The RIP Famous Person Thread

[harrybarracuda]

Fuck me Prince died.



Prince died earlier today (April 21) at age 57 at his Paisley Park home and studio, according to TMZ.

TMZ reported earlier that police had been investigating a fatality there.

Prince was hospitalized last week after his plane for was forced to make an emergency landing in Moline, Ill. Released a few hours later, a rep told TMZ that he had been battling a bad case of the flu.

One of the most iconic musicians in music history, Prince's extensive career grew out of the music scene of his native Minneapolis, where he lived his entire life. His 1978 debut album For You and self-titled second LP, released in October 1979, kicked off an incredibly prolific run of albums that included 1999, Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Sign O The Times and Batman, among others, throughout the 1980s at a clip of nearly one per year, evolving with each release.

It was 1984's Purple Rain -- his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 -- released in conjunction with the film of the same name, that cemented him as one of the greatest artists of his generation, earning him two Grammys, and Oscar and a victory over Michael Jackson's Thriller for Favorite Pop/Rock Album at the 1985 American Music Awards. Along the way, he worked with several bands under a series of pseudonyms, including The Time, the New Power Generation and The Revolution, as both frontman and producer.

Prince was also known for his eponymous Love Symbol, created in protest against his longtime record label Warner Bros., under which he released an album in 1992. His 18th and final album for the label, 1996's Chaos and Disorder, finally released him from his contract.

As a recording artist, Prince was legendary for his prolific and perfectionist nature which allowed him to release a steady slew of material as he experimented in the studio; as a result, unreleased b-sides and bootlegs have become highly sought-after collectibles for die-hard fans, and his infamous "vault" of recordings has become the stuff of legend.

Story developing.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...22/prince-dead

[blue]

wonder what he died of?

he had 3 or 4 very good songs
I was going to verify that on youtube but they appear to be few there....
at least ones with sound ...

[Mathos]

Prince. Flobo was quite a fan, I did take her to see him at The O2 in London,
probably 2007?

Prince has reportedly been found dead at his
recording studios in Minneapolis.

Gossip site TMZ claims police were called to the
property on Thursday morning.

A reporter from local TV station KSTP, Farrah Fazal,
tweeted this afternoon:

"BREAKING: Deputies say they are now doing
"death investigation"
at Prince's PaisleyPark recording studios
near Minneapolis. @ KSTP."

According to TMZ, authorities responded to a medical emergency at his property on Thursday at about 9.43am.




The Carver County Sheriff's department in Chanhassen,
Minnesota has confirmed there has been a fatality,
and they're notifying next of kin.

The news comes days after the 57-year-old singer
was released from hospital after a bout of flu.



After his sold-out performance in Atlanta on
Thursday, April 14 his private jet made an
unscheduled landing at
Quad City International Airport in Illinois.

From there the Purple Rain star was taken to hospital.


According to TMZ, he was released three hours later,
returned to his plane and was taken home.

Just days later he was pictured cycling around
Paisley Park and held a party for fans at Paisley Park.



Prince at Electric Ballroom

Saying his last farewell,



Photographs provided by Mirror.


Neil McCormick

12:07AM BST 02 Aug 2007






Prince opened his 21-night O2 Arena residency with a crowd-pleasing Gospel sing-along Purple Rain complete with incendiary guitar solo. Dancers dressed in purple waved purple flags beneath purple lights. The message was not exactly subtle - the purple reign had begun as it means to go on, with the kind of explosion of musicality and showmanship that would be saved for the climax of a performance by a less abundantly gifted and super-confident artist.


The priapic midget, who has concocted some kind of personal mythology equating sex and spirituality, conducts his shows as multi-orgasmic events in which one climax detonates after another. It was a context in which a sensational cover of The Beatles' Come Together took on a whole new light.


