PASSINGS: Jimmy Castor, Robert Dozier
Jimmy Castor
Wrote hit song ‘Troglodyte (Cave Man)’
Jimmy Castor, a funk and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter best known for “Troglodyte (Cave Man)” and “It’s Just Begun,” died Monday of apparent heart failure at a Las Vegas hospital. He was 71, according to his family.
A resident of Henderson, Nev., Castor was hospitalized in November after a heart attack and underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
Castor was born and raised in New York City. In the 1950s he began singing doo-wop and writing songs. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a hit with a cover of “I Promise to Remember,” which Castor wrote and originally recorded with his group the Juniors.
His next hits as a solo artist and with the Jimmy Castor Bunch in the ‘60s and ‘70s were the playful R&B/funk recordings “Hey Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin’ You,” “Troglodyte (Cave Man),” “The Bertha Butt Boogie” and “It’s Just Begun.”
Castor’s tunes were riffed and sampled by a string of rap and hip-hop artists, including Grandmaster Flash, N.W.A., 2 Live Crew, Kanye West, Ice Cube and Mos Def, as well as by mainstream musical acts such as the Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera and Madonna.
Robert Dozier
Hollywood screenwriter
Robert Dozier, 81, a screenwriter whose film credits include “The Cardinal” (1963) and “When the Legends Die” (1972) and who also wrote for “Batman,” “Harry O” and other TV series, died after a long illness Jan. 6 at his home on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, his family announced. Dozier was the son of Hollywood film and TV executive William Dozier, who produced “Batman.”
-- Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports
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