View Single Post
Old 11-22-2005, 05:09 PM   #1 (permalink)
Booray
Stumbling to the end
 
Booray's Avatar
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
Chris Whitley 1960-2005



Just found out about this a few minutes ago.

From Reuters :
Quote:
Singer-songwriter Chris Whitley dies at age 45

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, who emerged from obscurity in 1991 with his debut album "Living with the Law," has died of lung cancer, his label said on Tuesday. He was 45.

Whitley was diagnosed with the disease just five weeks ago and died on Sunday in Houston, said Brandon Kessler, owner of independent label Messenger Records.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a major musician who wasn't blown away by his talents, his guitar-playing and his singing," said Kessler, citing Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and Keith Richards as admirers.

With his high, lonesome voice and ghostly guitar, Whitley earned critical and commercial success for the blues-drenched album, "Living with the Law." The title track was a minor hit, and Tom Petty and Bob Dylan hired him to open their tours.

By then, the Houston native had spent more than a decade playing music, starting out in New York when punk and New Wave were the dominant styles.

"I was definitely a sort of a misfit," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1991. "I mean, that was a funny time to be trying to get a gig at (punk club) CBGB, playing a Dobro."

At one point he moved to Belgium and much to his surprise, developed a strong local following.

He got his big break from New Orleans-based producer Daniel Lanois, who spread the word about his talents, resulting in nine labels vying to sign him. Whitley chose Columbia, which released "Living with the Law," its 1995 follow-up, "Din of Ecstasy," and 1997's "Terra Incognita."

As his career progressed, Whitley ventured away from blues and toward more mainstream rock. Some music industry observers have credited him with pioneering the "alt-country" movement, in which roots-based music was infused with punk and rock stylings.

"Every album he did was completely different from the one he did before," Kessler said.

After Columbia, he recorded for Dave Matthews' ATO label and for New York-based Messenger, which released his last album, "Soft Dangerous Shores," in July. Whitley recorded a follow-up, "Reiter In," which has not yet been released.

Whitley is survived by his 18-year-old daughter, Trixie, a brother, Dan, and his father, Jerry.
__________________
Persuaded, paraded, inebriated, and down
Still aware of everything life carries on without
Booray is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360