One of the greatest performers of the modern age, Prince has an arsenal of musical weaponry at his disposal and he's not afraid to use it all. His guitar-playing - whether rhythmic, soulful funk chords, or flaring heavy rock leads - is some of the best you'll hear anywhere. His singing switches between seductive whisper, raw-throated scream and impossibly sweet falsettos. And when he is neither singing nor playing, he is executing nimble dance moves. Most of all, he genuinely seems to be having fun with both audience and band.


A hugely accomplished unit of bass, double keyboards and drums, augmented by four horns, two backing singers and a couple of sexy dancers (de rigeur at a Prince show), they manage the impressive feat of sounding syncopated even in a cavernous, booming arena.


A tightly rehearsed jazz-soul-funk-rock-machine, they nonetheless manage to perform with almost improvisational spirit. "This is real music by real musicians," Prince boasts. In our over-sequenced era, this is assuredly a live show.

It is not, however, a greatest hits show. After three decades and almost 40 albums, some hits are bigger than others. Kiss gets a roar of recognition, but there are long stretches when only the most obsessive Prince collector could be sure exactly what he was playing. He has apparently rehearsed 130 songs for his residency - presumably if you want to be sure of hearing your personal favourites you'd have to buy a ticket for every night.

With a band this hot and a performer this exceptional, you don't have to know the song to get off on the groove. Dancing around a symbol-shaped stage set in the centre of the arena - which created a genuine sense of proximity wherever you were seated - Prince conducts his shows like an intimate house party and for the opening night, the audience certainly entered into the spirit. Some people almost seemed to be having too much fun. An embarrassingly enthusiastic dancer, invited to show his moves on stage, eventually had to be removed by bouncers.

The natives may not have all the right moves but, joining in a lilting La La La London, they showed they appreciate good music when they hear it.


Definitely real music by real MUSICIANS.

Must say, the show was outstanding in every aspect.

RIP Prince.

He was brilliant.

[HermantheGerman]

Definitely real music by real MUSICIANS.

Must say, the show was outstanding in every aspect.

RIP Prince.

He was brilliant.

...so right.

He was a musical GENIUS !

[Chittychangchang]

Original PG Tips chimp passes away



Choppers was put to sleep after suffering from heart and kidney failure, the zoo confirmed.

At age 48, the chimp had a colourful life appearing in the famous PG Tips adverts which ran from the 1960s to 1980s.

The chimp first came to attention of zoo keepers at Twycross in Leicestershire after he was rescued from poachers in Liberia by a British couple.

Her caretakers say she was known for her gentle nature.

In 2014, the zoo said the decision to promote the apes on television had been wrong and that the animals were affected as result.

Last January, Choppers returned to the small screen in a Channel 5 documentary charting the story of the lives of the original PG Tips chimps.
"Choppers was a much-loved member of Twycross Zoo's chimpanzee group and she will be sadly missed by all staff at the zoo, as well as her numerous fans."

– TWYCROSS ZOO





RIP

[misskit]

That's heartbreaking news about Prince.

What on earth caused his death at only 57 years old?

[slackula]

The Artist Formerly Known As Alive.

[blue]

TMZ, the gossip site, claimed that he had been treated for a drug overdose days before his death.
They said his plane made an emergency landing in Illinois on Friday so that the singer could be taken to hospital for a "save shot" - typically administered to counteract the effects of an opiate. Doctors wanted him to remain in hospital, but when they were unable to provide a private room Prince and his entourage left.

[Sumbitch]

Prince's girlfriend ALSO died this year aged 57: Vanity and singer had wild drug-fueled affair in the 1980s but her years of crack addiction were followed by kidney failure

• Vanity - real name Denise Matthews - was part of Prince-run group called the Vanity 6 when she dated him
  
• The pair partied wildly but her life spiraled out of control because of a crack cocaine habit
  
• She came so close to death from renal failure in 1994 that she was told she could be gone in three days
  
• Became sober and a Christian evangelist but suffered more health problems and was crowdfunding for a kidney transplant
• In February she died in intensive care after her kidneys gave up, with her death being announced by MC Hammer

[kmart]

RIP Prince. His last album was pretty good. Well received by critics and fans both. Was just listening to it on the 'plane back here last night.. Bit spooky to just hear the news of his death this morning.

