I have 2: Stevie Ray Vaughan. Was always a huge fan. And, to see what he did to turn his life around the way he did only to die so tragically. I wanted to name our son Steven Raymond, but wife nixed that and we settled on Austin. He was my Texas gunslinger legend. Next was Neil Peart. I Saw RUSH over 20 times in my life. The sadness of loosing a daughter to a car crash, loosing common law wife shortly after to cancer, and then himself to cancer. That's when my inner teen died.
strangely enough it was Andrew Fletcher. I was really bummed out for some reason. I guess because through interviews and articles, he was the member of Depeche Mode that I identified with.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was shocking how it happened. I saw Willie Nelson at Somerset WI last June and hoping that he wasn’t going to take a helicopter from there to his next show. Given what happened to SRV. Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries death was also shocking given how unexpected it was and that she was the same age as me. Sinead O’Connor’s death wasn’t quite as shocking given all that she had gone through but still very sad given how tragic her life was.
Neil Peart - My absolute idol growing up. Never would have even picked up a pair of sticks had I not heard Tom Sawyer in the 7th grade. Literally changed my life - no hyperbole. Trying to play along to his songs in high school basically taught me how to play the drums. Also realizing that I would never see Rush live again was very sobering.
prince. it was totally out of nowhere and a shock. he was so full of life and not that old. to know that he died alone in his elevator is really sad. and the physical pain he was in, which got him hooked on pain killers. i remember when kurt cobain died i was on a lunch break and heard it on the radio. it was obviously sad, but not unexpected considering he had just survived a suicide attempt and talked about killing himself in interviews and music. same with sinead...sad, but not unexpected. i hope it isnt anytime soon, but its going to be a sad day when willie goes.
Still think the drums on Tom Sawyer is the greatest single coolest in what he played and how it sounds out of anything I’ve ever heard. That’s saying quite a bit with all the music that’s been in my life. Fletch,MCA, Prince and Cobain. Nothing anyone hasn’t said. Andy Rourke was one. Very underrated imo. I remember listening to the radio with my mom as an 8 year old in 1980 when the news came over that Lennon was shot and killed. My mom wept like you wouldn’t believe.
Jim Steinman - I found out that he died about 3 months after he actually died. I actually did cry when I read that. For those that don't know Steinman, he was the mastermind behind Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album and he also wrote Total Eclipse of the Heart and It's All Coming Back to Me Now. You always knew it was a Steinman song (and production) because the songs always had long titles, epic in length, with sublime background vocals. He truly wanted to bring the sounds of Richard Wagner to popular music. The only bad thing about him was that we didn't nearly have enough Steinman songs to remember him by. I was only 7 when he died but John Lennon - I mean, my God, the first Beatle to die and to get killed by a psychopath. Just think what else he could have accomplished (which he had already accomplished a lot) but he was taken far too soon. And I wasn't even born when Hendrix died but yet another one - you have to wonder what he could have done if he had lived longer (John Coltrane too although he was 40 and died of cancer).
don’t think my parents were even alive back then, but i imagined elvis’ death must have been something. same with michael jackson.
The next Van Halen album's got to be right around the corner, right? And MJ... I wasn't a big fan, but what a talent.
I was kinda bummed when Scott Weiland died, but only because I never got to see STP live. TBH I find it odd when people get really upset over artists dying.
I did get to see them, and Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, but I'll add Layne Staley and Chris Cornell to the list And Tom Petty
I have nothing positive to say about the duo he fronted, but George Michael was a nice guy and better musician than most realize.
I can’t believe I forgot about Prince. That was a shock to Minnesota and prompted statewide mourning. I remember the day he died going to First Ave and the two blocks around the First Ave night club (the club seen in Purple Rain) were packed with people who spontaneously came out to remember Prince. Agree. Dreading the day that Willie will pass.
