re: How did an early death….

For me, the most disappointing early musician death in terms of lost potential was Randy Rhoads. I knew from articles and interviews that he was a serious student of classical guitar, and that he was already planning out his future to quit rock and roll and turn to classical guitar full time. I think I was already a listener of classical guitar music back then, so it was a huge blow to learn that he died in that idiotic plane crash (luckily for me, I got to see him on the Diary of a Madman tour, a few months before his death). With his serious approach to classical guitar and his improvisational chops (extremely rare in classical music I think), he would have shaken up the classical music world, and perhaps even redefine what it meant to be a top classical player.