Very influential and prolific artist in the '80's and beyond. Didn't know he had a drug habit until recently. Sad.

[Sumbitch]

RIP Prince.

RIP from me too.

[harrybarracuda]

Original PG Tips chimp passes away



Choppers was put to sleep after suffering from heart and kidney failure, the zoo confirmed.

At age 48, the chimp had a colourful life appearing in the famous PG Tips adverts which ran from the 1960s to 1980s.

The chimp first came to attention of zoo keepers at Twycross in Leicestershire after he was rescued from poachers in Liberia by a British couple.

Her caretakers say she was known for her gentle nature.

In 2014, the zoo said the decision to promote the apes on television had been wrong and that the animals were affected as result.

Last January, Choppers returned to the small screen in a Channel 5 documentary charting the story of the lives of the original PG Tips chimps.
"Choppers was a much-loved member of Twycross Zoo's chimpanzee group and she will be sadly missed by all staff at the zoo, as well as her numerous fans."

– TWYCROSS ZOO





RIP

"Dad, do you know the piano's on my foot?"

"You 'um it son, I'll play it".

Halcyon days

[harrybarracuda]

Former Thai PM Banharn Silpa-archa dies at 83



BANGKOK (AFP) - Veteran Thai politician and former premier Banharn Silpa-archa died on Saturday (April 23) at the age of 83, a Bangkok hospital said.

"Banharn Silpa-archa passed away peacefully," said a statement from Siriraj hospital, where he was admitted with asthma on Thursday.

Born to a Chinese family in central Suphan Buri province in 1932, Mr Banharn was first elected an MP in the seventies and went on to become Thailand's 21st prime minister in 1995.

He stepped down the following year following a string of scandals and a bruising no-confidence debate in parliament.

His Chart Thai party nevertheless remained a key coalition partner in governments led by then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the rival Democrat Party, earning the nickname "eel" for its slippery alliances.

Mr Banharn was banned from Thai politics for five years in 2008 and his party was dissolved for electoral fraud alongside other parties in the Thaksin-backed government.

But he continued to wield influence as an advisor to the party after it was reincarnated under a different name.

Mr Banharn, who also managed a handful of ministerial portfolios in the 1990s, is survived by three children, two of whom have also led careers in government.

Former Thai PM Banharn Silpa-archa dies at 83, SE Asia News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

[kmart]

^RIP to the Chimp.

[VocalNeal]

^^^ +^^ Didn't know either but i'd go to the chimps funeral.

[harrybarracuda]

Mrs Jones will be sad.


Billy Paul, 'Me and Mrs. Jones' singer, dies at 81
BY CHRISTOPHER ROSEN



Billy Paul, the R&B singer best known for “Me and Mrs. Jones,” died Sunday at age 81. Paul’s death was announced on his website.

“We regret to announce with a heavy heart that Billy has passed away today at home after a serious medical condition,” a statement on Paul’s site read. “We would like to extend our most sincere condolences to his wife Blanche and family for their loss, as they and the world grieves the loss of another musical icon that helped pioneered todays R&B music. Billy will be truly missed.”

Paul’s manager told Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate the singer was hospitalized last week after being diagnosed with cancer.

Born Paul Williams on Dec. 1, 1934, Billy Paul was a fixture in the Philadelphia soul scene, and won a Grammy for “Me and Mrs. Jones,” his biggest hit. Among Paul’s fans is Questlove, who is quoted on the singer’s website as calling Paul “one of the criminally unmentioned proprietors of socially conscious post-revolution ’60s civil rights music.”

