Encore
By Tamar Lev-On
Archive – Death on Stage
Alberto
Bertapelle |
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Bertapelle, better known by his stage
name Brainbug, was an Italian symphonic electronic trance music
producer and guitarist from Ceggia, Italy. He died of a suspected heart
attack at 57 years old while playing the guitar in a performance on stage during a concert in Tavagnacco
of Udine, Italy. |
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Music: “Nightmare”
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Anthony
John Burger |
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was
an American pianist and singer, most closely associated with Southern
gospel music. Burger
died of a massive heart attack after performing aboard the MS Zuiderdam, a cruise ship chartered for a Gaither
Gospel Cruise. According to eyewitnesses, Burger was accompanying Bill and Gloria
Gaither and Guy Penrod when
fans in the audience noticed Burger had ceased moving, his hands clenched
into fists over the keyboard. |
Kuo Chin-fa |
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Chinese: 郭金發; was a Taiwanese singer. Kuo collapsed on stage and was taken to Kaohsiung
Armed Forces General Hospital, where he was declared dead. Kuo, who sang in
Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), was performing at an event in to mark the
Double Ninth Festival, the traditional senior citizens’ day which falls on
the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. According to
audience members, Kuo performed his first two songs without incident, but as
he started singing his third song, Hot Rice Dumpling,
the audience noticed something was wrong. |
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Music: “Hot Rice Dumpling”
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While
performing in Weiwuying Township (衛武營) in the city’s Fengshan
District (鳳山), Kaohsiung. |
Spade
Cooley |
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The self-proclaimed
“King of Western Swing” hybrid between country
western and the swing music of the big band era let his jealousy
overcome him in 1961, when he brutally murdered his wife. Convicted for his
crime, Cooley served eight years in prison before he was scheduled for
parole. Three months before his release date—the 59-year-old was granted
a 72-hour furlough so he could perform a benefit for the Deputy Sheriff's
Association in Alameda County, California. After singing the words, “Time
to live before it’s time to die,” the audience gave him a standing
ovation as he walked off the stage and died of a heart attack. |
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Bruce Hampton |
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Bruce
Hampton (born Gustav Valentine Berglund III) was
an American musician. In the late 1960s he was a founding member of Atlanta, Georgia's avant-garde Hampton Grease Band. Adopting the
moniker Colonel Hampton B. Coles, Retired or
alternatively Col. Bruce Hampton Ret., and sometimes playing a
sort of dwarf guitar called a "chazoid". On
May 1, 2017, Hampton was honored by his friends for his 70th birthday. During the encore performance of the show, Hampton suffered
a massive heart attack and collapsed on stage. Onlookers and his fellow
musicians initially either did not notice that Hampton had collapsed, or
thought it was a ruse due to his history of falling down onstage during performances
and other practical jokes. As a result, Hampton lay face down at Niederauer's
feet, his left arm draped over a stage monitor, as Niederauer soloed on
"Turn On Your Love Light". |
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Music: “Turn On Your Love
Light” |
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The Fox
Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Addie
‘Micki’ Harris |
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A member of the
pioneering female R&B group the
Shirelles, Harris used to tell group mate Beverly Lee, “When
I die, I want to go real quickly, and I want to go with my rock and roll
shoes on.” In 1982, shortly after coming off stage, Harris, collapsed of a heart
attack and died, still wearing her rock and roll shoes. |
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Music: “Will you still love me tomorrow”
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The Hyatt
Regency Hotel in Atlanta. |
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John Thomas "Sib"
Hashian |
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John Thomas "Sib" Hashian, the drummer who played
on Boston's first two bestselling LPs, has died after collapsing in the
middle of a set while performing on board a cruise ship, the Independence of
the Seas. Word of Hashian's death first arrived from a variety
of sources inside the Legends of Rock cruise, which found him
playing Boston hits alongside fellow ex-band members. |
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Music: “More than a feeling”
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The cruise
ship MSC Divina, operated by MSC Cruises. |
Joseph Edgar Howard |
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An American Broadway composer, lyricist, librettist, and performer. A famed member of Tin Pan Alley along with wife and composer Ida Emerson as part of the song-writing team of
Howard and Emerson, his hits included "Hello!
