We will all be at death’s door soon enough, but when a star dies – particularly at an early age, we tend to wonder aloud about our own mortality and the price of stardom.
Harry Chapin once worked as a taxi driver in New York City. As he began to make money as a singer and songwriter he stopped being a hack, singing great songs like “Cats in the Cradle” and “WOLD.” Who would have ever guessed that he would meet his maker by still being a bad driver on the streets of New York, being involved in a colossal collision with a truck?
Karen Carpenter had a one in a million voice, as she and her brother cranked out hit after hit in the late 60s and 70s. Karen had battled an eating disorder her whole life and never saw 40. How’s this for bad karma… Karen was a millionaire and starved to death. Actually, she had a heart attack brought on by years of fighting her eating habits.
Plane crashes in the 50s and 60s and in recent years have taken the lives of many famous singers. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Richie Valens, the majority of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jim Croce, Otis Redding, John Denver, Glen Miller, Patsy Cline, Ricky Nelson, and Stevie Ray Vaughn all lost their lives crashing into earth.