Gil Scott-Heron has died

[genevieve]

http://pitchfork.com/news/42659-gil-scott-heron-rip/

Gil Scott-Heron is probably known to most as the performer of the 1970 song/spoken word piece "The Revolution Will Not be Televised". He battled drug addiction for many years (and even though the article doesn't mention cause of death it would not surprise me to be drug related) - but last year's I'm New Here is a great album.

RIP to a legendary and incredibly influential artist.

[Rex]

Oh, my brother used to listen to Revolution over and over and over. He was married to the beautiful Brenda Sykes, but I think that she gave up on him when his drug use got outta hand. So sad, as he was quite brilliant and influenced people like Tupac.

[Civic]

Even as a clueless 10 year old, I could appreciate the cleverness of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." As a reference librarian I steered students who were interested in the history of rap music to Gil Scott-Heron's body of work. He'll be missed.

[Aceon6]

Saw him live in 1973. Intense cannot begin to describe it. He used to take delight in making the whites in the audience very uncomfortable, even if they didn't have a racist thought in their minds.

[BittyBug]

Wow. I practically wore out the grooves on Bridges back in the day. So many great songs on that album - Under the Hammer, Tuskeeggee 626, Delta Man, We Almost Lost Detroit. He was so deep - I'm both stunned and saddened to learn that he's gone.

ETA: Here's Gil Scott-Heron at what I think is his finest - Delta Man. He had such a rare combination of lyrical, vocal and musical talent.

[BittyBug]

For the four of you who were also fans, I found this New Yorker interview with GSH from 2010 in his NYT obituary. I had no idea he was so plagued by addiction - what a sad conclusion for such a brilliant man.