Entertainers Taken Too Early

[Mr. DS]

I was watching the show 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter and I have to admit it was actually a decently written show that provided a few laughs here and there.  However, it saddened me to think that John Ritter is no longer with us anymore.  The guy seemed to be getting back in the limelight with this show and he made it entertaining. 

I believe a magazine (I think it was People) put out a magazine featuring entertainers taken from us way too early.  Are there particular entertainers you miss and think had a lot more to give us for entertainmet?

[AnubisVonMojo]

Personal heroes that I wish were still around would include Mitch Hedburg and former lead guitar, singer, and writer for Sublime, Brad Nowell. Both had such promising futures ahead of them and both of them cut it way too short with heroin. 

[Allhallowsday]

ELVIS PRESLEY
RICK NELSON
HANK WILLIAMS
JOHN BELUSHI
PAUL LYNDE
TOTIE FIELDS (anyone remember TOTIE?)
HEATH LEDGER
RIVER PHOENIX
MICHAEL HUTCHENCE

There are too many to name...

[HappyGilmore]

Off the top of my head:
Layne Staley- great vocalist.  Wish he'd have gotten his problem under control.
Buddy Holly
Chris Farley
Jim Henson
Mitch Hedberg
Owen Hart


Odd mish mash of people, I know.

[Patient7]

Mitch Hedberg is dead??? That guy was too funny, I can't believe this.  Also Chris Farley, John Belushi, Heath Ledger, and of course, Elvis.  However I think the drugs might have seriously effected him and his onstage performance if he didn't get help.

[Killer Bees]

John Candy's death was tragic.  "I'm a Mog.  Half man, half dog - I'm my own best friend"

Grace Kelly.  So beautiful, so ethereal and so tragically taken from us.  I know she hadn't made any movies for a long time, but at the time she died her kids were all grown up and she wasn't having any more.  So I assumed she'd return to film at some stage.

Heath Ledger. A promising Aussie talent taken much too early.  Don't do drugs kiddies!

Not an Elvis fan or a Michael Hutchence fan but that doesn't mean their deaths weren't awful.  I just wasn't as rocked by the news as the other examples.  That's all I can think of right now.

Every year, I keep my "Dead List".  Whenever I hear in the press about a famous person dying, I write it down in my diary.  It's amazing to look back in past diaries and see who died throught out the year.

[AnubisVonMojo]

Mitch Hedburg is dead??? That guy was too funny, I can't believe this.

Since 2006. The anniversary is just around the corner, sometime in early March. I remember it clearly because it was right around the time Billy, the original Bass Wolf of Guitar Wolf died, only a few scant weeks after I'd seen them for the first and last time at CBGB...

[Allhallowsday]

AnubisVonMojo reminded me of a great artist I saw about 3 weeks before he died in a helicopter crash, STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN.  Remembering that major loss makes me think of the triple titans: JIMI HENDRYX, JANIS JOPLIN and JIM MORRISON. 
There is a book Those Who Died Young which covers some of them, and several others. 

[RCMerchant]

Joey,Dee Dee, and Johnny.  

LON CHANEY Sr. Will Never Die!

  http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tjoae0aD4XM

[AnubisVonMojo]

the triple titans: JIMI HENDRYX, JANIS JOPLIN and JIM MORRISON. 

All three names beginning with 'J' and all died withing a year of each other. 1970-71 was not a good year for rock. 

[Jack]

I went to a Stevie Ray Vaughn concert just a few days before he died.  That was probably the best concert I ever saw.  The emotion, talent, connection with the audience;  just a great time.

Randy Rhoads - guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne back in the early '80s.  He was combining classical music with heavy metal, but was killed in a plane crash.  It would be amazing to see what he would be doing today if he was still alive.

Jimi Hendrix - always loved his music.  So emotional and such a crazy guitar player. 

[HappyGilmore]

Mitch Hedberg is dead??? That guy was too funny, I can't believe this.  Also Chris Farley, John Belushi, Heath Ledger, and of course, Elvis.  However I think the drugs might have seriously effected him and his onstage performance if he didn't get help.

Yeah, Mitch died.  Shame too.

Great comic.

[Allhallowsday]

Always loved JOHN CANDY, especially on his SCTV days playing "Johnny LaRue" paired next to "Sammy Maudlin."  Funny stuff.
Glad to see BELA mention RAMONES and HappyGilmore mention BUDDY HOLLY...
How about:
PATSY CLINE
FRANK ZAPPA
JAMES DEAN
NATALIE WOOD

[RCMerchant]

GILDA RADNER....

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=Co4IBYB5jY0

BRIAN JONES...of the Rolling Stones-

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=yrEXLmUAEOg

[Mr. DS]

Although I'm not a big fan of light music, Karen Carpenter had a beautiful voice and her passing was a sad, tragic one.