Re: Cilla Black has died
so sad
so sad
THE DEATH OF TWO SINGER-QUASARS
Part 1:
When a person gets into their 70s, as I did in 2014, celebrities from the worlds of the movies and television, from the music world, indeed, from many worlds of popular culture, begin to die like flies. That metaphor may be a bit too strong, but their deaths are periodic occurrences which begin to dot the landscape of one’s life-narrative. I write below about the lives and deaths of two famous people in the last four months, people from popular culture, people who were out on the distant periphery of my life experience, my life-narrative.
Part 1.1:
Percy Sledge, who recorded the classic 1966 soul ballad When a Man Loves a Woman, died aged 73, at his home in Baton Rouge Louisiana. I remember that song which was released in April 1966. That was the last month of my three year B.A. degree in sociology. I was 21, a member of the Baha’i community of Dundas Ontario, and about to get married and pioneer to the Canadian Arctic for the Baha’i community of Canada.
Sledge died early on 14/4/’15. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in early 2014. Sledge’s first recording took him from being a hospital orderly to a long touring career averaging 100 performances a year. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Between 1966 and 1968, Sledge used his forlorn, crying vocal style to record a series of southern soul standards. While his first hit When a Man Loves a Woman was by far his most famous song, other popular singles included Take Time to Know Her and It Tears Me Up.
By 1968 he had largely fallen from commercial favour, though songs like Take Time to Know Her continued to be revered by soul fans. By 1968, I was living on the 5th biggest island in the world, Baffin Island, and teaching Inuit children. Sledge, who had been only a faint light on my event horizon, had completely disappeared into one of the many black holes into which so much of popular culture disappeared during my lifespan. In later years, Sledge continued to be in demand as a performer in the US and Europe. When a Man Loves a Woman has continued to pop up in movies, including The Big Chill and The Crying Game. But Sledge had gone, until a news-event in April 2015 brought him back onto my event horizon.
Part 2:
Cilla Black, a 1960s pop star championed by The Beatles, became one of Britain's best-loved television presenters. She died yesterday, as I write these words, on Sunday 2 August 2015, in Spain. The 72-year-old was found at her home near Marbella Spain. The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror newspapers reported the event quoting Spanish police.
Big hearted and full of laughs, this working-class redhead from Liverpool was a fixture on British television screens for more than 50 years, known just by her first name. She started out working in the cloakroom at the Cavern club, where fellow Liverpudlians The Beatles were first spotted, before taking to the stage as a singer herself. The band championed Black and introduced her to their manager Brian Epstein, who signed her.
Black released her first single in 1963 and the following year had two Number One hits, "You're My World" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart". The former Song was number 1 in the UK at the end of May 1964. I was just completing the first year of my B.A. degree at McMaster university in the lunch-pail city of Hamilton Ontario.
She went on to release 14 albums. In 1968 she began hosting her own television talk show, beginning a broadcasting career that saw her present some of Britain's most popular programmes over half a century. I knew little to nothing about TV in the U.K. and little about TV in Canada since these were the years in which I had no TV.
Part 2.1:
Actress Joan Collins was one of the first to pay tribute, saying on Twitter that she was "sad and shocked" and adding: "She was a resplendent and rare talent." Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described her as "one of my childhood idols". "My earliest memory of having a tantrum was over Cilla. I wanted her album. My mum and dad said no — my grandad said yes. I was 4," the Scottish nationalist leader said.
Black was made an OBE in 1997 and last year was given a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which called her an "icon". In its citation, BAFTA said she had hosted more than 500 television shows and made around 400 guest appearances on others, regularly drawing audiences of 18 million people. Black was married to Bobby Willis, who became her manager and who died in 1999. They had three sons as well as a daughter who died in infancy.
These two names were completely
unknown to me until their deaths
were announced in the print and
electronic media: 4/’15 to 8/’15.
There are so many names now from
popular culture & academic culture,
people who have come into my life
like distant stars in a far-off galaxy,
or exploding quasars1 of immense
luminosity, but here today & gone
tomorrow into a hole for those who
speak no more or even sing no more.
Perhaps, though, like quasars, they
will go on emitting light for billions
of years in a world beyond this world
only to merge over time into one of the
black holes in, say, 3 to 5 billion years.
Ron Price
3/8/’15.
1 Quasars, or quasi-stellar radio sources, are the most energetic and distant members of a class of objects called active galactic nuclei (AGN). Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that appeared to be similar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies. Their spectra contain very broad emission lines, unlike any known from stars, hence the name "quasi-stellar." Their luminosity can be 100 times greater than that of the Milky Way. Most quasars were formed approximately 12 billion years ago caused by collisions of galaxies and their central black holes merging to form a supermassive black hole.
Ron Price
3/8/’15.
Part 1:
When a person gets into their 70s, as I did in 2014, celebrities from the worlds of the movies and television, from the music world, indeed, from many worlds of popular culture, begin to die like flies. That metaphor may be a bit too strong, but their deaths are periodic occurrences which begin to dot the landscape of one’s life-narrative. I write below about the lives and deaths of two famous people in the last four months, people from popular culture, people who were out on the distant periphery of my life experience, my life-narrative.
