the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually still alive

John Nott, "here today, gone tomorrow politician", still here today at 91.

Asha Bhosle, 89.

Long, pointless story, but please trust that it is relevant to the thread: My son has a series of questions he asks about people: first, whether the person is dead. Then it becomes a flowchart.

If the person is alive, he asks how old they are, and whether they live nearby. Sometimes he asks whether they are in Washington D.C. If they don't live nearby, he asks how far away it is.

If the person is dead, he asks when they died. And then whether I am sad about it.

So this morning he was playing with the car radio and found "Take on Me."

Sam: Dad. Who mote dis HAAA? (Who wrote this song?)

Me: A-Ha. The singer is Morten Harket.

Sam: He dead?

Me: No.

Sam: How old is he?

Me: Uh, I guess he's about 65? (I really have no idea.)

Sam: In Wah DC?

Me: No, I guess he's probably in Norway. (I really have no idea.)

Sam: Is far?

Me: No, it's thousands of miles.

Next song: "I Will Survive."

Sam: Who is dat?

Me: Gloria Gaynor.

Sam: He dead?

Me: No, she's still alive.

What I am not saying: BECAUSE DUH, SHE IS LITERALLY TELLING YOU IN THE SONG THAT SHE WILL SURVIVE

THREAD RELEVANCE ALERT: Gloria Gaynor is 79 and turns 80 in September. I looked it up.

EPILOGUE

For some perverse reason the next song to come on the radio is "Eye of the Tiger" by... wait for it... Survivor. I am sensing a theme. Same questions but we will skip them for now. Because the next song we heard was by Michael Jackson.

Sam: He dead?

Me: Yes.

Sam: When he dead?

Me: Uh, about 15 years ago? (Guessing)

Sam: Is Dad sad of him?

Me: Uh, it's complicated.

Ed Meese! 91 years young

John Craven, 82

obviously not a big Countryfile viewer then!

Not even slightly! I just assume everyone from the 70s died in the 10s.

Mitzi Gaynor, 91

Happy 99th birthday to Eva Marie Saint!

Recent surprises for me (for one reason or another):

Joey Heatherton, 78
Kris Kristofferson, 87
June Lockhart, 98

Kevin Brownlow’s archives were very recently acquired by the AMPAS

Mark Rydell, 94.

Matthew Katz, arsehole ex-manager of Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane and It's A Beautiful Day, 94.

Oh yeah, that guy. Had no use, RIP anyway etc.

Erich von Daniken, 88

Richard Lester, 91

Richard Garwin, 95.

Vera Miles, 93.

Matthew Katz, arsehole ex-manager of Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane and It's A Beautiful Day, 94.

― Body Odour Ultra Low Emission Zone (Tom D.), Thursday, July 13, 2023 2:41 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh yeah, that guy. Had no use, RIP anyway etc.

― The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Elektra) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, July 13, 2023 3:39 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Seriously, fuck this fucking guy. He started out seemingly wanting to leverage his position for some big payday, but 50+ years on, his still clinging to it seemingly out of pure spite...unless he thinks the big Moby Grape payday is juuuust around the corner, and he can enjoy his late 90s as a multimillionaire.

Barry Diller, 81

^^I suspect the WGA/SAG strikes will inspire more of these old executive ghouls to show their heads on news shows.

Anita Bryant is still alive and only 83, wtf? I must have misjudged her age when I was in elementary school, back in her prime gaybaiting days.

Counting the days till she joins Phyllis Schlafly and Nancy Reagan on the other side.

xxp I used to work for an indie label wholesaler in the early 90s. Far and away, the biggest asshole we had to work with was Matthew Katz. The Mannheim Steamroller guys were bad, but they didn't hold a candle to Katz.

The Mannheim Steamroller guys were bad

^^New Borad Description?

A favorite bit of Katz dickery is when Sony UK actually managed finagle a twofer reissue of the first two It's A Beautiful Day lps, but he denied them use of the artwork, so they had to go out with a generic black cover with the credits and explanation of what happened.

Wasn't his ownership of the Grape covers what torpedoed their re-release?

That sounds absolutely consistent with the Matthew Katz I knew and loathed.

Yes, the first two.5 albums.

(My story, upthread)

I don't see any mention of Matthew Katz, in your posts or otherwise, upthread until five days ago?

Sorry, forgot I'm not on the Moby Grape thread

Ella Jenkins, children's folk singer, 98

Oh wow she soundtracked my late 70s/early 80s childhood. I say this all the time by now, but I didn’t think she was still alive, until now of course.

My best friend and her husband got to see 8 1/2 in rep earlier this week, and while discussing it, I looked it up on IMDb only to discover most of the main female leads are still alive!

Anouk Aimee, 91
Claudia Cardinale, 85
Sandra Milo, 90
Barbara Steele, 86

Rhoda Scott - 85 and still killing it on the Hammond

Roger Corman, 97

Steve Lawrence, 88

Steve Lawrence and Jack Jones (85), the last of that type of singer. Except for the women, like Marilyn Maye (95).

Wayne Newton too young by five years to group with them?

Sure, bring Wayne along. I actually would've thought he was younger than Mick Jagger but he's one year older.

I know exactly what you mean, though. Mad Men travels from Steve Lawrence/Jack Jones (Vic Damone, technically: "On the Street Where You Live" to end the first episode) to Hendrix/Bowie/etc. And Don and Roger never really climb out of the Steve Lawrence/Jack Jones moment.

Johnny Mathis (87) probably fits in there too.

Definitely! Only reason I didn't mention him is I was surprised to discover he was actually still alive.

Is Engelbert Humperdinck (also 87) the harbinger of a later era?

I associate him more with the late '60s--keeping the same tradition alive, in a sense, but his hits don't really sound like those other singers.

He’s a harbinger of Tom Jones, I’d say

vic fontaine still lives

A creaky old English movie from 1952 called "Ghost Ship" is on the TV at the moment, silent because I'm listening to some music. Anyway, cast list includes...

Joss Ackland as Ron, 2nd Fisherman

Yes, we haven't mentioned him in a while so let's hear it for Joss Ackland, 95. Also I've just noticed this interesting detail from his wiki page:

Ackland was born in North Kensington, London on 29 February 1928, the son of Major Sydney Norman Ackland (died 1981), an Irish journalist who had been sent to England to live with an aunt by his parents for seducing their maid, but subsequently seduced his aunt's maid...

... who he married and I assume was JA's mother though it doesn't actually say who his mother was.

Bob Barker, approaching 100