Country Singer Mindy McCready Dead at 37 of an Apparent Suicide, Self Inflicted Gun Shot Wound … Rest in Peace

The troubled life of country singer Mindy McCready has come to an end. 

Country singer Mindy McCready died Sunday afternoon at the age of 37 of an apparent suicide from what sis being reported at a self inflicted gunshot wound. The Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office is stating that deputies were dispatched to the home of McCready around 3:30 PM in Heber Springs, Arkansas after gun shots were reported.  Police found Mindy McCready on the front porch with a single self inflicted gunshot wound. McCready was pronounced dead at the scene.  McCready has had a long and troubled past in dealing with her demons. She has been arrested multiple times on drug charges and probation violations and has been hospitalized for overdoses on several occasions. McCready had attempted suicide twice before, once in 2005 and again in 2008. Also, the father of her youngest child, record producer David Wilson, was found dead in his home just last month on January 13, 2013 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Mindy McCready was such a talent, but just could not deal with her demons. May she finally rest in eternal peace.

Mindy McCready “You’ll Never Know”

Mindy McCready (November 30, 1975—February 17, 2013)

Mindy McCready, the country singer who soared to the top of the charts with her debut album, “Ten Thousand Angels,” but struggled with substance abuse, served time in jail and fought a lengthy battle with her mother over custody of her son has died of what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. She was 37.

Deputies from the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a report of gun shots fired at McCready’s Heber Springs, Ark., home at around 3:30 p.m. today.

There they found McCready on the front porch. She was pronounced dead at the scene from what appeared to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

20/20 from ABC News :  Mindy McCready Tells Her Story … Sadly she talks about living for her son Zander. That came to an end today

 More on the life and times of Mindy McCready and her star that flamed out far too quickly. Mindy McCready was a Nashville, TN sensation at the age of 20 and took the country music industry by storm. It’s just a shame and should be a wake up call to all as to the real dangers of substance abuse and major depression. Like many of the situations we have seen with mass murder violence, we really need to take a look at the mental health care system in this country. All this talent and she could not defeat the demons.

She arrived in Nashville in 1994 with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records.

In 1996, her “Guys Do It All the Time” hit No. 1 and its dig at male chauvinism endeared her to females. Her other hits included “Ten Thousand Angels,” also in 1996, and her album by that title sold 2 million copies.

However, personal problems plagued her beginning in 2004 and included a custody battle with her mother over one of her sons.

McCready took her older son Zander from her mother and the boy’s legal guardian, Gayle Inge, in late 2011. She fled to Arkansas without permission over what she called child abuse fears. Authorities eventually found McCready hiding in a residence without permission and took the boy into custody.

She and her boyfriend David Wilson had a son, Zayne, in April of 2012. The older son has a different father.

Maybe now Mindy McCready can finally rest in peace. I would rather remember Mindy from her early days in Nashville when her life and career seemed so promising. Mindy McCready’s lyrics of Ten Thousand Angels are rather prophetic on this sad day where she took her life … “It’s time to face my weakness, Look him in the eye. Lord knows it won’t be easy, But I’ve just gotta try.”

Mindy McCready – Ten Thousand Angels

 Speaking of the devil
 Look who just walked in
 He knows just where to find me
 Here we go again
 I can tell he’s gonna ask me to dance
 But that’s not as far as he wants to go
 I need ten thousand angels
 To help me tell him no

 Lead me not into temptation
 Heaven help me to be strong
 I can fight all that I’m feeling
 But I can’t do it alone
 Help me break this spell that I’m under
 Guide my feet and hold me tight
 I need ten thousand angels
 Watching over me tonight

 It’s time to face my weakness
 Look him in the eye
 Lord knows it won’t be easy
 But I’ve just gotta try
 I can’t let myself get lost in his arms
 That’s how I got my heart broke before
 I need ten thousand angels
 To walk me out the door

Grammy Winning Singer Alanis Morissette Defies Muslim Boycott & Death Threats over Israel Concert

OH CANADA!!!

Seven-time Grammy award winner Alanis Morissette is going forward with her concert in Israel and is defying the Muslim boycott and death threats. She is scheduled to give a concert in Tel Aviv on Monday, December 3, for the first time since she performed in Israel in 2000. Morissette will not back down to the pressure  bullying and threats. As stated at Legal Insurrection, it appears to be “courage week” in Canada as last week Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird provided strong support for Israel in the UN and unlike Stevie Wonder, Morissette went forward with her concert.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, however, is urging her to cancel at the last minute, due to the recent Gaza conflict and ongoing political situation.

“We would find it especially disturbing should you choose to play in Israel given its recent onslaught on Gaza,” the campaign group said in an open message to the vocal artist. “Palestinian civil society groups are calling on artists to shun Tel Aviv in the same way that South African activists called on artists to boycott Sun City.”

