Ok this should be interesting....Now you dont have to list them in order of importance, but tell us a little about how or why it affected you, the only rule that i would say, is that make sure its someone that you "lived" during their time, dont list someone that died the year you were born and then you got into their music.

Freddy Mercury.

I took both deaths hard.

In Hyman's case, I rarely see my mother cry,,,,and when I do, its not a pleasant sight. My mother and Phyllis' sister(Sakinah) were friends since the late 80s, they both used to work toghether in an educational program for muslim women,,,and she has seen the effect that the suicide took on Phyllis' family and esp Sakinah who was bitterly enraged about the whole thing. It was a mess in short, and ALOT of people I know took it hard,,,,Phyllis was really loved among my family.

In Aaliyah's case, well what can I say,,,,,it was a rare case seeing somebody near my age who naturally emobided sophistication, mystique and edge all @ the same time. She was one of the few REAL intersting talents who made you anticipate their work.

I, personally, never cried over a celebrity/stranger's death it should be significant, because I value my tears. But in Aaliyah's case,,,,the blow felt like it came from somebody close to me, thats how personal she was.
[Edited 11/16/08 15:51pm]

For me there are a few


Aaliyah- this one was quite strange, it was odd, she was just there and then gone, in fact i worked at an instore for her latest album and met her months prior, she is even more beautiful in person and i thought was just about to take things to another level

Harry Chapin- one of the best "storytellers" ever, also the biggest charitable person of his day, over 60% of his concerts between 1972-1980 proceeds were given to his hunger drive.

john lennon- though the Beatles had broken up by the time i was born, the music was around me, and the solo stuff was all around. Lennons death is always something that is very personal because of what he did as a person, his love for NYC, and because of his death its what got me into creating and writing, ironically.

Freddie Mercury- the greatest front man ever, the greatest showman, he was everything, he didnt care how he looked, he gave it all for the performance, and not too mention being a part of one the greatest bands ever, and being one of the best voices ever.

Michael Hutchence- this hit me the hardest, the shock of it, the confusion of it, i mean to this day the death cause is still incorrectly listed, But more than that, INXS was from that last era of great bands, the duran's, the u2's etc..all were coming up together, battling each other, and Inxs was always the one i thought were a step above, i remember saving my allowance and going to the record store on a saturday and hoping that they got "the one thing" 45 back in stock. They came at a time when i finally started buyin music myself, saving up, looking at different things etc...his death at a time where the band had done one of their best records ever, were going on their 20th anniversary tour, it just all was very sad.

Aaliyah, Left-Eye, Luther Vandross and James Brown were the hardest deaths for me.

James Brown
Gerald Levert
Barry White
Isaac Hayes
Aaliyah
Big Moe
Soulaj Slim

I took JB's the hardest, especially on Christmas.

1. John Lennon - Because rock music just isn't the same without him.
2. Marvin Gaye - Because all he way just starting to bloom as an artist
3. Aailyah - She would have been bigger than Madonna, had she lived, just coming into her own as an artist.

4. Michael Jackson, (as I USED to know him)- Because when it came time to tell him "No", everybody just turned their back. This caused R&B to go into the state that it is in currently.

5. Buddy Holly - See John Lennon.
6. Michael Hutchence - One of the greatest performers of music, that ever lived
7. Biggie - His death made it easy for ANYONE to become a rapper...

8. TuPac - He was the Al Sharpton of rap. Whether you like it or not, we need an alarm system, to tell us that somethings just don't smell right.

9. Kurt Cobin - was one of the greatest story tellers of our time.

10. Phyllis Hyman - The greatest female singer of my generation!! To this day, I feel that there is more to her death than meets the eye.

Definitely Aaliyah, Luther Vandross, and Left-Eye.

When I heard that Luther had died, I cried for almost 15 minutes like I knew him personally. I had to go to work the next day and when I told one of the girls I worked with, she almost started crying too. I still cry when I listen to "Dance With My Father", because I believe that he is doing just that.

When Aaliyah died, I cried the first few times I saw the "Rock the Boat" video, because the end of that video where she's underwater and floating to the surface and you see the sun above her was a little symbolic to me. It's the image that I hold in my mind everytime someone mentions her name. She seemed like such a genuine person to me and she had soo much talent that we will never get to see.

I knew that TLC was never going to be the same after Left-Eye's passing; and they were and still are my all-time favorite female group. When Left-Eye died, TLC died with her in a way and it was heartbreaking to see this amazing group be broken apart. All the disagreements, being stolen from by their label, and fights between the three of them couldn't tear them apart over the years, but death did and it's still something that saddens me but makes me cherish their albums and their legacy even more now than ever.

RIP.

Kurt Cobain died on my 8th birthday. Though at the time I was only vaguely aware of Nirvana from the radio, I remember the day his body was found very clearly.

It was April 8th, 1994. I arrived at school, and noticed a lot of the older students and even some of the younger teachers were really upset. Some were crying, even. For an 8 year old, it's a hard thing to understand. Then, the news that night broadcast that he'd been dead for 3 days when he was found -so he'd died on the 5th, my birthday. I remember thinking that maybe, if someone had given him a hug he wouldn't have killed himself, and wishing I could have done it.

