R.I.P. - Keith Beaton (Blue Magic) (30 Jul 1950- 14 Jan 2023)

January is a notorious month for deaths, but this year already we have had so many, and sadly we bring news of yet another. Keith 'Duke' Beaton, a founding member of Blue Magic, has died aged 72. Another member Richard Pratt died just last year on 1 March 2022.

The sad news was broken by group co-founder Ted Mills on his facebook page earlier today and tributes have been pouring in.

Blue Magic were from Philadelphia and were formed in 1972 consisting of Ted Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt. Mills was with a group called The Toppicks and the other four members where originally in a group known as Shades Of Soul and essentially the execs at WMOT decided to replace the existing Toppicks with Mills and Shades Of Soul and renamed the group Blue Magic. 

They hit the R&B charts with their first three singles "Spell" (#30), "Look Me Up" (#36) and "Stop To Start" (#14) but their most notable hit was "Sideshow" in 1974 which topped the R&B chart and also made it to #8 on Billboard Hot 100, all were produced by Norman Harris and backed by MFSB. It didn't register in the UK and they had to wait until 1984 before scratching the chart with an entry at #89 with "Romeo And Juliet". Two other songs made it onto the Hot 100 "Stop To Start", "Three Ring Circus" with "Grateful" just bubbling outside at #104. 

They have released nine studio albums between 1974-95, a live album with Margie Joseph and Major Harris in 1976 and their most recent album "Share A Dream" in 2020. 

By 1977, with the rise of Disco, their smooth sweet soul style was going out of fashion and in 1980 they disbanded when the Sawyer brothers left and soon afterwards so did Pratt. Mills and Beaton recruited new members and released "Magic#" in 1983 but by 1989 the original members got back together and released "From Out Of The Blue". 

In 1990 Mills was involved in a near fatal car accident and when he returned to music it was as a solo artist and he was replaced in the group by Rod Wayne (aka Roderick Bronaugh) who remained in the group until 2004 and died in 2016. 

During the noughties there were three variants of the group. Wendell Sawyer and Keith Beaton trademarked the name and both Vernon Sawyer and Richard Pratt also had their own versions of the group until Pratt died in March 2022.

Only last November we posted a Paul Simpson Philadelphia Re-edit Session for Blue Magic and fortunately posted up samples, as it was his first on a dedicated website. 

The group will be forever known for their biggest hit "Sideshow" in 1974.

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