Ma Baby" and Broadway musicals like "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now?". Howard
died on stage in Chicago while
singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"
during a curtain call. |
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Music: “Let Me Call You
Sweetheart” |
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Alexander Minto Hughes |
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Alexander Minto
Hughes AKA Judge Dread was an English Reggae recording artist and ska
musician. He died of a heart attack he suffered as he was walking
off stage after performing. |
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Music: “Bring back the Skins” |
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The Penny Theatre
in
Canterbury, England. |
Jane
Little |
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An Atlanta Symphony Orchestra bassist whose career spanned a
world-record 71 years with a single orchestra, died after collapsing onstage
during a performance in
Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra. Little collapsed while performing There's No Business Like Show Business. |
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Music: “There's No Business Like Show Business”
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Talal Maddah |
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Arabic: طلال مدَّاح, was
a Saudi Arabian musician
and composer. He was named Maddah after his mother's family. His fans called
him "The Earth's Voice" (صوت الارض), and he was also known as
"The Golden Throat" (الحنجرة الذهبية). He had a substantial influence over
20th century-Arabian culture Maddah
collapsed and died suddenly of a heart attack on Al Meftaha Stage
in front of his fans shortly after he performed an intro to one of his famous
songs. |
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Music: “Give me Love”
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Al Meftaha Stage (مسرح المفتاحة) in Abha. |
Miriam Makeba |
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The Grammy
Award-winning South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba
suffered a heart attack shortly after singing her hit song, Pata Pata in a concert held in Italy. Known as “Mama
Africa” and the “Empress of African Song”, Makeba was the first black South
African musician to gain international fame, winning renown in the 1950s for
her sweeping vocals. She was loathed by South Africa’s white minority rulers. |
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Music: “Pata Pata ”
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the
square of Castel
Volturno, near Caserta, Italy.
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Warne Marsh |
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Jazz saxophonist
Warne Marsh died of a heart attack after collapsing onstage while
performing Out of Nowhere.
According to another member of his celebrated quartet, Marsh “just slipped
off his stool.” He was pronounced dead at the hospital. |
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Music: “Out of Nowhere”
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Donte’s in North Hollywood. |
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Daniel
McLain |
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Better known as Country
Dick Montana of the underground rock band The Beat Farmers, Daniel McLain met his fate on stage
following a heart attack which took him suddenly during a sold-out
performance. |
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The Longhorn
Saloon in Whistler, B.C. |
Nick Menza |
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The former drummer of heavy
metal band Megadeth has died after suffering a massive heart attack on
stage. Menza was playing with his band OHM at on Saturday night when he
collapsed during the third song
of the set. |
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the
Baked Potato in Los Angeles. |
Zeki Müren |
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Adored Turkish
singer and pop idol died of a heart attack during a live performance
on stage, during the ceremony held for him at TRT İzmir Television in the city of Izmir, Turkey.
His death caused the greatest public grief in years and thousands of Turks
attended his funeral. Zeki Müren Art
Museum was established in Bodrum, where Müren used to live.
All his worldly possessions are donated to the Türk Egitim Vakfi (Foundation
for Turkish Education) and Mehmetçik Vakfi (Armed Forces Foundation for
Disabled Veterans and Families of the Martyrs.) |
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Music: “Ah bu
şarkıların gözü kör olsun”
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David
Charles Olney |
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An American folk singer-songwriter. Olney
recorded more than twenty albums over his five-decade career. His songs have
been covered by numerous artists. Olney
died of an apparent heart attack during a performance onstage at the 30A
Songwriter Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. He was
in the middle of his third song when he stopped, apologized and shut his
eyes, according to fellow musician Scott
Miller, who was accompanying Olney onstage. |
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Santa Rosa Beach,
Florida. |
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Marg Osburne |
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A Canadian country, folk and gospel singer.
She was a recipient (posthumously) of the ECMA Stompin'
Tom Connors award. Osburne
continued to perform until she collapsed during a concert in Rocklyn, Ontario and died from the heart attack
before she reached the hospital, exactly five years after Charlie
Chamberlain's death. |
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Music: “Little Arrows”
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Papa Wemba |
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Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba professionally known
as Papa Wemba, was a Congolese singer and
musician who played Congolese
rumba, soukous, and ndombolo.
