Which musician or singer's death upset you the most?

River Phoenix.

I know most people view him as more of an actor, but his true passion was music... acting was just his day job. I don't know what is was about River, but as soon as I saw his performance as Mike Waters in "My Own Private Idaho" I had a crazy connection with him, like I knew him beyond just being a fan... maybe that's just a testament to his acting talent. Anyway, his death absolutely crushed me and still does to this day. He was about a year younger than me, and we were both just starting our lives, so sad that he never reached his full potential.

 

Petty. No question.

 

David Bowie...he was the soundtrack to my life
I can still picture standing in the kitchen on that morning ,getting ready for work.
News came on the TV announcing that he had gone , i took 2 weeks off work .
From that day on, i will not have the television on a news channel in the morning.

 

Lennon. I was only a kid and was devastated. I really believed that The Fabs would do something again at some point so that was they day The Beatles died for me. I don't think there's been a day since it happened that I haven't thought about it. Also, Bill Hicks (who I include because of the music on his posthumous releases). If there was ever a social commentator that we could have done without losing, it was him. I truly believe that we would have been living in a slightly less evil world if he'd still been around.

 

david bowie because he has made some of my favorite rock records of all time and was an artist that made his own death an artistic creation. the LP black star (released soon after) basically foretold of his impending departure from this earth and is extremely difficult to listen to- it is packed with such emotion.
john lennon and the beatles were slightly before my time.

 

Michael Hedges . . . once in-a-several-generation talent

 

Completely agree. He was a visionary. I was fortunate enough to see him live.

 

Gene Clark, Rick Danko, Tom Petty. I felt close to those guys.

 

Jason Molina / Magnolia Electric Company.

 

Too many to mention - Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch, John Lennon, George Harrison, David Bowie, Phil Lynott, Rory Gallagher to name but a few, but I think Micky Jones and Deke Leonard from Man are the two that have affected me the most. Followed the wonderful Manband for years and always used to have a chat and share a drink with them at gigs and they became, if maybe not quite friends, then certainly more than aquaintances, which made it all the more real. To that, and for similar reasons, I'd add Maartin Allcock, having just heard the news that he passed away earlier today, what brilliant musician and even more importantly what a great bloke.

 

Ronnie James Dio for me...

 

The passing of John Abercrombie and Tomasz Stanko was definitely a blow to my system.

 

Both Dennis and Carl Wilson.

 

John Wetton, Voice of Uriah Heep, Asia and a great bass player and songwriter! RIP!

 

SRV.

 

I was set to see him and something came up at the last minute and couldn’t go. Turned out to be his final gig. I was stunned. Something I’ll always regret.

 

Amy Winehouse.

 

Unquestionably Frank Zappa. I became depressed and mourned him for months.
Many others mentioned here as well, and I’ll add Shawn Lane, Allan Holdsworth, Miles Davis, Sonny Sharrock, Keith Emerson, and Holger Czukay.

 

Warren Zevon, both for the way he died and it coming at the same time of a personal loss.

 

John Entwistle and Tom Petty

 

I picked up a copy of Laura Allan's Telegraph CD a couple of months ago. Left it unplayed, for reasons having to to with the thread title. Until the day before yesterday. It was even better than I had anticipated...

so yeah, currently, Laura. I miss Laura Allan.

 

Adam Yauch is the one that still resonates the most.

Davy Jones was the biggest shock at the time.

Tom Petty is right up there, too.

 

I'm not the biggest Beatles fan but John Lennon's death stole some of my innocence as a teen, possibly in the same way JFK'S death did generations before. I remember exactly where I stood, the weather, (I was outside, there was no snow on the ground but snow was falling.) and my older neighbor coming out and telling me in disbelief. I remember not being able to compute the senseless violence as those sort of things just didn't happen.

 

Rory Gallagher and Tom Petty upset me the most.

Others:
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Gary Moore
Gregg Allman

 

Freddie Mercury, Gary Moore and Rick Parfitt.