his hearing).

 

Which would have pissed off Mr.Daltrey

 

According to that article she only did two years in prison for shooting and killing Felix. That’s a crime in itself.

 

Amen to that

 

Love Mountain.

 

one of my earliest musical memories is seeing mountain perform live on i think public television. i had of course heard rock music of the time on the radio and probably still on AM. i am guessing it was 1969 or so and i was stunned seeing mountain behind a wall of amps playing so loud is seem to think the tiny sony TV was shaking.still have my mountain lp's and will never forget how amazing it was seeing and hearing them.it was in a studio set up live if remember and not from a concert. long live felix and mountain!

 

Ahmet Urtegen.

 

Mountain played at my high school in 1970. My ears are still ringing.

 

What’s a ‘stramash’? Never heard that term before.

 

I was just listening to Buffy Sainte-Marie's 1966 album, Little Wheel Spin and Spin and noticed that Felix Pappalardi was listed in the credits for that album.

Scott

 

His production and arranging work was first rate. I love the exotic ornamentation he brought to Cream’s WHEELS OF FIRE.

Mountain really took Cream’s approach and ran with it, with Felix’s bass and singing a great approximation of Jack, but with his own touches.

His death was a real waste, although he should have been gone long before it happened.

 

But why would Ahmet recommend Felix, especially if Felix had only worked with folk-related artists?

 

I loved his collaborations with Cream especially on Wheels Of Fire and the studio tracks on Goodbye. He was kind of a Brian Jones type influence, bringing in exotic instrumentation, and ornate arrangements to songs like White Room, Those Were The Days, Pressed Rat and Deserted Cities which I consider among their best.

As for my favorite FP, nothing tops Leslie West's Mountian debut lp . His bass is so awesome and functions as a second guitar with its fuzzy sound but also has depth and sustain as well. Also love his Mellotron playing on 'Look To The Wind' which is my favorite on that lp.

 

I saw Felix and Leslie West at Bucknell around 1972. They played in the middle of the gym floor (actually a basketball court) surrounded by all of us rock fans. (Earlier I saw Donovan in the same locale.) They did "Mississippi Queen" but I can't recall if they performed the sublime "Nantucket Sleighride". I don't believe they billed themselves as Mountain.

I also caught him on a PBS TV program, "The David Susskind Show", where he debated the obnoxious right winger Al Capp (or Ol' Cop, as we called him). Felix ended up telling him that he would break his legs if he ever caught him alone at night in an alley.

Felix produced the best version of "Get Together" (by the Youngbloods). Lovely performance and their only hit.

 

Felix was working at Atlantic when Cream was in the studio. He saw them and I believe it was he who expressed interest to Ahmet. It’s been a while since I read the account. I’m sure you could find it online.

 

No, just looked it up. It’s was Ertugen’s idea.

 

Mine too! Mamaroneck HS in NY. My first concert experience.