Thread: WHAM! Star George Michael has Died

Originally Posted by FaithfulOne

I was like, 2016, sheesh!! Folks leavin up outta here!

I know right! It seems that it often happens in threes. I remember when Prince, David Bowie, and Maurice White (of EWF) died, a group of folks became alarmed that many singers/entertainers were passing that they started praying for Stevie Wonder. It was a panic on Facebook.

Originally Posted by Bookman

I'm sorry he's gone, but he wasn't my generation. I don't know a single one of his songs. It'll affect me more when we lose Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, and Frankie Valli. (And NO, Krys, it will NOT affect me when we lose Neil Diamond ).

Nor mine, but I liked some of his songs when he sang with WHAM in the 80's (I was still young, being in my 20's and early 30's). That was BC.

He also had a few good songs after going solo.

Tony Bennett, 90 years old and still going strong, even after his own near fatal death due to a cocaine overdose in 1979. From Wikipedia...

"After a near-fatal cocaine overdose in 1979, Bennett called his sons Danny and Dae for help. "Look, I'm lost here," he told them. "It seems like people don't want to hear the music I make."[16]

Danny Bennett, an aspiring musician himself, also came to a realization. The band Danny and his brother had started, Quacky Duck and His Barnyard Friends, had foundered and Danny's musical abilities were limited. However, he had discovered during this time that he did have a head for business. His father, on the other hand, had tremendous musical talent, but was having trouble sustaining a career from it and had little financial sense. Danny signed on as his father's manager.[63]

Danny got his father's expenses under control, moved him back to New York, and began booking him in colleges and small theaters to get him away from a "Vegas" image.[16][63] After some effort, a successful plan to pay back the IRS debt was put into place.[63] The singer had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director[43] (and would remain with him until Sharon's retirement in 2002).[44] By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and released The Art of Excellence. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.[11]

Thank God for loving, caring children. :)