BEN EDMONDS

Ben wrote one of the best overviews of Detroit music - many years ago - for Mojo magazine. That popular English music magazine issue featured Iggy and Jack White on the cover. When I saw Ben's name authoring the article, I knew it would be great.

I just found this old photo of Ben at my Santa Monica apartment taken early 1977.

IN THE LATE 70'S BEN TOLD A FRIEND OF MINE, STEVIE NICKS , THAT HE WAS TAKING A JOB AT CAPITOL AND NEEDED A SECRETARY ...BEN AND I MET AND FEEL IN FRIENDSHIP LOVE......HE WAS ONE OF THE LOVELIEST MEN I HAVE EVER KNOWN .MY HEART IS BROKEN.....RIP BEN I LOVE YOU..

I just learned of Ben's passing. It was his writing that inspired me to do rock journalism in my early teens which I did for a while, a few years later. But it was his article, Todd Rundgren Unchained, in Creem's Rock Revolution (the first edition) that I shall forever credit with plugging me into the thinking processes that were the genius of Todd at that time, which became the engine driving my own creativity, ever since.

I never knew Ben was a fellow Ohioan, and I never thought...

I'm absolutely in shock! I thought of Ben and was talking about him to someone only days ago. Ben was instrumental in getting me signed to Capitol Records in 1977. We spent many pleasant evenings together swapping stories over a meal or drinks, and he was a great help in the studio during the recording of my solo LP "CRANE". He was a first-class gentleman and good friend.