Carrie Fisher, American actress, writer and Space Princess passed today.
The daughter of Burt Reynolds and Isla Fisher, she is most famous for her role in Star Wars. She famously portrayed Princess Leia as a no-nonsense independent woman, and the first woman in the galaxy to run a successful combination hairdresser/patisserie.
During the filming of Star Wars, Fisher admitted to having an affair with Han Solo, the man from UNCLE, in reality actor Harrison Ford. Ford explained his monochrome wardrobe in that film saying, "I could have any colour I wanted, as long as it was black."
Fisher also appeared in cult hit The Blues Brothers, which chronicled the struggle against depression experienced by two of the Reservoir Dogs.
Fisher battled throughout her life with the twin demons of addiction and bipolar disorder. The former caused her to smoke pot plants from the age of 13 onwards, the second rendered her unable to approach magnets. In her desperation to recover, she underwent numerous treatments, including the controversial electrofunk therapy, alienating many jazz funk purists.
It was these troubles that fuelled much of her work as a writer, as which she enjoyed something of a renaissance. Her first foray into writing was actually a collection of missives from U2's 1987 tour, Postcards from the Edge.
Other writings included Surrender the Pink, and Delusions of Grandma neither of which is advisable to Google for yourself. Her final book, The Princess Diarist was published this year, and detailed Fisher's early life as a shy San Francisco teenager who is thrown for a loop when, from out of the blue, she learns the astonishing news that she's a real-life princess!
Fisher was also known for her relationships, including years spent with musician Paul Simon, during which she was known as Al Fisher. The song Heart and Bones is about the relationship, although the title is widely considered a bit TMI.
She also dated comedian Dan Ackroyd, but the relationship couldn't survive his spending long periods of time away with the answer to the question 'Who ya gonna call' never being 'Carrie Fisher'.
Most recently, Fisher was seen on-screen reprising her role as Leia in Star Wars: Episode VII, proving to the world that her buns had not yet gone stale.
She described herself as an, "enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God". So presumably that's been cleared up for her one way or another.
For someone who was part of so many childhoods, in a sense, Carrie Fisher cannot really die. As Princess Leia, she lives on, in a gold bikini and the imaginations millions of once-teenage boys.
Farewell Princess, you will be missed.
Tuesday, 27 December 2016
Sunday, 25 December 2016
George Michael 1963 - 2016
George Michael died today.
The son of a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner and an English dancer, his real name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, which he changed to George Michael in order to fit onto album covers, at a stroke wiping out his chance to become the highest scoring scrabble name in pop.
Inspired whilst eating a candy bar at school, George Michael teamed up with Andrew Ridgeley to form pop duo Wham!
Wham!'s success was extraordinary. Hits included the ballad of a man nodding off in a strip bar, Wake Me Up, Before You Go-Go, Club Tropicana a tribute to George's favourite juice brand, and Careless Whisper, suspected by many to be about about accidentally farting during a job interview.
In addition to his work with Wham! George performed with Band Aid on the hit Do They Know It's Christmas? to raise awareness of the chronic shortage of calendars in Africa. Although the song raised a great deal of money, critics complained that it was little more than a sticking plaster for the problem.
In 1986 George Michael left Wham! and began a solo career releasing the Album Faith, followed by Listen Without Prejudice, which everyone assumed was going to be rubbish. Meanwhile Ridgeley went on to marry Keren Woodward who was, interestingly, the Andrew Ridgeley of Bananarama.
It was also in 1986 that Michael was arrested in a public restroom for 'engaging in a lewd act', with a policeman who just happened to be passing, with his penis out, at the time. It was about this time that Michael came out as gay, after briefly considering the alternative, of coming out as a toilet attendant.
The penis-wrangling incident did little to dent Michael's popularity, so he tried again, getting arrested in London for possession of drugs in 2006 and again in 2008, although presumably not the same drugs. As a result of a conviction for driving under the influence of David Cassidy, he spent four weeks in Highpoint Prison, plenty of time to consider the irony of the name.
Despite the arrests, the scandal and Andrew Ridgeley, Michael managed to become one of the must successful British artists of all time, selling more than 100 million records worldwide and bringing joy to millions with his music.
So long George, I hope you got further than the edge of Heaven.
The son of a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner and an English dancer, his real name was Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, which he changed to George Michael in order to fit onto album covers, at a stroke wiping out his chance to become the highest scoring scrabble name in pop.
Inspired whilst eating a candy bar at school, George Michael teamed up with Andrew Ridgeley to form pop duo Wham!
