Posted on 03/13/2016 3:06:05 PM PDT by LS
Rock star Keith Emerson killed himself because he feared he was no longer good enough as a musician, his girlfriend exclusively told The Mail on Sunday last night. The 71-year-old founder and keyboard player of Emerson, Lake and Palmer was 'tormented with worry' about upcoming concerts in Japan because nerve damage to a hand had affected his playing, said Mari Kawaguchi. She found Emerson's body when she returned to the apartment the couple shared in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, early on Friday morning. He had shot himself with a gun he kept for protection. 'Keith wasn't feeling well on Thursday night. He had bronchitis so I tucked him up in bed,' said Kawaguchi, 52.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Oh, what a lucky man he was.
RIP. One of my all-time faves.
I don’t know how one could not have sympathy for someone who has committed suicide—unless they took others out with them.
All you seem to do is come on threads about dead people and say horrible things about. You’re a pathetic disgusting waste of flesh.
I’ve never heard of this fellow but its SO VERY SAD!
that’s a senseless “reason” to kill yourself, imho
if he made nice music for many years, he should be happy
none of us can do everything we used to do
especially when we are 71 years of age, ha!
we find NEW things we CAN do!!!!!
It is, believe me, a very difficult thing to age gracefully. Rush wrote a song about it: “Losing It”. It’s why Hemingway shot himself. It’s why Thomas wrote “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Prayers up for family and friends.
That's the problem with having a sense of self not predicated on who you are in God's eyes.
I loved his music, and it's a shame he defined himself by what he did, and not who he was.
Likewise saddened when Bob Welch shot himself. If only he knew how much Jesus loved him.
You considered Keith Emerson to be ‘mediocre’?
My, but your standards are high.
In his youthful prime, I thought he was quite amazing, and a good performer, for that genre of progressive rock. Somewhat similar to Rick Wakeman of Yes. But then, I’m not a trained musician. For an entertainer like Emerson, whose identity was closely entertwined with his dexterity, it’s understandable how he could become depressed about losing that ability.
Some artists do live through it, the ravages of time and aging. Look at Julie Andrews, who pretty much lost her professional singing voice in 1997, after a botched operation to removed throat nodules. She was devastated, but has continued to thrive in other ways.
Good and so sad. He was a rock god in his time...... I was not even a fan but ELP was yuuuuge years ago. He was a keyboard genius.
I was introduced to ELP by a college roommate who was a classically trained organist. We’ve seen them perform several times. I would go with Dave when he practiced sometimes and we had the whole chapel to ourselves. Being a private audience to a performance of Karn Evil 9 on a monster 1032 pipe organ is quite an experience. RIP Keith.
No, not good for him. God does not approve. You want God’s approval. Especially towards the end.
It’s pride. Our worst quality.
That’s growing old gracefully.
RIP, Keith. You and ELP were truly great.
I thought of that RUSH song as well when I heard the news. I was telling my kids how sad. He was great, but playing the piano (or whatever) shouldn’t be your main thing in life. Of course I heard he was very depressed over it, so that can take over.
I also though of the MASH episode where Winchester finds sheet music for the one-handed guy. (I heard it was just one hand that had a couple of bad fingers for Keith). I also thought of how he could have kept composing. And of course kept on loving his girlfriend and his family and friends.
Here is an orchestrial composition from his Christmas album. The album has a whole mix of stuff. Grew out of him playing stuff at the holidays for family and friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C__ay5l-4Ik
Very sad.
For the really good musicians, making music is life.
To lose that ability is to lose life. It becomes existence.
Musicians, the good ones, are a different breed. Not good or bad, just different.
They have a “sense” for music that most of us don’t have.
It can be quite beautiful and quite torturous for them.
Very sad.
I saw them in Phoenix circa 69(?) right after “Brain Salad Surgery” appeared. Great musicians, but I never fell in love with their style. Emerson later wrote a book, “Pictures of an Exhibitionist.”
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