Amy Winehouse: 27 Club

There's a new member in the 27 Club.

Amy Winehouse joins Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain - all dead at the age of 27.

From the Associated Press:

Amy Winehouse, the beehived soul-jazz diva whose self-destructive habits overshadowed a distinctive musical talent, was found dead Saturday in her London home, police said. She was 27.

Winehouse shot to fame with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse—with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos—one of music's most recognizable stars.

Police confirmed that a 27-year-old female was pronounced dead at the home in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death was not immediately known. London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene.

An ambulance could be seen parked beneath the trees outside her London home, and the whole street was cordoned off by police tape. Officers kept onlookers away from the scene.

Last month, Winehouse canceled her European comeback tour after she swayed and slurred her way through barely recognizable songs in her first show in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Booed and jeered off stage, she flew home and her management said she would take time off to recover.

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician."

But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet.

The thing about self-destructive behavior is that it often causes one to self-destruct.

It's very sad, but it's a choice.







Rest in Peace.
__________________

Funeral Held Tuesday for Amy Winehouse



Winehouse family in mourning

Betty Ford R.I.P.

Former First Lady Betty Ford passed away on Friday.



Rest in Peace.
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ABC News video.

Peter Falk R.I.P.

Rest in Peace.

Clarence Clemons R.I.P.

Clarence Clemons passed away this evening.

From BruceSpringsteen.net:

It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.

Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.

From the Associated Press:

Clarence Clemons, the larger-than-life saxophone player for the E Street Band who was one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen's life and music through four decades, has died. He was 69.

Clemons was hospitalized about a week ago after suffering a stroke at his home in Singer Island, Fla. He died of complications from the stroke, spokeswoman Marilyn Laverty said Saturday.

Known as the Big Man for his imposing 6-foot-5-inch, 270-plus pound frame, Clemons and his ever-present saxophone spent much of his life with The Boss, and his booming saxophone solos became a signature sound for the E Street Band on many key songs, including "Jungleland," a triumphant solo he spent 16 hours perfecting, and "Born To Run."

In recent years, Clemons had been slowed by health woes. He endured major spinal surgery in January 2010 and, at the 2009 Super Bowl, Clemons rose from a wheelchair to perform with Springsteen after double knee replacement surgery.

But his health seemed to be improving. In May, he performed with Lady Gaga on the season finale of "American Idol," and performed on two songs on her "Born This Way" album.

Clemons said in a 2010 interview with The Associated Press then that he was winning his battles—including severe, chronic pain and post-surgical depression. His sense of humor helped.

"Of all the surgeries I've had, there's not much left to operate on. I am totally bionic," he said.

"God will give you no more than you can handle," he said in the interview. "This is all a test to see if you are really ready for the good things that are going to come in your life. All this pain is going to come back and make me stronger."

An original member—and the oldest member—of the E Street Band, Clemons also performed with the Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia Band, and Ringo Starr's All Star Band. He recorded with a wide range of artists including Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison and Jackson Browne. He also had his own band called the Temple of Soul.

The stage "always feels like home. It's where I belong," Clemons, a former youth counselor, said after performing at a Hard Rock Cafe benefit for Home Safe, a children's charity, in 2010.

It's impossible to imagine the E Street Band without Clarence Clemons. I have so many happy memories of Clarence, so many good times.

First, Danny Federici. And now, Clarence.



This is such an enormous loss. Life is too damn short.

My prayers go out to Clarence's family and loved ones, his friends and bandmates.

Rest in Peace, Clarence.

Jack Kevorkian Dies

Jack Kevorkian is dead.

From the Associated Press:

Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian died in a Detroit area hospital following a short illness at the age of 83, according to a close friend and prominent attorney.

Kevorkian died at 2:30 a.m. Friday after being hospitalized at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak since last month with pneumonia and kidney problems, his attorney Mayer Morganroth said.

An official cause of death had not been determined, but Morganroth said it likely will be pulmonary thrombosis.

"I had seen him earlier and he was conscious," said Morganroth, who added that the two spoke about Kevorkian's pending release from the hospital and planned start of rehabilitation. "Then I left and he took a turn for the worst and I went back."

So, Kevorkian died of natural causes, assuming his "turn for the worst" was the natural course of his illness.

Is that safe to assume?

Rest in Peace.

Gil Scott-Heron R.I.P.

From the Associated Press:

Musician Gil Scott-Heron, who helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetry on songs such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," died Friday at age 62.

A friend, Doris C. Nolan, who answered the telephone listed for his Manhattan recording company, said he died in the afternoon at St. Luke's Hospital after becoming sick upon returning from a European trip.

"We're all sort of shattered," she said.

Scott-Heron's influence on rap was such that he sometimes was referred to as the Godfather of Rap, a title he rejected.

"If there was any individual initiative that I was responsible for it might have been that there was music in certain poems of mine, with complete progression and repeating `hooks,' which made them more like songs than just recitations with percussion," he wrote in the introduction to his 1990 collection of poems, "Now and Then."

He referred to his signature mix of percussion, politics and performed poetry as bluesology or Third World music. But then he said it was simply "black music or black American music."

Rest in Peace.

Jeff Conaway R.I.P.

From KTLA News:

Jeff Conaway, who starred in "Taxi" and "Grease," has died after 2 weeks in a coma.

The 60-year-old actor was taken off life support Friday morning at Encino Hospital.

Conaway was found unconscious on May 11 and was rushed to Encino Hospital Medical Center.

He had apparently been unconscious for nearly 9 hours before anyone found him, manager Phil Brock said.

Conaway had reportedly suffered from pneumonia and sepsis.

Celebrity addiction expert Dr. Drew Pinsky tweeted Friday that Conway was being kept in a Propofol-induced coma.

After learning of his death, Pinsky posted again.

"I'm saddened to report he has succumbed to his addiction, thus far we have no evidence of an intentional overdose, rather this is the natural history of prescription drug addiction, pneumonia, septic shock, etc," he tweeted.

Rest in Peace.

Sidney Lumet R.I.P.

From the Associated Press:

Sidney Lumet, the award-winning director of such acclaimed films as "Network," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "12 Angry Men," has died. He was 86.

Lumet's death was confirmed Saturday by Marc Kusnetz, who is the husband of Lumet's stepdaughter, Leslie Gimbel. He said Lumet died during the night and had suffered from lymphoma.

A Philadelphia native, Lumet moved to New York City as a child, and it became the location of choice for more than 30 of his films. Although he freely admitted to a lifelong love affair with the city, he often showed its grittier side.

Such dramas as "Prince of the City," "Q&A," "Night Falls on Manhattan" and "Serpico" looked at the hard lives and corruptibility of New York police officers. "Dog Day Afternoon" told the true-life story of two social misfits who set in motion a chain of disastrous events when they tried to rob a New York City bank on an oppressively hot summer afternoon.

...He was nominated four times for directing Academy Awards, and although he never won, Lumet did receive an honorary Oscar in 2005 for lifetime achievement. He also received the Directors Guild of America's prestigious D.W. Griffith Award for lifetime achievement in 1993.

12 Angry Men



Network



Dog Day Afternoon



Rest in Peace.

Kurt Cobain

February 20, 1967 - April 5, 1994