“We hope that you will not be persuaded by the argument that music builds bridges and can bring smiles to people’s faces, thus hopefully spreading a message of peace,” they added. “Any message of peace you hope to bring will be drowned by Israel’s well-oiled publicity that will use you to rebrand itself as a normal state that promotes music and culture.”

Hank Williams Jr. Releases Anti-Obama Song ‘Take Back Our Country’ … “Hey Barack, pack your bags, head to Chicago … Take your teleprompter with you.”

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME HANK WILLIAMS JR. MUSIC THAT TAKES ON THE MSM, ESPN, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND OBAMA?

Hank Williams Jr sings … “Hey Barack, pack your bags, head to Chicago … Take your teleprompter with you.”

Hank Williams Jr. no longer has to worry about a liberal, weeny, in the tank, double standard media for Barack Obama to take him off the air for “freedom of speech” and taking comments completely out of context. Instead we have Hank Jr. at his best driving the Left crazy and skewering Obama with the lyrics, And now for your listening enjoyment …

DANCING IN THE SHEETS” New tell All Book Reveals Mick Jagger – David Bowie Affair … They ‘were really sexually obsessed with each other’

DANCING IN THE SHEETS … It sounds like a mix between ‘Start Me Up’ and ‘Rebel, Rebel’  all ‘Under Cover of the Night’. Christopher Anderson is back at it with a salacious book with many tid-bits that we have heard about for years between Mick and Ziggy Stardust. Excerpts from the book can he read HERE. Sorry, but these stories, rumors, accounts are so old and have been bantered about so much, does it really matter? At this point I am more upset that the Rolling Stones charge as much for a ticket for less than stellar music. Thankfully, I have seen both of these guys sing in their prime because if you hear them now in concert, you won’t get no satisfaction.

Before Bowie & Jagger Were Dancing in the Streets, sounds like they were in the sheets as well

MICK JAGGER and David Bowie fascinated each other, both as stars and as men. Jagger was just four years older than Bowie, and yet Bowie was now being hailed as the hot new star. Ziggy, in spandex and gold body paint, hugged Mick when Jagger paid him a backstage visit in the spring of 1973. When Bowie and his companion Scott were invited to a Stones concert a few months later, Mick not only paid for the couple’s hotel room but sent along roses and champagne with a note signed “Love, Mick.”

Lib Singer Jackson Browne Not Only ‘Running on Empty’ for Barack Obama, But Says ‘My Problem is You’ and Wonders ‘Where Were You’?

President Barack Obama takes another hit from a once faithful Lib.

Tender is hardly the night for Jackson Brown these days when it comes to the Obamamessiah and wonders “Where were You”?

For singer Jackson Brown, “down on the boulevard they take it hard, they look at life with such disregard”. It appears that Jackson Brown now also looks at Barack Obama with disregard as well. As reported at the Politico, Jackson Brown says he will vote for Obama, but that’s about it. Browne said he remains “involved politically” but won’t raise money for any presidential candidate in the 2012 election, which means there will be no fundraiser for Obama.

Jackson Browne will vote for President Obama in November, but he’s not excited about it.

“It wouldn’t and shouldn’t be a f—ing surprise to anybody that I’m going to vote for Obama,” the singer recently told The Wrap. “But honestly Obama once again has joined the ranks of the lesser of two evils. The great parade of people that the progressives get to vote for who are the lesser of two evils and who don’t really represent what I believe in any overwhelming balance.”

Browne, who backed Obama in 2008, is feeling disenchanted with the president these days.

Make no mistake about it, Brown’s fundraising for Obama is ‘Running on Empty’. But it gets even worse for this disillusioned lib, Browne is basically saying about Obama that ‘My Problem is You’ and like many of those who fell for the “Hope & Change” BS. … ‘Where Were You’?

Robin Gibb, Co-Founder of Bee Gees, Dead at Age 62 After Battle with Cancer … Rest in Peace

More sad news in the world of music.

(Robin Gibb: 1949 – 2012, Rest in Peace)

Robin Gibb, one-third of the Bee Gees, died Sunday at the age of 62 after a long battle with cancer. Robin, along with Barry and Maurice who died in 2003, made up the unmistakeable sound of the Bee Gees the ruled the Disco era.  As reported at CNN,  the Bee Gee’s were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. The Bee Gees sold more than 200 million albums, and their soundtrack album to “Saturday Night Fever” was the top-selling album until Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” claimed that distinction in the 1980s. Robin Gibb is survived by his wife, Dwina; his daughter, Melissa, and sons Spencer and Robin-John. Rest in Peace.

