I was looking up info on a great singer who died in 1997 named Rich Mullins, and thought of this idea for a thread. Please share obituaries of some of your favorite departed celebrities. Here's Rich Mullins obituary, and a picture of him.

Obituary of Rich Mullins

Rich Mullins, a popular Christian musician, died this past Saturday morning in a car accident in Illinois. According to the AP, he was thrown from a sports utility vehicle after the car lost control and flipped over. He was then struck by a tractor-trailer as the trucker swerved to avoid the overturned vehicle. Mullins, 41, and Mitch McVicker, 24, who as of Sunday was in critical condition, were on their way to a benefit concert in his hometown of Wichita Kansas when the accident occurred near Peoria Illinois.

News of Mullins death shocked Christians nationwide when it hit the airwaves. Local radio station KXOJ held an hour and a half tribute to Mullins, playing his albums and discussing his work. They also asked believers to pray for Mitch, whom Mullins was discipling.
Mullins, who was single, will be remembered as much for his outspoken and enigmatic personality as for the powerful songs that he penned. When not performing with his Ragamuffin band, or writing songs with friend Beaker, Mullins was an author and columnist.
Mullins music, however, will be his greatest legacy. His first album (self-titled) was released in 1986, and since then Mullins has been a perennial favorite with fans, and musically active with another seven albums and a recent compilation, "Songs." His songs include "Awesome God," "Sing Your Praise to the Lord," "Step by Step," "Screen Door," "Hold Me Jesus," "Pictures in the Sky," "While the Nations Rage," "Boy Like Me, Man Like You," and over 80 others.
In 1996, Mullins took a sabbatical from touring and was a music teacher at a Navajo Indian reservation in New Mexico for a year. He recently co-wrote a new musical, "Canticle of the Plains," which is about Saint Francis ofAssisi, and is set in the American Old West. The CD for the musical was to be released in the fall. Mullins had also recently signed with Myrrh Records, and was to record another album in October.
* * * * *
Much could be said of Rich Mullins. Much, undoubtedly will be written in the days ahead, but sometimes the best epitaph is one's actions. For Mullins, this epitaph will be kind. He was a prophetic man who was bold to proclaim and challenge, and yet humble enough to realize his own weaknesses and acknowledge them. His concerts rang with authenticity and depth. A depth of thought, character, and walk.
Mullins music was a rarity. Poet, musician, philosopher, apologist, prophet, and "good Midwestern boy;" Mullins embodied them all. His talent will be greatly missed by all who are interested in Contemporary Christian Music.
He was also active in pro-life causes, missions (especially with Teen Mania), Compassion International (a child sponsorship program), The International Bible Society, and recently, ecumenical dialogue.
It seems to me the words of a prophet are best received when he is dead, and can no longer offend. Take, for instance, the phenomenon surrounding Keith Green's tragic death 15 years ago. Hopefully, Mullins character and message will likewise be heard for decades to come - and it will be; as long as people are in love with Jesus and honest with themselves; as long as men are desirous of truth and not words to tickle their ears.
Mullins often referred to himself as an "equal opportunity offender." Many of the things he said prove it:
"It seems like the church has picked homosexuality out to be the ultimate evil thing, and I m just not always sure that it is." - CCM magazine, June 1997.
"I think that's where the church is doubly damned; when they use Jesus as a vehicle for achieving all of that [worshiping, pleasure, leisure and affluence]. Like, if you give a tithe, He ll make you rich. Why? ... If you give a tithe, you get rid of ten percent of the root of all evil. You should be giving ninety percent, ‘cause God can handle money better than we can."
The secret of rock music: "If you can t be good, be loud."
The current trends in worship: "Shallow, mindless, stupid, and perfectly harmless, at best."
"I don't want to be tolerated. Argue with me, and I will respect you.
"It never fails. God will put people in your path that irritate you, especially if you're prone to be irritated." (The above quotes were taken from an article by Linda Thompson Stonehocker.)
"I did get a letter from one guy who asked me why I have a picture of Mary [on my "Songs" CD] and whether I think Mary should be prayed to. I am going to write back and say my other albums have pictures of me, and I don't think I should be prayed to." - when asked by a Catholic newspaper if he received flack from his "Songs" album, which had many Catholic themes.
"The Jordan is no longer waiting for Rich to cross through ... Our God is still an Awesome God!" The conclusion to the announcement of his death, by Brian Williams, on the Rich Mullins Fan Page.
"I hope I would leave a legacy of joy -a legacy of real compassion," -Rich Mullins.

by Philip Pfanstiel
© 1997 The Philip Pfiles published Sept 24, 1997

Actor Carroll O'Connor Dies at 76

Carroll O'Connor, whose portrayal of irascible bigot Archie Bunker on ``All in the Family'' helped make the groundbreaking TV comedy part of the American dialogue on race and politics, died of a heart attack on June 21, 2001. He was 76.

