Most influential musician who died too young?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

It seems like a lot of the truly brilliant musicians who have influenced music die way too young.

Who's your choice in this category? Mine is Charlie Parker, who died at 35.

[RevolutionaryActs]

1. I can't pick just one.

Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Michael Hutchence, Marvin Gaye, Karen Carpenter, Keith Moon, Bradley Nowell, Bon Scott and so on.

[Floogeldy]

2. Has to be Buddy Holly.

He put the "pop" into "pop rock." ;)

[dajoki]

5. seconded!!

although many to pick from.

[DanCa]

12. Thirded Not Fade Away is brilliant. (nt)

[leftofthedial]

94. a little plug for his cowriter on that song and his first producer,

Norman Petty.

Buddy Holly was so far ahead of his time in so many ways, it is just beyond me to imagine how he might have changed things had he lived.

RIP Buddy!

[RoyGBiv]

18. Fourthed.

[blondeatlast]

63. Fifthed. nt

[Left Is Write]

65. Definitely Buddy Holly. That was my first thought.

[Bridget Burke]

105. For the early rockers, I'd have to agree..

Since Buddy Holly was such a great writer, as well as a performer.

One of the Crickets wrote "I Fought the Law." So a nod to Bobby Fuller, who also died too early.

[SmileyBoy]

3. Well, you can count out Kurt Cobain.

None of the rock groups after Nirvana wanted to go his route.

I would say Hendrix.

[theophilus]

4. Bix Biederbeck, Mozart, Chopin, John Field. n/t

[hfojvt]

95. not

Mendelssohn?

[enigmatic]

6. Peter Laughner

R.I.P. Peter; I'll never forget you.

http://www.handsomeproductions.com/petersstory.htm

[no name no slogan]

42. No Peter, no US punk (or post-punk)

Rocket from the Tombs were hugely influential, as was Pere Ubu.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Jim Croce

Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
Cass Elliot
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Harry Nilsson
Roy Orbison
Duane Allman
John Bonham
Keith Moon
Terry Kath
John Lennon

To name a few off the top of my head

:cry:

[maveric]

14. All those and Graham Parsons, Lowell George, Patsy Cline.

[blitzen]

8. Hank Williams, 29 n/t

[Starbucks Anarchist]

10. I'm listening to him right now.

:D

It inspired the thread.

[JCMach1]

25. Absolutely-- HANK...

[OzarkDem]

9. A few more

John Lennon
Sam Cooke
Otis Redding

[Hardrada]

24. Brian Jones

Stu Sutcliffe
A number of the Beach Boys
Lynryd Skyrynd Band or however you spell that.

[ghostsofgiants]

11. I don't know how influential he is right nw, but I hope he will be...

Elliott Smith.

[Wapsie B]

13. Damn I was gonna say Charlie Parker too.

Great minds and all that.....

[aquaman]

15. Nick Drake

Amazing musician

[saltpoint]

20. I ditto that, aquaman. And a fine poet, too.

[Catchawave]

16. Richie Valens

[swag]

17. Felix Mendelssohn

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. Seconded, my dear swag.....

Incredible what he did in the few years he did have.......

[swag]

48. No kidding.

He was the John Keats of his art form.

[Aristus]

81. If you're feeling down, his "Italian" symphony will always

pick you right up. What a wonderful piece!

[chookie]

19. Mozart n/t

[NNadir]

22. Duke Ellington.

He was only 75. He had so much to live for.

[Robeson]

23. Sorry, but there's just too many to name....

...there were just so many.

[wickerwoman]

26. John Lennon

He'd only be 65 today and he'd have so much to say about the current situation.

[henslee]

45. Lennon really had the just coolest rock n roll voice, didn't he?

[Swamp Rat]

27. Mozart n/t

[Squeech]

28. Define influential

My kneejerk impulse is to say "Frank Zappa," who hasn't appeared yet in this thread.

Trouble is, he's not much of a living influence. There are no living musicians who do what he did-- combining astute social commentary, theatrical improvisation, and intensely challenging music. And, mirabile dictu, making a decent living at it! I can't think of anyone who even comes close (maybe Robert Fripp, except that he abhors theatricality and his observations on society are either taken piecemeal from Gurdjieff or his own attempts to divest himself of the glamor of stardom). So as an influence, Zappa comes up short: there don't seem to be any contemporary performing/recording artists that have learned anything from him-- not even in the matter of having the personal courage to pursue a truly idiosyncratic musical career.

