Departed Cultural Icons 2021

[RJBowman]

Here's one that's more notorious than famous.

Larry Flint, founder and publisher of Hustler magazine, is dead.

He was the defendant in an important 1st Amendment case dramatized in the film "The People vs. Larry Flint".

[J. Wilhelm]

Chick Corea, Jazz Fusion Pioneer, Has Died Of Cancer At 79

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, keyboardist, bandleader and occasional percussionist.[3] His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" and "Windows" are widely considered jazz standards.[4] As a member of Miles Davis's band in the late 1960s, he participated in the birth of jazz fusion. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever.[3] Along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, he is considered one of the major piano players to emerge in jazz during the post-John Coltrane era.[5]

Corea continued to pursue multiple collaborations and to explore different musical styles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He was also known for promoting and fundraising for a number of social issues.[6]

Corea won 23 Grammy Awards and was nominated over 60 times.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-02-11/chick-corea-jazz-fusion-keyboard-died

return to forever - live - 1974

Return To Forever - Chick's Solo (From "Return Live" DVD)

[morozow]

On February 13, 2021, Olympic champion Yuri Vlasov died at the age of 85. Soviet weightlifter, Russian writer.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a seven-time Mr. Olympia, considered Vlasov the main motivation for his career as a bodybuilder and strongman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yury_Vlasov

[RJBowman]

Here's one that you may love or you may hate.

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative ratio talk host, has succumbed to lung cancer.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/rush-limbaugh-dead-talk-radio-conservative-icon

I don't consider him the best (or the worst), but when his show started to get picked up by talk radio stations across the country in the early 1990's, conservative voices in the American mass media were rare, and he was something new.

[Lazaras]

On the one hand ai cannot feel sympathy for the man. On the other O won't bring !myself low by making jokes. Cancer is terrifying.

[morozow]

Andrey Vasilyevich Myagkov (July 8, 1938-February 18, 2021) was a Soviet and Russian theater and film actor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Myagkov

[Rockula]

U-Roy.

You either know or you don't.

[Banfili]

U-Roy.

You either know or you don't.

Reggae royalty

[Rockula]

U-Roy.

You either know or you don't.

Reggae royalty

Indeed.

[chironex]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiQdabxkBs0
Sir Michael Somare, first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Pancreatic cancer.

[chironex]

Australian music industry legend and founder of Mushroom Records, Michael Gudinski, 68.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3qR9IrP6Os

[Rockula]

British jazz legend Chris Barber has died aged 90.

In the late 50's and early 1960's Barber was mainly responsible for bringing to the UK all the black American blues legends to play at places like the iconic Marquee Club in London's Soho where they could play to non-segregated audiences and organised UK tours for them as well.

This included people like Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Muddy Waters.

Those musicians influenced a whole generation of new British bands (including The Rolling Stones) and the British skiffle and rhythm 'n' blues scenes and the whole Beat Boom happened as a direct result.

That of course lead to the so-called 'British Invasion' of America and those American blues legends finally started to get the recognition they deserved in their own country.

And this was all apart from his own impressive number of recordings between 1954 and 2011.

R.I.P.

[von Corax]

Neville O'Riley Livingston OM (10 April 1947 – 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, founding member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.

[von Corax]

Walter Gretzky, CM, OOnt (October 8, 1938 – March 4, 2021), Member of the Order of Canada; Order of Ontario; father of Wayne Gretzky; Canada's Hockey Dad.

[von Corax]

Norton Juster (June 2, 1929 – March 8, 2021), academic, architect, accidental author, writer of The Phantom Tollbooth.

[Mercury Wells]

Glastonbury Pyramid Stage designer Bill Harkin dies.

[Mercury Wells]

Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape, dies aged 94

[Hurricane Annie]

 
 Myers Manx. Father of the dune buggy. 

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15147937/the-father-of-the-dune-buggy-rides-again/

[von Corax]

Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape, dies aged 94

He may have reached the end, but that just means we'll see him on the other side.

[Rockula]

Murray Walker, 97.

English motorsport commentator and journalist. He provided television commentary of live Formula 1 coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV between 1997 and 2001.

[Sorontar]

Spin spin spin, round round round he goes ...
Unless I am very much mistaken

and he often was - https://members.tripod.com/the_common/Walkerisms.html

I miss Murray.

[Banfili]

Doug Parkinson
Douglas John Parkinson (30 October 1946 – 15 March 2021) was an Australian pop and rock singer. He led the band Strings and Things/A Sound from 1965 The Questions from 1966 and Doug Parkinson in Focus from 1968, Fanny Adams from 1971 and The Life Organisation from 1973.
Doug Parkinson in Focus's cover version of the Beatles' track "Dear Prudence" (May 1969) peaked at No. 5 on the Go-Set National Top 40. The follow up single, "Without You" / "Hair" (October), also reached No. 5. Parkinson also released solo material.

Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane has said that Parkinson "conveyed considerable charisma with his imposing presence, 'Lucifer' beard and gruff, raspy voice. He also surrounded himself with mature, seasoned musicians who added to his appeal."

[von Corax]

Yaphet Frederick Kotto (November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021), television and cinema actor. Kotto most notably played Dr Kananga/Mr Big in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973) where he was the first African-American Bond villain, and in Alien (1979) he played Parker, the first African-American to be eaten by a Xenomorph.

[J. Wilhelm]

We've missed a number of people in this list. Perhaps out of cultural or generational differences.. Did we list Tommy Lasorda?

Thomas Charles Lasorda (September 22, 1927 – January 7, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 through 1996. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997.

From the Latin World, people we didn't list, were former Argentinean president Carlos Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021),

Dominican musician and Latin record producer Johnny Pacheco (25 March 1935 – 15 February 2021); while living in New York City in the 1960s, he promoted "Salsa" a hybrid multinational Latin music fusion which would sweep Latin America in the 70s and 80s, and revolutionize the business of Latin music as an international industry.

Most recently, a character who would be completely unknown in the English speaking world but very well known to children all over the Spanish speaking world would be Ricardo González Gutiérrez known as "Cepillín" (Spanish: "Little Brush, " February 7, 1946 – March 8, 2021), a Mexican clown as well as singer, TV host, and actor. Originally a young dentist from the northern city of Monterrey, he started painting his face to take the fear away from children as they were having dental work done. He found success entertaining children, which led to a long career as a multi faceted entertainer; he was an advocate for children as well as a political activist.

[Banfili]

Yaphet Frederick Kotto (November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021), television and cinema actor. Kotto most notably played Dr Kananga/Mr Big in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973) where he was the first African-American Bond villain, and in Alien (1979) he played Parker, the first African-American to be eaten by a Xenomorph.

Not a film fan, but I remember him more from the TV series, "Homicide: Life on the Streets"