Posted on 07/18/2021 12:59:46 PM PDT by sodpoodle
The life of a musician is a treacherous one. Many die from substance abuse, gunfire or even angry fans, whilst many, though seemingly a lot fewer, die of plain old age. There are some though, who have died from plane or helicopter crashes; many of whom are very well known and sad losses to the music industry. Here are the ten most famous.
Ricky Nelson On December 31st, 1985, Rock & roll singer Ricky Nelson (45), five members of his Stone Canyon band, and his fiancée, were all killed when a fire broke out on board a DC-3 taking them to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas, Texas. Only two people survived the crash landing near DeKalb, Texas. The fire was caused by a malfunctioning heater. Nelson was first known as the son of Ozzie and Harriet in their TV show of the same name in the late 1950s. He later became famous as the singer of such hits as “Travelin’ Man” and “Garden Party.”
John Denver
On October 12th, 1997, Singer John Denver (53) died when his experimental single-engine Rutan Long EZ plane crashed near Monterey, California. At first, rescuers could not identify the body because the face was burned beyond recognition, but authorities were later able to identify Denver by his fingerprints. Denver was famous for writing and performing “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “Country Roads”, “Rocky Mountain High”, “Sunshine on My Shoulders (Makes Me Happy)” , and other songs. The crash occurred when Denver inadvertently pressed down on the plane’s right rudder pedal while trying to switch fuel tanks by reaching for the fuel selector switch behind him. The plane had been modified to place the fuel selector switch behind the pilot rather than between his legs.
(Excerpt) Read more at listverse.com ...
Rick Nelson
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ricky+nelson&docid=608027946011491894&mid=96EAC62F75364DC8BDBB96EAC62F75364DC8BDBB&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
John Denver https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=john+denver&docid=607998461061982635&mid=BB081530A020E309074CBB081530A020E309074C&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
Bye bye miss American pie
Dagnbbit = let me try again;(
saying soon I'm going to be a jedi...
Ricky Nelson grew up on radio, TV, and concert stages. His father was a big band leader and crooner and his mother was a vocalist too. He certainly had s singer’s DNA.
As a young man still doing his family’s show, THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARIET, and recording his hit songs, there was perhaps no male artist more handsome than he, not even Elvis.
Also: Jim Reeves and Keith Green.
Jim Croce had a LOT more than “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”. He was just getting started and had a string of Top 10 hits. I remember in 1975 Casey Kasem’s Top Acts of the 70s countdown had him at #6, behind Paul McCartney & Wings, but ahead of Elton John. (Of the the top 4, one of them fell onto near total obscurity ... 3 Dog Night was #3).
He does have that Elvis ‘pout” LOL!
Just realized how good he was. The thread is about all the great artists who perished in plane crashes, too young, too soon.
Garden Party was like an early Hotel California. 😂
Good list and in good order.
Lynard Skynard lost 3 in a plane crash including Ronnie van Zant 1977
Never mind they’re on the list
IMO Patsy Cline should rank higher than Jim Croce.
The most recent one that comes to mind is Jenni Rivera. She was huge in the Latin market.
Otis Redding a great singer died in a plane crash before his biggest hit came out (maybe his death helped it up the charts).
The first concert I ever attended was Patsy Cline, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ferlin Huskey. San Antonio TX in March of 1962.
My husband was a new 2nd Lt., and was stationed as a training officer at Lackland AFB TX.
They had a policy that if the officer would lead and oversee the basic trainees on scheduled outings, called “troop movements”, the officer and his date could get in free.
As I recall, there were about 500 basic trainees that signed up for the concert, and 3 2nd Lts and their wives.
The troops all behaved themselves pretty well, only got a little rowdy when Jerry Lee Lewis performed. But, when Patsy Cline started to sing “San Antonio Rose” they nearly brought the house down. I think Patsy Cline enjoyed that concert as much as the troops did.
Jim Croce, fer sure...
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