O'Connor collapsed at his home and was taken to Brotman Medical Center, publicist Frank Tobin said. He said O'Connor died with his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancy, by his side.

The actor had diabetes and had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery in 1989.

Personal tragedy darkened O'Connor's later years. His only child, Hugh, a co-star with his father on the TV series ``In The Heat of The Night,'' shot himself in a drug-related suicide in 1995.

A native of New York, O'Connor had been working for two decades on stage and in TV and movie supporting parts when he was tapped by producer Norman Lear to play a blue-collar worker from New York's borough of Queens with the gift of gab and a big chip on his shoulder.

On Jan. 12, 1971, Archie began spouting off against minorities, liberals and his long-haired son-in-law (whom he called ``Meathead'') and kept at it for 13 years. O'Connor didn't flinch at playing an unlikeable character and deftly brought Archie's intolerance to feisty comic life.

``Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker was a genius at work, God's gift to the world,'' Lear told KABC-TV. ``He is etched permanently in our memories.''

The actor also managed to give Archie a vulnerability that allowed him to be seen as a beleaguered soul, bound by his unthinking prejudices and buffeted by the changes sweeping Vietnam War-era America.

Further softening the character was his love for wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), lovingly known as ``Dingbat,'' and their daughter, Gloria (Sally Struthers), and his grudging affection for Meathead Mike (Rob Reiner).

``He didn't ever go for the easy laugh,'' recalled Reiner. ``It was always important for him to maintain the integrity of the characters the honesty and the reality of the characters.''

``All in the Family,'' adapted from the British series ``Till Death Do Us Part,'' shattered the sitcom mold that had produced decades of superficial and bland series featuring, invariably, a wise and kindly paternal figure.

Lear considered other actors for the pivotal role of Archie, but said he found the right combination of ``bombast and sweetness'' in O'Connor, whom he had seen in the film ``What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?''

The sitcom got off to a rocky start. Many found it unsettling and offensive, and tuned it out. Harvard psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint called the show's bigotry ``dangerous because it's disarming.''

Eventually, however, viewers came to embrace Archie and the series as a comedy and a source of debate. It ranked No. 1 for five years, was top-rated for much of its run and gave birth to two spin-offs, ``Maude'' and ``The Jeffersons.''

The show was such a powerful cultural influence that the Smithsonian Institution (news - web sites) in Washington commemorated the program by displaying the living room chairs used by Archie and Edith.

O'Connor moved from ``All in the Family'' (1971-79) to ``Archie Bunker's Place'' (1979-83), which was based in a bar owned by Archie rather than in the Bunker household.

The actor put his controversial character in perspective.

``I have a great deal of sympathy for him,'' O'Connor said of Archie in a 1986 Playboy magazine interview. ``As James Baldwin wrote, the white man here is trapped by his own history, a history that he himself cannot comprehend and therefore what can I do but love him?''

O'Connor and his two brothers were raised by their father, an attorney, and schoolteacher mother in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, a more prosperous section of Queens than Archie would ever know. O'Connor grew up in a life of financial comfort and social tolerance.

``I never heard Archie's kind of talk in my own family,'' he once said. ``My father was a lawyer and was in partnership with two Jews, who with their families were close to us. There were black families in our circle of friends. My father disliked talk like Archie's - he called it lowbrow.''

O'Connor served as a merchant seaman in World War II, enrolling at the University of Montana on his return. Although both his siblings became physicians, O'Connor studied literature and discovered acting.

He met his future wife, Nancy Fields, while appearing in a play.

Captivated by Ireland during a visit in 1950, O'Connor finished his undergraduate studies at the National University of Ireland. Fields joined him and they were married in Dublin in 1951.