Tragedy

“The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery,” reads the statement. “The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”

Two years ago, Gibb battled colon and liver cancer, but despite making what he called a “spectacular recovery,” a secondary tumor recently developed, complicated by a case of pneumonia in April. The singer was hospitalized last month and fell into a coma at one point, although he was later said to have regained consciousness and communicated with family members.

How Deep is Your Love

Sadly, three of the four Gibb brothers have now passed away and are singing their melodic hits in Heaven. Robin’s twin brother Maurice died in 2003 of complications from a twisted intestine. Andy Gibb, who had a solo career and was never a part of the Bee Gees, died at 30 from a heart infection in 1988.

Too Much Heaven

Last Dance … Donna Summer, The Queen of Disco Has Died at the Age of 63 from Cancer

The death of a music icon …

Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco has passed away at the age of 63. She passed away at her home in Naples, Florida after a long battle with cancer. How very sad, for those of you old enough to remember vinyl records and 8-track tapes, Donna Summer was the diva of diva’s of the 1970′s music era and the undisputed Queen of Disco. Donna Summer then went on to have a career beyond disco and had such 80′s hits as with “She Works Hard for the Money” and “This Time I Know It’s for Real.” TMZ is reporting that Donna Summer died of lung cancer which she and her family kept very secret and private.

We’re told Summer was in Florida at the time of her death. She was 63 years old.

Sources close to Summer tell us … the singer was trying to keep the extent of her illness under wraps. We spoke to someone who was with Summer a couple of weeks ago … who says she didn’t seem too bad.

In fact, we’re told she was focused on trying to finish up an album she had been working on.

 Donna Summer: 1948 – 2012 … Rest in Peace

From the LA Times, much more on the life and times of Donna Summer.

An early fan of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, Summer sang in a psychedelic rock band called Crow in the late 1960s. She left home for New York City at 18 and quickly landed a role in a touring production of the Broadway show “Hair.”

She spent the next three years living and touring in Europe. While there she met and married singer Helmuth Sommer, and took a variation of his last name as her stage name. In Europe she also met Moroder, whose early dance tracks were making an impact there.

“Love to Love You Baby” was their first hit together. A shortened version of it that was released in 1975 by Casablanca, then a hot label, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart.

Donna Summer’s family released a statement:

Her family released the following statement Thursday: “Early this morning, surrounded by family, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith. While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time.”

MTV Interview: Donna Summer Calls Singing ‘The Greatest Gift’ In 1989 … ‘Sometimes you can’t communicate in words, but in a song, you can.

“Music is part of my life. For my judgment, music is the greatest of all the gifts,” Summer told MTV News’ John Norris in a rare 1989 interview. “The voice — not my voice, but the voice — to me is the greatest gift. Having a voice. You need no other instrument, all you have to do is sing. Open your mouth, and it’s there.”‘

She will be laid to rest in Nashville, TN.

Rapper Adam (MCA) Yauch, Co-Founder of the Beastie Boys Dead at the Age of 47

Adam Yauch, MCA,  co-founder of the vanguard 1980′s rap group the Beastie Boys, has died at the age of 47 after a long battle with cancer. He leaves behind his wife and daughter. What a shame, I truly feel like a piece of my college days has passed as well. The Beastie Boys originally started rapping as a lark with three Jewish white boyz, the rest is music altering history. In 2009, Adam Yauch announced that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. Later that year, Yauch performed at Bonnaroo with the Beastie Boys, in what would turn out to be his last concert.

Many years ago after releasing their album, yes, that would be considered a vinyl record, ‘Licensed to Ill,’ rapper Adam MCA Yauch and the Beastie Boys taught us all … “You Gotta Fight For Your Right, To Party. They were on the ground floor of mainstreaming tap and hop-hop. We all just look back to the 1980′s and admire the simpler time.

Rest in Peace.

Your pop caught you smoking, and he said, “No way!”
That hypocrite smokes two packs a day
Man, living at home is such a drag
Now your mom threw away your best porno mag (Bust it!)

With a scratchy voice that grew scratchier through the years, Mr. Yauch rapped as MCA in the Beastie Boys, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. They offered many listeners in the 1980s their first exposure to hip-hop. They were vanguard white rappers who helped extend the art of sampling and gained the respect of their African-American peers.

While many hip-hop careers are brief, the Beastie Boys appealed not only to the fans they reached in the 1980s but to successive generations, making million-selling albums into the 2000s. They grew up without losing their sense of humor or their ear for a party beat.

Statement from the Beatie Boys.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with cancer,” reads an official statement from the Beastie Boys. “He was 47 years old.”