Though I didn't start actively listening to Nirvana until I was much older, and there have unfortunately been many other well-known performers to die during my lifetime, Cobain's is the one that affected me most.



And though he died 5 years before I was born, I'll add John Lennon to the list. When the 25th anniversary of his death rolled around, I found myself getting pretty choked up watching some of the news reports and specials. I never "knew" Lennon as a living performer, but I grew up listening to his music.




grievous typo edit
[Edited 11/19/08 12:36pm]

I know he's not a musician, but I literally burst into tears when I'd heard George Carlin died. Like Lennon, I grew up listening to him. He was like the craziest, smartest uncle I had.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

When I saw it, I shook my head. I just kept saying "no...no...no..."

And Isaac's, Gerald's and Barry's deaths were hard to take too. Especially Gerald's!

meow85 said:

totally agree Carlin was like losing a faimly member

Aaliyah. I always thought she was very special.

shorttrini said:

Whoa over exaggeration much? Ok so I cant speak for America, but she was barely even known elsewhere, it was actually her death that made her a bit more famous here. Was she really that big in America? Still I seriously doubt she would of been bigger than Madonna. Probably more of a Janet size career.

Arnotts said:

No one will ever know, so every opinion on her future potential is equally valid.

Arnotts said:

I think so. Maddona is on her way out musically, and Aailyah, last album was different from the ones that she had released previously, it was more focused kinda like Mad's, "Like A Virgin". Oh, and Aailyah, was known, all over the world, not just here in the U.S.

Aaliyah - I remember hearing it from a friend and I didn't believe it, then saw it on the news.

Left-Eye - Wow, just wow. TLC will never be the same, I've been loving that group since they declared "I Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg."

Tupac - Live by the sword, die by the sword...what a shame.

Biggie - Took this harder than Pac's death.

Luther Vandross - Still can't believe it...

Phyllis Hyman - She had so much pain in her life to end it. So sad.

Marvin Gaye - The saddest and most shocking.

Selena - I had just watched an interview by a young singer who recorded her first English album. She was so excited about crossing over. A few weeks later there was a story on the news about a young latina singer being gunned down...it was her.

Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens - I pretty much grew up with his music, and loved some of it as much as I've loved anything. Couple that with the fact he was quite young when he died (48) and it impacted me in a way that rock star deaths usually do not.

Arnotts said:

Aaliyah is a prime example of becoming larger in death.

I don't care what anyone says, this man made a hell of a lot of mistakes in his life, but he was very talented. I still to this day believe that Suge Knight had something to do with his demise.

shesoffthewall said:

Now, unless you can see into the future of a dead person, I would deem that an invaid statement. We don't know, what would have become of her due to her death. I am just saying that when comparing her old material to the material on her last CD, she had the makings of being as big as Mad was when she first came on the scene.

harle is probably the only one who'll get me on this -- Talal Maddah, may he rest in peace.

And though I wasn't even born when these artists died, their deaths have a tremendous effect on me:




[Edited 11/16/08 17:36pm]

Harlepolis said:

The same for me as well. I was really into Phyllis Hyman and was fortunate to have seen her a few times. I was just stunned when I learned of her passing. I went to her public memorial service and to get some sort of closure but it was surprisingly difficult.

Aaliyah's passing had me depressed for awhile and the sadness I felt caught me off guard. I was so into her new album and had just shared time talking with friends who also loved the album and I went home that evening and learned about the plane crash. I still don't listen to her music very much.

shorttrini said:

I'm not saying any of what you just said isn't true. I understand she was on a different level from her peers like Brandy and Monica. As someone said, maybe a Janet level of success and popularity but not a Madonna level. What I'm saying is that she DID become more popular after her death because she wasn't a megastar while alive. It is what it is. Her death was the best promotion she could've ever received.

missfee said:

The first one... man when I looked at the "What's Going On" documentary and it got to the end and people talk about when he passed away, I was crying.
[Edited 11/16/08 17:44pm]

missfee said:

I always tell people, if I was born a man, I would want to have the singing voice of Sam Cooke or Donny Hathaway. lol

because I remember when they happened, Selena, Aaliyah and Left Eye I was sad for tupac too, but I was shocked about biggie.

I recently read about john lennon's killer and felt soooo sad after

alphastreet said:

Biggie's death did shock me. When I heard about 'Pac, I initially was taken back because he had been shot before and like everybody I thought he was gonna survive and when he didn't, I just sighed. However when BIG died, that was shocking.
[Edited 11/16/08 18:14pm]

i was in fifth grade when Freddie Mercury died. the first celebrity i can remember on my own who died of AIDS. that was when the people calling me a fag or queer took on a new venom because that's what they started calling him


i guess after it was Kurt Cobain my Jr Olympic Volleyball team was on a our way to a tournament in MPLS, i wanted to drive to Pasiley Park and everyone else wanted to go to the Mall of America. it was a quiet car ride for a while after that was announced

i guess the next one was Aaliyah not for anything more than just her age being so close to mine.