Doug Fieger, lead singer and songwriter for the L.A.-based new wave pop band The Knack, died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 57.
Fieger had battled successive sieges with lung and brain cancer for six years, and underwent multiple operations to remove brain tumors.
He is best known for the Knack’s ubiquitous 1979 hit “My Sharona,” a lusty, incessantly riffing rocker inspired by his obsession with 16-year-old musician Sharona Alperin.
The song, co-written by Fieger and guitarist Berton Averre dominated U.S. radio airplay in the summer of ’79, and held the No. 1 spot on the national singles chart for six weeks. The band’s debut Capitol album “Get the Knack” spent five weeks at No. 1, and was certified double platinum.
“My Sharona” returned to the national charts in 1994 after it was used in the pic “Reality Bites.”
Though the group’s sophomore LP “But the Little Girls Understand” reached No. 15, none of their other singles ever reached the top 10, and the Knack never recaptured their initial success.
Born in Detroit, Fieger as a teenager was a member of the local band Sky, which recorded two albums for RCA Records. He relocated to Los Angeles and played and recorded in the band the Sunset Bombers before forming the Knack with Averre, drummer Bruce Gary and bassist Prescott Niles.
The act — which at its inception was categorized among L.A.’s plethora of so-called “skinny-tie” power pop and new wave bands — attracted equal measures of attention and derision on its way up for live shows that featured guest appearances by stars like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and the Doors’ Ray Manzarek.
Almost as soon as “My Sharona” reached the charts, the band sparked a “Knuke the Knack” campaign among naysayers who condemned the quartet as arrogant and misogynistic
Depleted by declining sales and negative press, the unit disbanded in 1982, but they regrouped sporadically into the new millennium; they issued their most recent album in 2001. Bruce Gary succumbed to non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2006.
After treatment for lung cancer in 2004, Fieger was diagnosed with brain cancer after he became disoriented and forgot the lyrics to “My Sharona” during a show in Las Vegas.
This saddens me beyond measure!
Doug Fieger is survived by his brother Geoffrey and sister Beth.
Comedy legend Soupy Sales, the man who took thousands of pies to the face in his 5,000+ live television appearances, has died at the age of 83. His legend spans all the way back to the ’50s and ’60s, thanks to ‘The Soupy Sales Show’ and ‘What’s My Line?’
Sales died Thursday night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher, said. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.
Sales began his TV career in Cincinnati and Cleveland, then moved to Detroit, where he drew a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He moved to Los Angeles in 1961.
The comic’s pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show.
source: Soupy Sales dies at 83; slapstick comic had hit TV show in 1960s [los angeles times]
Henry Gibson, the quintessential character actor who played Nazis, priests, drunks and nosy neighbors during a 45-year career that included a stint as an original cast member on ‘Laugh-In,’ died Monday at his home in Malibu. His son, James, said Gibson died after a brief battle with cancer. He was 73.
Beginning with a role in ‘The Nutty Professor’ in 1963, Gibson worked steadily until just last year. His big break arrived in 1968 when he began a 3-year stint on ‘Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,’ where each week he would hold a flower and read a poem.
The rest of the 1960s and 1970s were spent working on acclaimed TV shows, including ‘Love, American Style,’ and more meaty film projects like Robert Altman’s 1975 country music opus, ‘Nashville,’ for which Gibson earned a Golden Globes nomination.
In 1980, he played an Illinois Nazi going after a pair of soul-singing louts in ‘The Blues Brothers’ and later in the decade played the villainous neighbor in Tom Hanks’ hit ‘The Burbs.’
Other memorable films include a ‘Gremlins’ sequel, Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Magnolia,’ and most recently a turn as a clergyman who gets an earful from Vince Vaughn in ‘Wedding Crashers.’
Until last year, he carried on a recurring role on ‘Boston Legal.’
Born James Bateman in Germantown, Pa., Gibson began acting professionally at age 8. He is survived by his wife and three sons.
Laugh-In was one of my favorite shows, yes… that dates me. I loved Goldie Hawn the most on the show.
