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midnightsmum

Weekend Trivia -- Saturday

OK, so it's barely morning, but knowing my am rituals, and the fact that I am taking an art class tomorrow, I have decided to post the first question very early. Weather reports aside, it is dark out, right now. Also quite mild!! So, on to the question:

Dead Rock Stars:

Although he never became the kind of international superstar someone with his remarkable skills should have, Harry Nilsson was arguably the most respected singer, songwriter, and record maker of the '70s, winning a pair of Grammys for his covers of "Everybody's Talkin'," and "Without You." Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 � January 15, 1994), was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as 'Nilsson'. The Beatles themselves quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have been helped by the track "You Can't Do That", in which Nilsson covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied, "Nilsson".

Nilsson's 1970s London flat at 12 Curzon Street on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the design company that ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Robin Cruikshank owned at that time. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the flat, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the U.S. for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends.

Sadly, 2 of these very famous musician friends died at his London home. By famous, I am saying, to my mind, more commercially famous than Nilsson.

Any ideas?? 2 stars for one, 4 stars for two?? Bonus stars for the years of death? How macabre, and yet, we do love a good mystery, yes??

I'll try to check in with clues, just not sure if I will be able to do so throughout the day.

Rock on, my Cottage Friends!!

Comments (17)

  • greylady_gardener
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yikes! and hmmm. right now I have no clue whatsoever, :)
    will be doing lots of running around today and busy outside whenever it isn't raining (our plant swap is tomorrow and I need to do all the last minute organizing of the plants that I am taking), so I will check back and wait for clues. :)

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    See, I told you all Nancy was way more efficient! She must have been writing her post by the light of the moon at that wee hour!

    g-g, I am hoping we get some rain. It didn't look promising earlier, but it is suddenly looking quite grey and ominous. Hope you have fun at the plant swap. Can't wait to hear what you come home with.

    Love the topic! I did know one right off the bat, but needed help with the other-not cheating-I am the clue-giver today, so I will check back later to see who needs help and who doesn't!

    Nancy, have fun with your art class, too.

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I might know one, a song with the word little in the title comes to mind.

    Annette

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I know the female and think with cyn's clue I know the second but can't remember his first name. Gotta think on that one for awhile.

    Need to run to the store for my mama then graduation parties to attend so no gardening today. Still lots of plants to get into the ground. Only a little rain yesterday so may get some done tomorrow before the rains return.

  • thinman
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've been thinking about this for a while and have come up with only one guess so far. She was a big mama.

    TM

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, sadly, my art class was cancelled - not enough people. Ah, the joys of small town life. Good clue(s) Cyn.

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Aw, I am sorry your class was cancelled. Looks like everyone has one of the answers. She was the one I thought of first, too. Glad some people caught my clue for the other. Three stars if they come up with the band and the musician's instrument for the other, but can't come up with his full name, Nancy?

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, Cyn - some of us in the day followed him religiously, but sure, 3 it is for band, last name and instrument!!!

    Nancy.

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I know who he was and that he liked beating things. Just can't remember his first name.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Who, who, who could it be????

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hmmmmmm, The Who's drummer? Can't think of his name tho.

    Annette

  • greylady_gardener
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    aha!! very busy day but now that I am here to read the clues, I am fairly sure that I have the answer!! I know who the 'she' is and I know both names of the 'he'! (with a bit of help from DH) :)

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Keith! That's it!

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Aha, Keith, thanks for wiping the cobwebs away in my ol noggin mnwsgal, would that be Keith Moon.

    Annette

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cass Elliot, I think she was a solo act and no longer of the Mamas and Papas when she died.

    Keith Moon, drummer for the Who. (Thanks to Cyn for the clues.)

  • greylady_gardener
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    that's my answer too. Cass Elliot and Keith Moon

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh you guys - you won't get fooled again!! lol. Yes, Cass Elliot and Keith Moon!!
    {{gwi:604769}}
    At the height of her solo career in 1974, Elliot performed two weeks of sold-out concerts at the London Palladium. She telephoned Michelle Phillips after the final concert on July 24th, utterly elated that she had received standing ovations each night. She then retired for the evening, and died in her sleep. She was 32. Although some sources claim her death was due to a heart attack or heart failure, her death certificate attributes death to "fatty myocardial degeneration due to obesity", a form of steatosis.
    {{gwi:604771}}
    Keith Moon and his girlfriend had been out that evening with Paul & Linda McCartney, to see the premier of The Buddy Holly Story. Moon then took 32 tablets of Clomethiazole (Heminevrin). The medication was a sedative he had been prescribed to alleviate his alcohol withdrawal symptoms as he tried to go dry on his own at home; he was desperate to get clean, but was terrified of another stay in the psychiatric hospital for in-patient detoxification. However, Clomethiazole is specifically contraindicated for unsupervised home detox because of its addictiveness, tendency to rapidly induce drug tolerance and dangerously high risk of death when mixed with alcohol. The pills were also prescribed by a new doctor, Dr. Geoffrey Dymond, who was unaware of Moon's recklessly impulsive nature and long history of prescription sedative abuse. He had given Moon a full bottle of 100 pills, and instructed him to take one whenever he felt a craving for alcohol (but not more than 3 per day). The police determined there were 32 pills in his system, with the digestion of 6 being sufficient to cause his death, and the other 26 of which were still undissolved when he died.

    {{gwi:604772}}
    Harry Nilsson who owned the flat was so distraught over the deaths of his two friends that he sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and spent the rest of his life in Los Angeles.
    After the death of John Lennon, he began to appear at Beatlefest conventions to raise money for gun control and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to either sing some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance." Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson(perhaps most famous in the non-musical world as the uncle of Kate Hudson), who still retains the tapes of that session.
    On January 15, 1994, Nilsson died of heart failure in his Agoura Hills, California home. According to his wife, they had been watching Enchanted April, and the last thing he told her before she fell asleep was, "I love you so much." During Nilsson's funeral on January 17, aftershocks from the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake were felt.

    Young and beautiful forever, and like the song says, you know they got a hell of a band in heaven!

    Now, on to stars: for Annette, mnswgal and greylady-gardener.

    Thanks for playing with me!!! Nancy.

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