Texas native David "Fathead" Newman has died after a long battle with Pancreatic cancer. He was 75.
Raised in Dallas, Newman made a name for himself working with Ray Charles when both artists were coming up in the mid 1950's (starting on bari sax, later moving to the tenor soloist chair). He subsequently developed a long association with Atlantic Records recording with their star artists Aretha Franklin, Hank Crawford, Herbie Mann, and Aaron Neville. Later Newman settled in the East Coast where he started gigging and recording with the top names in jazz -- Lee Morgan, Kenny Drew, Billy Higgins, and Kenny Dorham.
In 1990 Newman was nominated for a Grammy for his work with Art Blakey and Dr. John. He most recently worked with the High Note label where he recorded six successful CDs. The most recent, I Remember Brother Ray, was released in January 2005 and became the #1 Most Played Jazz Album nationwide.
Pin Lim has taken some great photographs of Newman: Click here to see more photos of Newman's 2007 Kemah concert.
Please read/contribute to the David "Fathead" Newman tributes page here.