Jeff Beck
24 June 1944—10 January 2023
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Yukihiro Takahashi [YMO]
6 June 1952—11 January 2023
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Renee Geyer
11 Sep 1953—17 January 2023
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David Crosby
14 Aug 1941—19 January 2023
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Tom Verlaine [Television]
13 Dec 1949—28 January 2023
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Burt Bacharach
12 May 1928—8 February 2023
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Wayne Shorter
25 August 1933—2 March 2023
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Robin Lumley [Keyboards, Brand X]
17 Jan 1948—9 Mar 2023
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Keith Reid [lyricist, Procol Harum]
19 October 1946—23 March 2023
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Ryuichi Sakamoto
17 Jan 1952—28 March 2023
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Ray Schulman [Gentle Giant]
8 Dec 1949—30 March 2023
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Fred White [Earth Wind & Fire] … 13 January 1955—2 January 2023
Robin “Robbie” Bachman [Bachman Turner Overdrive] … 18 February 1953—12 January 2023
Lisa Marie Presley … 1 Feb 1968—12 January 2023
David Lindley … 21 March 1944—3 March 2023
Gary Rossington [Lynyrd Skynyrd] … 4 Dec 1951—5 March 2023
Jim Gordon [Drummer, Derek and the Dominos] … 14 July 1945—13 March 2023
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Man, it’s a pretty grim list and we’re only in the beginning of April. The one great consolation we have is that the music by all these wonderful artists is here to stay, as long as humans don’t destroy the planet beyond repair!
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True, Christian.
For a few years I did a ‘Real Gone’ post at the end of the year, as a way of honouring the artists who’d died. But as boomers age, the rate has increased exponentially.
Although not everyone is comfortable with the idea of ‘in memoriam’ posts, I like to acknowledge those artists whose work has touched me in some way.
So this is a quarterly report from rock’s great Departures board. When all is said and done, everyone has a ticket.
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Completely agree, Bruce, life is finite, so death is inevitable.
At least somebody like Wayne Shorter reached a decent age and had a great career.
What makes me more sad is when we lose talented artists at a young age.
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Too true.
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It’s sobering. Time has flown and keep on going.
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It’s been a tough year for popular music deaths – Takahashi was the one that blindsided me, not much foreshadowing and he wasn’t that old.
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That’s a category isn’t it? The ones that elicit that crestfallen, ‘Oh’.
Renee Geyer was one of me. Hip replacements aren’t supposed to be fatal.
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My mum had a double hip replacement last Friday and seems OK.
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Very glad to hear that. The partner of a friend is in the queue. Fingers crossed for her too.
Hope you mum recovers smoothly and quickly.
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The queue was ridiculously long here – she was waiting for more than a year. We’re supposed to be looking after her but she seems to be recovering quickly and we have COVID (but not very badly, and I don’t have it yet).
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This is lovely, Bruce. As Christian noted, it’s a soberingly long list so early in the year.
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As might be detected from earlier comments, I did have some reservations but finally went with my own meaning: that acknowledging these deaths is celebrating their lives. So I’m grateful for your comment. Thank you.
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It’s *absolutely* a celebration! We’re definitely vibing at the same frequency.
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Well that was sad. We’re at the start of ‘the great boomer die off’. I think the number of celebs (especially musicians) passing on will be sobering.
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Sometimes due to past habits of insobriety.
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Count myself lucky ‘knock on wood’ to have lived my life at such a magic time musically and technologically. The artists may blossom, bloom in their profundity and eventually wither in this physical plane. But their heritage of music making lives on. Some of my all time personal favourites here, keep the music playing.
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Hear, Hear! Well said, Woody.
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