Noted tenor taken off life support

Yahoo - AP ^ | 7/16/07

[Borges]

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Celebrated tenor Jerry Hadley was taken off life support Monday, nearly a week after an apparent suicide attempt left him with a severe brain injury.

The 55-year-old singer shot himself with an air rifle last Tuesday at his Clinton Corners home, several miles outside Poughkeepsie, according to state police. State troopers found him unconscious on his bedroom floor and he was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie.

Hadley had been on life support since his arrival at the hospital. Family friend and spokeswoman Celia Novo said he was taken off the systems Monday.

"The hospital is just making him comfortable at this point, so his passing could be at any time," Novo said.

Hadley, a native of Manlius, Ill., began his career in regional companies around the country. In the late 1970s, he was noticed by the late Beverly Sills, then general director of the New York City Opera, and was hired.

His career included creating the title role in composer John Harbison's "The Great Gatsby" and playing the main role in the 1989 production of Leonard Bernstein's musical, "Candide."

Officials said last week that Hadley was filing for bankruptcy and had been treated by a doctor for depression.

[Borges]

PING

[CholeraJoe]

The 55-year-old singer shot himself with an air rifle

I'm sorry for this man's death but an air rifle? Just damn!

[Apt604]

I live in DC, so I don’t know a whole lot about guns (only criminals do around here), but I was wondering the same thing?!

[Bon mots]

Jerry Hadley is regarded as the leading American tenor of his generation and remains today one of the most sought after singers of our time. He has received international acclaim for his interpretations of the great Mozart tenor roles and for those of the French Romantic and Bel Canto eras, as well as for his frequent ventures into Broadway musicals, operetta, and American popular song.

His career has taken him to all the world's leading opera houses and festivals, among them the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Salzburg, Glynebourne, and Ravinia festivals. No stranger to the concert stage or the recital platform, he is a soloist of choice for today's leading conductors, as well as an accomplished solo recitalist, who has also collaborated with Thomas Hampson on duo programs and on Hadley & Hampson, an album of opera arias (Teldec). A three-time Grammy winner and frequent nominee, his dozens of recordings reflect his wide and varied repertoire.

I always wondered why someone who was this successful would do such a thing.

I guess when depression hits, there is no seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sad.

R.I.P.

[CholeraJoe]

This was probably a pellet rifle powered by a CO2 cartridge rather than a Daisy BB gun. The gas cartridge can generate enough force to propel the pellet through the skull causing brain damage.

[Weeedley]

Air rifles are suitable to use on air heads.

[I still care]

Well, according to the article he’s 55 and is filing for bankruptcy. It’s tough to start coming up to retirement (singers often lose their voices when they get older) and have to declare bankruptcy. Some people fear destroys them.

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” - Corrie Ten Boom

[Kimmers]

So sad....

[keepitreal]

Oh this is so sad. He was a wonderful tenor. Beverly Sills, Regine Crespin, and now Jerry Hadley all in less than three weeks.

[Borges]

Isn’t that how Jon Erik Hexum died?

[I still care]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBlBVkk0lmw&mode=related&search=

[CholeraJoe]

His death was due to a blank round in a real gun. A .44 magnum prop gun used in a TV show. Blanks are very dangerous at close range.

[holden]

I sang with Jerry around Boy Scout campfires in the years 1968-70.
I remember oh so fondly his guitar-playing, self-deprecating-humor-filled imitation of Tommy Smothers with Alan Brue as Dickie as if it was just last year.

This is all so sad!

HF

[Palladin]

He had a marvelous voice.

Rest in peace, Jerry.

[Apt604]

Thanks - I figured it couldn't be the pump kind, but didn't realize the CO2-powered ones were that powerful. It's awful no matter what.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

I watched this YouTube and some others yesterday and Hadley really did have a ringing voice.

I have his lengthy CDs of Show Boat, with an all star cast, and he was terrific on that, especially in You Are Love.

However, I cannot forget the time, Hadley, who sang and the Met 122 times, was Alfredo in a Saturday worldwide broascast of La Traviata. It was December 8, 1990, and Violetta was Soviero. Hadley was singing the Act II aira, which he did very well, and then he attempted the cabaletta. He tried the optional high ending note.

My wife and I was listening in the car waiting for the end before we went into a shopping center. Poor Jerry not only cracked on the note but it sounded like someone was strangling him. It was shocking.

I turned to my wife and said, “that will be the end of his career.”

Of course, it was not. Hadley continued to sing at Met until 2002.

[There is a post on YouTube, however, of Hadley singing a few months ago to a master class, and it is not good at all.]

[BallyBill]

I think the blank round in the Hexum gun was powerful enough that it blew a Quarter size piece of skull into his brain when he placed it against his head and pulled the trigger.

[CindyDawg]

Luke 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

[I still care]

Well, I can see how that would devastate a man. I sing myself, and it’s hard to describe what a good voice means to a singer emotionally. It’s not exactly pride, but it’s a glorious part of the self, and brings such joy.

To lose that can tear a hole in the spirit.