Asklemmy

Robin Williams

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

Steve Irwin

Terry Pratchett

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

Anthony Bourdain

Margaret Thatcher.

What a happy fucking day.

Trevor Moore

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.

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.

Probably Chris Cornell.

Mitch Hedberg

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.

Phil Hartman

Akira Toriyama

Sean Lock

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

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

John "TotalBiscuit" Bain.

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

Freddy Mercury, for sure.

Andre Braugher

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

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

Chris Cornell hit hard especially when you go back and listen to his lyrics.

Ozzy Ozbourne.

I dont know why, but Sean Lock, a U.K. stand-up comedian who was the backbone of a couple of U.K. panel shows. He never spoke about his illness, but lost a lot of weight and the suddenly gone. I still watch and laugh out loud from the many, many laugh out loud moments of his career.

1. Prince
2. Lady Di
3. Amy winehouse

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.

Frank Zappa and Christopher Hitchens. Maybe not personally, but i really feel like there are some losses that the world doesn't realize.

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

Kurt Cobain

Well, I read the title and the only thing popped up is Chester.

I always shrugged off celebrity deaths cuz it never affects me before. But that morning my then SO woke me up and I'm in dazed cuz teens me just full of angst lol and how he did it after just released One More Light is too much, I think I avoid listening to LP for a few years after that. It's also after Cornell did it not long before I think? AFAIK they're Godfathers to each other kids.

I think contrary to what generally believe LP lyrics all are Mike's. But understandable since Chester is the one actually sung it. don't think LP would be this big if they didn't have Chester, the band said so themselves (the label want to get rid of Chester at first but they pushed back).

I just wished Mike would just rename the band like Audioslaves did and leave LP as a legacy. Don't get me wrong Emily is badass.

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

Also Adam Yauch (MCA).

Grant Imahara, first person I had a parasocial relationship who died. It was also such a sudden and tragic death.

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.

Norm Macdonald

Anthony Bourdain

Definetly Chester Bennington. Linking park inspired me to be a muscisian, Chester inspired me to become a singer. His passing was really hard on me. I really gave up on linking park after the minutes to midnight album, since I see it as the last album where they were honest to their roots and still not too experimental. But after many years I was talking to my wife, and we agree that next time they played in our country, we would see them nomatter what. I shit you not, the next day we saw on the news he was dead. It was almost like we knew it was about time to go watch a show since they wouldn't be around for long. Anyways, I have massive respect for Chester as a guy who delt with my own mental sickness and also have had thoughts of sucide and so on. Chester and linkin park helped me through a lot of tough times. I wish his family all the best.

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

You might want to edit Chester

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.