Rant #2,507: I Can See Clearly Now, So I Can Jump

In a year when sickness and health have become of more paramount importance than ever before, we sure are losing a huge number of people whose work has made us happy over the years.
 
Two more recent casualties of this horrid year are Eddie Van Halen and Johnny Nash.
 
Van Halen, the guitarist behind the success of the band named after he and his brother, succumbed at age 65. He had had numerous ailments during recent times, and he had gone to Germany for treatment of throat cancer, but he never recovered.
 
The guitarist was a next-generation disciple of Eric Clapton, but he forged his own musical trail, both with his own band and as a musician on numerous other projects, that delighted the generation of kids born in the 1970s and 1980s.
 
The band Van Halen was called by some as “the final great rock band,” and that could be true. Not only were they prolific—putting numerous singles and albums on the top of the charts—but they certainly lived the rock and roll lifestyle to the fullest.
 
The band—also including brother Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and, during their heyday, lead vocalist David Lee Roth—made excess acceptable, through all the feuds and in-fighting that they endured during their career together as MTV darlings.
 
All of this continued when Roth left for a solo career, and Sammy Hagar took over as lead singer.
 
But you cannot dispute their success.
 
With guitarist Van Halen at the core of the band, Van Halen turned out numerous hits—including “Why Can’t This Be Love,” “Panama,” “When It’s Love,” and its signature tune, 1984’s “Jump,” which topped the charts.
 
Van Halen also assisted others on their own albums, most notably Michael Jackson, who he helped cross over to rock radio with his guitar playing on “Beat It.”
 
The guitarist also won points with even non-fans with his often tempestuous marriage with “America’s sweetheart,” Valerie Bertinelli, a match which produced a son but also produced tabloid fodder for years and an eventual divorce.
 
Johnny Nash passed away at age 80 from undisclosed causes,and although most people remember him for one song, he actually had a long career, one which was punctuated by a long career on the Hot 100, with numerous songs making that cherished listing.
 
With his good looks at the forefront of his fine singing voice, Nash had been plying his trade since the late 1950s and early 1960s, for a time being pushed as one of the first non-white teen idols, but he really didn’t hit his stride until the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 
Once being a pop and soul singer with a steady, but unprolific chart career, Nash was one of the first major American artists to employ Caribbean rhythms into his music, including early forms of rock steady, reggae and ska.
 
He finally hit pay dirt in 1968 with “Hold Me Tight,” but he hit the apex of his career in 1972 with the No. 1 hit “I Can See Clearly Now,” a song that became his signature song, and one of the biggest hits of that decade.
 
After that song, he continued in a similar vein, producing a number of top singles including “Stir It Up” in 1973, but his career waned with the coming of disco and the full acceptance of reggae inn the U.S. through artists like Bob Marley, but without Nash leading the way, that would never have happened.
 
So Eddie Van Halen and Johnny Nash can be added to the list of popular artists who have not survived this horrible year, but they both left a legacy of music that will continue to span the generations.
 
R.I.P.