The Cruelest and Saddest Deaths in Music History

Just to flip the original post on its head for a sec, I’m thinking of Bobby Beausoleil, a Manson Family member who killed a drug dealer as part of Manson’s crazed Helter Skelter plan.... The music connection is that Beausoleil composed the incredible soundtrack for Kenneth Anger’s film Lucifer Rising during his incarceration.

 

I loved that guy! His car went into a ravine on a dangerous narrow twisting road.

He once broke through a circle of fans surrounding him to come over to me, mostly because I was standing next to my beautiful girlfriend!

 

Some people wonder if the beatings she received at the hands of James Brown played a part in her early death.

 

John Lennon. Everyone I knew who was old enough to remember the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, went into a deep depression after that event, that many of us are still dealing with. Just the senselessness of it all. Shot in the back no less. Our childhoods growing up with The Beatles didn't end when they broke up. They ended Dec. 8, 1980.

 

I need to stretch your timelines and add Mozart.

What seems doubly sad is that no one knows what he really looked like. The existing paintings are imaginary portraits, not from life, and there was no "death mask"

 

Or how about Tchiakovsky, forced to commit suicide while he was still in his musical prime by a group of men who were scandalized by his hidden homosexuality (or so the legend goes)

 

****ing horrible man, but a musical genius. I've read that David Ruffin of The Temptations beat her too and that was the fatal blow. What was wrong with these wankers?

 

Tommy Caldwell from the Ma4shall Tucker Band. It was the beginning of the end for that fantastic band.

 

Paul Williams of the Temptations. Still questions of whether or not he committed suicide or was murdered.

 

Marc Bolan, dead at 29 after a car crash in 1977.

 

That book called "Without You" is one of the best, but most depressing rock books I've ever read.

 

True to the facts, but not really complete...

Kirsty had been recording since she was very young, signed to Stiff Records, but never had the huge hit that those of us who loved her music knew she deserved. Suprisingly, Tracy Ullman had the hit with her song They Don't Know, and adopted it as her theme song, giving Kirsty a steady income. When I saw her at the Double Door in Chicago, she introduced the song by shouting "God Bless Tracy Ullman!"

After a series of albums that tried different genres, the end of her marriage to producer Steve Lillywhite and a nasty bout of writer's block, Kirsty was newly in love with a Cuban doctor.

She recorded a wonderful album, done the promotion and was on vacation with her two sons, introducing them to something else she loved, scuba diving.

In a clearly marked diving area, the son of one of Mexico's richest men came barrelling through in a speed boat, coming towards one of her sons.

She managed to pull her son to safety, but was hit in the head by the boat and was mangled by the propeller.

The POS claimed that a boathand was at the wheel, and Mexican law allows one to buy their way out of prison by paying a part of their yearly income - which in the case the boathand was just over $90.

We were deprived of any more music, the person who killed her was never brought to justice, and she died a hero saving the life of her child.

 

J Dilla

 

This is supposed to be a thread to memorialize particularly "cruel and sad" deaths. What's the point of rattling off a bunch of names with no context?

 

Hearing this makes me lose respect for these guys. I was watching an old documentary on Keith Moon. Think a guy mentioned that Keith broke his wife's nose, 3 times.

 

Most recently, Jimmy LaFave's death from spindle cell sarcoma last year had a huge effect on the Texas/Red Dirt Americana music scene, and the Austin music scene in particular. The cancer painfully sucked the life out of him in plain site of his friends and followers, yet he played at a large tribute concert days before he died. LaFave was very gracious person and, IMHO, one of the best Dylan and Woody Guthrie interpreters.

 

Stuart Sutcliffe - cerebral hemorrhage - age 21
Lenny Breau - drowned in pool, possibly murdered

 

That's OK if it keeps people posting who may not wish to add more. I'd prefer a picture or a few words too.

But if people simply list a name or even a few names, it just gives others a chance to add a follow-up post.

Follow-up posts are what keep a thread active. So if someone has already named someone on your mind, don't hesitate to add your own post or follow-up comments.

As someone else said, all deaths are sad. I suppose when I titled the thread "cruelest" and "saddest" I may have known that that would attract viewers and more involvement.

 

Clifford Brown - known as one of the 'clean' jazz musicians, died in a car accident at 25.
Scott LaFaro - see above
Woody Shaw - struck by a subway and died from related complications, how he ended up on the tracks is a mystery.
John Coltrane - got himself clean the hard way then succumbed to liver cancer at 40.
Eric Dolphy - died from complications related to his diabetes at 36, doctors assumed he was a junkie, he was clean.

Elliot Smith - died of a stab wound, no one is sure how.

Jeff Buckley - mysterious drowning.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - chose the wrong time to take a helicopter ride.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing as I wrote my post.

 

Zappa too, prostate cancer is easy to cure if you catch it early.

 

Some might say that Charlie Parker, who died at 34 from a worn out body, was burned out and had little new to offer, but I would dispute that. Imagine if he was very healthy until his old age! He was just beginning to study post-modern 20th century composition, and he was a genius after all.

 

Jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, shot by his wife at age 33 following an argument outside a night club. Due to the snowy weather conditions, the ambulance was delayed and he bled to death.
One of the best, if not the best, trumpeter from the classic Blue Note era. He had so much more to give, as shown by his 'Last Session' recording.
His life is chronicled in the recent 'I Called Him Morgan' film documentary.

 

Lee Morgan comes to mind and hasn't been mentioned yet in the thread I don't think.

"Morgan was fatally shot at Slug's Saloon, the East Village dive where he was booked with his band, in the early morning hours of Feb. 19, 1972. There was a major snowstorm that evening, and he had been in a car crash on the way to the gig. His killer was Helen Morgan, his wife, an older woman who had been the driving force behind his rehabilitation from drug addiction. She shot him seemingly on impulse, in response to a flagrant and humiliating infidelity."

There's an excellent, but truly sad documentary recently released - might still be on Netflix - "I Called Him Morgan."

His wife had found him on the side of a NYC street in the winter w/o his coat. He had pawned it. She built him back up only to be the one who killed him.

Also he was an incredible trumpet player.

 

Wow, we were posting these at the same time. Great minds...