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I've posted this article in other forums, and with people in p.o-t reminiscing
about music lately, I thought I'd post it here, too. I started composing it
shortly after the deaths of Donna Summer and Robin Gibb.
________________________________________________________________________
Lately there seem to be a lot of celebrities dying. Of course, everyone dies,
and the nature of random distributions is that there will be clusters now and
then. Still, the psychological impact of these clusters on our meat-based
brains is such that the supermarket rag _Globe_ recently printed the ghoulish
headline, "Who Will Be Next to Die?"
The recent deaths of popular musicians give us pause to ponder the precarious
and sometimes capricious ephemerality of life. Below, I've listed deceased
musicians that were part of my "musical formation window": the time period from
about age 6 to age 22. Only my contemporaries are listed. As a reminder not to
take life for granted, I've noted the age and cause of death where I could find
out. Where multiple causes are separated by a semicolon, the first listed is
proximal.
1973: Paul Williams (The Temptations), age 34 (suicide?)
1973: Jim Croce, age 30 (airplane crash)
1977: Ronnie van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd), age 29 (airplane crash; engine
malfunction)
1979: Donny Hathaway, age 33 (suicide)
1979: Van McCoy, age 39 (heart attack)
1979: Arthur Fiedler (Boston Pops), age 84 (complications of surgery;
cardiac arrest?)
1979: Minnie Riperton, age 31 (breast cancer)
1980: *Bill LaMotta, age 61 (sudden)
1980: John Lennon, age 40 (murder)
1981: Bob Marley, age 36 (melanoma; refusal of treatment)
1981: Harry Chapin, age 38 (automobile collision and cardiac arrest)
1983: Karen Carpenter (Carpenters), age 32 (heart failure; anorexia
nervosa)
1984: Marvin Gaye, age 44 (manslaughter)
1987: Peter Tosh, age 42 (murder)
1988: Andy Gibb, age 30 (viral heart inflammation)
1989: Irving Berlin, age 101 (heart attack)
1990: Sammy Davis Jr., age 64 (throat cancer; refusal of treatment;
smoking)
1991: Freddie Mercury (Queen), age 45 (AIDS)
1992: Lawrence Welk, age 89 (pneumonia)
1992: Eddie Kendricks (The Temptations), age 52 (lung cancer)
1994: Harry Nilsson, age 52 (heart failure; heart attack)
1994: Dan Hartman, age 43 (AIDS)
1995: Charlie Rich, age 62 (pulmonary embolism)
1996: Bernard Edwards (Chic), age 43 (pneumonia)
1997: John Denver, age 53 (airplane crash)
1997: Nicolette Larson, age 45 (cerebral edema; liver failure; drug
use?)
1998: Sonny Bono (Sonny and Cher), age 62 (skiing accident)
1998: Linda McCartney (Wings), age 56 (breast cancer)
1998: Eddie Rabbitt, age 56 (lung cancer)
1998: Frank Sinatra, age 82 (multiple health conditions)
1998: *Arthur Jeppesen
1998: *Milo Francis (Milo and the Kings)
1999: Grover Washington Jr., age 56 (heart attack)
2000: Lord Kitchener, age 77
2000: Vicki Sue Robinson, age 45 (cancer)
2000: Paul Young (Mike + the Mechanics), age 53 (heart attack)
2000: Jerome Smith (KC and the Sunshine Band), age 47 (construction
accident)
2000: Benjamin Orr (The Cars), age 53 (pancreatic cancer)
2001: Leon Wilkeson (Lynyrd Skynyrd), age 49 (liver and lung disease?)
2001: Glenn Hughes (Village People), age 50 (lung cancer)
2001: Ron Townson (The 5th Dimension), age 68 (kidney failure)
2001: George Harrison, age 58 (lung cancer; throat cancer; smoking)
2002: Joe Schermie (Three Dog Night), age 56 (heart attack)
2002: Joe Strummer (The Clash), age 50 (undiagnosed congenital heart
defect)
2003: Maurice Gibb (Bee Gees), age 53 (intestinal obstruction)
2003: Edwin Starr, age 61 (heart attack)
2003: Barry White, age 60 (kidney failure; hypertension)
2003: Bobby Hatfield (Righteous Brothers), age 63 (drug overdose)
2004: Syreeta Wright, age 57 (breast cancer)
2004: Rick James, age 56 (heart attack; enlarged heart)
2004: Laura Branigan, age 47 (cerebral aneurysm)
2005: Luther Vandross, age 54 (heart attack)
2006: Lou Rawls, age 72 (lung and brain cancer)
2006: June Pointer (Pointer Sisters), age 52 (cancer)
2006: Billy Preston, age 59 (kidney failure; hypertension)
2007: Dan Fogelburg, age 56 (prostate cancer)
2008: Ola Brunkert (ABBA), age 61 (broken glass accident)
2008: Isaac Hayes, age 65 (stroke)
2008: Richard Wright (Pink Floyd), age 65 (cancer)
2009: Dan Seals (England Dan & John Ford Coley), age 61 (non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma)
2009: Michael Jackson, age 50 (drug overdose; medical malpractice)
2009: Mary Travers (Peter, Paul, and Mary), age 72 (complications of
chemotherapy; leukemia)
2010: Teddy Pendergrass, age 59 (respiratory failure)
2011: Gerry Rafferty, age 63 (liver failure; alcoholism)
2011: Andrea True, age 68 (heart failure)
2012: Whitney Houston, age 48 (drowning; heart disease and drug abuse)
2012: Donna Summer, age 63 (lung cancer)
2012: Robin Gibb (Bee Gees), age 62 (colon cancer)
Irving Berlin just barely made the list above due to a 1983 medley by Taco.