Billy Paul dead: 'Me and Mrs. Jones' singer dies at 81 | EW.com

[Davis Knowlton]

quoted on the singer’s website as calling Paul “one of the criminally unmentioned proprietors of socially conscious post-revolution ’60s civil rights music.”

Wow! Babbling reaches new heights.....

[Gazza]

^
Roughly translates as ''He was a one-hit wonder.''

[harrybarracuda]

From his Wiki page:

Paul's career took an unexpected turn when he was drafted into the Armed Services. He recalled:

"I went in, in 1957, and I was stationed with Elvis Presley and Gary Crosby - Bing Crosby's son. We were in Germany and we said we're going to start a band, so we didn’t have to do any hard work in the service. We tried to get Elvis to join but he wanted to be a jeep driver.

But I never knew this:

But Paul's massive success was short lived. The follow-up single - "Am I Black Enough for You?" failed to reach the heights of "Mrs. Jones" with the song's Black Power political message proving too much for mainstream radio's taste.

Yeah, that wouldn't have gone down well with honky would it?

[palexxxx]

quoted on the singer’s website as calling Paul “one of the criminally unmentioned proprietors of socially conscious post-revolution ’60s civil rights music.”

Wow! Babbling reaches new heights.....

Jeff would have been proud.

[harrybarracuda]

Hmm reported today but happened back in February.

Purple Rain Cinematographer Dies At 81

By WENN in Movies / TV / Theatre on 29 April 2016



The veteran filmmaker passed away at his home in Tucson, Arizona on 9 February (16), his son Donald E. Thorin Jr. tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Thorin Jr., also a cinematographer, tells the publication his father "loved" working on late singer Prince's beloved film, adding, "He really melded with Prince on the film."

Thorin began his career in Hollywood working at 20th Century Fox where he became a camera operator, working on films such as Annie Hall, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Bound for Glory.

By the 1980s, Thorin was in high demand, serving as the director of photography or cinematographer on films such as An Officer and a Gentleman, Thief, Midnight Run, Scent of a Woman, Boys on the Side, Tango & Cash, The First Wives Club and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

His last credit is Chris Rock's political comedy Head of State, in 2003.

Purple Rain | Purple Rain Cinematographer Dies At 81 | Contactmusic.com

[harrybarracuda]

Ding Dong the witch is dead...

World | Sat May 7, 2016 7:51pm IST Related: WORLD
East Germany's "Purple Witch" Margot Honecker dies in Chile aged 89



Margot Honecker, the widow of former East German leader Erich Honecker and the most powerful woman in the Communist state until its collapse in 1989, died on Friday in Santiago, Chile, at the age of 89.

She had been living as a recluse in Chile for more than two decades. Honecker had been suffering from cancer, TVN television station said.

The Communist Party of Chile (PCC) said in a statemnt: "After learning of the death of Margot Honecker, this morning in our country, we send our most sincere condolences to her daughter Sonja, her family and friends."

Known as the "Purple Witch" in East Germany for her tinted hair and hardline stance, Honecker served alongside her husband as minister for education for almost three decades.

She was hated and feared by many East Germans but defended the cruelties of the system to her death.

In 2012, she called those killed trying to escape over the Berlin Wall "stupid" for wanting to defect, defended the Stasi secret police and said her state pension of 1,500 euros a month was too small.

The PCC's secretary general, Juan Andres Lagos, told TVN: "She was a person that was coherent with her political ideals and then when real socialism fell, she also led many initiatives of solidarity with the people of Latin America and Asia, which fought for their liberation."

But Honecker will probably be most remembered for her suspected role in forced adoptions of children whose parents had tried to flee to the West, though she always denied this happened, and for the treatment of "difficult" children in disciplinary institutions.

One of those establishments was a prison-like barracks in Torgau known as "Margot's Concentration Camp". Victims and politicians initiated legal proceedings for alleged mistreatment but these were later dropped as the statute of limitations had elapsed or for lack of proof.

