Influential singer/songwriter Emitt Rhodes, who helped pour the foundation of power pop with his releases in the early 1970s, has died. The sad news of his death was confirmed by his longtime collaborator Chris Price and his representative. Rhodes was 70 years old.
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Rhodes became a sensation all over again when her returned from a four decade hiatus with 2016's Rainbow Ends, featuring collaborations with Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, Nels Cline, Richard Thompson and members of Jellyfish and the New Pornographers. Price, who met Rhodes when he was just 21 years old, began working with Rhodes on the new material in 2013. "Praised back then for a sophisticated pop sensibility, Rhodes picks up where he left off," The Wall Street Journal said of his triumphant return.
Born in Decatur, Ill., Rhodes played in garage bands in the '60s, including Merry-Go-Round, who landed two Top 100 hits with “Live” and “You’re a Very Lovely Woman,” and the Palace Guard, whose song "“Falling Sugar” appears on the Nuggets compilation box set.
After going solo, he released four albums between 1970 and 1973, starting with his debut self-titled ablum, which hit No. 29 on U.S. album charts and yielded the single No. 54 “Fresh as a Daisy.” In 1971, he released Mirror and American Dream followed by 1973's Farewell To Paradise.
Battles with record labels and an active career as a recording engineer and producer working behind-the-scenes on other artists' projects kept new music from seeing the light of day for the decades that followed. Rhodes drew favorable comparisons to Paul McCartney, especially in the 2009 documentary, The One Man Beatles.
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More than a reboot of his '70s work, Rhodes' return as an artist in 2016 established a new reach for his talents. "Listeners who were hoping Rainbow Ends would sound or feel like Emitt Rhodes or Mirror were probably fooling themselves, and that's certainly not what the songwriter and his colleagues were aiming for," All Music wrote. "Instead, this is a mature, introspective work from a man looking for answers to the questions of life and love, and it's a brave and genuinely impressive return to the spotlight from a major talent."
Named as an influence by the likes of Mac DeMarco and Sadie Dupuis, Rhodes' memory lives on in the music he made and the lives he touched.
