Good song choice for a tribute.

The man did influence most lead guitarists in that era.

 

double post

 

Teddy Pendergrass passed on today:

R&B Great Teddy Pendergrass Dead at 59 After Cancer Battle

 

I should have discovered this thread a lot sooner. I wasn't aware of the passing of some of the people mentioned in this thread. You can also add Brittany Murphy to the list (played Luann's voice on King of the Hill).

 

RIP Merlin Olsen September 15, 1940 – March 10, 2010


NFL Hall of Famer Los Angeles Rams and Utah State University legend Merlin Olsen has died after a long battle with mesothelioma, a debilitating disease of the lungs.


Merlin Olsen played 15 season in the NFL from 1962 TO 1976 and was the Football Leagues MVP in 1974 and had 14 Pro Bowl appearances.


He also spent time as a football broadcast analyst for NBC and CBS broadcasting companies and even had acting gigs in classic American TV shows “Father Murphy” and “Little House on the Prairie”.


In December 2009, Merlin Olsen and others sued TV Studios and various companies for what he claimed was exposure to asbestos, linked to mesothelioma.

 

Corey Haim passed away yesterday. It's really sad when drugs take over people's lives. The addiction is just too much for some people to handle.

 

Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television’s “Mission: Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane!” movie farces, died on Sunday. He was 83.

He died of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., said Fred Barman, his business manager.

 

Peter Graves,

He will indeed be missed.

 

Shirley you are right

 

Thats right Erzer!

Now stop calling me shirley

 

YouTube - Surely

 

Captain Over LOL

RIP

 

We lost two today:

Alex Chilton dies at 59; mercurial leader of the Box Tops, Big Star





Fess Parker, 'Davy Crockett' star, dies at 85

 

Davy Crockett ... Indian Fighter

Try saying that now-a-days. What has our world come to? We seem to have lost something pure and innocent along the way.

 

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Robert Culp, the actor who rose to fame as secret agent Kelly Robinson on the groundbreaking 1960s TV series "I Spy" and later played Ray Romano's father-in-law on "Everybody Loves Raymond," has died. He was 79.
Culp died after falling on a sidewalk near a Los Angeles park, said his publicist, **** Delson. Delson had no further details.

 

Photos of Robert Culp

I always enjoyed his acting. He will be missed.

 

Bad news for the heavy metal fans:

Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath and Heaven and Hell Died At 67

 

Sorry to hear I like Dio, wasn't as good as Ozzi with Sabbath but I liked his solo work and with Rainbow. RIP Dio.

 

Dam_, you could never miss Dio's vocals; he was one of a kind. RIP, Ronnie .

 

Watchu talkin bout Willis...

`Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies - Yahoo! News

`Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies


PROVO, Utah – Gary Coleman, the child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" whose later career was marred by medical and legal problems, died Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42.
Life support was terminated and Coleman died at 12:05 p.m. MDT with family and friends at his side, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank said.
Coleman, with his sparkling eyes and perfect comic timing, became a star after "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted in 1978. He played Arnold Jackson, the younger one of a pair of African-American brothers adopted by a wealthy white man.
"It's unfortunate. It's a sad day," said Todd Bridges, who played the older brother Willis. "It's sad that I'm the last kid alive from the show."
Dana Plato, who played the boys' white, teenage sister, committed suicide in 1999. Bridges was tried and acquitted of attempted murder.
Coleman's popularity faded when the show ended after six seasons on NBC and two on ABC.
Coleman suffered continuing ill health from the kidney disease that stunted his growth and had a host of legal problems in recent years.
He suffered the brain hemorrhage Wednesday at his Santaquin home, 55 miles south of Salt Lake City.
A statement from the family said he was conscious and lucid until midday Thursday, when his condition worsened and he slipped into unconsciousness. Coleman was then placed on life support.
"The world's going to be a little less happy place without Gary," said Randy Kester, Coleman's attorney. "For being a small guy, he sure had a big impact on the world."
"Diff'rent Strokes" debuted on NBC in 1978 and drew most of its laughs from the tiny, 10-year-old Coleman.
Race and class relations became topics on the show as much as the typical trials of growing up.
Coleman was an immediate star, and his skeptical "Whatchu talkin' 'bout?" — usually aimed at his brother, Willis — became a catchphrase.

In a 1979 Los Angeles Times profile, his mother, Edmonia Sue Coleman, said her son had always been a ham as a small child. He acted in some commercials before he was signed by T.A.T., the production company that created "Diff'rent Strokes."
"Gary remembers everything. EVERYTHING," co-producer and director Herb Kenwith told the newspaper.
Asked by Ebony magazine in 1979 how he learned his lines so easily, young Gary replied, "It's easy!"
The attention his starring role brought him could be a burden as well as a pleasure. Coleman said in 2001 that he would do a TV series again, but "only under the absolute condition that it be an ensemble cast and that everybody gets a chance to shine."
"I certainly am not going to be the only person on the show working," he said. "I've done that. I didn't like it."
The series lives on thanks to DVDs and YouTube. But its equally enduring legacy became the troubles in adulthood of its former child stars.
Coleman had financial and legal problems in addition to the kidney disease that required dialysis and at least two transplants. As an adult, his height reached only 4 feet 8 inches.
He continued to get credits for TV guest shots and other small roles over the years. But in 2001 he said he preferred earning money from celebrity endorsements.
"Now that I'm 33, I can call the shots," he said. "And if anybody has a problem with that, I guess they don't have to work with me."
Coleman was among 135 candidates who ran in California's bizarre 2003 recall election to replace then-Gov. Gray Davis, whom voters ousted in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Coleman finished in eighth place with 12,488 votes, or 0.2 percent, just behind Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.
Running for office gave him a chance to show another side of himself, he said at the time.
"This is really interesting and cool, and I've been enjoying the heck out of it because I get to be intelligent, which is something I don't get to do very often," he said.
But legal disputes dogged him repeatedly. In 1989, when Coleman was 21, his mother filed a court request trying to gain control of her son's $6 million fortune, saying he was incapable of handling his affairs. He said the move "obviously stems from her frustration at not being able to control my life."
In a 1993 television interview, he said he had twice tried to kill himself by overdosing on pills.
He moved to Utah in fall 2005, and according to a tally in early 2010, officers were called to assist or intervene with Coleman more than 20 times in the following years. The responses included a call where Coleman said he had taken dozens of Oxycontin pills and wanted to die.
Some of the disputes involved his wife, Shannon Price, whom he met on the set of the 2006 comedy "Church Ball" and married in 2007.
In September 2008, a dustup with a fan at a Utah bowling alley led Coleman to plead no contest to disorderly conduct. The fan also sued him, claiming the actor punched him and ran into him with his truck.
Coleman was born Feb. 8, 1968, in Zion, Ill., near Chicago. His mother told Ebony his kidney disease was diagnosed when he was 2. He underwent his first transplant at age 5.
He attracted attention when he took part in some local fashion shows and people suggested he should get work performing in commercials, which he then did, she said.
She stayed with her son in California while he was making "Diff'rent Strokes," while her husband Willis, a pharmaceutical company worker, stayed behind in Illinois.