What famous musicians death most shocked you

[cd_david]

Gary Moore, sat listening to his songs tears running down my face. Although not my favourite musician by a long chalk I don’t know anybody that can put as much emotion into notes as he could.

I wasn’t too bothered about Freddie Mercury dying at the time as I was young and probably didn’t appreciate death the way you do as you get older but every time I watch him perform I can find myself getting really choked up. He is without doubt the best frontman that has ever taken to the stage. 

[dmccombe7]

I'm not so sure its grief in the way you lose a family member or very close friend. For me its just a sadness that someone i admired has now gone and that's the end of their musical output (albiet the vast number of "Best off" albums that will get released.)

[Stylon Pilson]

Two for me.

Freddie Mercury first - I grew up in a family of Queen fans, and so it was something that really consumed conversation for quite a while.

And secondly David Bowie - I'd always been a fan of his hits, but I'd spent the previous 18 months listening to all his albums in chronological order, spending a few weeks with each one to really get to know his past better. I finished the project on the 8th January 2016 and he died two days later.

S.P.

[spongebob]

Main one for me was Lemmy - fan since I was 13, as has been said, he was just always 'there'. I really thought he'd go on like Dave Brock for a good while longer.

I saw them a few times, and was making plans to go to the next London show. Something had stopped me doing it....and as it turned out, they never happened. Still my main influence now, it's Motorhead4life for me!

Other one was more complicated - Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers. At the time, a disappearance, now a registered death. I was a massive fan of the band until the point he vanished - not at all afterwards!

Felt much closer to Richey than to Kurt Cobain - both within 12 months. Looking back, strange times.

Of late, Bernie Torme was closer to home, having worked with him on a couple of occasions, one being my favourite recording that I've ever been involved with - fab man to work with.

[Roger2611]

I was shocked by the passing of Pete Shelley earlier this year followed only a short time later by Rankin Roger, having seen both bands in Leeds in May 2018 it's hard to believe that 50% of the front men from that gig have gone within a year.

Joe Strummer and John Peel's passing also hung heavy with me as both were hugely influential in making me who I am today 

[Stub Mandrel]

When you are young, its a shock when what has always been a  constant disappears.

When you grow older, you think - me next?

[chris_b]

People come and go and it's sad when they die young like Hendrix, Duane Allman and Otis. I'll be upset when the Stones are finally in the ground. I know it's a phrase associated with Buddy Holly, but IMO the music really will die when the Stones go.

[SpondonBassed]

21 hours ago, lozkerr said:

Kirsty MacColl. Awful way to go.

Good call.

19 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Terribly, terribly sad, but dying saving one of her kids? She's a real hero.

 

18 hours ago, lozkerr said:

True. But the boat shouldn't have been there in the first place, AIUI. 

I was unaware of the details of her death having only listened to the brief news item at the time.  I remember thinking at the time that she was just coming into her stride as a world class musician.  It was a sad loss but it seems she was a strong mother to the end.

Kirsty MacColl Death

Edited May 2, 2019 by SpondonBassed

[SH73]

On 01/05/2019 at 14:37, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

It’s a toss up for me between Elvis and Frank Zappa.

Elvis was a little unexpected. Zappa - I knew he wasn’t well, but it was a shock nevertheless. I remember exactly where I was when I found out and it proper rattled me.

Elvis is not dead

[jezzaboy]

9 hours ago, casapete said:

When you consider us musicians travel mainly in the evening, I guess the chances of being in accidents with drunk drivers must be greatly increased. Factor in the tiredness / poorer road visibility etc then it’s amazing we’re still here! 

Victims of road incidents I remember who were well known include Duane Allman, Marc Bolan, Cozy Powell and Clarence White.

I was at working in a record store when Marc Bolan died in 1977 and can remember the massive outpouring of grief from customers for weeks after. Also T.Rex bassist Steve Currie died in a road accident just a few years later,  so sad.

When Marc Bolan died I remember the 11 year old me thinking that it was strange that he died in a Mini and not a Rolls Royce or some other expensive car. It`s weird the things that you remember.

[jezzaboy]

3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm not so sure its grief in the way you lose a family member or very close friend. For me its just a sadness that someone i admired has now gone and that's the end of their musical output (albiet the vast number of "Best off" albums that will get released.)

Your right! For me it`s more like the passing of someone that whilst I never knew the guy on a personal level, there was a time in my life when the music they created really meant something to me in my life for a multitude of reasons. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by jezzaboy

[Heathy]

For me, the most shocking was Zappa, Bowie, and more recently Keith Flint.

I also always feel a sense of loss when listening to Hendrix and Jeff Buckley, even though they both passed way before I was aware of their music. A kind of 'what might have been' kind of thing...

