Patsy Cline
Hank Williams
Reverand Grady Nutt "Comic"
Jim Croce
Robin Williams

Buddy Holly
River Phoenix
Selena
Jonathan Brandis
Heath Ledger

I believe all left us when they were too young with so much left to give the world.

HollywoodBQ said:

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I see John Bonham on several lists.
I think he is such a legend because he burned out so fast.

I've met Jason and he was cool. But we've also seen Jason on reality TV.

I don't think any of us would want to see the legend of John Bonham turn into an Ozzy style reality show in his older years.

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So because Jason did a hardly seen reality show on VH-1 for a brief period you think John would have become a reality TV ***** like Sharon's puppet?

Darryl Kile
Jose Lima
Chris Cornell
River Phoenix
Janis Joplin

Otis Redding is the one that bums me out the most. Also:

Herb Brooks
Ernie Davis
Steve Irwin

Heath Ledger
SRV
Layne Stanley
Ronnie Van Zant
Darryl Kile

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Know Your Enemy said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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I see John Bonham on several lists.
I think he is such a legend because he burned out so fast.

I've met Jason and he was cool. But we've also seen Jason on reality TV.

I don't think any of us would want to see the legend of John Bonham turn into an Ozzy style reality show in his older years.

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So because Jason did a hardly seen reality show on VH-1 for a brief period you think John would have become a reality TV ***** like Sharon's puppet?

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He just wanted to brag about meeting Jason, like 99% of his posts are.

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Yeah, good point.

Sorry you never even had your car Brian.
I met Vin Diesel too. He's pretty much at the top of my celebrity ratings. Came to my kid's softball game, hung out, signed everybody's stuff, took pictures with everybody and was just cool AF. A really nice guy.

My point was that had some of these people lived, we don't know what they would have turned in to.

In the case of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant hasn't been able to hit the high notes for two decades so it's not like Led Zep would still be out there on tour like the Rolling Stones or something.

Arrrgh... Dammit.

Brian, you got me to thinking about various celebs I've met and I realised I've got one to add to the list here if we're including athletes.

Australian Cricket legend Shane Warne.
Died at age 52 in 2022. He was doing a lot to promote the game globally.

And he once ordered a beer next to me at the Qantas First Class Lounge at LAX (now that's a brag - they don't normally let trailer trash like me into the First Class Lounge). Funny deal because I recognised the voice first and then I realised that the reason that guy sounds like Shane Warne was because he is Shane Warne.

Warnie's death was a major loss to both Cricket and Australia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Warne

Edit: OMG - reading up on Warnie, Andrew Symonds died in 2022 also. He was one of the premier Cricketers when I moved to Australia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Symonds

HollywoodBQ said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Know Your Enemy said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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I see John Bonham on several lists.
I think he is such a legend because he burned out so fast.

I've met Jason and he was cool. But we've also seen Jason on reality TV.

I don't think any of us would want to see the legend of John Bonham turn into an Ozzy style reality show in his older years.

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So because Jason did a hardly seen reality show on VH-1 for a brief period you think John would have become a reality TV ***** like Sharon's puppet?

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He just wanted to brag about meeting Jason, like 99% of his posts are.

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Yeah, good point.

Sorry you never even had your car Brian.
I met Vin Diesel too. He's pretty much at the top of my celebrity ratings. Came to my kid's softball game, hung out, signed everybody's stuff, took pictures with everybody and was just cool AF. A really nice guy.

My point was that had some of these people lived, we don't know what they would have turned in to.

In the case of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant hasn't been able to hit the high notes for two decades so it's not like Led Zep would still be out there on tour like the Rolling Stones or something.

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Well since it's about "untimely deaths" it's no surprise that most of them lived rough lives. Even SRV who died in a helicopter crash damn near killed himself with drugs before he got clean & died so he would have been a major risk to relapse had he not been killed in the crash.

And as far as Zeppelin goes, they did play in 2007 and sounded pretty ****ing great. The reason they never toured again is because of how tight Plant was with Bonzo. He didn't want to continue Zeppelin without his best friend, no because of his singing abilities.

As Doug Stanhope says, maybe it's better that some artists die young. Hendrix was maybe done with his best material and if he was alive now he'd be doing lame super bowl shows.

Hendrix was only 27 years old. There's no way he was done.

One show in 2007 (with Jason on drums) is a lot different than touring, recording, etc. so I'm going to leave Led Zep right there.

A lot of folks on people's lists here ended in suicide or drug/alcohol overdoses. In those situations, they decided they were finished.

The ones who died in accidents like SRV, or were murdered like Phil Hartman, might have still had a lot to offer.

I was a massive Philip Seymour Hoffman fan for instance but he decided it was over unfortunately. I'm sure he could have made many more great movies but I think what he left us with was pretty good.

Similar to say James Dean who was killed in a car crash. His limited body of work was great. We never had to see him taking crappy roles trying to cling to stardom.

