Celebrity Deaths

Celebrity Deaths.


Since last December and the death of the 24 year old model Katie French, it there has been a succession of celebrity deaths. That is people in the know, from the music, entertainment and literary world that have passed away, unexpectedly and indeed it would appear well before their time, if there is such a thing in this world.

It would appear to me that celebrities are just queuing up to die.
Katie French was a young woman who had come to recent prominence in the world of modeling. She was rarely out of the newspapers, nor away from the TV screens. I must confess that the first time I really heard of her, was when it was announced that she had collapsed at a party and was in a coma in hospital.Unfortunetly for her, she had been overindulging in the consumption of cocaine, and this particular evening was a bridge too far from her.
She died a week later in hospital, in early December 2007, failing to come out of the coma. A wasted life and a sad occasion. Parents had lost a daughter, her sister a sibling, friends a friend.
Of coarse this death hit the headlines and the media milked it for all it was worth as they always do in these cases. Ordinary people die every day, and the most they can aspire to be a line or two in the death notices in the papers, and a mention on the local radio. But when you’re in the public eye, then as in life, in the immediate aftermath of your death, you are still very much a part of the media circus.

Katie French was, young, ambitious and media savvy. She’s set her sights on becoming successful and famous and in death received became more newsworthy than she probably ever would have in life. Being a model though, doesn’t have the same after-death spin offs than singers or musicians, who can still profit from their back catalogue of recorded material. It’s often said that Elvis Presley made the best ever career move by dieing. Assination didn’t do John Lennon any harm in this regard either.

Hardly had the had the last shovel of earth settled on Katie French’s grave when we heard the news of the of the passing of the Kerry singer/songwriter, Christy Hennessey. Christy died from an illness which stemmed from his work on building sites in England in the 60’s. Overexposure to asbestos caused the singers illness and death in early December 2007. Christy had found show business success relatively late in life, arriving on the scene, in the early 90’s. He had written some catchy and memorable songs. His first album release was a hit and from there on his music career progressed. Receiving radio play, he soon built up a healthy fan base. Other singers recorded his songs, and his live shows were well attended. At 62 he still had much to give and to do, but that wasn’t to be .When the reaper comes calling, one has to drop all and follow where he will lead.

Christmas time is marketed as a time of unbridled joy and happiness, and we’d prefer not to hear of tragedies and deaths. The grim reaper doesn’t recognize this or indeed play by these rules. I’m beginning to think that one should for a period of time over the days surrounding the Christmas period to avoid all contact with the news media. I made the mistake of turning on the car radio on St Stephan’s day, and all the news bulletins had to offer was tales of stabbings and deaths as a result of such aggressive and violent actions early on the morning of December 26th.
A later bulletin which I also happened to hear on the car radio was that of the sudden and unexpected death of the legendry Irish singer, Joe Dolan. He had been in poor health of late and recently had to abort a live show 4 songs in, due to exhaustion. He took a brain hemorrhage on Christmas Day, and passed away on December 26th. He was 68. Now there is no one in Ireland, bar maybe the foreign workforce who hasn’t heard of Joe Dolan. He had been prominent in Irish Music circles since the early 60’s as a showband leader and up to the present day as a solo artist. He was a damn good singer, and had even enjoyed chart success in the Uk in the early 70’s. He appeared on Top of the Pops; with a song Make me an Island, which went high in the charts there. He was adored by women all over the country, young and old and indeed by many men. His passing was greeted with shock and sadness and his passing was the lead item on the RTE main news bulletins on December 26th.

Into 2008 and life and death goes on. I heard on the radio on Saturday morning the 6th September that the writer and philosopher John O Donohue had passed away while on a holiday in France. I’ve been reading his books for many years now, Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes are two that I read on a regular basis. I was sad and surprised to hear of his untimely passing, as he was a young man in his mid 50’s. Seems like as if it was heart failure that caused his premature demise, as it was reported that he died peacefully in his sleep
I’d certainly recommend that everyone should possess something of his writings, poetry and philosophy based material. In the fast moving, ever increasing materialist world we live in, O Donohue’s work is a shining light of calm, reassurance and peace into our daily lives. I read a section from his books every morning after I get up. Anyhow his number came up on January 5th and his wisdom will be no more. Of course the wealth of his written material will live on for long and many a day.

Amazing how we’ve had this succession of well known people passing on. It’s almost as if it’s become the thing to do, almost trendy to die. Of course few would wish to die, allowing for those with mental health problems and who resort to suicide.
But that’s the way it is; when your time is up. Sometimes St Peter is sent to give you a warning, and so often God does it himself. No warning, just a friendly tap on the shoulder and off you go.
The soul merely departs the body, goes back to where it came from. It waits around for the approiate moment when it will once again, by choice choose to inhabit and earthly body.