More from the NY Times and the life and times of MCA and the Beastie Boys:

When they started rapping in 1983, the Beastie Boys — Mr. Yauch, Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Mike Diamond (Mike D) — were greeted by some hip-hop purists as a novelty act. They were Jewish bohemians, not ghetto survivors; they were jokers, not battlers. Yet the Beastie Boys recorded for a label that was a bastion of New York hip-hop, Def Jam, and they toured alongside Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J.

They went on to garner admiration and influence with productions that kept coming up with surprises — including, eventually, the rappers’ playing instruments again — and with rhymes that would mingle humor, boasting and an increasing idealism. Even when the Beastie Boys were treated as a joke, it was a joke they would be in on for decades to come.

Adam Nathaniel Yauch was born on Aug. 5, 1964, in Brooklyn. Playing bass, he and Mr. Diamond started the Beastie Boys in 1981 as a hard-core punk band. The group’s original drummer, Kate Schellenbach, has said, “Whereas other bands, just as awful as the Beastie Boys, would actually believe they were good, for Mike and Adam the whole point was to be terrible and admit it.”

Mr. Yauch once said that the Beasties had started rapping as a joke, but found that audiences liked it better than their punk-rock. Mr. Rubin, then a student at New York University, joined the group as a disc jockey. He also brought them to the attention of Russell Simmons, the manager of Run-D.M.C. and other leading hip-hop acts of the era. He added the Beasties to his roster.

When Mr. Rubin and Mr. Simmons started Def Jam, the Beastie Boys were one of the label’s first signings: catalog number DJ 002, in 1984, was the Beastie Boys’ single “Rock Hard.” The Beastie Boys toured with Madonna in 1985, to the confusion of pop audiences.

Former Bee Gee’s Singer Robin Gibb in a Coma in London Hospital After Contracted Pneumonia … Reported in Grave Condition

Say a prayer for Robin Gibb …

Former Bee Gee’s disco icon Robin Gibb is according to reports in a London hospital after contracting pneumonia and slipping into a coma. His family, including wife Dwina, brother Barry, 65, daughter Melissa, 37, and sons Spencer, 39, and Robin-John, 29, were at Gibb’s bedside in a London hospital.  Robin Gibb has been in declining health since 2010 when he had emergency surgery to treat a blocked bowel. Following the surgery Gibb was diagnosed with colon cancer, that  spread to his liver. Last month it was announced that he was in remission from the disease; however, sadly he now lays in a coma reportedly near death.

Say a prayer for Barry Gibb and keep his family in your prayers as he fights to keep “Staying Alive”

The family of former Bee Gee Robin Gibb is keeping vigil at the pop icon’s bedside after he fell into a coma, according to reports.

The singer recently contracted pneumonia, landing him in a private hospital in London.

Gibb’s health declined in 2010 when he had emergency surgery to treat a blocked bowel. Further surgery to treat a twisted bowel was also required.

A message from Robin Gibb’s website:

Sadly the reports are true that Robin has contracted pneumonia and is in a coma. We are all hoping and praying that he will pull through.

Because of this situation, Robin’s website is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Rascal Flatts Sings a Tribute to Caylee … Caylee Anthony Song … Goin Places

I have always been a huge Rascal Flatts fan and now I know why. The Country super stars have put out a tribute to Caylee Anthony, the little two year old girl who was murdered, her mouth duct taped, double bagged and thrown in a swamp like trash. The individual responsible was some how found “not guilty” by 12 jurors who have to be the most out to lunch group of people ever assembled in one deliberation room.

However, Caylee Anthony is loved by all and she’s America’s little girl. It must be difficult for the narcissist Casey Anthony that it is her daughter who still gets all the attention and is loved by a nation. Take a listen to Rascal Flatts tribute to Little Caylee, “Going Places” … its a tear jerker.

“Just a baby barely two-years-old.  A story that shouldn’t have to be told.  See that little girl with big brown eyes.  Stole our hearts and touched our lives,” and then addresses her hopes and dreams with: “She wanted to learn to play guitar.  Be a ballerina or movie star.  She could have gone so far.”

“See that little girl with big brown eyes, stole our hearts and touched our lives. Now we cry because we cant understand”.

It is too bad that the jury of 12, or the Ship of Fools as many refer to them as could npt have kept the perspective of what this case was about … the murder of a two year old who was too young in life for her life to be taken.

God Bless Caylee  and Thank you Rascal Flatts, Cledus T Judd and Jimmy Yeary… you guys are top notch.

In light of the controversial acquittal of Casey Anthony, who was accused of killing her adorable 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Rascal Flatts‘ lead singer, Gary LeVox, co-penned a tribute song called ‘She’s Going Places’ to the little girl.

Country parody singer Cledus T Judd got serious, along with Jimmy Yeary, to co-write this piano-driven ballad. A Nashville demo singer also contributes vocals to the song. Country station KICKS 105 alerted us to the song, which the artists hope will spread virally.