But certainly, American culture is far the poorer for being without Zappa these last dozen years.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. Someone who broke the rules and/or made new ones.

I'm not too familiar with Zappa's work, but I'm sure he influenced a lot of music, even if it doesn't approach his level or incorporate all of his styles.

[fudge stripe cookays]

30. Jeff Buckley

:cry:

That incredible voice.....I nearly collapsed in tears at the grocery store when I saw the news in People Magazine.

[Bridget Burke]

101. HIs father Tim also checked out early.

He was far more than a "sensitve folky" & was moving in an interesting direction, musically.

[Squatch]

31. Shannon Hoon

[sweetheart]

32. Jimmi Hendrix

and Janis Joplin

[maveric]

57. Makes you wonder where Hendrix would have gone musically.

Before he died, Jimi was experimenting with the Jazz scene.

[sweetheart]

70. yea, he was really long fusion

I'm sure many guitarists like joe satriani
drew inspiration from jimmi's early work.

Yet it is many a fusion band that actually sounds
more like his later work.

[immoderate]

33. Charlie Christian

Christian was the model for playing jazz on the electric guitar. He was abut 25 when he died in 1942. Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Herb Ellis, Kenny Burrell, etc., all get their roots from Charlie Christian.

--IMM

[no name no slogan]

41. He and Django Reinhardt defined jazz guitar

Django also died too young, IMHO.

[immoderate]

55. I'll go with that.

If you haven't discovered him, Bireli Lagrene plays in a style very reminiscent of Django.

--IMM

[anarch]

34. Robert Johnson

Pretty damn inflential. Died pretty damn young.



I dunno, though...I think maybe John Lennon is arguably the most influential musician who died young....

[Starbucks Anarchist]

35. Excellent choice.

:thumbsup:

[aQuArius]

36. Patsy Cline

I love her songs!

[Guava Jelly]

37. bradley knowell

singer from the group sublime.
Died of a heroin overdose
May 25,1996

[Jade Fox]

38. Laura Nyro.....

[blondeatlast]

66. Without Laura, there'd be no Sheryl Crow, alanis Morisette,

ad infinitum.

She's due to be rediscovered, IMHO.

[Jade Fox]

71. Couldn't agree more....

As one of Nyro's obituaries put it, "Many people have been compared to Laura Nyro. Nyro herself was never compared to anyone."

[blondeatlast]

72. Perfect. She was truly an original and vastly underappreciated. nt

[BlueJazz]

39. Clifford Brown. He had the Great ideas and died way to early.

[Burma Jones]

52. Seconded

Brownie was a rare rare musician. He would still be influential, his solo work was extraordinary, he tied the styles of Gillespie and Davis together. He was also clean living, responsible, a Mathematician and, by all accounts, the kind of guy you would want to marry your Daughter.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

60. Amen.

:thumbsup:

[CBHagman]

40. George Gershwin, W.A. Mozart, and Schubert.

When I look at such amazing bodies of work, accomplished in such tragically brief lives, I wonder what the hell I have been doing with my time.

Also, I don't particularly care to live in a world that doesn't have the music of Gershwin, Mozart, and Schubert.

[no name no slogan]

43. Ian Curtis (Joy Division)

Not one of my all-time favorites, but influential on post-punk, nonetheless. Especially these days, with groups like Interpol.

[HuskerDU]

44. For me it is D Boon of the Minutemen.

His music was influencial because it started as punk rock and gradually expanded until his band knew no musical boundries. Plus the Minutemen were wearing flannel and playing occasional accoustic shows in the mid '80's. Those SST bands were a big influence on the 90's explosion.

[ForrestGump]

46. Elvis

So far in this thread are listed Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Gram Parsons and others who were directly influenced by Elvis. I'm sure that others listed here were, if nothing else, influenced by second-generation Elvis-inspired acts, like the Beatles. If we're talking most influential musician who died young, Elvis would seem the natural choice regardless of whether you liked his songs and style or not.

For that matter, if we're talking most influential musician, period, he'd be the prime contender. There is arguably no single musical performer who contributed more, in terms of influence, to the development of popular music -- before Elvis, genres were more distinct and musical influences more diffuse...he brought them together within himself and others heard the news (there's good rockin' tonight) and went with it from there.

