Resuscitation

It's never part of the plan, but there are times when it is up to the child to "reinvigorate" the reputation or image of the father.

In that vein, Jack Osbourne, who actually played a part in making father Ozzy look ridiculous in the MTV "reality series", is undertaking a documentary of dad, the future living legend who also happened to accidentally bite the head off a bat and strangle wife Sharon — who loves him dearly nevertheless. As the to-be-auteur says, "My dad’s not an idiot — he’s nothing short of a genius, in my opinion. He does have huge flaws, and we’re trying to really paint an honest picture of that."

Not quite reaching for a re-imaging, but certainly trying to achieve a resurgence of daddy's fortunes is Isaac Hayes III. His father, the late music visionary who his family believes was shafted by a judge in his 70s bankruptcy proceedings. Young Hayes, promising more of daddy to come for years, told The (London) Times:

My father had a volume of unreleased work that nobody knows about, from the Stax Records days and beyond ... There was often too much material to release at the time, but it's still great music.

There are some good songs, and music that can be remixed, used for soundtracks, samples, ringtones, so many things. And he was working on a new album when he died. People will be hearing Isaac Hayes for many years to come.

And, even when things don't go wrong, a child can refocus a spotlight on dad, as Aruba Red will be doing for 60s bass legend Jack Bruce. AR, born Natascha Eleonoré, is moving from the London club circuit to releasing her own material. Not surprisingly, publicity includes reference to her roots. But as she told a recent profiler, "Dad always said 'people may think that because I'm your dad things will happen automatically', but it will only happen if it's right."

And when it's right for the child, the father gets his rights, too.