O'Connor appeared on stage throughout Ireland and in London, Paris and Edinburgh. Making it in New York proved to be a struggle. He worked as a substitute teacher, earned his master's degree at Montana and, in the late 1950s, finally began getting roles in theater and film.

``Lonely Are the Brave'' and ``Cleopatra'' (both 1963), ``Hawaii'' (1966) and ``Point Blank'' (1967) were among the movies in which he appeared.

Then ``All in the Family'' made him a star and, eventually, a four-time Emmy winner.

``Today's public recognition is something I never wished for or even cared about,'' he said in 1971. ``But now that it is here, I find it wonderful, of course.''

He followed ``Archie's Place'' with a return to New York theater, then came back to TV series in 1988 with ``In the Heat of the Night,'' a police drama based on the Rod Steiger-Sidney Poitier film. O'Connor played Bill Gillespie, police chief of a small Mississippi town; Howard Rollins co-starred as detective Virgil Tibbs.

O'Connor continued with the series through health problems and a network change, from NBC to CBS. His son played a police officer on the show.

O'Connor, who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year, appeared in the 2000 romantic comedy ``Return to Me.''

The O'Connors adopted their son as an infant in 1962 in Italy, where O'Connor was filming ``Cleopatra.'' Hugh O'Connor battled a longtime alcohol and drug addiction problem.

On March 28, 1995, in several phone conversations, Hugh told his father ``this is a very black day,'' said he had a gun and was going to ``cap'' himself. O'Connor recalled telling him ``you're just saying crazy things'' and advising him to seek a doctor's care.

``So long, I love you,'' his son replied. O'Connor called police, who arrived just as Hugh O'Connor shot himself.

O'Connor turned his grief over the death of 32-year-old Hugh into an anti-drug crusade and a quest for legal vengeance against his son's drug supplier.

``Nothing will help,'' O'Connor said after the man was sentenced to a year in jail. ``Our lives have changed. My wife's and mine, and his widow.''

O'Connor was hospitalized in November at the UCLA Medical Center, where he had a toe amputated because of a circulatory problem related to diabetes.

© 2001 By ANTHONY BREZNICAN, AP Entertainment Writer.

THE FIRST LADY OF TELEVISION AND THE GREATEST LADY ON TELEVISION EVER, MY FAVE, LUCILLE BALL...I MISS HER SOOOOO MUCH:(



Lucille Ball, 1911-1989

Though best remembered by generations of fans for her role as "Lucy Ricardo" in the classic TV comedy series "I Love Lucy", Lucille Ball was a seasoned performer with more than 20 years of film work to her credit before she became one of television's top comediennes. A savvy business woman who pioneered television film technique and the first woman to head her own film studio, Lucille Ball died April 26th, 1989 at the age of 77.

Born in the small town of Celeron, New York (near Jamestown) Lucille Desiree Ball was the eldest of two children, raised by her maternal grandparents after her father abandoned the family when she was 4 years old. While her absent mother worked several jobs to financially support her daughter and a younger son, Lucille spent much of her childhood caring for her brother and a group of younger cousins. One of the few escapes from her young charges was an occasional trip to the movie house, and determined to become an actress, Ms. Ball left school at the age of 15 to study drama at John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School in New York. One of Ms. Ball's classmates was an older, ruthlessly ambitious girl who soon dominated the classes, and whose competiveness overwhelmed the shy, dark-haired Lucille. Leaving that girl, Bette Davis, and her classes behind, Ms. Ball redesigned herself and emerged as a platinum blonde model with New York's Hattie Carnegie Agency using the name Diane Belmont.

Ms. Ball, considered tall for the era at 5'6" and possessing even features she learned to augment became a successful poster model and Ziegfield chorus girl in the 1930s. Her languid, flapper look on a poster caught the attention of Samuel Goldwyn, who cast her as a slave girl in the big budget extravaganza "Roman Scandals" (1933). A number of Hollywood bit parts followed in films with big stars, including Eddie Cantor ("Kid Millions"), Ronald Coleman ("Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back") and the popular slapstick trio, The Three Stooges ("Three Little Pigskins").

