This week: The founder of The J Geils Band, an icon of abstract art and an experimental rock producer

THE musician John Geils Jr, who has died aged 71, was the founder of The J Geils Band, which was best known for their 1982 hit Centrefold.

Centrefold topped the US charts for six weeks in 1982, and peaked at number three in the UK. The band then scored another UK top 40 hit that year with Freeze Frame.

The band was founded in 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts, while Geils, whose full name was John Warren Geils Jr, was studying mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He served as the band's guitarist and vocalist. His bandmates included Danny Klein, Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, Stephen Jo Bladd, Peter Wolf and Seth Justman.

The band, whose music blended blues rock, R&B, soul and pop, released 11 studio albums and built a large following due to their energetic live shows as well as their unusual use of the harmonica as a lead instrument. The band broke up in 1985, but reunited off and on over the years.

They had several hits in the early 1970s, including a cover song Lookin' for a Love by The Valentinos and Give It to Me.

Their biggest hits included Must of Got Lost, and Love Stinks, a humorous rant against unrequited love, the title song of their 1980 album. Centerfold was from the album Freeze Frame which was released in 1981.

The band was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the fourth time last year but once again was not selected as part of the 2017 class.

"This is our fourth nomination, and going through that process, with its inherent disappointment, you're not sure you want to take that ride again," the band's lead vocalist Peter Wolf said at the time. "It's great to be recognized, but it's a drag to be disappointed. I hope that we make it in. That would be great."

THE artist Julian Stanczak, who has died aged 88, was known around the world for his brightly coloured abstract art.

The Polish-born artist's work is included in the collections of more than 80 museums. He became more widely known to the public through the 1965 work The Responsive Eye. He had had his first major solo exhibition of his Optical Paintings the year before.

During the Second World War, Stanczak was sent to a concentration camp in Siberia. There the right-handed Stanczak permanently lost the use of his right arm and had to become left-handed. After escaping from the camp, he joined the Polish army-in-exile in Persia (now Iran) and then deserted it.

He later spent time in a refugee camp in Uganda and began taking private art lessons there and learned to paint with his left hand. In 1950, he moved to Cleveland and found his artistic home.

He received his bachelor of fine arts degree at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he was later a professor. His master's degree in fine arts came from Yale University.

He is survived by his wife, artist Barbara Meerpohl and his two children.

ROCK producer and manager Paul O'Neill, who has died aged 61, was the founder of the progressive metal band Trans-Siberian Orchestra that was known for its spectacular concerts filled with theatrics, lasers and pyrotechnics.

He began putting together Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 1996, blending heavy metal with classical music and creating a unique brand of rock theatre. He tapped three members of the Tarpon Springs, Florida, band Savatage to be part of TSO and intended it to be a supergroup, similar to popular bands like ELO, Pink Floyd and Yes.

"The best description of a TSO show I ever saw came from a reporter who said the only way to describe TSO is The Who meets Phantom of the Opera with Pink Floyd's light show,'" O'Neill said in 2012. "I would take any one of those alone as a compliment."

The band is best known for its hard rock takes on Christmas staples like Carol of the Bells, but also more experimental, arena-rock songs such as Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), which described a lone cello player playing a forgotten holiday song in war-torn Sarajevo. That song was on the band's 1996 album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories, which went triple platinum.

O'Neill, with his signature flowing locks, sunglasses and leather jackets, will also be remembered for his generosity. Fans on social media recalled how he would often approach them before concerts and hand them a silver dollar from the year they were born (he kept a case of them while touring), or sometimes hand out jean jackets. And others recall him tipping waitresses thousands of dollars for a post-show meal, buying drum sets for young fans and on numerous occasions, he would not let security guards kick fans out until everyone received an autograph.