Dubbed the "King of Rumba Rock", he was one of the most
popular musicians of his time in Africa and played an important role in world music. Wemba died after collapsing on stage in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire,
during the FEMUA urban music festival, after performing three songs. |
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הופעה אחרונה
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Abidjan, Côte
d'Ivoire. |
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Václav
Pichl |
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Pichl (Known in German as Wenzel Pichl) was a Czech
classical composer of the 18th century. He was also a violinist, music
director and writer. Wenzel Pichl died at Vienna, Austria, as the result of a stroke while playing a
violin concerto at the Palais Lobkowitz. |
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Palais Lobkowitz, Vienna, Austria. |
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Skinny Dennis Sanchez |
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A country musician in the Los Angeles
area. He played the upright bass, most famously accompanying Nashville
musician Guy Clark. His nickname
is in reference to his having Marfan syndrome; Sanchez
stood at 6'11", and weighed 135 lbs. Sanchez died of heart failure on
stage, playing the bass with John Malcolm Penn. |
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At Captain
Jack's in Sunset Beach. |
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Mark Sandman |
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Lead singer of the
Boston-based rock band Morphine,
collapsed on stage during a concert in Rome. He had suffered a heart
attack and was pronounced dead in the ambulance on the way to the
hospital. His
death has been attributed to heavy stress and the temperature of over 99 °F
(37 °C) on the night of his death. |
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The Giardini del Principe in Palestrina, Lazio, Italy |
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Sylvia Syms |
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American jazz and
cabaret singer Sylvia Syms was considered by Frank Sinatra to be the world’s
greatest saloon singer. She died of a heart attack during a set at New
York City’s Algonquin Hotel. |
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Music: “Comes Love”
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Algonquin Hotel Oak
Room. |
Miguelito
Valdés |
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Valdés, also known as Mr. Babalú,
was a renowned Cuban singer. His performances were characterized by a strong
voice and a particular sense of cubanismo. He suffered a fatal heart attack on stage while singing
at Hotel Tequendama, Bogota. |
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Music: “Babalu”
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Hotel Tequendama, Bogota. |
Auguste van Biene |
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A Dutch composer,
cellist and actor. He became best known for his composition The Broken Melody, performed by the composer as part
of a musical play of the same name. Van Biene died while on stage, playing the cello in
the play "The Master Musician", with his son conducting the
orchestra.
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Music: “Broken Melody”
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The Brighton
Hippodrome |
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Richard
Versalle |
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American operatic
tenor died onstage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. On the first
night of the performance of Janáček’s The Makropulos Case, Versalle, who was playing the legal
clerk Vitek, climbed a 20 ft ladder to file a legal brief, but had a heart
attack midway and plunged to his death. |
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Music from “The Makropulos Case”
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The New York’s Metropolitan Opera |
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Johnny
‘Guitar’ Watson |
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While performing at
Yokohama’s Blues Cafe, the rhythm and blues legend suffered a heart attack. Johnny
“Guitar” Watson was a blues/soul/funk guitar player known for his cool
shades, Fedora, and flamboyant leisure suits. He was a highly influential
player and many of his songs like “Superman Lover” and “I Need It” had risque
overtones. On 1996, in Yokohama Japan, while soloing during his signature
tune “Ain't That a Bitch,” he suffered a myocardial infarction and collapsed.
His last words were “ain't that a bitch.” He was pronounced dead upon
arrival at the hospital. |
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Music: “ain't
that a bitch”
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Yokohama’s Blues
Café, Japan |
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Edith Webster |
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After singing several choruses of Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone during a
performance of The Drunkard,
actress Edith Webster collapsed on stage for her scripted death scene
and suffered an unscripted fatal heart attack. She was pronounced dead
at the hospital. |
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Music: “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone”
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At
the Towson Moose Lodge, Towson, Maryland. |
Onie Wheeler |
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American
country and bluegrass musician died of a massive heart attack while
performing on stage. Wheeler was
onstage playing with Rev. Jimmie Snow when he collapsed and died. |
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Music: “Run Em Off”
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the
Grand Ole Opry, Nashville. |
Philippé
Wynne |
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In the 1970s, Wynne
fronted The Spinners,
whose hits included ‘I’ll Be Around’ and ‘The Rubberband Man.’ In 1984, the
performer was dancing in the audience during an encore at Ivey's nightclub
in Oakland, California, when he collapsed of a heart attack. He
died the next morning. |
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Music: “Mighty Love”
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יוסי אלפנט |
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יוסי
אלפנט נפטר מדום לב, רגע
לאחר שסיים
לנגן וירד
מהבמה
בהופעה במועדון
הלוגוס בתל
אביב. |
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שיר: "איך כש"
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מועדון
הלוגוס,
תל-אביב. |
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Nelson
Ackerman Eddy |
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An
American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s
and 40s. Eddy was performing in Palm Beach, Florida, when he was stricken on
stage with a cerebral haemorrhage. His singing partner, Gale Sherwood,
and his accompanist, Ted Paxson, were at his side. He died a few hours. |
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At that moment he was singing the song: “Dardanella”
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the Sans Souci
Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. |
Sir Henry
Irving |
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An English stage
actor and actor-manager operating in the Victorian era, Sir Henry Irving was
the first actor to be awarded a knighthood. One October evening, he was
performing as Becket in
Tennyson’s play of the same name, at the Bradford Theatre. Upon
uttering the line “Into thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands” he was seized
by fainting, and died shortly after. The Theatre Royal
Bradford is considered haunted by the ghost of Sir Henry Irving. Dracula’s author Bram Stoker was Irving’s
manager, and a photo of him leaving the Bradford theatre following
the death of the famous actor continues to intrigue people to this day. (below right) |
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The
Theatre Royal, Bradford. |
Paolo
‘Feiez’ Panigada |
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Feiez was a member
of the Italian band Elio e le Storie
Tese. He died of a brain haemorrhage while performing
onstage in December 1998. |
Tiny Tim |
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Herbert Khaury, more popularly known as Tiny Tim,
was a larger-than-life celebrity in his Swingin' Sixties heyday when his
falsetto-and-ukulele version of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” was a Top 20 hit.