In 1935 Ms. Ball's contract was picked up by RKO Pictures and she also landed a promotional contract with make-up master Max Factor to promote his line of cosmetics. Ms. Ball promoted the line for some 15 years and remains the company's longest reigning spokesperson. The former blonde chorus girl began to get better roles at RKO, including parts in Fred Astaire's "Top Hat". By 1937 Lucille Ball was co-starring in dramas like "Stage Door" with Katherine Hepburn and adroitly shifting into wisecracking comic roles with The Marx Brothers ("Room Service"). The comedies of her early career rarely gave her an opportunity to employ her full arsenal, however: there were simply no starring women comics at the time, and producers and writers could or would not move a woman out of a second banana role.

While starring in the musical comedy "Too Many Girls" in 1940 Ms. Ball met supporting player Desi Arnaz, a 23-year-old conga player who had made a name for himself as a member of Xavier Cugat's big band. Though Ms. Ball was crowding 30, the pair embarked on a whirlwind romance that culminated in their elopement in November of 1940. For the next decade, Ms. Ball and the Cuban-born Desi Arnaz kept their career interests separate. He founded his own Latin big band and almost singlehandedly launched a nationwide craze for conga and mambo music. She moved on to MGM and found herself teaming frequently with her friend, funny man Bob Hope. In 1948 Ms. Ball took the lead in the radio comedy series "My Favorite Husband", based on a book entitled "Mr. and Mrs. Cugat". The weekly radio show was a hit and aired from 1948-51.

"My Favorite Husband" proved a turning point for Lucy, Desi, and CBS. In 1950, Ms. Ball and Desi Arnaz formed Desilu Productions just as CBS approached her about turning the popular radio series into a television show. By now a fiery red head with a spirit to match, Lucille Ball negotiated a deal rare in the early television business and unheard of for a female star: her conditions were that her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz would play her television husband, and that Desilu Productions would have creative control of the program. Debuting shortly after the birth of their daughter, Lucie Arnaz, in October of 1951, "I Love Lucy" starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as The Ricardos became an overnight hit. The show broke new ground and set new standards for television, implementing a 3-camera filming format previously untried, which gave the show better editing and higher quality film that stood the test of repeated use in reruns. More exciting for audiences, however, was the emergence of Lucille Ball as the first physical comedienne, who had a part in the writing, directing, and production of her own material. "I Love Lucy" ran from 1951-56, and later reincarnated as "The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show" (1957-58). As executive writers and producers of their shows, Lucy and Desi incorporated the impending arrival of their son, Desi Arnaz Jr. into the series with the arrival of "Little Ricky Ricardo" in 1953, another first in an era when "women in a family way" were not depicted on television.

Desilu Productions acquired Ms. Ball's old studio, RKO in 1957, and Lucille Ball became the first woman in media history to actively head her own production company. Desilu produced a number of other series which became considered classics, including "The Untouchables" (1959-63).

When Ms. Ball and her husband divorced in 1960 after 20 years of marriage she continued to run Desilu Productions until 1968 when she sold it to Paramount Pictures. During her years as "Lucy", Ms. Ball won 4 Emmy Awards, 3 of which were for Best Actress. Ms. Ball launched "The Lucy Show" (1962-64), appeared in a number of films including "Yours, Mine and Ours" with Henry Fonda and the movie musical "Mame" (1974) as well as a follow up series, "Here's Lucy". Ms. Ball was a frequent guest star and host on other television projects and interview programs, once noting in a discussion on her ground-breaking work in comedy "I'm not funny. What I am is brave."

Her bravery and willingness to take risks worked for more than 50 years, until 1989 when she underwent open heart surgery. On April 26th, 1989 Lucille Ball died in Los Angeles, California from a ruptured aorta suffered as an unforeseen post surgical complication. At her death, Lucille Ball was survived by her daughter, Lucie Arnaz, her son Desi Arnaz, Jr., her second husband Gary Morton and several grandchildren. Ms. Ball left a legacy of over 101 film and television movies, appearances in 20 television projects, and an autobiography, "Love, Lucy" which was discovered and published after her death.

George Harrison, 1943-2001

Former Beatle George Harrison dies from cancer aged 58

Dave Laing
Friday November 30, 2001


The former Beatle George Harrison, who died today.

According to the Beatles producer Sir George Martin, George Harrison was "the Beatles' Third Man, always there yet somehow elusive". As well as being the "quiet Beatle", he was the rock guitarist who introduced the sitar to British pop music, a stalwart devotee of transcendental meditation, a film producer and an underrated songwriter - his composition Something was recorded by dozens of singers and was the only Beatles song featured in concert by Frank Sinatra.

