I checked - and while you can get Medicare if you haven’t paid in for 10 years , there is a premium for Part A which could be as much as $505 per month. (Depending on how many quarters were paid in) which may not be any more affordable than insurance for those under 65.
But still, he should have paid in for at least ten years if he was working at all and not living off savings.
Yes, you’re absolutely right. That said, either he or his spouse will have had to have worked the ten years. As she’s American (?), I can’t imagine that she doesn’t have ten years’ work history in the US (I’d also think he did, unless he hasn’t been paying tax on his gig earnings).
I’m not going to say who I am (don’t speculate because I will not say, that’s the end) but I am much in the same position as Denny Laine. I am Canadian/American but I have not lived in Canada for at least 45 years.
The music I’m semi-famous for is ridiculously out of fashion and I don’t engage with the few fans there are. I would be surprised if anyone under 40 has heard of me. I was also mostly a sideman, but unlike Denny Laine, I never made solo material.
I live in an hostel for very cheap rent, and I have complications from hypercoagulation. So far, two double bypasses, and a triple stent insertion, around 6 surgeries total. I did qualify for medicaid so that paid for the surgeries but currently I do not have any health insurance. I do have a straight job and I used that benefit until they refused to pay my rehabilitation costs as I’m still relearning to walk. I feel I don’t have enough life left to fight with them, so I fired them. I am paying $400 a month by arrangement with the rehabilitation facility, but they discharged me way too early…
My entire savings came from winning an unemployment dispute and it is meager. Being in groups and such was no more lucrative for me than working at a convenience store.
This is going to seem very morbid, but I wish to die first before I have to set up a crowdfund to pay for it. I’ve already died twice because of all the complications (both septic shock). I know much of the secret of the Rainbow Bridge (not all though), and while I’m not eager to get there, it’s very comforting to know that my turn will be soon. I figure it will come in the next 2 to 5 years. I won’t know what hit me in the most likely scenario – one of four aneurysms will burst and I will be gone before I hit the floor. This is actually an extremely happy, comforting thought to me and I can’t think of a better way to go out.
Assuming that he was a U.S. resident for a fair amount of his career, and paying U.S. income taxes and Medicare taxes during that time.
Laine appears to be a U.S. resident now, but I have no idea for how long that’s actually been the case.
Oof.
All I can say is … may all of your tomorrows be better than any of your yesterdays.
I’m terminal, and your story brought a tear to my eye.
Wherever you end up, I hope the music is sweet and the players are the coolest you’ve ever met.
This first hand account jibes with what I’ve learned about the music business over the decades.
martyg,
I’m pretty certain your ‘ridiculously out of fashion’ music is being listened to by a surprising number of people to this day. I’m pretty fringe-y in my tastes, but still, there’s no shortage of fans to fan the fandom flames with. Not that it helps to pay the bills, such is the system / market today (creators need not earn).
I would like that to be the case but I’d say about 5-10% of the material by my peers is cancelled on Discogs, not allowed on their platform, which is their right. They have this kneejerk reaction that if I mention Axis Sally, I must be a Nazi sympathizer, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Exploring human transgression to further knowledge is not the same as subscribing to the beliefs and some people have a hard time wrapping their heads around that concept.
One of the bigger things in the scene that I remember is Flux of Pink Indians’ second album, the one with the title that got them prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act in Britain. I looked it up and while it has a Youtube presence there aren’t a huge amount of views – around 2500 at the most. This to me is as good an indicator of its place in today’s society. That’s virtually nil.
I’m comparing me to Denny Laine in the sense that yes I have appeared on stuff supported by major labels, so I feel I qualify as a sideman just like he was to McCartney. While he had a presence up until he left Wings, after that he just appeared to vanish unless you were paying attention – for 40 years. If he had never been in Wings or the Moody Blues and his most notable credit was Ginger Bakers Air Force we’d be in the exact same position.
Update: He’s dead.
FWIW, I saw him live about 8 years ago as part of a “British Invasion” lineup along with Chad and Jeremy, Billy J. Kramer, Peter (sans Gordon) , and some rump version of the Searchers. The headliner was supposed to be Gerry and the Pacemakers, but Gerry Marsden was ill, so Laine filled in as the final act. The rest of the show was pretty low energy due to the age (and an unaccountable absence of any kind of stage presence) of the performers.
But Denny Laine saved that show. He was very much a front man with a great audience report and lots of fun stories. That was kind of surprising since I mostly knew him as the quiet guy standing behind Paul McCartney. He played a lot of early Moody Blues and Wings stuff rather than his more obscure solo work because he knew that’s what the audience wanted to hear.
mcCartney on Threards, probably also Twitter
Denny was an important part of Rock N Roll history. He was the guy that stayed in Wings the longest.
It was bad timing that resulted in him leaving the Moody Blues just before they hit it big.
Thank you for the great music.
RIP
I don’t really think what the Moodys did after he left was really Denny’s bag. Days of Future Passed wouldn’t have happened with him and Warwick in the band. Nor would it have happened without their replacements, Hayward and Lodge.
I would help someone in here first.
I also am not very trusting…