Wednesday, April 6, 2005

This Week In Music History

I had no idea that there were so many musical celebrity deaths and suicides this week in music history.  It's odd.  Maybe it has to do with the time change to daylight savings time or something.  It's just odd. 

On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father after a heated argument.  He was killed one day before his 45th birthday.  If you can't trust your own father, who can you trust?

On April 2, 1998, Rob Pilatus of the duo Milli Vanilli was found dead from a drug overdose.  He was only 32. The band had won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1989 but were stripped of the award when it was discovered that they lip-synched on the hit album.

On April 5, 1994, Kurt Cobain committed suicide with shotgun blast to his head.  He was only 27.  It's hard to believe that happened 11 years ago - it just seems like a few years ago when Nirvana was the rage.  In his suicide note, Cobain said he couldn't handle the pressures of fame, and that music wasn't fun anymore. 

On April 6, 1998, Wendy O. Williams committed suicide, also with a gunshot to the head.  She was 48 and had a very active career as the lead singer for the punk group The Plastmatics.  She was arrested several times for lewd behavior while on stage.  One of her most famous incidents was when she appeared on stage with only shaving cream covering up her privates.  I never saw that, but I did see film footage of her destroying a guitar and some amps with a chainsaw. 

On April 6, 1998, the First Lady of Country Music, Miss Tammy Wynette, died from a blod clot while napping on the couch at her Nashville home.  She was 56. The controversy and scandal erupted when one of her daughters claimed that she died from being overmedicated by her husband George Richey.  One year later, her three daughters filed a $50 million lawsuit against Richey and her doctor, claiming that their negligence caused her death. 

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