RIP funny man.
source: ‘Laugh-In,’ Film Actor Henry Gibson Dies [popeater]
Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy, the youngest Kennedy brother who was left to head the family’s political dynasty after his brothers President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, has died at age 77.
Known as the “liberal lion of the Senate,” Kennedy championed health care reform, working wages and equal rights in his storied career. In August, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — by President Obama. His daughter, Kara Kennedy, accepted the award on his behalf.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, known as Ted or Teddy, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent a successful brain surgery soon after that. But his health continued to deteriorate, and Kennedy suffered a seizure while attending the luncheon following President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
For Kennedy, the ascension of Obama was an important step toward realizing his goal of health care reform.
At the Democratic National Convention in August 2008, the Massachusetts Democrat promised, “I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate when we begin the great test.”
Sen. Kennedy made good on that pledge, but ultimately lost his battle with cancer.
source: Ted Kennedy Dies of Brain Cancer at Age 77 [abc news]
Walter Cronkite, the CBS broadcast news icon who was dubbed “the most trusted man in America,” has died at the age of 92.
According to a CBS executive, Cronkite died with his family by his side after a long battle with illness. His span on the news world covered many generations, from the Kennedy assassination to the moon landing the Iranian hostage crisis.
His signature television sign-off was “And that’s the way it is.”
The FAA is already deflecting blame for the death of Billy Mays — claiming the legendary TV pitchman wasn’t wearing a seat belt when he took a shot to the head during a rough landing on a flight he was on yesterday.
Here’s what we know — Billy Mays was aboard US Airways Flight 1241 flying from Philadelphia, which landed roughly when the front tire blew out as it touched down. After the flight, Billy told FOX 13 in Tampa that something struck him in the head — here’s Billy’s actual quote:
“All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head.”
The FAA was contacted for comment, and a spokesperson said,
“The passenger needs to wear a seat belt during landing and he didn’t.”
A spokesperson for US Airways did not want to comment until more information comes to light.
“Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air.”
I call BS… the flight attendants always check to make sure everyone has their seat belt on. Do you think that he had it on… then unlatched it just before landing?
source: FAA — Billy Wasn’t Wearing a Seat Belt on Plane [TMZ]
Michael Jackson has suffered a heart attack and there are scant rumors (unconfirmed) that he has died.
TMZ is reporting that the fifty year old king of pop was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital.
Jackson reportedly collapsed at his home around noon today, where he was shortly rushed to emergency care while still unresponsive.
“The call came in because a person was not breathing,” says a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department.
“When the team arrived, they saw that CPR was already in progress by someone at the home. The person not breathing was transported to UCLA Medical Center and remains there.”
“He had a heart attack,” father Joe Jackson reported
They say it happens in three’s, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now Michael Jackson.
The brother of actor Mark Ruffalo has died a week after he was shot in the head, police said Tuesday.
Mark Ruffalo with his brother, Scott Ruffalo
Scott Ruffalo, 39, died late Monday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Renato Moreno said. A phone message left early Tuesday for a Mark Ruffalo publicist wasn’t immediately returned.
Shaha Mishaal Adham and Brian Scofield
Two people wanted for questioning about the shooting had surrendered themselves to police earlier Monday. Shaha Mishaal Adham was suspected of shooting Scott Ruffalo, and authorities had issued an attempted murder arrest warrant for the 26-year-old. Brian Scofield was being held on a misdemeanor traffic warrant. Jail records didn’t indicate whether the pair have hired attorneys, but showed that a court date for Adham had been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.
Scott Ruffalo, a hairstylist, was found with a gunshot wound to the head in Beverly Hills on Dec. 1. Police haven’t discussed a motive.
Mark Ruffalo, 41, has appeared in the films “Zodiac,†“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,†“You Can Count on Me†and “Blindness.â€
The song, co-written by Fieger and guitarist Berton Averre dominated U.S. radio airplay in the summer of ’79, and held the No. 1 spot on the national singles chart for six weeks. The band’s debut Capitol album “Get the Knack” spent five weeks at No. 1, and was certified double platinum.