Surprising that Elvis wasn't mentioned in this thread until now -- I mean, he's hardly an obscure act or one that ever went unnoticed on the American (and world) cultural landscape -- but, on the other hand, on DU it's really not that surprising at all.

[Kathryn STone]

59. gotta 2nd you re: Elvis

little less conversation little more action sounds just like it was written yesterday got played in a remix in all de clubs. long live Elvis

[Starbucks Anarchist]

61. I'm trying to get into some Elvis.

I know they released an album of 30 of his hits a few years ago. Would you recommend it for a beginner like me?

[ForrestGump]

75. If you're talking about 'One," or whatever it's called

(the one that compiled most of his #1 hits), that's a pretty decent overview of the best-sellers. Some of his best stuff, though, in my opinion, is on more obscure releases, and you might like some of his material from the late '60s that's on compilations like "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" and the Memphis sessions of 1969 that have been released in several forms. Elvis' catalog has been repackaged and recompiled so many times that you can have your pick...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

82. That's the one.

For right now, I just need an overview. Thanks!

[Coventina]

47. W.A. Mozart

But there are a lot of great names in this thread.

:cry:

[babylonsister]

49. Harry Chapin belongs in this category. nt

[likesmountains 52]

50. Townes Van Zandt...sigh

[TomInTib]

69. Townes could haved lived to be a hundred and still died too soon.

Man, I have some great TVZ memories.

[Bridget Burke]

103. His first "serious" song was "Waitin' 'Round to Die"

Which I heard him play at Sand Mountain Coffee House. His album "The Late, Great, Townes van Zandt" came out while he was still alive. A friend tossed him a birthday party when he outlived Hank Williams--a big influence. But he did die on New Year's Day--although not in a Cadillac.

Townes was a heavy influence on at least one generation of Texas Singer/Songwriters. Unfortunately, too many of them emulated his substance abuse problems rather than his musical talents.

I missed the Houston showing of "Be Here To Love Me"--the new movie about Townes. But the DVD is available. www.townesthemovie.com/home.html

[Ramsey]

51. Jim Morrison

A truly creative spirit

[Burma Jones]

53. Tough, lets see....

Jazz: Bird, Brownie, Charlie Christian, John Coltrane

Classical: Mozart, Schubert

Rock/Pop/Country: Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Hank Williams - Big Time

also..Gram Parsons, Richie Valens, Harry Chapin,

[long_green]

54. I don't see Otis Redding, though I may not have looked closely enough

Otis was only in his 20's when he died. People may be surprised to know that he wrote and produced many of his greatest songs.
Number one on this list has to be Buddy Holly. If he had lived, pop music would have taken a different course.

[no name no slogan]

56. I was just thinking that myself

Otis was amazing. A true renaissance man at a time when even Stevie Wonder wasn't allowed to produce his own stuff. There's so much more to him then just "Dock of a Bay". Great singer, great guitarist, great songwriter.

[B3Nut]

98. Otis was a national treasure IMHO

An amazing soul singer and writer. Coupled with the arranging genius of Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper and the Stax crew, he made some of the best soul music ever. I have yet to hear anything that can top it.

Another jazzer, while not as influential as Bird or some others mentioned here, who died too young was Larry Young, AKA Khalid Yasin. He took the Hammond organ in a free-jazz direction, well away from the soul-jazz/blues-based style of Jimmy Smith (RIP). His stuff with Tony Williams Lifetime (which had John McLaughlin on guitar) was insane..."Emergency" and "Allah Be Praised" have some really out-there improvisation going on, amazing playing on those cuts.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

58. I was just thinking Sam Cooke and Otis Redding

[WritingIsMyReligion]

62. Most of the jazzers--Bird, etc.

All on drugs---all died WAY too early. :(

[bertha katzenengel]

64. Personally: Jim Croce. Age 30. One of my influences as I learned

to play a guitar.

[KT2000]

67. Janis!!

Janis Joplin opened many doors for women who came after her.

[zanne]

74. I agree.

Heard "Piece of MY Heart" on the radio yesterday and couldn't help but shake my head. I wish she could have stayed around long enough to at least be recognized as a great talent.

[riona]

97. yes!