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He was born in Wavertree, Liverpool in 1942, eight months after Paul McCartney and two years after John Lennon. He experienced his "rock 'n roll epiphany", he later recalled, "when I was about 12 or 13 riding my bike and I heard Heartbreak Hotel coming out of somebody's house."
The son of a bus driver, George passed the 11-plus exam and was awarded a place at the Liverpool Institute, one of the city's leading grammar schools. He met McCartney, who lived nearby, on the bus to school and the pair became close friends. When Paul linked up with John in the Quarrymen skiffle group, he tried to persuade the group to invite George to join.

Lennon resisted, unwilling to have a 14- year-old kid in his band. He relented after hearing George's acoustic guitar rendition of the rock hit Raunchy. He realised that having a guitar soloist would allow the group to incorporate rock 'n roll material by Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Little Richard into its repertoire.

The disapproval with which Lennon's Auntie Mimi greeted George's teddy boy style and thick Scouse accent may also have helped change John's mind.

Harrison's absorption in music took its toll on his school career, and he left the Liverpool Institute in 1959 with only one exam pass, in art. However, the following year his musical career began in earnest when the re-named Beatles were booked to play for four months in a club in Hamburg's Reeperbahn. Although the trip was cut short when the 17-year-old Harrison was discovered to be under age, the quintet (including drummer Pete Best and guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe) had gelled into an arresting and idiosyncratic unit.

By 1962, the Beatles had signed their recording contract with EMI. When their urbane producer, George Martin, politely asked them whether there was "anything you're not happy with?", Harrison quipped: "Yes, I don't like your tie".

The next eight years saw the Beatles become the most famous entertainers in the world and then implode. George had his share of the adulation - on his 21st birthday he received 15,000 cards and a full-sized door plus key - but within the group he was relatively isolated, as John and Paul were locked into their volatile songwriting partnership.

Nevertheless, his contribution was considerable. He designed guitar breaks and riffs to suit the range of song genres used by Lennon and McCartney, although he had less opportunity than he would have liked to cut loose in the rockabilly style of his great hero Carl Perkins.

He also got to sing at least one number on each album, beginning with Do You Want To Know A Secret? on the debut album. Eventually, too, the Beatles agreed to record his compositions, of which Within You Without You (from Sgt Pepper) While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from the White Album) and Here Comes The Sun and Something (from Abbey Road) were among the most memorable.

But probably his most important influence on the group concerned the new sound textures he introduced. Chief among these was the sitar that he first heard in a scene from the film Help! George was intrigued and he contrived a meeting with the sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar at the home of the leader of the Asian Music Circle in London.

He briefly studied with Shankar, not, as he explained, to be able to become a classical raga player, but to be able to use the sitar in Beatle music. It was first heard on the Lennon song Norwegian Wood in 1965 and soon Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and a dozen other pop musicians were featuring the sitar sound instrument on their records.

Harrison and Shankar remained close friends, touring the United States together in 1974, and a Shankar recording appeared on Harrison's own record label, Dark Horse.

George's interest in Indian music led to the Beatles' famous entanglement with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1967-8. With the other group members and their partners, George and his wife Patti Boyd (whom he had met on the set of the film A Hard Day's Night) travelled to the Maharishi's ashram in India.

When the event disintegrated after allegations that the guru had molested a female adept, Harrison alone of the group remained faithful to the precepts of the Vedic tradition. He later showed his commitment in more practical ways by producing a hit record by the London-based Hari Krishna Temple group, by donating a Hertfordshire mansion for use as a centre of Hinduism and by playing concerts in support of the Natural Law party.

He did, however, turn down the Maharishi's request that he, Paul and Ringo stand as candidates in Liverpool in the 1992 general election.

By 1968, The Beatles were on a downward path as John and Paul drifted apart and both antagonised George, who walked off the set of the film Let It Be after an argument with Paul.

In these circumstances, it was perhaps not surprising that Harrison was the first of the group to record and succeed as a solo artist. He made two instrumental albums - Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound - before co-producing the three-LP set All Things Must Pass with Phil Spector and a range of distinguished instrumentalists.

With 3m copies sold worldwide, it was his most commercially successful record, although a successful plagiarism suit over the song My Sweet Lord eventually cost him almost $600,000 (£421,000) in a US court case.

