My brother Howard alerted me to three celebrity deaths - - three people I hadn't heard of but we all have a lot to learn, right?
First, San Francisco drag legend Heklina was found dead in London, where he was on tour. Wikipedia uses the pronoun "he" so I'll use it here. He was only 54. This is from his Wikipedia bio:
"Stefan Grygelko, better known by the stage name Heklina, was an American actor, drag queen, and entrepreneur in San Francisco. Grygelko's mother was Icelandic, and having been born in the U.S., he lived in Iceland in the 1980s; he named his drag character after the Icelandic volcano Hekla."
Here's a tribute from the local San Francisco ABC station. You'd think their dopey anchor could learn how to say "Heklina" before he went on air. It's not that hard.
Next, Japanese composer and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died the other day at the age of 71. He, David Byrne, and Cong Su shared the Oscar for Best Original Score for *The Last Emperor.* Sakamoto's film debut, both as composer and actor, was in the David Bowie film *Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.* Here he is playing the primary theme from the movie:
And last, music executive Seymour Stein, who died at the age of 80. Courtesy of Wikipedia: "He co-founded Sire Records and was vice president of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed bands that became central to the new wave era of the 1970s and 80s, including Talking Heads, the Ramones, and The Pretenders; he signed Madonna as well."
Here he is appearing on an Aussie talk show back in 2009:
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