Drummer Buddy Miles, who played with Jimi Hendrix and sang in the claymation commercials featuring the California Raisins in the 1980s, died Tuesday in Austin, Texas. He was 60. Miles had been suffering from congestive heart failure. Miles was performing with his father's jazz-influenced combo by age 11. He then went on to play for the Delfonics, the Ink Spots and Wilson Pickett, according to his website. Miles was drummer on Hendrix's landmark "Electric Ladyland" album before officially joining the Band of Gypsys a few months later. Miles is best known for "Them Changes," a song he wrote and performed.
Car-building legend Boyd Coddington, 63, whose testosterone-injected cable TV reality show "American Hot Rod" introduced the nation to the West Coast hot rod guru, died Wednesday in Whittier, Calif. His spokeswoman wouldn't disclose the cause of death. Coddington, who started building cars when he was 13, set a standard for his workmanship and creativity, with his popular "Cadzilla" creation considered a design masterpiece. "That was a groundbreaking car. Very cool," said Dick Messer, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. "He did things to hot rods and customs that weren't being done by anyone else. But the main thing is he designed cars that were drivable."
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