OMG. Such a tragedy. What a strange and sad existence he had. I hope he didn’t have a cardiac arrest at the thought of all 50 nights at the O2. I wonder what can have happened. He was only 50. He seemed so frail.
I have never actually been a fan, but listening to him singing Bill Withers “Ain’t No Sunshine” at the age of 11 it is blatantly obvious that his talent surpassed anything that we have seen since.
Whilst he was clearly a legend, he really was a bit of a living tragedy – when you look at the way he allowed himself to be mutilated and I can’t believe how in debt he was.
Is it just that all true artists have to have troubled souls?
June 25th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I know l'm gutted. Grew up with him. Am a big Fan. Same age but for a few weeks. Saw him at Wembley 1988..he was GREAT!
now watch them all try and cash in …
June 25th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I was making dinner and listening to the TV and literally jumped when they announced it. Having said that, all we will hear on every channel now for the rest of the evening is this. The networks are already cancelling everything that was scheduled. Sigh!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:14 am
Can't cash in… he was in 400 million dollars worth of debt. Sad end of an icon of sorts.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
It does seem to be the way that artistic genius is bordered by craziness of sorts, van gogh, mozart and modern day artists too..
June 29th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
What I find sad is that our kids really only experienced the weird/sad/verging on the perverse side of him. I've been trying to tell them that once he was fantastic and a legend and was undoubtedly talented and troubled, etc. They still look at me as if I'm mental.