2012 - Page 10 of 10 - Hollywood Memoir

January 20, 2012

Etta James, American Singing Legend, Dies 73

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2011) was an American singer whose style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Starting her career in the mid 1950s, she gained fame with hits such as “Dance With Me, Henry”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind” for which she claimed she wrote the lyrics. She faced a number of personal problems including drug addiction before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album, The Seven Year Itch.

She is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone ranked James number twenty-two on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number sixty-two on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.

Etta James cause of death
Etta James died of Cancer (Leukemia). Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow,
Etta James was 73 years old at the time of her death

Related Blog:
Singer Etta James terminally ill with Cancer (Leukemia) (December 18, 2011)

Related Death:
Etta James was discovered by Johnny Otis. He died a day before Etta James’ death

Recent quote from Etta James on Beyonce (when Beyonce sang ‘At Last’ for president Obama on February 2009)
“I can’t stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day … singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.”

At Last – Etta James

At Last – Studio Version

January 19, 2012

Sarah Burke, Canadian Freestyle Skier, Olympic Hopeful, dies 29

Sarah Burke (September 3, 1982 – January 19, 2012) was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a four-time Winter X Games gold medalist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event.

Sarah Burke cause of death
Sarah Burkedied following a training accident in Utah.
Sarah Burke was 29 years old at the time of her death.

Accident
On January 10, 2012 Burke was seriously injured while training on the Park City Mountain Resort Eagle superpipe in Park City, Utah. This is the same superpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce was seriously injured in 2009. Onlookers reported that Burke had completed a trick fairly well yet fell onto her head, and the accident did not appear to be very severe. Moments later, however, she went into cardiac arrest while still on the ski slope, making her chance of survival extremely low. She was resuscitated and airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she was reported to be in a coma. The following day, she underwent neurosurgery to repair a tear in a vertebral artery. She succumbed to her injuries on January 19, 2012. Per her publicist’s words, Burke’s injuries had resulted in “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest.” Her organs and tissues were donated as she requested before her death.

etalk Sarah Burke at Whistler World Ski Fest

January 17, 2012

Johnny Otis, Singer, ‘Willie and the Hand Jive’, dies 90

Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes (December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012), better known as Johnny Otis, was an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario. Born in Vallejo, California, he is commonly referred to as the “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues”.

Johnny Otis cause of death
Cause of death is not released yet.
Johnny Otis was 90 years old at the time of his death

Hand Jive – The Johnny Otis Show

January 1, 2012

Bob Anderson, who played Darth Vader, dies 89

Bob Anderson (September 15, 1922 – January 1, 2012) was an English actor and fencer. Anderson also owns a claim to fame for being a swordfighting trainer for several films, as well as a stunt double for Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He is one of seven people to have played that character. He was born in Hampshire.

Anderson did not receive much recognition for his role in the Star Wars films for years after their initial release, in part because David Prowse was so lauded for his portrayal that director George Lucas did not want to detract from the boost it gave the actor’s career. In a 1983 interview, however, Mark Hamill paid homage to Anderson’s contribution, saying: “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn’t think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by one man.”

As a competitive fencer, he represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in 1952 and the World Championships in 1950 and 1953 in the sabre event. He finished tied for fifth in the team sabre event at Helsinki in 1952.

After his retirement from fencing competition, Anderson emigrated to Canada, where he went on to become technical director of the Canadian Fencing Association. Anderson died on New Year’s Day 2012 in a West Sussex hospital. He was 89.

January 1, 2012

2011 Top 10 Celebrity Deaths

Happy New Year everyone.

Below is my top 10 celebrity deaths in 2011.
(* I didn’t count Steve Jobs as “Hollywood” celebrity)

As always, my list will be different than yours.
It’s not easy to trim a long list down to just 10.

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5 celebrities who didn’t make top 10

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