re: When was the last Celebrity death as big as Kobe?

My mom loved Motown music and I knew every Marvin Gaye song and could sing a long to them when his dad shot and killed him in 84. I was 14 and I recall that hitting me real hard but don’t really remember how it affected others. Different time. No Twitter or message boards. I was 7 when Elvis died and I remember the adults in my life were very sad about it. My mom broke down and cried for a while. I didn’t understand but I cried too because she was so sad and I felt like somebody very close to us had died.

MJ shocked me and I was very sad. We were on the beach in Destin when the news broke. Might have been different if it was just me and my wife and kids but we were with 2 of my best friends since middle school and their families. We talked about how he turned into a freak and all that but the memories made to his music since the early 80s for us just got me in the feels. I remember videos across the world of people holding vigils and anguish in so many faces of different nationalities.

Kobe was an awesome player and great ambassador for the game. I see shock and disbelief but don’t think we will see the type of vigils and real anguish from the public like with a generational musician. Seems like we choose to celebrate and honor generational athletes passing more than mourn and despair their passing. Musicians just touch us more emotionally and philosophically. Athletes tend to make us wonder at the amazing upper limits of human physical capabilities. Just don’t really feel like we lost a chunk of our own self when an athlete dies as much as we do a generational musician.