Musical artists whose death saddened you.

The young ones who go make me the saddest. The older musicians...I find it less sad.

Short list:
Terry Kath
Jimi Hendrix
Janis Joplin
Jim Morrison
Duane Allman
Berry Oakley
Jeff Porcaro
John Lennon, huge
Freddy Mercury
Robert Johnson
Marvin Gaye
James Jamerson
Benny Benjamin
Otis Redding
Jim Croce
Kurt Cobain
Danny Gatton
SRV
Buddy Holly
Richie Valens
Brian Jones
Tony Williams
 
Everyone here has done a great job describing their perspectives for all the folks mentioned. The loss of each person named in this thread made our musical world a poorer place.

I would like to add Nick Drake. His music was quiet, introspective, sad and uplifting at the same time. His songs still resonate very strongly with me today. I guess his demise was not too shocking knowing the circumstances leading up to it now but at the time it was pretty devastating to his fans, me included.
 
I have to also say that the death of Larry Robinson, the nicest guy you'd ever hope to meet greatly saddened me. I played on his last album Cadillac & Trailer and we were going to be doing more shows together. This was the last gig we ever did together.

I found out about it on Facebook and the weight of sadness overtook me like a flood of water being dumped over me. It was just crushing.



Then a few months later I found out my friend Craig Zarkos committed suicide and he was a drummer's drummer, such a cool guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2klk8B7vjA&list=UUWfeNbT881qXuNvsZiWeU-g
 
Mick Karn

Ronald Shannon Jackson
 
The death of Jimi Hendrix shocked me the most. The years later I felt almost the same sadness when Stevie Ray Vaughn died. I really enjoyed the music both these guys made.
 
As far as deaths that I was aware of at the time they occurred, Ronnie James Dio was a huge one, since it led me to listen to more of his music and realize how influential he was in the metal genre. Clive Burr and more recently Tommy Ramone were big losses to me as a drummer, especially Tommy because The Ramones were one of the first bands I listened to as a kid and I would always tap along to the songs when my dad would play them in the car.
 
Was a Very Sad day for me when John Panozzo, drummer for STYX passed!
Love the (Dear John) Song, Tommy Shaw wrote for him.
Allen
 
1. Jeff Buckley (still makes me sad)
2. Randy Rhoades
3. Kurt Cobain (not really a big Nirvana fan either)
4. Clive Burr
5. John Bonham
 
Wow....how could I have forgotten the former keys player in our band... Bobby.He made some bad decisions as a younger man,and wound up spending some time in prison.He was not a physical kind of guy,and contracted AIDS,and eventually,it killed him.This was prior to the drugs we have now,that keep AIDS patients alive.He was totally self taught and a great keyboard player,and could play anything Keith Emerson could.I miss his presence and his humor.Not a star....but he had to chops to be one.

Steve B
 
I'm a big Chicago fan and I just found out how Terry Kath died. Such a sad, sad way to go. Russian Roulette. The dude accidentally killed himself with a gun. Tragic. Such a great artist. if you get a chance check out Chicago, 1970 at Tanglewood. Check out the sheer joy and enthusiasm coming out of that guy during the show.
 
Tony Williams
Jimi Hendrix
Richie Havens
Levon Helm
To name but a few that come to mind right now.

I have to add Minnie Riperton.
 
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The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold's drummer, although he did a lot more than drumming)
Dimebag Darrel (one of Pantera's guitarists)
Michael Jackson
Paul Gray (SlipKnoT's bassist)
That's who comes to mind
The Rev is the one who I feel most down about. As you can probably tell from my signature.
 
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Midnite Zephyr said:
I'm a big Chicago fan and I just found out how Terry Kath died. Such a sad, sad way to go. Russian Roulette. The dude accidentally killed himself with a gun. Tragic. Such a great artist. if you get a chance check out Chicago, 1970 at Tanglewood. Check out the sheer joy and enthusiasm coming out of that guy during the show.
Click to expand...

It really wasn't Russian Roulette.I was a big Chicago fan and a big Terry Kath fan,so then I became a cop,I was granted access to the case file.It seems the gun in question was a Browning Hi Power ,semi-auto 9MM pistol,Russian Roulette is played with revolvers..Terry had been drinking and decided to play with his gun.He had unloaded it,but did it in the wrong order..He racked the slide to eject the round in the chamber,than removed the magazine.That left a round in the chamber.He reversed the correct order,leaving the gun loaded.

He was then playing with the same gun,before this happened,but Browing semi auto,has whats called a magazine dissconnect feature,to prevent something like this from happening.With no magazine in the gun,it can't fire.That only works when there's no magazine in the gun.So when he put an emptt magazine in the gun,that feature was neuteralized,and the gun could fire.Since he incorrectly unloaded the gun,and left a round in the chamber,the gun went off,and he shot himself in the head,at nearly contact range.

The guy was no doubt,one of the best guitar players of his time,and according to Jimi Hendrix,a better player than him.

Steve B
 
I've always been a classic rock/garage band junkie, but I have to say that the death that influenced me the most was that of Avenged Sevenfold's drummer "The Rev", Jimmy Sullivan.

Up until then, I'd kind of always had a very light interest in metal music. I mostly dug that band because of the Rev's funkiness and great phrasing compared to what (to me) seemed like tasteless speed chops of other metal bands. With him in the band, they seemed to have the songwriting force in their band that many other bands just didn't have.

I remember I was in the hospital chilling with a friend (his dad damn near chopped his finger off while getting farm equipment ready for Spring), and the news came up on the TV. I was devastated.

After that, I just had a hell of a time finding another band in that genre to fill the hole. Got into Muse, then heavily into Zep, then went down the big rabbit hole that is rock n' roll.
 
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