Part 1.1:
Percy Sledge, who recorded the classic 1966 soul ballad When a Man Loves a Woman, died aged 73, at his home in Baton Rouge Louisiana. I remember that song which was released in April 1966. That was the last month of my three year B.A. degree in sociology. I was 21, a member of the Baha’i community of Dundas Ontario, and about to get married and pioneer to the Canadian Arctic for the Baha’i community of Canada.
Sledge died early on 14/4/’15. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in early 2014. Sledge’s first recording took him from being a hospital orderly to a long touring career averaging 100 performances a year. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Between 1966 and 1968, Sledge used his forlorn, crying vocal style to record a series of southern soul standards. While his first hit When a Man Loves a Woman was by far his most famous song, other popular singles included Take Time to Know Her and It Tears Me Up.
By 1968 he had largely fallen from commercial favour, though songs like Take Time to Know Her continued to be revered by soul fans. By 1968, I was living on the 5th biggest island in the world, Baffin Island, and teaching Inuit children. Sledge, who had been only a faint light on my event horizon, had completely disappeared into one of the many black holes into which so much of popular culture disappeared during my lifespan. In later years, Sledge continued to be in demand as a performer in the US and Europe. When a Man Loves a Woman has continued to pop up in movies, including The Big Chill and The Crying Game. But Sledge had gone, until a news-event in April 2015 brought him back onto my event horizon.
Part 2:
Cilla Black, a 1960s pop star championed by The Beatles, became one of Britain's best-loved television presenters. She died yesterday, as I write these words, on Sunday 2 August 2015, in Spain. The 72-year-old was found at her home near Marbella Spain. The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror newspapers reported the event quoting Spanish police.
Big hearted and full of laughs, this working-class redhead from Liverpool was a fixture on British television screens for more than 50 years, known just by her first name. She started out working in the cloakroom at the Cavern club, where fellow Liverpudlians The Beatles were first spotted, before taking to the stage as a singer herself. The band championed Black and introduced her to their manager Brian Epstein, who signed her.
Black released her first single in 1963 and the following year had two Number One hits, "You're My World" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart". The former Song was number 1 in the UK at the end of May 1964. I was just completing the first year of my B.A. degree at McMaster university in the lunch-pail city of Hamilton Ontario.
She went on to release 14 albums. In 1968 she began hosting her own television talk show, beginning a broadcasting career that saw her present some of Britain's most popular programmes over half a century. I knew little to nothing about TV in the U.K. and little about TV in Canada since these were the years in which I had no TV.
Part 2.1:
Actress Joan Collins was one of the first to pay tribute, saying on Twitter that she was "sad and shocked" and adding: "She was a resplendent and rare talent." Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described her as "one of my childhood idols". "My earliest memory of having a tantrum was over Cilla. I wanted her album. My mum and dad said no — my grandad said yes. I was 4," the Scottish nationalist leader said.
Black was made an OBE in 1997 and last year was given a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which called her an "icon". In its citation, BAFTA said she had hosted more than 500 television shows and made around 400 guest appearances on others, regularly drawing audiences of 18 million people. Black was married to Bobby Willis, who became her manager and who died in 1999. They had three sons as well as a daughter who died in infancy.
These two names were completely
unknown to me until their deaths
were announced in the print and
electronic media: 4/’15 to 8/’15.
There are so many names now from
popular culture & academic culture,
people who have come into my life
like distant stars in a far-off galaxy,
or exploding quasars1 of immense
luminosity, but here today & gone
tomorrow into a hole for those who
speak no more or even sing no more.
Perhaps, though, like quasars, they
will go on emitting light for billions
of years in a world beyond this world
only to merge over time into one of the
black holes in, say, 3 to 5 billion years.
Ron Price
3/8/’15.
1 Quasars, or quasi-stellar radio sources, are the most energetic and distant members of a class of objects called active galactic nuclei (AGN). Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that appeared to be similar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies. Their spectra contain very broad emission lines, unlike any known from stars, hence the name "quasi-stellar." Their luminosity can be 100 times greater than that of the Milky Way. Most quasars were formed approximately 12 billion years ago caused by collisions of galaxies and their central black holes merging to form a supermassive black hole.
Ron Price
3/8/’15.
A
Anonymous
Guest
I guess like a lot of people (Marr included) I never quite understood Moz's obsession with Cilla Black. Her singles were before my time. To me she represented the dumbing down of Saturday night TV with the awful sickly sentimental drivel that she presented - the legacy of which is all the even worse intellectually bereft drivel we are subjected to now. I for one don't care about Cilla Black.
Surface
Chilling in Cheshire.