Wham!'s success was extraordinary. Hits included the ballad of a man nodding off in a strip bar, Wake Me Up, Before You Go-Go, Club Tropicana a tribute to George's favourite juice brand, and Careless Whisper, suspected by many to be about about accidentally farting during a job interview.
In addition to his work with Wham! George performed with Band Aid on the hit Do They Know It's Christmas? to raise awareness of the chronic shortage of calendars in Africa. Although the song raised a great deal of money, critics complained that it was little more than a sticking plaster for the problem.
In 1986 George Michael left Wham! and began a solo career releasing the Album Faith, followed by Listen Without Prejudice, which everyone assumed was going to be rubbish. Meanwhile Ridgeley went on to marry Keren Woodward who was, interestingly, the Andrew Ridgeley of Bananarama.
It was also in 1986 that Michael was arrested in a public restroom for 'engaging in a lewd act', with a policeman who just happened to be passing, with his penis out, at the time. It was about this time that Michael came out as gay, after briefly considering the alternative, of coming out as a toilet attendant.
The penis-wrangling incident did little to dent Michael's popularity, so he tried again, getting arrested in London for possession of drugs in 2006 and again in 2008, although presumably not the same drugs. As a result of a conviction for driving under the influence of David Cassidy, he spent four weeks in Highpoint Prison, plenty of time to consider the irony of the name.
Despite the arrests, the scandal and Andrew Ridgeley, Michael managed to become one of the must successful British artists of all time, selling more than 100 million records worldwide and bringing joy to millions with his music.
So long George, I hope you got further than the edge of Heaven.
Saturday, 24 December 2016
Rick Parfitt 1948 - 2016
English musician Rick Parfitt died today.
Parfitt was best known as a member of the rock band Status Quo (latin for 'unchanging chords) with motorcyclist Velantino Rossi.
Parfitt first met Rossi at Butlins in Minehead, where Rossi was playing in a band called The Spectres, later renamed as Traffic Jam, after the least tasty of all the jams.
In 1967 Traffic Jam found themselves going nowhere so they changed their name to The Status Quo, which didn't suggest much more in the way of progress. Nevertheless, it was a The Status Quo that Parfitt had his first hit, with the song Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs by Brian and Michael.
After this, the band dropped the definite article, making them indefinite, appropriate as that is how long many of their songs seemed to go on for. But the hits kept coming, including 1977's Rockin' All Over The World, Whatever You Want (As Long As It's These Three Chords), and the ever-popular Down Down, written by Parfitt whilst on walkies with an excitable Jack Russell.
In 1976 the band signed a pioneering sponsorship deal with French Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, promoting his book Structural Anthropology on all their tours. The band also became known for their distinctive denim-clad appearance, inspired by Irish pop moppets B*witched.
In addition to their foot-tapping tunes, the Quo were also known for their hard partying, regularly spending thousands a week on Vodka and Coke. And coke.
In 2005, Parfitt and Rossi played Cameo in an episode of Coronation Street singing Word Up and sporting red codpieces. In 2010 both men were awarded oboes by the Queen.
Over his long career with the Quo, Parfitt had over 60 chart hits in the UK.
And now, after bringing joy to millions, he's Rockin' All Over the Afterworld.
Goodbye Rick.
Parfitt was best known as a member of the rock band Status Quo (latin for 'unchanging chords) with motorcyclist Velantino Rossi.
Parfitt first met Rossi at Butlins in Minehead, where Rossi was playing in a band called The Spectres, later renamed as Traffic Jam, after the least tasty of all the jams.
In 1967 Traffic Jam found themselves going nowhere so they changed their name to The Status Quo, which didn't suggest much more in the way of progress. Nevertheless, it was a The Status Quo that Parfitt had his first hit, with the song Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs by Brian and Michael.
After this, the band dropped the definite article, making them indefinite, appropriate as that is how long many of their songs seemed to go on for. But the hits kept coming, including 1977's Rockin' All Over The World, Whatever You Want (As Long As It's These Three Chords), and the ever-popular Down Down, written by Parfitt whilst on walkies with an excitable Jack Russell.
In 1976 the band signed a pioneering sponsorship deal with French Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, promoting his book Structural Anthropology on all their tours. The band also became known for their distinctive denim-clad appearance, inspired by Irish pop moppets B*witched.
In addition to their foot-tapping tunes, the Quo were also known for their hard partying, regularly spending thousands a week on Vodka and Coke. And coke.
In 2005, Parfitt and Rossi played Cameo in an episode of Coronation Street singing Word Up and sporting red codpieces. In 2010 both men were awarded oboes by the Queen.
Over his long career with the Quo, Parfitt had over 60 chart hits in the UK.
And now, after bringing joy to millions, he's Rockin' All Over the Afterworld.
Goodbye Rick.
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