Ian Whitcomb

Ian Timothy Whitcomb (10 July 1941 – 19 April 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He was part of the British Invasion. His hit song "You Turn Me On" reached No. 8 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965. He wrote many books on popular music, starting with After the Ball. He recreated the music played aboard the RMS Titanic which earned him a Grammy Award nomination.

At age 60, Ian became a California State employee. Dr. Kevin Starr, the State Librarian, appointed him Roving Minstrel (officially, California State Music Librarian) in his own chautauqua, traveling every other month to rural libraries in order to give entertaining and educational lecture-concerts on the subject of popular music. Regina accompanied him, as did Rollo (their dog). He very much enjoyed these trips: seeing the California he loves so much, meeting new people, making discoveries. He introduced so many families to American Popular Song highlighting that the books and recordings are available in the libraries.

Whitcomb was born in Woking, Surrey. He lived in the United States with his wife, Regina. On 19 April 2020, Whitcomb died in Los Angeles, California, of stroke-related problems. He was 78.^[1]