Mitch Hedberg.

Can Jagger still hit the high notes?

Old school answer:
James Dean
Marilyn Monroe
Buddy Holly
Richie Valens
The Big Bopper

Know Your Enemy said:

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Can Jagger still hit the high notes?

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It's easier on a singer if you could never hit them or never wrote them in the first place.

Compare Jagger on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Start Me Up" or "Brown Sugar" to Plant on just about anything but maybe - "The Immigrant Song" or "Rock and Roll" would be some good examples.

After all, the Maroon 5 song isn't called "Screams like Jagger", it's "Moves Like Jagger".

As far as aging vocalists who could still do it, Ronnie James Dio was the gold standard.

You gotta respect Robert Plant for not wanting to go out and deliver a performance he's not happy with. If all that he and the other members of Led Zep cared about was money, I'm sure they would have a long running Las Vegas residency.

Here's a 1973 live performance of "Rock and Roll" with Plant leaving out all the high notes.

The problem with your argument is that Plant has continued playing Zeppelin songs live for the past couple decades.

Just get Randy to sing it.

Know Your Enemy said:

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The problem with your argument is that Plant has continued playing Zeppelin songs live for the past couple decades.

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Nothing that requires upper end notes from his range of his prime.

maroon barchetta said:

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Know Your Enemy said:

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The problem with your argument is that Plant has continued playing Zeppelin songs live for the past couple decades.

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Nothing that requires upper end notes from his range of his prime.

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He played Going To California as recently as 2019. Same for Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Black Dog, Whole Lotta Love (2018), Rock & Roll (2018), Ramble On. He even played ****ing Immigrant Song in 2019. Both of you are flat out wrong.

He's not singing those anywhere close to what he used to do though. Yeah, he's playing them and singing them. But not like people are used to.

maroon barchetta said:

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He's not singing those anywhere close to what he used to do though. Yeah, he's playing them and singing them. But not like people are used to.

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and surely not night after night as HollywoodBBQ suggested as a Vegas residency to cash in.

Then your argument is different than HollywoodBQ's.

62strat said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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He's not singing those anywhere close to what he used to do though. Yeah, he's playing them and singing them. But not like people are used to.

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and surely not night after night as HollywoodBBQ suggested as a Vegas residency to cash in.

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The **** does this even mean? Yeah, Immigrant Song was a one off but the rest were in his set list every ****ing night. Is it OK because it's not a Vegas residency?

so across 100 shows in 2018/2019, he sprinkled in a few songs that have high register parts, mixed in with plenty of stuff that was easy to sing. His shows look to all have been 12-15 songs.. that's not a whole lot.

whole lotta love 15 times, immigrant song once, ramble on 30 times.. out of 100 shows.

There isn't much left to argue. Yes he can sporadically/occasionally hit some high notes when he needs. But I doubt he could do all zeppelin, or even these 4-5 zep songs every show, over and over again, like a real LZ tour, or residency would entail.

Dio was doing it in mid 60s, all night, all his songs for a longer setlist.

That still leaves 20+ years where they could have continued had Bonham not died even if you believe he couldn't still be doing it now.

Know Your Enemy said:

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That still leaves 20+ years where they could have continued had Bonham not died even if you believe he couldn't still be doing it now.

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Assuming Plant and Page could have coexisted that long.

4 pages in and I didn't see anyone mention Tupac.

I'm not a huge Tupac fun but it feels like he had so much more to offer the world.

Know Your Enemy said:

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That still leaves 20+ years where they could have continued had Bonham not died even if you believe he couldn't still be doing it now.

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oh absolutely they probably would have continued (or split and reunited) up until Y2K and even into 2000s.. just like all the legacy acts.

but I thought we were talking pure vocal skill in old age.

Bruce Almighty said:

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jwag said:

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Anthony Bourdain
PS Hoffman
Heath Ledger
MCA (Beastie Boys)
Bruce Lee

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I'm curious about the MCA pick. The Beastie Boys weren't relevant for almost 15 years when he died.

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Wrong. I mean, maybe to a casual fan who had only heard License to Ill. But Hot Sauce Committee came out less than a year before he died. Very relevant to those who were fans, and certainly would have put out more albums.

NoahAg said:

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Bruce Almighty said:

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jwag said:

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Anthony Bourdain
PS Hoffman
Heath Ledger
MCA (Beastie Boys)
Bruce Lee

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I'm curious about the MCA pick. The Beastie Boys weren't relevant for almost 15 years when he died.

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Wrong. I mean, maybe to a casual fan who had only heard License to Ill. But Hot Sauce Committee came out less than a year before he died. Very relevant to those who were fans, and certainly would have put out more albums.

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I mean, the Beastie Boys were no more when he died. Pretty damn significant.

texag06ish said:

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4 pages in and I didn't see anyone mention Tupac.

I'm not a huge Tupac fun but it feels like he had so much more to offer the world.

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That's because he is still alive.