The devastation caused by floods in Bangladesh in 1971 inspired Harrison to organise a major benefit concert in New York that was recorded and released as a live album the following year. He continued to write and record at a fast pace for the next few years, releasing the hit Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) in 1973 and the albums Living In The Material World and Extra Texture.

By the late 1970s, however, his spiritual soft rock was out of fashion and for much of the next decade Harrison concentrated on a new career as a film producer through Handmade Films, the company he formed with Dennis O'Brien in 1979.

Their first success was the Monty Python's feature The Life Of Brian, which they took on after EMI's Lord Delfont decided it would incur charges of blasphemy. During the 1980s Handmade was responsible for such critically-acclaimed movies as The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, A Private Function, Mona Lisa and Withnail and I.

The failure of the Madonna-Sean Penn vehicle Shanghai Surprise in 1986 heralded a downturn in the company's fortunes and it was eventually wound up in acrimony with Harrison winning a $11 million lawsuit against his former partner.

John Lennon's tragic death in 1980 spurred George to compose the tribute song All Those Years Ago which he recorded with Paul and Ringo, but his own recording career was not rekindled until 1987 when he and Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra co-produced the album Cloud Nine which included two hit singles, Got My Mind Set On You (a number one in America) and When We Was Fab.

With Lynne he next formed the Travelling Wilburys, a kind of anti-supergroup with Bob Dylan (a former songwriting partner of Harrison's), Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Despite Orbison's death in 1988, the group recorded two highly successful albums that in 1992 encouraged Harrison to undertake his first international tour for 18 years.

Among the supporting musicians was Eric Clapton, whose professional and personal life had been entwined with Harrison's since the 1960s. After George and Patti Boyd had separated in 1974 she married Clapton, whose agonised love for her had inspired his famous song Layla.

In his 1979 autobiography I Me Mine, Harrison had written "I don't go out to clubs and parties. I stay at home and watch the river flow". In the 80s and early 90s he appeared in public infrequently, usually on Beatle-related occasions such as the court case in which the surviving Beatles prevented the release of a sub-standard live recording from Hamburg and at Linda McCartney's funeral.

During the remainder of the 90s, Harrison lived quietly in his lovingly restored 19th century mansion in Friars Park, Henley-on-Thames, with his second wife Olivia Arias and their 24-year-old son Dhani.

Their idyllic life was shaken when a schizophrenic Beatles fan, Michael Abram, broke into their home in December 1999. Although he badly injured Harrison, he was found not guilty of attempted murder and was ordered to be detailed indefinitely in a secure psychiatric hospital.

A year before the attack, Harrison, previously a heavy smoker, had revealed he had undergone treatment for throat cancer. After the break-in, Harrison developed lung cancer and received major surgery for the disease in America earlier this year. His death follows last-hope treatment in Switzerland for a tumour on his brain. He is survived by Olivia and their son Dhani.

George Harrison, guitarist, singer, songwriter, born 25 February 1943; died 30 November 2001.

You know Irene, it's kind of funny how you'd post Lucille Ball's obituary right after I posted Carroll O'Connors, since the two of them weren't all that fond of each other. Despite there personal feelings towards each other though,they were both amazing actors, who forever changed the television industry!!

Obituary: Maurice Gibb: 22nd December 1949 - 12th January 2003

Maurice Gibb: part of a pop legend

As a member of the Bee Gees, with world-wide record sales exceeding 110 million, Maurice Gibb enjoyed a place among the top five of the most successful recording artistes of all time, along with The Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Sir Paul McCartney.

The group wrote and produced six consecutive Number One singles in the United States, while in Britain they wrote chart-topping hits in four consecutive decades.

But the life of Maurice Gibb, the Bee Gees' bass guitarist and keyboard player, mirrored the ups and downs of the group's experience.

He and his twin, Robin, were born in the Isle of Man on December 22, 1949, but in the 1950s the family moved to Manchester, and in 1955, the precocious trio of Robin, Maurice and their elder brother Barry, made their debut at a cinema, singing and miming the hits of the day.

In 1958, the family moved to Australia, where they wasted no time in promoting their would-be showbiz careers, adopting the name Bee Gees as an abbreviation of the Brothers Gibb.

They had limited success but in 1967, just as they decided to try their luck in Britain, they made the breakthrough and were voted Group of the Year in Australia.