You are entiltled to a view but she was also a human being. If politics bother you that much, try avoiding the media, you may get a life you bitter, nasty nobody.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Politics aside, she was also one of the most hated women in showbusiness and all those senior industry bigwigs queuing up to pay tribute are monumental hypocrites. There's a reason why she was never again given her own show after Blind Date ended (nearly fifteen years ago!) and that's because she was regarded as a loathsome and difficult individual who was impossible to work with. She also topped British Airways cabin crew's unofficial list of rude and difficult celebrities.
As you say, she was also a human being. But let's get a sense of perspective.
A
Anonymous
Guest
No one.. NO ONE who supported Thatcher or votes Tory is a human being. How Morrissey reconciles his feelings toward Cilla Black and HIS politics is beyond me. Her politics do indeed bother me, like every Tory policy is killing thousands of people every year.
1 less supporter - one more chance to ban their filthy politics for life.
Frankly I expected more understanding from other Morrissey fans - least of all the man himself.
She was Tory therefore scum.
A
Anonymous
Guest
No, that's ringing a lot of bells in my memory as well.
Mr Delaney
I've left.
Ah, and a mention for Twinkle, good. Wondered why he didn't give her a "last post" of her own on TTY when she died, considering his obsession (if we may call it that) with dead celebrities. Thought he'd perhaps gone off her as with Sandie but good to see he (probably) didn't.
T
Tynamuna
Guest
I don't know why i remember the things i remember and why i forget the things i forget. I know James Dean is a big influence on moz. But i just find Dean so boring. He might have been exciting and fresh in the 50s 60s 70s 80s, but i just see him as a figure of kitsch. The whole cow bongo scene was so cringeworthy i don't care really about the sweet story behind it. Should have never been on tape in either case. I skimmed through the Dean parts. They are propably logged in My subconsience. I'm like that with books i remember few things but get the whole picture. Does not mean i don't know alot about moz as an artist just because i don't remeber specific details. A anon said how can you write long posts about him when you don't know the smallest things. The smallest things are meaningless. Never have I written a post about him that depended on me having a knowledge of if he can drive or any specific James dean story, could not care less if morrissey like or stops liking dean. It's about the changes in his music and personality/behavior
Oddly enough i remeber the backyard birds story quite vividly, the comments on Eurovision as a child, the ghost story and etc.
James dean is a part of the big stuff for moz but knowing he is a influence of moz is enough. Im not going to bore myself with details of dean. Not even for moz. Happy you liked dean hand in glove but not for me. Either way it has gone on for too long in a condolences thread.
Back to Cilla, some on posted this before but I just loved it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2fW2IS6gk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qLNhVC296YI
Last edited by a moderator:
A
Anonymous
Guest
Oh Cilla ! Why did you have to leave us like this ? Love and hugs to your boys Biggins, Winton and all the other luvvies. Suprise suprise your with your Bobby now chuck, lorra lorra love n kisses
Tara chuck
Benny-the-British-Butcher
Tara chuck
Benny-the-British-Butcher
A
Anonymous
Guest
Maybe you should get a sense of perspective. There are some people out there who don't care about celebrities and their private stuff. I doubt Moz as a child cared one bit about Cilla's politics. He cared about the songs. I, for example, don't feel any different about Michael Jackson's Thriller just because of the child abuse scandal. That would be childish and silly.
A
Anonymous
Guest
She was a Tory - so of course she was as the above states. They all are.
All of this hand wringing. She couldn't care less about the poor dying. Why should we about her.
Morrissey is an angel to his fans and the people around him. And he gets nothing but grief for it. Betrayals by 'friends ' and 'ex-bandmembers' and press hatred. She was a Tory bitch and people love her. Proof the people are being deluded by the media.
If only people knew the truth.
Surface
Chilling in Cheshire.
I have heard those stories as well but wishing someone dead due to their view on politics is rather extreme.
Surface
Chilling in Cheshire.
So that's 11 million non human beings then. What are his politics by the way?
A
Anonymous
Guest
Ignoring the countless who are suffering and those dying because of the Tories and those that support them is inhuman.
Therefore I'm glad one more evil human being has died - one less supporter of Thatcher/Cameron and his shamble of a party, hopefully means one less poor life saved.
Just as I would be doubly glad if it were proved (which I suspect) she were a racist as well. But then again she was a Tory, so of course she would be a racist bigot.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Oh God ... I am sick to death of Labour AND Tories ...
Surface
Chilling in Cheshire.
Well, looks like you are going to have to get used to them as there doesn't appear to be a viable alternative at the moment.
T
Tynamuna
Guest
Knew it was fake. Too effortless
A
Anonymous
Guest
Grow up you tart. I didn't like her but you are a total cretin. Trying living in the real world instead of a (SWP) shell.
You are one f***ing cretin. If you would take one moment to crawl out from under your SWP stone and think about your Student Grant view of the world, then you'd realise how utterly pathetic you sound with your lefty bleating.
Ooh the evil Tories! They love to murder the poor! They're wacist as well. WACIST! WACIST!
No, I don't support them and I didn't like Cilla Black. but gutless thick scum like you make me vomit.
A
Anonymous
Guest
well there are for sure some shots where it doesnt seem like anyone is looking at where theyre going
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