However, by the time of his death in 1996, he had a fraction of the fame and
fortune. In September of that year, he fell while performing at the Ukulele
Hall of Fame and severely injured his head. Still, he continued to entertain
for his small but loyal fan base. His final appearance, against his doctor's
orders, was at a Minneapolis Women's Club to a handful of people, where he
collapsed while singing his signature song on an out-of-tune ukulele. |
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Music: “Tiptoe
Through the Tulips”
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Minneapolis
Women's Club. |
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Louis Vierne |
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On a June evening in
Paris, a reported 3,000 people gathered to hear the famous organist
and composer, Louis Vierne of Notre Dame, perform. Vierne could barely
climb the steps up to the organ loft; a doctor administered heart stimulant
pills to help. Vierne suffered either a stroke or a heart attack
(eyewitness reports differ) while giving his 1750th organ recital. The
closing section of his main concert was to be two improvisations on selected
themes. He read the first theme in Braille, then selected the stops he would
use for the improvisation. He suddenly pitched forward and fell off the bench
as his foot hit the low ‘E’ pedal of the organ. He lost consciousness as the
single note echoed throughout the church. |
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Music: Organ improvisation at the Notre Dame.
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Notre Dame de Paris. |
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Leonard Warren |
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Just after he
completed his second-act aria in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny) at the New
York’s Metropolitan Opera, American opera singer Leonard Warren plunged face-forward
onto the stage. The curtain was hung, and it was announced 30 minutes later
that the singer had died of a massive stroke. |
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Music: from the opera “The Force of Destiny”
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The New York’s Metropolitan Opera |
Leslie Harvey |
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The lead guitarist
of the Glasgow band Stone the Crows died
after being electrocuted onstage at Swansea's Top Rank Ballroom. |
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Music: “Love 74”
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Top Rank Ballroom, Swansea. |
Predag Jovicic |
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San (Сан) was
a former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. The band was established
in 1971 by the composer Aleksandar ‘Sanja’ Ilić, and disbanded in
1975, after the band’s vocalist Predrag Jovičić died in concert
from an electric shock. |
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Cair
Hall in Nis. |
Barbara Weldens |
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A
French singer-songwriter. Weldens was on tour and was performing in
south-west France for the festival Léo Ferré when she collapsed on stage at
about midnight and was pronounced dead of cardiac
arrest. An autopsy confirmed
that she had been electrocuted; she
normally performed barefoot, and her foot made contact with a defective piece
of electrical equipment. |
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Notre-Dame des Cordeliers church in the town of Gourdon in south-west France. |
Ty Longley |
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On February 20,
2003, the 1980’s metal band Great
White was performing its song ‘Desert Moon’ at Rhode
Island, when the band's fireworks were triggered suddenly. The ill-planned
pyrotechnics show caused a disastrous fire that killed 100 people inside the
50-year-old building. While most of the band escaped through a nearby stage
door, Longley leaped off the front of the stage, toward a friend. The friend
survived but Longley did not. |
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Music: “Desert Moon”
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The Station in Warwick, Rhode Island. |
Lee Morgan |
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American hard bop
trumpeter was killed in the early hours in New York City’s East Village
where his band was performing. Following an argument between sets, Morgan’s
wife, Helen More, pulled a gun and shot her husband. The injuries were
not immediately fatal, but the ambulance service was reluctant to go into the
neighborhood where the club was located. They took so long to get there that
Morgan bled to death. |
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New York City’s East
Village jazz club Slug’s Saloon. |
Karl Wallenda |
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The German-American
aerialist and founder of The Flying
Wallendas, died while attempting to walk a wire suspended 121
feet in the air between two ten storey hotel towers in Sao Paulo. Due to
improper wiring support, coupled with high winds, Wallenda fell to his death
during his attempt. A film crew from WAPA-TV in San Juan caught the fall on tape. |
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Condado
Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico |