Living Legend?

Sometimes you gotta wonder if the great musicians of the past that died in some tragic form; would they be so famous today? The sad (or possibly fortunate) reality is, that once some one dies, a lot of attention is brought to them. I am willing to bet that 1 year ago, that if you asked 10 people to name 3 titles of Ray Charles' songs, only 1 or 2 people would be able to answer. But now that people like Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys are singing "Georgia on my mind"... Well, either way, I am happy that Ray Charles is getting even more attention than before, indeed he was a living legend. I think that its just sad that he had to die to achieve the status that he truly deserved. Rest in peace Ray.

Anyway...



Sam Cook - He was mysteriously shot dead in a motel room somewhere in Los Angeles.



I love Sam Cook, I'm sure that he'd still be making some serious cash today from all his royalties, he may not be so popular with the young folk, but he'd definitley be a living legend.



Otis Redding - He died in an uneventful plane crash, shortly thereafter his hit single "Sittin' on the dock of the bay" rose the charts and is still his signature song known by millions.



The question is, are they true Otis Redding fans? Well, he sure is mine, his voice is uncomparable to any other. You'll never again find that same rich, dirty, thick, smokey, bluesy/soulful sound that resonated out of is talented voice.




Marvin Gaye - He was shot dead by his own father in a hotel room.



I believe that he'd be right up there with the ranks of people like Billy Joel, Elton John, Diana Ross, etc. These are all still respected artists that have survived the years of the music industry and still got it, respect that is. However, I don't know if Marvin would have made it much longer, due to his addiction to drugs. God bless you Marvin, thank you for your gifted music.




Donny Hathaway - Best known for his duets performed with Roberta Flack, Donnie felt that he did not amount to much in life and therefor took it upon his own will to free himself from this world.




In my book, Donnie wrote and sang beautiful, deep, inspiring music. I have a feeling that most of you are sitting there going 'who?'. Enough said.


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On the other side, you've got people alive today that do not amount to much, compared to their 'prime'. It saddens me to admit it, but people such as Aretha Franklin, Etta James, & Whitney Houston sound nothing like what they once were. In fact, Aretha sounds as if she swallowed a high pitched whitsle, Etta James sounds like she's already dead, and Whitney sounds like she's chewing on a couple of razor blades. I'm sorry for saying it, I truly am. If it were up to me, I'd wave a magic wand and bring back that low, rich, gutsy and powerful voice of Aretha's that crowned her her'queen of soul' tile (which is rightfully hers); that tough, epitimy of blues, sounds like you've been crying, punch me through the speakers with your knock-out voice of Etta's; and of course Whitney's smooth, fresh, inspirational, confident tone of that once defined what singing should sound like.

The trouble is, I don't have a magic wand.

If you're reading this and going, "Why does he like Whitney Houston, what a failure she is!" Then you need to realize something, if she were to have been killed by some crazed fan (perhaps like in that movie called "The Bodyguard", which by the way had a record breaking soundtrack) 10 years ago, people would still be wiping their tears.

Music cannot be outdated.



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Lastly, I'd just like to point out two true living legends, whose voices sound as they did 30 years ago.

Stevie Wonder, he turned the age of 55 on May 10th. He has a brand new album coming out in July. (Its been postponed damn it!)





Gladys Knight, she will be the age of 61 on May 28th. I can personally say that after seeing her live in concert only 2 years ago (what a dream that was!), her voice sounds almost exactly the same as it did in the 60's and 70's. I was actually in shock at how AMAZING she sounded, when she sang "Neither one of us..." I thought I was listening to my CD, I'm almost tempted to say that she sounded better on stage than on the original recording. Now that's something.



Gladys recently came out with a new gospel album called "One Voice". Me and my poor ass has yet to purchase it.