- Ervan F. "Bud" Coleman was born July 7, 1921, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was a guitarist and mandolin player who got his start in the early 1940's with Bill Nance and his "Dance with Nance" Orchestra, a local Albuquerque band. In 1941, he married California girl Eleanor Wigg, a marriage that lasted until his premature death in 1967. They had two children. The family moved to Los Angeles and Coleman became a recording session guitarist and mandolin player. In the early 1960's, he began playing on sessions for and writing songs for A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert and his band, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. One of his compositions for the TJB became one of their several hits in 1965, "Tijuana Taxi." He also was a member of The Baja Marimba Band, fellow label mates on A&M Records, and played on sessions for other artists as well, such as being guitarist on Nancy Sinatra's debut hit song, "These Boots Are Made for Walking." Around this time, Coleman had a mastoid ear problem and had unsuccessful surgery on it, which led to him having corrective surgery on May 26, 1967, in White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. However, during the surgery, Coleman suffered a fatal heart attack. An investigation determined that the Taiwanese anesthesiologist involved had given Coleman too little oxygen during the procedure and in 1969, a five-million malpractice suit was settled by widow Eleanor and her two sons for $887,500. Coleman's death occurred shortly after Tijuana Brass sessions for an untitled song, slow and bittersweet, that Coleman had written and that featured him on guitar. After his death, it was released as simply "Bud" on a 1967 Tijuana Brass album, Herb Alpert's Ninth. Alpert was able to arrange things so that the song's royalties would go to Eleanor Coleman by giving her co-writing credits for the song. The Baja Marimba Band also recorded a tribute song entitled "For Bud" on their 1968 album Do You Know the Way to San Jose?- IMDb Mini Biography By: king_of_fuh
- SpouseEleanor M. Wigg(March 1, 1941 - May 26, 1967) (his death, 2 children)
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