[blondeatlast]

68. Billie Holliday at 44. nt

[Hand]

73. Stan Rogers...

Likely the greatest Canadian folk singer ever. He died at age 34 in an airplane mishap in Cincinnati. Survivors remembered a big bald guy with a beard throwing people clear of the plane. That was him.

So was this:


1: Westward from the Davis Strait 'tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient for which so many died;
Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones.

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

2: Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain.

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

3: And through the night, behind the wheel, the mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea.

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

4: How then am I so different from the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away.
To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again.

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.

:cry: :applause: :toast:

http://www.stanrogers.net

[GoddessOfGuinness]

89. I didn't discover him until after he'd died...

I have every cd that was put out. :cry:

[Hand]

93. Nor did I.

He really was just beginning to become well known beyond Canada when he died. I didn't hear anything of Stan's until I moved to Canada 15 years ago. Since I live in Nova Scotia, his early eastern Canada songs like "Make and Break Harbour" never fail to bring a tear. He was a big-hearted guy.

[Bridget Burke]

104. He was returning from the Kerrville (Tx) Folk Festival when he died.

A New England folkie who toured often through Houston sang "Barrett's Privateers" & got all of us to sing along.

Stan Rogers was a fine alternative to our Tragically Hip Cowboy Singer/Songwriters & I wish I could have seen him live.

[APPLE314]

76. NERO

[Arkham House]

77. Bird, Mozart, George Gershwin

Bird, of course. I believe, had he lived to a ripe old age, he would have been capable of revolutioning jazz again. How we would have done so I can't imagine--it's the prerogative of genius, to do what others can't imagine...but he would *not* have coasted, played it safe... Mozart? He died just as Beethoven was about to launch the Romantic Era in music. Imagine a Mozart living until the 1830s for a moment...using the oipened-up techniques that Beethoven pioneered, that Mozart himself would have grasped immediately, and==in my opinion--surpassed Ludwig Von...imagine what Mozart's symphonies in the 1800-1830 era would have been like...I can't, really...but it's heart-breaking... And Gershwin. He was only 39, and beginning a new phase in his career--*Porgy and Bess*, imperfect as it is, was the beginning of a new plateau for him. God knows what he might have done in the 1940-70 ear...something we can't imagine...all three losses make me cry...

[LibDemAlways]

78. John Lennon, and not just

for his music but his political sensibilities as well.

[Ron Green]

79. Also - Scott LaFaro.

Revolutionized the jazz trio with his virtuosity and extended melodic lines (on the bass, of course) - and died tragically at age 29, I think.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

83. He died only a week after Bill Evans' Village Vanguard album was released.

If I recall correctly.

[Ron Green]

84. That's right . . . it was just a club gig (you can hear the glasses

clinking and people talking), but it truly represents a pinnacle of trio jazz. To me every track is a jewel.

[liberaltrucker]

80. Janis, Jimi, Ronnie Van Zant, Buddy Holly, Jim Croce(sp)

And, definitely Charlie Parker. And, let's not forget Miles Davis.
Yes, he was up in years, but would have had SO much more to contribute.

[Bear down under]

85. Beethoven

He was only 56. Listen to the last quartets and think, what would music be like if he'd lived to 70 or 80?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

90. Hear, hear!

Welcome to DU! :toast::hi:

[Texasgal]

86. Stevie Ray Vaughn...

He died WAY too soon. :cry:

[Ilsa]

88. I was writing up my post as you were posting!

Beat me by a song!

We Texas gals love our SRV!

[Texasgal]

92. That's right!

He was amazing...simply amazing...

[Ilsa]

87. Stevie Ray Vaughn. Patsy Cline.

I love me some SRV. I got to sit backstage at a concert at AquaFest in Austin in 1985.
I know someone who has his jacket (bought at auction) and it still had some gum (Chiklets?) in the pocket. He mounted the jacket and the gum.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

91. Tchaikovsky

Even though he didn't like Brahms. :)

[skyblue]

96. Joey Ramone, Nico, Joe Strummer

[imperialismispasse]

99. Hendrix for sure

[Sequoia]

100. Bob Marley.

[Shell Beau]

102. Entirely too many! You know "only the good die young"

I LOVE Stevie Ray Vaughn, so I'll say him, but there sooo many more.