In England, Robert Stigwood, partner of the Beatles' Brian Epstein, became the Bee Gees manager and the hits started coming.

New York Mining Disaster 1941 was followed by Massachusetts and during a 16-month period, the Bee Gees chalked up Number One hits in 15 countries.

Failed marriage

But already, fame and money were accompanied by the familiar perils of drugs, alcohol and feuding. While Robin pursued a solo career, Barry and Maurice spent excessively and married, Maurice to singer, Lulu.

The couple met in the BBC canteen when they were appearing on Top of the Pops and announced their engagement on Lulu's TV show.

They married in 1969 and lived in exclusive Hampstead, in north London, where they indulged in the trappings of wealth, with Maurice buying a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley and an Aston Martin in the space of a few days.

But Maurice had by now hit the bottle, and when party guests left, the couple rowed. They split up in 1973, but remained friends, appearing on stage together last year, when they sang a duet on An Audience with Lulu.

Robin soon rejoined his brothers and though they had some hits in the early 1970s, sales were falling off until their album, Children of the World, went platinum with three hit singles, including the disco anthem, You Should be Dancing.

It heralded the Bee Gees' greatest triumph, the soundtrack for the film, Saturday Night Fever, featuring funky dance rhythms and high harmonies.

Several of the tracks, including Night Fever and How Deep is Your Love, went to Number One, while the album eventually sold 30 million copies worldwide.

The group had another chart-topping album in 1979, Spirits Having Flown, but the 1980s brought a decline in their popularity in the United States and for some time, the brothers' careers went their separate ways.

In 1988, younger brother Andy, 30, died after succumbing to drugs, and Maurice, by now, had relapsed into drinking.

But, reunited on stage and record with Barry and Robin, Maurice continued to enjoy intermittent success internationally.

And Maurice found happiness with his second wife Yvonne with whom he had two children, Adam and Samantha.

In the 1990s, he and his brothers received an American Lifetime Achievement Award, a Brit Award and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Maurice Gibb had ensured his place in pop history.

http://swirlworld.com/sml_gibb_maurice.jpg

this thread is depressing. :(

this thread is depressing. :(

I see what you mean, but it's also kind of bittersweet in a way...

I couldn't believe it when Maurice died. It all happened so quickly. I found out he was in hospital on Friday (10th January) and then on the morning of the 12th (Sunday) my Dad came into my room and told me that he'd died.

I mean, Maurice was just one of those people you don't expect to die. Always happy, always smiling, so down-to-earth, just a lovely, normal guy, who liked to play around and have a joke, and a really nice guy. The singer Lulu (I don't know how well-known she is in America, but she's pretty famous in Britain, and she was married to Maurice for a few years) said in her autobiography that he could talk to anyone, from a duke to a dustman, and treat them exactly the same.

I chose not to post an 'actual' obituary (you can undoubtly find that on Internet yourself), but I wanted to post this 'In Memoriam'-speech, that has touched me very deeply.

It was spoken by Donald Ault (http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~donault/) at the funeral of the legendary Donald Duck comic book artist Carl Barks (http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/creators/carl-barks.html), whom I greatly admire.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v719/9475675/Barks.jpg

In Memoriam: Carl Barks, March 27, 1901 - August 25, 2000
Written on August 30-31, 2000, by Donald Ault and read by him at the memorial service for Carl Barks on August 31, 2000.

An irreplaceable part of all of us died on August 25, 2000, and nothing can bring back the smile, the radiance of being, the unexpected phrase that would catch us off guard in conversation that accompanied Carl Barks wherever he went.

Nothing can bring all of that back into our physical presence. Wordsworth, speaking of a similar loss wrote:

"There hath passed away a glory from the earth."

We’re here today to acknowledge and begin to try to accept the intolerable fact of that loss, symbolized by the bodily shell that once housed an infinite imagination and an indomitable human spirit.

Carl knew we needed to confront the reality of his passing, and that is one reason he chose to have this public display of his physical remains. As he told me in one of our last conversations, "Funerals and cemeteries are for the living, not the dead."

But he would not have us dwell forever in this gap between what was and never again shall be. No. As he insisted to me, time after time, that he "put life" into his drawings—his own life—"from the white paper on up to the finished product," "a one-man show," that made the ducks look so "authentic," "genuine," and his favorite word for his work, "sincere": "The way the ducks were feeling just came out of the ends of my fingers and right on to the paper."

