why?

i like that slipknot's bassist is a "legend" and you don't know his name.

ringo's next.

I think Keith Richards died in 1971. But it hasn't seemed to slow him down any. :)

But the answer's pretty obvious. If their career is over, and they die quietly after 30 years in retirement, nobody notices. Or if they do, it's more like the reaction I had this week to Art Linkletter's passing - I had no idea he was still alive.

Ok, now I'm waiting for the "Art who?" reply!

Art who?

I know, kids say the darndest things.

To the original question, it's really difficult to be a legend until you die. I know. I've tried. When you are still producing, you are merely an artist

Artists are like knees, your mind, your stash, an old girlfriend, that crappy restaurant around the corner that was open until 3am, or that old guitar you sold.....you miss them when they're gone.

....and I always thought that a foot was the best example of a legend. 8)

Death's a fact of life - thousands of people die every day. Law of averages, some of them are bound to be well-known musicians.

Already this year, we've said farewell to Paul Gray (Slipknot,) Ronnie James Dio, Lena Horne, Morris Pert (look him up on Wikipedia - I didn't know the name, but I was surprised at some of the names he'd played with!) Mississippi Slim, Peter Steele (Type O Negative,) Malcolm McLaren, Herb Ellis, Diz Disley, Alex Chilton, Charlie Gillett, Herb Cohen, Lesley Duncan, Micky Jones, Lolly Vegas, Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, Art Van Damme, Doug Fieger, Lee Freeman, Johnny Dankworth, Shirley Caddell, Kate McGarrigle, Teddy Pendergrass, Jay Reatard, Mick Green, Neil Christian and Tony Clarke. Those are just people whose I'm familiar with or who I've heard of....plenty of musicians from all over the world I've never heard of.

And remember, there's a lot of great musicians who are in their 70's and even 80's now.

:( :( :(

Vic