RIP, our friend, Lee Freeman. Lee, 60, rhythm guitarist for the Strawberry Alarm Clock, died of cancer Feb. 14 at his home in the Bay Area.

Freeman was an original member of the band, originally called Thee Sixpence when it was formed in 1966. Throughout the late 60's, the SAC made consistently-great albums and singles for the UNI label. The group also supplied music for-and appeared in-the incredible A.I.P. film "Psych-Out". Freeman, born Nov. 8, 1949, in Burbank, continued to play with the band during recent reunions.

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Richard Delvy: April 20, 1942-February 6, 2010

Sundazed Music mourns the passing of our friend Richard Delvy, whose five-decade career exercised an immense impact upon popular music.

As a producer, musician and bandleader, Richard played a key role in the development of surf music in the 1960s. He first made his  mark as drummer of pioneering surf combo The Bel-Airs, one of the first and most influential of California's instrumental surf outfits.  With The Bel-Airs, Delvy helped to build the foundations of the surf sound, scoring the immortal hit "Mr. Moto" while the band members were still in high school.  Richard remained in the surf vanguard as leader of The Challengers, building a large and varied body of work beginning with the seminal 1963 album Surfbeat, and playing a key role in expanding the surfer culture from regional movement to national phenomenon.

Richard's entrepreneurial spirit manifested itself early in his career, as he took a proactive role in managing and producing various local surf bands.  As a producer, he oversaw albums for such diverse acts as the Chambers Brothers, the Fifth Dimension, the Outsiders, Buzz Clifford, the Clee-Shays, the Great Scots and Hamilton Streetcar.  In the 1970s, Richard worked extensively in television, producing music for such beloved pop-culture landmarks as Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and Groovie Goolies.  He also served as an executive with the MGM, Bell and Carousel labels, toured the world as musical director for Tony Orlando and David Cassidy, and co-wrote Daddy Dewdrop's 1971 novelty hit "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)."

In the years since, Richard remained active in the music industry, running his publishing company Miraleste Music, which controlled the rights to numerous classic surf and hot-rod tunes, and running a busy recording studio that specialized in music for TV shows, commercials and jingles.