Almost all of us have favorite musicians and/or groups to were cut down before their time, or just abruptly just stopped performing. Can you name one person or group you would give thirty more years of performing to? I am looking for your personal single favorite, so no impersonal internet lists, please, and lets not have any “Well, so-and-so would have been my choice but since they have already been picked, I’ll just say such-n-such because nobody has said their name yet” nonsense, please. It is entirely possible for more than one person to make the same choice, y’know.
This is an easy one for me to answer: Freddie Mercury. Queen is one of my all-time bands, and I’m confident that Freddie still would have been writing and performing great music for additional decades had it not been for AIDS.
I find that basically no-one in the popular music sphere has thirty years of “prime”, especially in addition to what they already did, as per the OP.
10 years is a span that most bands’ / artists’ best material fits into, and even very long-term, successful artists that I love, such as David Bowie or Kate Bush, didn’t have 30 years of choice music in them, for me.
Of course, if one is content with arguably lesser material, 30 more years could bring worthy music.
Miley Cyrus’s career has legs (and so does she). She is the Dolly of her generation. Tyler Swift isn’t going away either.
Rock bands? Can’t think of one that is unique enough to last. We are coming to the end of an era of the great rock bands. But groups and individuals will continue to cover it for my lifetime at least. Nothing new has impressed me much to think otherwise.
The California rock band Jellyfish.
They lasted from 1989 to 1994 and put out only two albums.
Without a doubt, Jimi Hendrix. I don’t know whether he reached his peak before he checked out, but I have no doubt that he would have had more contributions to make.
Jerry Garcia died almost 30 years ago (August 9,1995). I certainly would have listened to the Dead for 30 more years.
Linda Ronstadt
I’m going to go with hometown (from Corpus Christi) legend Selena Quintanilla-Perez.
She died just short of turning 24, killed by the manager of her fan group. The day she was killed is one of the few days (other than a rolling past few weeks or so) that I recall in full detail. 30 years plus a few more months since her death would take us to the present day. She was, presumably, not even yet at her peak when she died. My guess is that at 54, she would still likely be performing and writing new music today.
Ian Curtis.
How about a two-fer, since they died together? Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. I don’t know much about the Big Bopper, but those two were young guys who were blowing up big at the time, and probably could have kept going for quite some time if they hadn’t died. What they did record has stood the test of time.
I believe that Amy Winehouse was immensely talented and as amazing as she already was, she was just going to get better with age. I think she would’ve grown into her voice quite nicely. I could see her having a Big Band Lounge-style act with a Vegas residency.
She had this big, powerful voice and as the years went on and she had more time to work with vocal coaches and producers and mentors she was only going to improve. She was lucky to get to work so closely with Mark Ronson. Ignoring his personal life, can you image what Phil Spector could’ve done with that voice?
Keep in mind she’s in the 27 club. She died just a few years after she got huge. We barely got to know her before she was gone.
Another person that I like to think would’ve benefited from 30 more years, is Janis Joplin. Another 27 Club member, another person that seemed like she had so much potential.
But my vote, and this is something that’s crossed my mind in the past, is for Amy Winehouse.
Stan Rogers, Canadian folk singer from the Maritimes.
Died at age 33 in a fire aboard an Air Canada flight in 1983 (probably caused by a smoker in the washroom who didn’t put out their cigarette properly, which led to the ban on smoking on air flights in Canadian airlines.)
Rogers put out four albums during his career, from 1977 to 1981. He had a lot of material prepared, which his brother Garnet put out posthumously, and which showed how he was likely going to develop.
For some reason Discourse isn’t letting me edit the post, so here’s a link to the Wikipedia page on Rogers:
Gershwin.
No love for Jim Morrison yet? He was on a comeback when he died and likly had many good years ahead of him.
Not a musician but I would love to have had 30 more years of Bill Hick’s comedy.
Buddy Holly is the best example of a great musician who died at his peak. He was only 22. Most of the 27 club were already past their prime creative years, especially the ones who succumbed to drugs or suicide.
Honorable mention: Otis Redding
I’d like to have seen more Bon Scott led AC/DC.
They reached their peak with Brian Johnson, and had some really good songs with his lyrics, but I would like to see what they would have done if Bon hadn’t drunk himself to death.
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. . . . . BADFINGER.
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. . . . . All it would’ve taken is less corrupt management, and they would’ve had their thirty years.