The three that affected me the most: Princess Di, Jim Henson, and the author, Shel Silverstein. But there was a delayed reaction to each, and I didn’t really feel the full effect right away…I’d read that Shel Silverstein had passed away and a couple of days later, I decided to tell my little girl, since we read the poems in “Where The Sidewalk Ends” too many times to count. She said, “Oh, no more poems!” and burst into tears
and then…so did I. … Jim Henson, same thing. I thought it was a real shocking thing, a real shame, and not until the news channel showed part of his funeral (or memorial) did it hit me, and hard! I always say with complete truth, I cried harder over Jim Henson’s death than my father’s.
Those people had emotional connections to me. I’m seldom devastated by celebrity deaths, by musicians and actors, though I’m saddened in a general way. I figure if you spend your youth snorting, smoking, popping, mainlining drugs, well…no big surprise.
I was very sad when Ed McBain died a few years ago, he wrote a zillion wonderful police procedurals, and I think of him whenever I watch an episode NYPD Blue.
The first one that popped into my head when I saw the thread title was Brittany Murphy, and I’m relieved to see I’m not the only one. I also am not sure why it hit me so hard. Maybe because she was close to my age, maybe it was the time of year (she was buried on Christmas Eve, IIRC). It was just so sad…I really liked a lot of her movies, and she was just quirky and I dunno…cute. Seems like she should have had a long successful career.
And I’m another one who was pretty strongly affected by the death of Princess Diana, which is strange because I wasn’t really a fan. I didn’t hate her or anything, but I thought she was a bit of a drama queen who really knew how to work the media, and who could have handled some things in her life with a bit more class and dignity. I know she did a ton for charity, though, so of course she gets major kudos for that. I just don’t think she was as saintly as she has sometimes been portrayed, nor Charles as evil as he has been portrayed. But I digress…
With Diana, I think I just got swept up in the mass hysteria that seemed to sweep the world that week. It built and built to the crescendo of her funeral, which was very sad and dramatic, and I found myself later that afternoon, crying in a changing room at the mall. I was supposed to be out shopping and having fun with my sister, but I just couldn’t shake the melancholy.
Selena Quintanilla-Perez death really affected me. Well it still does. She died way to young.At the age of 23 and two weeks away from turning 24. Plus she did not deserve to be murdered. She is my favorite latin singer still to this day.
Lisa"Left Eye"Lopes(From TLC girl band)-Her death did not affect me but it was sad. It is to bad that she died they age and way she did.
Aaliyah-Died in such a tragic way. Plus she was only 22 years old.
John Lennon. I wore a black armband to school the next day… the day after, about 20-odd kids and a number of teachers were wearing black armbands as well.
I’m positive I’ll burst in tears when Paul goes. And Ringo.
I knew somebody who took off work when Jerry Garcia passed away back in '94.
I had, just that day, gotten my “mail order” tickets for the last six shows EVER at the Boston Gardens. Thankfully I was “on the bus” for the 7 last ever “Grateful dead” shows…
*When the last bolt of sunshine hits the mountain
And the stars start to splatter in the sky
When the moon splits the southwest horizon
With the scream of an eagle on the fly
*
Even more, Kirsty died saving her children. The speedboat barreling through the dive zone was headed for her two children. She managed to save them but was hit in the head and killed.
Even now I can’t think of the her death without feeling pain at the loss of an utterly brilliant songwriter (easily the equal of Elvis Costello or any songwriter of her generation), frustration at being killed by a rich jerk who - because of a quirk of Mexican law - managed to get a poor employee to take the rap and admiration of her selfless sacrifice for her children.
Oh my god, how did I forget Jerry Garcia? My parents had been promising that one day they would take me to see the Dead, and then he died and I cried for a day. The next week my church had a memorial service for him, and that was probably the first time I ever focused and stayed quiet for a whole church service.
That’s how I feel too – I’m 40, and had a sister two years older, so there was a LOT of Sesame Street in my environment from the moment of birth. I think the thing that hit me most about his death was the knowledge that Ernie and Kermit were both dead as well. No-one else’s voice would sound quite the same.
I thought of another one: Bradley Nowell of Sublime.
Once I heard “What I Got” on the radio, I ran right out and bought the cd. I listened to that thing non-stop for days. It was the best music I’d heard in years. I was exhilarated.
Then I found out Nowell had o.d.'ed and died like a year earlier. It sucked finding a band that I knew was going to be my go-to music only to find out that I was dealing with posthumousness.
A few of us have already mentioned Michael Jackson.
(“Haha”)
I think there’s been a sufficient amount of crazy in this thread now that I can join in and tell the story of my reaction to Michael’s death - I cried. Not a few tears, I full on cried. In the middle of the street. Yes, I was one of those people you saw on the news, except it wasn’t filmed, thank god. Music is my absolute life, it’s my number one interest, and Michael Jackson was my number one artist of all time. I just couldn’t believe it, it was so sudden - he was supposed to start This Is It in two weeks! I’m not ashamed of my reaction, I just wish I was somewhere more private when I found out. Then I had to go to work all day, I was a total zombie. Everyone at work was so nice about it, my boss even gave me a quiet job to do that day, even though inside they probably thought I was insane.
I hope this is okay to link to, but it is basically a continuation of this post - when I wrote about ‘Man In The Mirror’ for my recent blog project, I told the story of my day in much more detail: http://tinyurl.com/33lwdrj
For me, it was the death of Charles M. Schulz, both because of his life’s work’s immense influence on my formative years, and because of how poetic the timing of his death was.
He is, to this day, the only celebrity whose demise has moved me to tears.
When I was in elementary school, I was in a program called “Odyssey of the Mind” - Odyssey of the Mind - Wikipedia. It’s sort of a gifted-and-talented combined short-sketch-and-engineering competition, with a very strong emphasis on having the kids produce creative solutions to strange problems with minimal adult assistance. Great program.
Anyway, the first year I did it must have been 1990 or 1991, and the opening ceremonies included a memorial for Jim Henson, complete with “Rainbow Connection”. I was young enough that I really didn’t understand what the big deal way - I actually didn’t become a Muppet fan until well into adulthood - but that was a sad room.
Looking back on it, and knowing now just what a genuine talent Henson was - that memory hits me harder now than the event itself did then.