And the more he put life into the ducks, the more alive he became—and he was the most alive human being I have ever known or hope to know. So we must not look at his massive legacy of stories, drawings, paintings, and writings as if they are dead images wrapped in a funeral pall but as our only remaining direct access to the life force that animated the soul of one of the greatest, most prolific, and most diverse visual narrative artists of the twentieth (and perhaps any) century.

Before I met Carl, I couldn't imagine what the person would be like who had written and drawn all those stories I had marveled at as a child and had developed such a deep respect for as an adult, but the moment (almost exactly thirty years ago today) that I first laid eyes on him and shook the hand that had produced those magical duck stories, I realized that no other person in the whole world but this man standing before me could have accomplished such a feat. And as I grew to know him better, as I watched the seemingly endless flow of productivity and generosity from a man who could well have been passing his days lazily in retirement, the more inevitable the congruence became between this man’s very being and the body of work he was producing.

Despite his great refusal to acknowledge consciously the full depth, complexity, and influence of his work, at some fundamental level—"deep beneath the subconscious" he once told me—he recognized the power of his talent and the gift life had given him in the opportunity to use that talent to its fullest. And he accepted the awesome responsibility that accompanied this gift, bequeathed in part, but only in part, by Disney. Although his vision of life could be expressed most fully through the Disney ducks, Carl created many more characters than he inherited, and those he did inherit from his days in the animation story department underwent a genetic transmutation of epic proportions. In his own homespun terms, "I always tried to give the guy—whether it was the kid at the newsstand or Walt Disney himself—more than he paid for."

In this light, I believe it is not too extreme to say that Carl gave his life for us—not in a sacrificial or sacramental way—but in a joyous, therapeutic, healing way, to save us from the monotony and depression of everyday life—at times by exaggerating the frustrations he confronted Donald with in order to make Donald’s absurdity, pridefulness, tenacity, and, more often than one might expect, heroism show up for us as infinitely meaningful—at other times by enchanting us into imaginary, mythical worlds (the land of the square eggs, the Terries and Fermies, the Peeweegahs, Atlantis, the Seven Cities of Cibola, and on and on) that were extraordinarily plausible because they were built around the "tools of everyday life"—all the while creating a moveable locale (Duckburg) and a cast of fluid, dynamic continuing characters, including Scrooge who became more famous than Donald, Gladstone Gander who "curdled everybody’s cream," Gyro Gearloose (Carl’s alter ego), the Beagle Boys (the world hardest-working would-be thieves) and so many, many more, including some who made only one memorable appearance (Porkmuscle J. Hamfat, Pulpheart Clabberhead, P.J. McBrine, Chisel McSue, and Prunella Prunepuss, a.k.a. Angina Arthritis, to mention just a few)—characters who were so believable that they seemed more real than the mundane world to which we had to return after following them on their imaginative journeys. Carl's commitment was to teach us to read with wonderment, all the while "telling it like it is," "laying it right on the line," making us recognize that "everything isn't always going to turn out roses."

For us, today is such a day, even though it may be strewn with roses. However much we yearn for it to be different, for Carl to have retained his seemingly eternal youth forever; however much we might hope to hear one more new word, glimpse one more sidelong, mischievous glance from his vibrant eyes, he has been taken from us. And, as much as is possible in this life, he left us on his own terms, still thinking of us and how this day might be for us. In so doing, he has taught us how, when our time comes, we might, like him, die in dignity and peace.

Let us celebrate the undeniable fact that we are the lucky ones—far luckier than Gladstone Gander could ever understand—for we have been allowed to share the same time on earth with this great man; we have lived in his time; and we can say, "He walked among us, and, for a while, we walked with him."

May the soul of this gentle, generous, moral, creative man—who has changed the world more than any of us may be able to imagine—rest eternally in peace.

Totally cannot find an obit more than 2 sentences long. Where are you guys finding these nice long ones?

Totally cannot find an obit more than 2 sentences long. Where are you guys finding these nice long ones?

I just went to yahoo and typed Carrol O'Connor's obituary in the search engine, and got a bunch of results. You can also try writing celebrity obituarities in a search engine, and I'm sure you can find a bunch that way as well.