Asklemmy

Margaret Thatcher.

What a happy fucking day.

Leonard Nimoy. Grew up with a lot of Star Trek. Both him and Keanu Reeves helped me understand that it's entirely fine to be introverted.

As I understood it, Nimoy's death was from lung problems that developed as a result of his smoking habit - even though he had quit smoking many years prior that. It was the catalyst I needed to finally say, "I can't wait anymore, time may already be up. I need to quit smoking now." And that was when I finally did quit smoking and make it stick.

Robin Williams, on my birthday. Great guy, a gamer, and knew his way around computers. It might not have hit as hard if it hadn't been my birthday.

1. Prince
2. Lady Di
3. Amy winehouse

John "TotalBiscuit" Bain.

Hit at a rough time for me and at that point I had been following his content for many years.

Tom Petty and Whitney Houston. Two of my favourite singers of the 1980s and 1990s.

Chester Bennington didn't hit me at all — at first. Linkin Park had been growing out of favour with me, especially with regards to some of the things the band (and I think Chester) were saying about fans who preferred Hybrid Theory or Meteora to the newer stuff. Then I heard what Chester went through in his youth and how the music was therapy for him. It gave context to what he/the others said, and then it hit me. I hate that he felt he wasn't enough to overcome his demons, but I hope that his music makes the next person stronger. Truly a loss for humanity and the arts. Good on Linkin Park for forging ahead, though I didn't care for the new record. (Nothing against the singer, I just didn't like the album.)

It's worth noting that my favourite band was hand-picked by Chester to tour with them, but then he died and that didn't happen. The band is ONE OK ROCK, originally from Japan (based out of Los Angeles for the last 10 years, though, and most of their songs are in English, or at least their music since the move). They did fine without Linkin Park, but I would have loved to see the two of them together (with Chester). Mike Shinoda either did a few live shows with ONE OK ROCK, or Takahiro Moriuchi did a few live shows with Linkin Park (or maybe just Mike Shinoda), shortly after Chester died. It's just some live stuff though, and poorly recorded. Taka would have made a better singer for Linkin Park as he could do most of Chester's style, but I wouldn't have liked the move as it would have ended my favourite band. So I'm glad we still have both, and maybe Linkin Park's next album will be better — I will certainly be here for it.

Fred Rogers, it was like a grandfather died when he passed.

Chester Bennington and Kurt Cobain. Although I discovered their songs years after their death.

Freddy Mercury, for sure.

Robin Williams

Mac Miller was probably the worst one… I’m a little younger than him and watching his career from early on felt like watching an older brother develop and making it big. He made the soundtrack to most of my youth.

Ozzy Osbourne.

His death is signaling a more greyer world coming, the more legendary rock stars we lose.

Terry Pratchett

Danya Naroditsky's suicide recently was very upsetting

David Lynch. His death hit me like a punch to the heart.

Also Adam Yauch (MCA).

Chadwick Boseman. I was 24 when he died. I'm mixed and a huge nerd. He was one of the first times I saw representation like that in a comic book hero in a movie or TV show. T'Challa was a king, and his death came out of nowhere

Sean Lock

The first time I've felt genuine shock at a celebrity death, RIP undisputed Carrot in a Box champion

I don't know if he counts as a celebrity but, Aaron Schwartz.

Steve Irwin

Anthony Bourdain

Not a celebrity, kind of like @pedz@lemmy.ca, but Daniel Naroditsky.

I did not expect his death would affect me as much as it did. Fuck K.

David Bowie. I really mourned him, didn't expect to feel so strongly about someone I never met. Feel like the world got significantly duller and darker since he took off.

Taking the question literally, I'll say Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Trevor Moore

Mitch Hedberg

Akira Toriyama

Hearing about Rush Limbaugh's death made me smile pretty big.

Phil Hartman

Damn. Hard call. There's only been a few that have hit me because I don't really have a parasocial connection to anyone to any degree worth mentioning.

That being said, the three that made me actually cry were Vonnegut, Kris Kristofferson, and Chester Bennington.

Chester, I was listening to the one more light album when I found out, so it hit extra hard.

Vonnegut though, he more than any other writer made me think and want to create with words. He shaped how I view literature and think about writing. So his death hit harder than most.

Kristofferson, it's that I had known it was coming. He'd already been lost to a great degree, but I had been low key dreading the news because he's so damn iconic. He's the kind of poet I wish I could be. And his music was also damn good lol. Also, he's symbolic of an era of music that's disappeared, and as the last of the highwaymen have died, with only one left there's this hole in the world that isn't likely to be filled now that the entire music industry has fallen into disarray. It's much harder for that kind of poet bard to exist and have their music spread now. In any genre, btw; the same difficulties exist in folk, metal, rap, etc.

Anyway, those are the ones that made me cry as a grown-ass man. I suspect I'll shed another tear when Willie goes, and I know I'm gonna fall apart a little when Dolly does. Luckily, the next wave of writers and musicians that I'd likely cry over are a good twenty years younger (or more) than them, so I'll have a break after that. Likely be dead myself before most of the others would go.

A couple I haven't seen yet but both were impactful to me: Prince and David Bowie. Both deaths felt so close in time together and came by complete surprise.

Anton Yelchin was so goddamn young and had an entire career ahead of him.

Probably Chris Cornell.

Andre Braugher