R.I.P CELEBRITY DEATHS(NON WRESTLING) 2017

[markyhitch]

British TV legend Bruce Forsyth can be added to the list. He was 89....didn't he do well?

[TTX]

One of IBs favorites and I enjoyed him in my limited exposure to him for sure.

[Powermonger]

Richard Anderson was one of my personal favorites. I grew up watching him on the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman series. Great memories and it helped inspire me to do some sci-fi writing in school which eventually led me to COTG.

[jimsteel]

Walter Becker, the co-founder and guitarist for Steely Dan, had died, TMZ has confirmed.

Becker, along with co-member Donald Fagen, wrote a some huge hits in the 70's, including "Rikki Don't Lose that Number," "Deacon Blues," "Kid Charlemagne," "Hey Nineteen," and 'My Old School."

The group disbanded in 1981 but they came back in the 90's and produced several big albums, including Two Against Nature, which snagged 4 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.
Becker and Fagen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001

We're told Becker had been very ill and underwent surgery last month.

Becker was 67.

Fagen tells TMZ, "Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Band College in 1967, We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.
We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the 20's through the mid-60's), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood -- I'll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creating mimicry, reading people's hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby's singular voice that made the 3 of us collapse with laughter.

His habits got the best of him by the end of the 70's, and we lost touch for a while. In the 80's, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

[jimsteel]

Dave Hlubek, lead guitarist and co-founder of Southern rock icons Molly Hatchet, has died at the age of 66. The news was confirmed via a post on the band’s official Facebook page, although no details were provided.
They said in a brief message: “It is with great sorrow we announce the passing of our beloved friend and band member Dave Hlubek. Amongst his many contributions to southern rock is “Flirtin’ with Disaster.” Our condolences and our prayers go out to his family during this time of loss. He will be missed but never forgotten, as the music lives on through his legacy in Molly Hatchet.”

David Lawrence Hlubeck was born on Aug. 28, 1951, in Jacksonville, FL and returned there after several family moves. He founded the band in 1971 and they released their debut self-titled album seven years later, scoring their biggest hit with “Flirtin’ with Disaster,” the title track of their 1979 second LP.

Speaking to Kaos2000 in 1999, Hlubek recalled the early years of his career as he endured the kind of rip-off experiences many bands so, saying of signing his first management deal: “We walked in with an imaginary eight-slice apple pie. When we walked out of the office we only had three slices.” But he added: “I can’t tell you I have many regrets because I don’t. I’ve had a good ride. When I signed in 1977 with Epic/CBS they gave us a bonus for signing which was six figured. We hadn’t done dick. They flew us, wined us and dined us. They put a booklet in front of each one of us and our life was going to forever change. I’ve been around the world 12 times now. I never had to join the service like my dad did.”

[TTX]

rough time for musicians it seems.

[jimsteel]

'Antoine Fisher' Actress Novella Nelson Passes Away

The 77-year-old actress had a successful Broadway and Hollywood career.

On Friday, Novella Nelson passed away after decades in the business as a dedicated Broadway and Hollywood actress. Honored in 2016 by New York’s New Federal Theater for her contribution to African-American theater and film, the actress starred in over 100 films.

Nelson's credits go back to the 1970's with roles in Strictly Business, Sex and the City, The West Wing, The Starter Wife and Law & Order in the following decades. But Nelson is most known for her role as Mrs. Tate, the abusive mother in Antwone Fisher.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Nelson also starred in the Broadway play Purlie, a musical based on a book co-written by Ossie Davis.

[jimsteel]

Texas native Don Williams, who forged his own musical identity in the 1970s with a unique and low-key style of country that earned him the nickname “The Gentle Giant,” passed away on Friday (Sept. 8). A press release from the singer's PR team confirms his death "after a short illness," saying that funeral arrangements are pending.

He was 78 years old.

Williams was born May 27, 1939 in Floydada, Texas, growing up in nearby Portland. Music had always been close to Williams’ heart, as he entered his first talent contest -- and won -- at the age of three. His prize was a brand new alarm clock. Williams played in a band with several friends during his teenage years, and started a family not too long after graduating high school, marrying his wife Joy in April 1960. To make ends meet, Williams worked a variety of jobs, including that of a bill collector. However, he never gave up on his love of music, eventually forming a folk trio, The Pozo-Seco Singers, in late 1964. Comprised of Williams, Lofton Cline, and Susan Taylor, the trio released three albums for Columbia in 1966-1968, hitting the Billboard Hot 100 six times -- with their biggest hits including “Time” (No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1966), “I Can Make It With You” and “Look What You’ve Done” (both No. 32 singles on the Hot 100 in 1966 and 1967, respectively.) Williams left the trio in late 1969.

[jimsteel]

Troy Gentry -- one half of the country music group Montgomery Gentry -- was killed in a helicopter crash in New Jersey on Friday. He was 50 years old.

The helicopter crashed in a field in Medford around 1 PM ET.

[jimsteel]

'SHILOH' STAR BLAKE HERON DEAD AT 35

Cops say Heron died of an apparent illicit substance overdose...First responders attempted to revive the actor with Narcan, but life saving measures were ineffective.
Blake Heron, the actor who played Marty Preston in the 1996 movie, "Shiloh," is dead ... TMZ has learned.
Law enforcement tells TMZ, Heron's girlfriend went to his L.A. area home Friday morning and found him dead. Paramedics worked on Heron for 40 minutes trying to revive him, to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

We're told Heron had been sick the last few days.

Blake had battled heroin and had just gotten out of rehab ... literally days ago.

We're told EMTs who responded did not find any illegal drugs. There were several prescriptions, but they were for the flu. Our sources also say there was no evidence he had consumed alcohol.
Along with starring in "Shiloh," Heron had supporting roles in films "We Were Soldiers" and "11:14." He was recently in a documentary called "A Thousand Junkies" which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.

Heron was 35.