System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Warren Zevon, Singer-Song Writer
January 24, 1947 - September 07, 2003
After a 12-month battle with cancer, singer-song writer Warren Zevon, has died at his home in Los Angeles, at the age of 56 years. He was a lifelong smoker until quitting several years ago, when he announced in September 2002 that he had been diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer, usually associated with asbestos. He was given only three months to live.
After his diagnosis, he spent much of his time visiting with his two grown children and working on a final album, "The Wind, " which was released to critical acclaim over the summer.
Born in Chicago on Jan. 24, 1947, to a Russian-Jewish immigrant father and a Mormon mother, he moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, making a living writing jingles for television commercials. He also composed the song "She Quit Me Man" for the movie "Midnight Cowboy." He was just out of his teens when he went to work for the Everly Brothers, first as a pianist and later as their band leader, and he has said his song "Frank and Jesse James, " honoring the Missouri outlaws, was really inspired by the Everly Brothers.
He released his first album, "Wanted — Dead or Alive, "to little notice in 1969, but gained attention in the '70s by writing a string of popular songs for singer Linda Ronstadt, including "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," "Carmelita" and "Hasten Down the Wind." The songs, a lyrically lighthearted, upbeat rocker about a spurned lover driven to the brink of suicide; a romantic ballad about a destitute heroin addict; and a ballad about rejection and hypocrisy, quickly fueled his reputation as one of rock music's most cynical voices. His next two albums, 1976's "Warren Zevon" and 1978's "Excitable Boy, " followed those songs with darkly humorous tales of prom-date rapists; headless, gun-toting soldiers of fortune; and werewolves who drank pina coladas at singles bars and were particular about their hair. They would cement his reputation as one of rock music's most politically incorrect lyricists, giving him a lifelong cult following.
He was a classically trained musician and accomplished guitarist and pianist. He would also substituted from time to time for Letterman's "Late Night" band leader, Paul Shaffer. When he gave up alcohol in the mid-'80s, he said he did so to avoid drinking himself to death, something he characterized as a coward's way out.
In his final months, he summoned the energy to complete "The Wind, " which includes the poignant "Keep Me in Your Heart, " a cranky "Disorder in the House" and a remake of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" about a dying gunfighter. His friend Springsteen was among those taking part in the recording sessions. During his last months, he told various interviewers he had no regrets, expressing particular gratitude that he had quit drinking in time to watch his daughter, Ariel, and son, Jordan, grow up. He became a grandfather in June when Ariel gave birth to twins.
He also boasted that he had lived a life as wild as legendary Doors frontman Jim Morrison, with one exception: He survived nearly 30 years longer than Morrison, who died at age 27 in 1971.
