R.I.P. Doug Fieger, lead singer of the Knack

Entertainment Weekly ^ | 2/14/2010 | Annie Barrett

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Doug Fieger, lead singer of rock group the Knack, died at 57 after a battle with cancer, his brother Geoffrey confirmed today. “I’ve had 10 great lives,” Fieger told the Detroit News in a January interview. “And I expect to have some more. I don’t feel cheated in any way, shape or form.” Get the Knack, the album that featured “My Sharona,” spent six weeks at No. 1 in 1979. The hit single was perhaps best immortalized (or at least revitalized) via a hilarious impromptu gas station dance party in 1994’s Reality Bites. “Can you turn this up please? Please? You won’t be sorry.”

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I liked The Knack. Real bummer, he seemed like a good guy.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Yeah, unlike his bottom-feeding brother Geoffrey.

[blam]

My Sharona

(YouTube-The Knack Official Video)

[Leg Olam]

Yeah, Nice guy...57, waaay too young.

[massgopguy]

I heard that on Mike FM this morning. The guitar solo jam in the middle is pretty good.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Don’t forget the great parody of ‘My Sharona’, “My Bologna” by Weird Al Yankovic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMeu3R0RdqI

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Yeah, Nice guy...57, waaay too young."

Agree with that. Dontcha just love his attitude though? Sounds like he was upbeat right up to the end, not complaining about dying young. I watched a bio on Col Harlan Sanders of KFC fame. What a great attitude on that guy. He did his best work after 65 years old. He said in an interview, "Theres no such thing as bad weather, just all different kinds of good weather." You have to love that type of attitude on a person.

[marvlus]

This morning on Fox and Friends, they were showing Jeffrey Fieger’s picture in place of Doug’s. Wonder how ol’ Jeffrey felt. (probably smells a potential lawsuit)

[iowamark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1T71PGd-J0
“”The Knack - My Sharona live (HQ)””

[dfwgator]

The Knack deserve a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for almost singlehandedly putting an end to the disco era.

[GOP_Muzik]

I heard that on Mike FM this morning. The guitar solo jam in the middle is pretty good.

That's Berton Averre playing the solo, a very gifted musician and artist who has had a pretty decent career post-Knack. I learned that solo note-for-note back in the '80s (and can still play it) and it's one of the most difficult I've ever tried to match.

From what I've heard Doug was a good guy and very funny, I always liked the Knack's first album, it was pretty basic rock & roll but quite good. When I saw them on some crappy reality show where they reunited old bands they SMOKED "My Sharona", there's a YouTube video of it out there worth watching.

[politicalamity]

Sad news, I always thought My Sharona was one of the weaker songs on the album an excellent guitar solo in that song though. Good Girls Don’t, Your Number Or Your Name, Thats what the little girls do are some of my favorites. I can listen to Get The Knack to this day and it just never gets old.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

That album was a great rock album right smack in the middle of disco mania. They helped preserve real Rock n Roll through lean Rock n Roll times.

[politicalamity]

I agree. It is a highly underrated album. Yet a lot of people will just associate them as a 1 hit wonder for My Sharona.