"She never critically reflected on what she had done. Up until her death she was a nasty, stubborn woman," Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial of the former Stasi prison told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

Born the daughter of a shoemaker and a factory worker in Halle in 1927, Margot Feist trained as a clerk and started out as a stenotypist before working for the Communist party's FDJ youth association.

A rising star in the youth movement, she became the youngest member of the East German parliament at the age of 22. Her taste for elegant clothes made her stand out against the drab ranks of the state's other politicians.

Although she became part of the Socialist Unity Party's central committee, she never made it into the all-powerful Communist Party Politburo.

In 1949 she met Erich Honecker, then chairman of the FDJ and a married man. They embarked on an affair during which Margot became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Sonja.

After Sonja's birth, Erich divorced under pressure from the then-East German ruler Walter Ulbricht and married Margot, who was 15 years his junior.

Known as "Miss Bildung (Education)", a pun on the German word for deformity, "Missbildung", she shaped the Socialist curriculum in schools, including the introduction of compulsory military training.

She stepped down from her post in October 1989, two days after her husband resigned. The Berlin Wall fell in November and a month later Margot faced accusations of corruption and misuse of office before an investigative committee, which she denied.

After German reunification, the Honeckers fled to exile in the Soviet Union in 1991 to escape criminal charges over human rights abuses committed by the government.

When Erich was extradited back to Germany, Margot fled to Chile. Her husband later joined her there when his trial collapsed due to his terminal illness. He died in 1994.

Margot lived largely as a recluse in Chile. On the rare occasions that she broke her silence, she showed no remorse.

In her book "Discussions with Margot Honecker about the other Germany", published in 2000, she spoke of a "fair and humane social system" where there was social security, education for all, free elections, no unemployment, no homelessness and no real estate speculation.

But she also said the government often failed to put decisions into practice and overestimated what it had already achieved.

In 2009 she celebrated the 60th anniversary of East Germany with other Socialists in Chile. In a video of the celebrations, she is seen standing in front of its hammer-and-sickle flag, declaring that despite a propaganda campaign to discredit the state, people were now missing the old days.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Angus MacSwan)

East Germany's Purple Witch Margot Honecker dies in Chile aged 89 | Reuters

[pseudolus]

The EU committee will be devastated and in mourning.

[Jackanapes]

There haven't been any famous singers or actors croaking it for a few days now. Odds on there'll be one in the next 48 hours I'd say!

[harrybarracuda]

Now he can start burning in hell for what he did


Reg Grundy dead: Neighbours creator dies aged 92

REG GRUNDY, the creator behind the popular Australian soap opera Neighbours, has passed away at the age of 92.

By HELEN KELLY
PUBLISHED: 05:04, Mon, May 9, 2016 | UPDATED: 05:28, Mon, May 9, 2016



The media mogul reportedly died in the arms of his wife at their home in Bermuda on Sunday.

According to Seven News, Reg's health had been deteriorating in recent times but the cause of death remains unknown.

The legend, who was known as the godfather of Australian television, was responsible for producing Wheel of Fortune, Sale of the Century and Blankety Blanks as well as Neighbours.

He started Reg Grundy Productions in 1959, in Australia, before going on to produce and host the Wheel of Fortune gameshow for the radio before it became a success on the small screen.

He developed the soap in the mid-1980s with the head of drama of his production company, Reg Watson.

Neighbours, which is still running today, made Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan international stars.

Reg was married to actress and author Joy Chambers in 1971 and she appeared in many of his soap operas.

For the past three decades they have lived in Bermuda, where he indulged his passion for photographing wildlife, publishing books and staging exhibitions of his work.

He was awarded an OBE in the 1983 Queen's New Year's Honours List was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2008.

He is survived by wife Joy and his daughter Kim, from his first marriage to Lola Powell.

Reg Grundy dead - Neighbours creator dies aged 92 | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV | Daily Express