Contemporaries who missed my window, but were still part of my musical world,
follow:
1965: Nat King Cole, age 45 (lung cancer, smoking)
1967: Otis Redding, age 26 (airplane crash)
1970: Tammi Terrell, age 24 (brain cancer)
1971: Jim Morrison (The Doors), age 27 (drug overdose?)
1971: Louis Armstrong, age 69 (heart attack)
1973: Allan Sherman, age 48 (emphysema)
1974: Mama Cass Elliot (The Mamas and the Papas), age 32 (heart
attack; fasting)
1977: Elvis Presley, age 42 (heart attack; drug abuse)
1977: Bing Crosby, age 74 (heart attack)
1981: Bill Haley, age 55 (heart attack? brain tumor? alcoholism?)
1983: Dennis Wilson (The Beach Boys), age 39 (drowning; drinking;
alcoholism)
1984: Jackie Wilson, age 49 (pneumonia; heart attack)
1984: Ethel Merman, age 76 (brain cancer)
1984: Nate Nelson (The Flamingos, The Platters), age 52 (heart attack)
1986: Kate Smith, age 79 (diabetes; obesity?)
1987: *Alton Adams Sr., age 89
1988: Dave Prater (Sam & Dave), age 50 (automobile accident)
1988: Roy Orbison, age 52 (heart attack)
1990: Leonard Bernstein, age 72 (heart attack; lung failure)
1991: David Ruffin (The Temptations), age 50 (drug overdose)
1992: Mary Wells, age 49 (pneumonia; laryngeal cancer)
1992: Tony Williams (The Platters), age 64 (emphysema)
1994: Henry Mancini, age 70 (pancreatic cancer)
1995: Dean Martin, age 78 (emphysema; smoking)
1996: Ella Fitzgerald, age 78 (diabetes)
1996: Tiny Tim, age 64 (heart attack; disregard of medical advice)
1997: Jermaine Stewart, age 39 (liver cancer; AIDS)
1998: Carl Wilson (The Beach Boys), age 51 (brain and lung cancer)
1998: Tammy Wynette, age 55 (disputed)
1999: Dusty Springfield, age 59 (breast cancer)
2000: William Oliver Swofford (Oliver), age 54 (cancer)
2001: John Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas), age 65 (heart failure)
2001: Aaliyah Haughton, age 22 (airplane crash; negligence)
2001: O.C. Smith, age 69 (heart attack)
2002: Peggy Lee, age 81 (heart attack; diabetes)
2002: Waylon Jennings, age 64 (diabetes)
2002: Zal Yanovsky (The Lovin' Spoonful), age 57 (heart attack;
congestive heart failure)
2003: Johnny Paycheck, age 64 (emphysema)
2003: Gregory Hines, age 57 (liver cancer)
2004: Ray Charles, age 73 (liver disease)
2005: *Nick Friday (Jam Band), age 43 (diabetes)
2006: Maynard Ferguson, age 78 (abdominal infection)
2006: Paul Mauriat, age 81
2006: James Brown, age 73 (congestive heart failure; pneumonia)
2007: Bobby "Boris" Pickett, age 69 (leukemia)
2007: Tommy Newsom, age 78 (bladder and liver cancer)
2007: Luciano Pavarotti, age 71 (pancreatic cancer)
2010: Lena Horne, age 92 (heart failure)
2012: Johnny Otis, age 90
2012: Etta James, age 73 (leukemia)
Special mention goes to an artist whose music I am unfamiliar with, but whose
life story was a giant part of my musical world:
1987: Maria von Trapp (Trapp Family Singers), age 82 (heart failure)
________________________________________
I have no doubt missed some people. Some high-profile deaths, such as Tupac
Shakur and Amy Winehouse, were deliberate omissions; they were simply not part
of my musical world. (You Continental POVers may have noticed a strong bias
towards people who sing in English.) Other possible omissions are
behind-the-scenes artists such as songwriters; classical and jazz musicians
whose works I have certainly heard, but whose identities remain unknown to me;
and anyone who played for the 1970s American TV show _Hee Haw._ The Gershwins
had me confused for a bit: Ira was my contemporary, but George was the one who
wrote the music that I know and love.
________________________________________
*Artists marked with an asterisk are Virgin Islands artists whom you've probably
never heard of. The Mamas and the Papas don't get an asterisk because we kicked
those junkies out of the Virgin Islands before they became famous.
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null> wrote: