Sad day for dance music: RIP Kenny Hawkes, Darryl Pandy, David “Shizuo” Hammer

Sad day for dance music: RIP Kenny Hawkes, Darryl Pandy, David “Shizuo” Hammer

11 June, 2011 | 10.32AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Videos: darryl pandy, kenny hawkes, rip, shizuo

Nothing feels worse than waking up on a Saturday morning, checking your Twitter feed, and finding out that the dance-music community has lost yet another member. Or, in today’s case, by awful coincidence, three: the British house DJ/producer Kenny Hawkes, Chicago house vocalist Darryl Pandy, and David Hammer, aka DHR’s Shizuo, who were all separately reported to have passed away. The news followed just days after obituaries for Martin Rushent, an engineer and producer known for his work with The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, and The Human League.

Kenny Hawkes, whose death was reported by a news website in his hometown of Brighton, was known and loved by London clubbers for his residency (alongside Freaks‘ Luke Solomon) at Bar Rumba’s midweek party Space, whose forward-thinking programming emphasized deep crates and adventurous selectors, and served as a model for house-music culture at its most dynamic. His influence in the UK’s dance-music scene was even greater thanks to his role directing Girls FM, a pirate radio station with a wide, committed listenership. (A 1995 set from Hawkes has been archived on SoundCloud here and here.) Hawkes was also a formidable producer in his own right, recording for labels like Slip ‘n’ Slide, Paper Recordings, Solomon’s MFF (Music For Freaks), Brique Rouge, 2020Vision, and Rekids.

Darryl Pandy was best known as the voice of Farley Jackmaster Funk‘s 1987 hit “Love Can’t Turn Around”; Funk announced Pandy’s death Friday in a Facebook post. Recording for labels like Trax, DJ International, and Jive, the former gospel singer was famous for the intensity and even excess that he brought to his performances: his voice was so meaty, his inflections so wildly proportioned, that it seemed not so much an expression as a corporeal form all its own. The blog History Is Made at Night has posted a moving tribute to the singer; also see Joe Muggs’ obituary on The Arts Desk.

Finally, Foxy Digitalis reported the death of David “Shizuo” Hammer, citing Facebook posts by Cobra Killer and Hanin Elias. Hammer worked as an engineer for Atari Teenage Riot before releasing his own music under the Shizuo alias; his 1997 debut album, Shizuo vs. Shizor, was released in Europe on Digital Hardcore Recordings and picked up by the Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal label. His Plunderphonic cut-ups and savage drum programming pushed his music to the forefront of the breakcore movement’s avant-garde.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to all three artists’ family and friends.

Kenny Hawkes on Girls FM - 1st Birthday Thursday 15th April 1995 by kennyhawkes

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