Category Archives: Obit

It was shocking to hear today of the death of Dolores O’Riordan, the memorable vocalist for the Irish band The Cranberries. She was only 46. The last time I had spoken to her, in a 1999 interview amid a summer Cranberries tour, she had talked about how difficult it was in the band — at [...]

The death of Charlie Manson this week reminds me of the thwarted artist theory that may have triggered his mania in the first place. Just as Hitler may have been a failed painter who got his revenge on Vienna, Manson may have had his murderous minors storm the mansion where Sharon Tate lived because he [...]

One of the charms of Walter Becker, the Steely Dan co founder who died Sunday at 67, is that he looked less like a rock star and more like the rest of us. Professorial in look, he brought a jazz sensibility to pop with the band he formed with Donald Fegan, who Sunday called Becker [...]

Though we knew it was coming, it was sad to hear of the death of Glen Campbell at 81. His long bout with Alzheimer’s was brilliantly depicted in the sometimes painful 2014 film “I’ll Be Me,” which millions saw through replay on CNN (when that network had the luxury to show documentaries). Campbell began as [...]

The death of Gregg Allman at 69 Saturday brings to four the number of original members of the Allman Brothers Band now gone. From the earliest recordings in 1970, his big brother Duane Allman (who died in 1971) might have been the star guitarist of the band, but it was Gregg who handled the craggy [...]

Other than Elvis, the number of rock ’n’ roll pioneers that have been still among us all these years is pretty impressive, with Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino still drawing breath. That ended Saturday for the man to whom rock ’n’ roll is closest linked when Chuck Berry,  died at 90. The [...]

The sad march of death of influential rock ’n’ roll figures continues with the death of Leon Russell on Sunday at 74. Most prominent in the spectacular “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” tour of Joe Cocker and musical director at George Harrison’s Bangladesh benefit concert, his roots stretch back to pop songs in the 60s, when [...]