 

[lozkerr]

This thread's got me thinking about musicians who are still with us but whom I'll be gutted to see precede me. I know I'll mourn Vangelis (76) and Jennifer Warnes (72) in a big way when their numbers are up.

[Bigwan]

10 hours ago, Chiliwailer said:

Dimebag Daryl really shook me - shot on stage, awful.

Already quoted this, but I should have added that I met  Dimebag once (or Diamond as he was going by at the time!) - it was my very first live gig, Pantera supporting Megadeth in the Ulster Hall. Left a mark. He was very cool, unlike Mustaine and Friedman that acted like you were something to be avoided... Meeting him was a bit out of context as I hadn’t even seen a live band yet, but was mightily impressed a couple of hours later!!!

[M@23]

Dimebag. Just the circumstances of it. Horrific. 

[silverfoxnik]

On 01/05/2019 at 16:14, lou24d53 said:

For me, it was David Bowie, but is very, very closely followed by Prince......

I was genuinely gutted at both, it was almost like I had lost someone in my family at the time, as dramatic as that sounds...I do distinctly remember letting out an involuntary shout when I saw the Sky News app that January morning in 2016 though... 

+1

As ridiculous as it sounds, the loss of Bowie is something I still haven't yet come to terms with yet, though the reasons why he passed away were not shocking or surprising - he was a lifelong smoker (and user of other substances) after all.. 

@lou24d53 mentions the words that it was like losing 'a member of the family' which I totally understand, but for me it was more like losing a mentor and a lifelong friend who inspired me throughout my formative years... 

With Prince though, that came completely out of the blue! Who would have ever thought that someone like him, seemingly in total control of his career and creative life, would have developed such an addiction to pain killing drugs? And also to have passed away without leaving a will?

The fact that Bowie and Prince died within a few months of each other made 2016 a pretty terrible year! 

 

[Linus27]

10 hours ago, lozkerr said:

This thread's got me thinking about musicians who are still with us but whom I'll be gutted to see precede me. I know I'll mourn Vangelis (76) and Jennifer Warnes (72) in a big way when their numbers are up.

Yeah, this thread has got me thinking about that fact as well. For me it's going to be the following,

U2 - Any member of U2 passing will be gutting. They have been such a huge impact on me growing up and a massive influence musicall including professionally.

Madonna - My first teenage crush and I adore her first three albums. So raw and she was still awkward with an innocence about her still.

Sting - One of the reasons I picked up the bass and one of the reasons I discovered music thanks to my sisters.

Pearl Jam - Probably my favourite band and Eddie Vedder is one of my favourite singers.

[mangotango]

13 hours ago, SH73 said:

Elvis is not dead

"....he just smells funny".

Zappa again....

 

[Monkey Steve]

15 hours ago, spongebob said:

Main one for me was Lemmy - fan since I was 13, as has been said, he was just always 'there'. I really thought he'd go on like Dave Brock for a good while longer.

I saw them a few times, and was making plans to go to the next London show. Something had stopped me doing it....and as it turned out, they never happened. Still my main influence now, it's Motorhead4life for me!

 

I had a ticket for the 40th anniversary tour (having seen them first at both their 10th anniversary shows at Hammersmith) and even as we were buying them, it did feel like "see Lemmy now because he's going to be dead before too long and I doubt he'll tour again" such were the reports of his rapidly declining health over the preceding Autumn

[wateroftyne]

So far, probably Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Rick Wright, Duck Dunn & Paul Hester.

 

[bootleg]

Bowie and Chris Squire, who were both huge influences over my life time. It's interesting. We don't "know" these people as real people, so how can any emotions we feel be real? But any emotional reaction is based on what their music and public persona meant to us, maybe how we were formed by them, and what their absence will mean. And it's music, which can embed itself deep into our core selves, so it's very personal. 

[JellyKnees]

3 hours ago, mangotango said:

"....he just smells funny".

Zappa again....

 

I thought that was jazz? Anyway...

 

[bassbiscuits]

Tom Petty's death shocked me. Loads of his songs have soundtracked various bits of my life and it was genuinely out of the blue when my missus told me he'd died. 

Also Michael Hutchence. I was well into INXS at the time and he seemed to have it all with looks, fame, money, great band and celeb girlfriends etc. I know there was a lot of other stuff being reported at the time but i never saw it coming.

Goes without saying that Freddie was an incredible loss but for some reason it wasn't shocking at the time - maybe I was too young.

[mangotango]

58 minutes ago, JellyKnees said:

I thought that was jazz? Anyway...

 

Errr yeh, that was kind of my point in mashing the two quotes into one.....

[JellyKnees]

1 minute ago, mangotango said:

Errr yeh, that was kind of my point in mashing the two quotes into one.....

Far too clever for me... although I bet those jump suits of Elvis's didn't smell good!