![]() Zevon spent two years working with the Everly Brothers, touring with the duo as pianist and bandleader. He wrote songs for other groups, and also worked in the advertising world, writing jingles for Chevrolet and Boone’s Farm wines.Īn itinerant phase followed. His debut album, “Wanted Dead or Alive” (1969) was poorly received, but one song, “She Quit Me,” was featured in the Oscar-winning 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy.” The folk duo, and the marriage, later broke up. The group made its album debut on the White Whale label, which was also home to Nino Tempo and April Stevens, and The Turtles, who recorded a Zevon song, “Like the Seasons,” in 1967. He started his musical career in 1966, as half of lyme and cybelle, a folk duo he formed with Violet Santangelo. High school was uneventful, so much so that Zevon dropped out. He received formal training in classical piano, and in junior high school struck up acquaintances with Robert Craft, the veteran conductor and biographer, and the legendary Russian pianist Igor Stravinsky, who lived near Hollywood. He moved to Arizona and Los Angeles as a child with his family. 24, 1947 in Chicago, son of a Russian Jewish immigrant and a Scots-Welsh Mormon. his hair was perfect.”īut the pain of loss and the longing for human connection were evident in other songs that revealed a depth and complexity that contrasted with more offbeat compositions. Or they could be imaginary creations: a headless mercenary loose in Africa an excitable soul so enamored of pot roast he rubs it all over his chest or “a werewolf drinking a piòa colada at Trader Vic’s. They could be real-life cartoons like Bill Lee, the self-styled former Boston Red Sox pitcher. Zevon also betrayed a footloose imagination, his songs painted pictures of characters - characters in every sense of the word. I like to think I have some goodhearted romantic impulses now and then, but for the most part I write a different kind of song.” We live in a culture where violence is all around us and I found myself writing more songs about violence than romantic subjects. “Some of them are based on my upbringing and some are based on my reading habits. “Hemingway said all good stories ended in death, and I write songs about death and violence for some reason,” he told VH1 in an interview this year. Like many other successful rock acts, Zevon eventually adopted a logo: a skull adorned in sunglasses with a cigarette dangling from its mouth - a hipster update of an 1885 painting by Vincent van Gogh. ![]() ![]() I can’t possibly complain.Excess and dissolution were frequent topics in his lyrics songs from “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” a rousing anthem to the party life (from his breakthrough 1976 album) to “Werewolves of London,” a tongue-in-cheek horror story set to a jaunty melody (on “Excitable Boy,” 1978) revealed a fascination with the macabre. I got to be a wild, crazy, Jim Morrison quasi-rock star, anyway, and I got to be a sober dad for 18 years. I already have great relationships with my children … I’ve already led two lives. “Harder, hopefully with some focus,” Zevon said. When he was asked last year what he does while staring death in the eye, Zevon replied by saying, “Work.” Once a Hollywood wild man of legendary reputation, Zevon had been sober for nearly 18 years and quit smoking almost five years ago. In a candid interview with Billboard last year, Zevon - who had addressed death with frankness and caustic amusement frequently during the course of his 30-year career - joked that he wanted to live long enough to see the latest James Bond film. “The Wind,” which features guest appearances from Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, T Bone Burnett and Dwight Yoakam, among others, sold 48,000 copies in its first week of release.Īs an artist on Asylum in the mid-’70s, Zevon wrote and recorded such much-covered songs as “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Hasten Down the Wind,” and “Carmelita.” He scored his biggest hit with the 1978 album “Excitable Boy,” which contained the top-20 single “Werewolves of London.” He later recorded for Virgin, Giant and, most recently, Artemis. 16, his highest chart ranking since “Excitable Boy” peaked at No. The album, dubbed “The Wind” (Artemis), was released two weeks ago and entered The Billboard 200 at No. Zevon had spent much of the past year working on a final studio recording. Zevon was found dead after failing to wake from an afternoon nap, according to the spokesperson. Zevon was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in August of last year.Ī spokesperson for the artist tells that Zevon had been feeling well of late, and died peacefully in his home Sunday afternoon. Singer/songwriter Warren Zevon died Sunday (Sept.
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