Tim Rose

American Folk and Blues Singer-Songwriter

Tim Rose was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in Europe than in his native country. Born in Washington D.C. on September 23, 1940, and died from a heart attack during a second operation for a lower bowel problem in London the day after his 62nd birthday, on September 24, 2002. He was married once in USA, but got divorced without any children. He lacked apparent heir when he died, which made him the subject of BBC programme H£ir Hunt£rs in November 2011, where investigators look for descendants of deceased people who did not leave a will. His main claim to fame was his 1966 version of 'Hey Joe' by Billy Roberts. Jimi Hendrix had seen him perform at Café Wha? in New York City, and got a huge hit in 1966 with a similar, slower (but heavier...) version (bands like The Byrds, Love and The Surfaris had already made faster versions of it). Until his death, he claimed he actually wrote it after having heard it as a "traditional" in Florida as a boy, but as of 2009 there is no proof whatsoever he is right. He might have confused it with country artist Carl Smiths 1953 country hit by the same name, written by Boudleaux Bryant of American pop/country duo Boudleaux & Felice Bryant (Felice Bryant and husband Boudleaux Bryant). He also had a hit with Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson's 'Morning Dew' in 1967 (once more claiming songwriting credit due to his "harder" arrangement...), which became a hit with hardrocking Scotsmen Nazareth in 1972 (Nazareth (2) - Morning Dew), pulled from their 1971 eponymously titled debut album (Nazareth (2) - Nazareth). Nick Cave covered his 'Long Time Man' on his 1986 album Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Your Funeral ... My Trial. Years active: 1960s to1978, 1986-2002