Speculations (What would they have done if they had lived – music legends)

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Brian Jones:

Co-founds WOMAD; refuses to tour with any rock group (e.g. Black Sabbath came calling); wins an Oscar and a Grammy for co-writing soundtrack to “The Last Emperor” (David Byrne is booted from the project); works as a recording engineer (many remixes of popular songs done); lives in England and France; devoted to world music, modern art and liberalizing drug laws

Jimi Hendrix:

Funk with Ohio Players at the beginning of the 70s (band works as backup musicians after he refuses to continue with Band of Gypsies); records singles with Parliament; wins case against former management company; tries reggae (booed by fans in England and America; popular in Canada and abroad); bad disco stage; awarded an honorary knighthood for work with music and the arts; living in retirement in Stratford-Upon-Avon (his home outdraws Shakespeare’s birthplace)

Mama Cass:

Talk-show host (1972 – 1976); inspired by the punk movement, writes an album of hard rock covers (bad sales); writes autobiography (painful stories of life on the road shock readers, good sales); turns down offer to re-unite with the Mamas and the Papas for extended tour; dramatic weight loss (inspired by Richard Simmons); exercise video (outsells Jane Fonda’s Workout); involved with UNICEF and Greenpeace; marries Billy Bragg; living in Bethel, NY with a large menagerie of animals

Jim Morrison:

New career as French intellectual (not taken seriously until he becomes fluent in the language); famous televised debate with Foucault and Derrida on power and control in song lyrics; returns to the US and meets Lou Reed (quick friendship and one track is written and recorded together – never released; rumoured to be called “Darkness and the Sound”); attempt on his life at a poetry reading (fan tries to stab him); now living in France (neighbour is Roman Polanski; another quick friendship established)

Janis Joplin:

Turns to Brill Building writer Carole King for her next album, “Smoke”; popular success (good sales); laryngitis (severe) stalls career; poses in Hustler (one of their most popular issues); biography on her life filmed (with her in certain key scenes) – “Joplin”; wins a Grammy and a nomination for an Oscar (Best Original Song co-nominee with Miss King); dies at the age of 65 in flood along Mississippi River (was trying to rescue people who were trapped)

Sam Cooke:

Several bestselling singles until 1970; funk recordings do not sell well (worked with Earth, Wind and Fire); experiments with reggae (singles in UK and Jamaica sell well); disco phase is brief (one bestselling single: “How Can I Cooke It?”); wins lifetime achievement award Grammy; makes first video (remake of “A Change Gonna Come” – clips from his life); suffers stroke on concert tour; retires and moves to Colorado; establishes Soul Hall of Fame Museum in Detroit (states that he wants it to rival the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)