Died On This Date (March 9, 2005) Chris LeDoux / Country Star and Rodeo Champ
themusicsover Chris LeDoux
October 2, 1948 – March 9, 2005
Chris LeDoux was a country music star who, unlike most, was the real deal. Prior to his quick rise to fame thanks to a helping hand from admirer, Garth Brooks, LeDoux was a champion rodeo rider. He is likely the only World Bareback Riding Champ to sell over six million albums. LeDoux began his riding career in 1970, and soon began self-recording songs about life on the circuit. His tunes quickly struck a chord with fellow riders, ranchers and cowboys for their authenticity and heart. He was soon selling thousands of tapes out of his truck at rodeos and such. The story goes that he manufactured over one million cassettes on a dual-tape machine in his barn, with his mother setting the egg timer for twenty minutes to remind her to go out and flip over the tapes. Things dramatically changed in 1989, when a lyric in Brooks’ hit “Much To Young To Feel This Damn Old” pointed out that the only thing that kept the aging narrator going in a world of younger riding competitors was “a worn out tape of Chris LeDoux.” That brought tremendous attention to LeDoux who had never met Brooks. He was soon signed to Liberty Records, also Brooks’ label at the time. Over the next decade, LeDoux released several popular country albums for Liberty and played to large theaters and arenas full of adoring fans. Like Brooks, he brought the electricity and flash of rock ‘n roll to the country setting. On March 9, 2005, Chris LeDoux died of cancer of the bile duct. He was 56 years old.
What You Should Own
Hal Gaba was an entertainment industry veteran who, over the course of his career, was an acquisitions consultant for Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin’s Tandem production company, ran Embassy Pay Television Unit, and owned multimedia holding company, ACT III Communications. Over the last ten years of his life, he was the CEO and C0-owner of Concord Music Group, the acclaimed independent jazz label. Hal Gaba was 63 when he died of cancer on March 9, 2009.
Ingo Schwichtenberg was the founding drummer for speed metal pioneers, Helloween. Formed in Germany in 1984, the band has released numerous charting albums all over the world. Schwichtenberg’s drumming proficiency has been an influence to many metal drummers to follow. In 1993, he was fired from the band for reasons that stemmed from his dependency on drugs and alcohol as well as an apparent mental disorder. After parting ways with Helloween, Schwichtenberg continued on a downward spiral which lead to him jumping to his death in front of an oncoming subway on March 8, 1995. He was 29 years old.
Willie King was a contemporary Mississippi blues musician who reluctantly began his career in music late in life. Prior to that, he worked as a sharecropper, moonshiner and traveling salesman. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights movement that he began writing topical blues songs. And it wasn’t until 1999 that he started making records. He ultimately released six albums and was profiled in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues: Feels Like Going Home documentary. Willie King suffered a fatal heart attack on March 8, 2009. He was 65 years old.