Who was your first celebrity death?

[Arry]

The news about Robin Williams... Which fuckn sucks... Who was the first celeb passing that hit home?  Mine was Steve Clark of Def Leppard.  It was before the Internet, and the news teased it as,   a member of Def Leppard found dead... It took 20 mins to find out who it was...

[Nel]

I believe I was seven when Chris Farley died. That one hit hard.

[TAC]

That's a tough one. Thurman Munson maybe..

Actually, I take that back. Probably Elvis.

[wasteland]

I don't know, maybe Richard Wright?

I actually do remember Lady Diana's death, even though I was only 6 at the time. I remember being touched by the wave of emotion that swept a good portion of the world, but it's not that I had really cared for her before her death.

[El Barto]

Yeah, Elvis was the first I really remember as being a big deal, but I never really cared about the guy anyway. For the most part celebrity deaths don't really hit me much. Cliff Burton, Phil Hartman, Richard Wright and Dio are really the only ones to do so.

[bout to crash]

Kurt Cobain. I was 8 and loved Nirvana. I can't think of the first actor one that hit hard...

[rumborak]

Freddie Mercury for me.

[Dark Castle]

Robin Williams is probably the first celebrity death that I remember that hits me hard. There's been celebrity deaths over the past few years that sucked to hear, but Robin Williams is the first that I have a personal connection to. The guy was a huge figure in my childhood, and as I grew up.

[King Postwhore]

Elvis and second was John Lennon.  After that is was the space shuttle Challenger

[jammindude]

I remember Elvis (barely...I was 6 or 7).   I remember John Lennon quite well, and I knew who the Beatles were, so that did make me sad.

But the first one I remember being a big fan of...following them practically from clubs all the way up to arenas....was Cliff Burton.

...and what made me even more upset was that I had my ticket *IN HAND* to see him live for the very first time opening up for Ozzy in July of 1986.   Ozzy cancelled (he claimed laryngitis, but rumor was Metallica was blowing him off the stage...a lot people weren't terribly happy about his recent makeover, yours truly included)...Cliff died three months later.    It was somewhat of a consolation that I got to see them headline (rather than open for someone I was just going to boo at anyway...hey, I was 16) and it was maybe Jason's 10th show or so?     

But yeah.  Cliff's death hit me pretty hard.    Andrew Wood (Mother Love Bone) was another one that made me a bit despondent.   I got pretty torn up about Kurt too.

[Jaq]

Would have to say John Lennon, coming as it did not long after I got into the Beatles and was spinning Sgt. Pepper and one of their greatest hits albums near constantly. That was just a "nooooooo" moment.

[bl5150]

Princess Diana is the only one I vividly remember - I can't say it affected me any more than it would hearing of any other tragic death but I remember it because of where I was (the opening of Planet Hollywood in Melbourne with Sly Stallone) and the effect it had on the crowd when it was announced.

One I would've been devastated by if I'd been old enough to know is Randy Rhoads.

[MetalJunkie]

Their deaths don't typically faze me. Andy Griffith's put my stomach in a knot because he seemed so genuine. Robin Williams's is first one that made me feel like I was punched in the gut and the balls at the same time.

[black_biff_stadler]

Phil Hartman. Although, Chuck Schuldiner is probably the only one that ever really made me feel. For nonmetalheads, Chuck basically created death metal and, later on, progressive death metal and may have been the first death metal writer to approach stuff beyond the blood and gore subject which permanently pigeonholed the genre to outsiders.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Ronnie James Dio for me. Yup, I'm a young'in, but it's the first one that really hit me hard.

[SeRoX]

Ronnie James Dio

[CrimsonSunrise]

I didn't really care about Elvis or Lennon.  My first that I really CARED about was Ronnie Van Zant, then John Bonham (who's loss absolutely devastated me)

[Zook]

The one that affected me most was Steve Irwin.

[King Postwhore]

John Wayne.  Watched so many moves as a kid with my dad.

[Dark Castle]

Correction:
Actorwise, Robin Williams is my first huge loss, but talking about musicians, losing David Gold just a few days before Christmas back in 2011 crushed me. Listening to Woods of Ypres can get pretty tough at times these days 

[Dr. DTVT]

John Candy for me.

[PuffyPat]

Adam Yauch (MCA) was the first that really hit me. I was down for about a week after I found out. The Beastie Boys were such a big influence on me growing up. and Adam seemed like a really good person.

[jingle.boy]

Never even knew any of his films, but the first majorly significant death I remember was Rock Hudson.  Given the fact it was from AIDS, it practically kicked off the 'epidemic'.

Robin Williams really shocked me tonight though.  Something about knowing his career for 30 years, maybe my own age (hitting mid-life), I dunno.  I'm just really stunned over this one.  Moreso than Candy, Farley, or any other big actor-comedians.

[KevShmev]

Their deaths don't typically faze me. Andy Griffith's put my stomach in a knot because he seemed so genuine. Robin Williams's is first one that made me feel like I was punched in the gut and the balls at the same time.

I'm the same way, although I will admit that James Gandolfini's death last year was like a gut punch, mostly because I was such a fan of his portrayal of Tony Soprano. 

[senecadawg2]

At the risk of sounding callous, I don't remember ever being bothered by a celebrity death. Not even a little bit. Robin Williams was a great actor, and there are a couple of his movies that I will always enjoy. But as for his death, I dunno... I guess I'm neither shocked or significantly bothered. Kind of had the same reaction with MJ died. I think the first big one for me will be one of my favorite musicians dies, but being so young I haven't had to deal with that yet (and hopefully won't have to for a while).

[lonestar]

Hmmm, I would have to say Freddie Mercury. I was still a bit to young for Keith Moon to impact me at the moment, whereas I was already a huge queen fan, and Mercury's passing meant I would never see him live.

[KevShmev]

I wasn't yet a big Queen fan, so I don't know how much Freddie's death would have affected me had I been a big fan already at the time of his passing. 

The only death I can remember from a musician of a favorite band is Richard Wright, and while that was surprising, he was getting up there in age, so it wasn't really that surprising. 

Now, even though they are all getting up there now (all are now 60+), when any of the guys from Rush eventually die, I'll probably cry myself to sleep for a week. Okay, not really, but it will suck.

[TempusVox]

I can remember when I was 9 Roberto Clemente dying; and I remember when I was 10 Bruce Lee, and J.R.R. Tolkien died. But the biggest one was when Elvis died. We were living in Berlin at the time, and my mom and I walked over to the commissary, and people were running around like crazy to get a copy of the Stars and Stripes, and adults were actually wailing and crying. One lady fell to her knees on the sidewalk and just sobbed. I was 14, and had never seen anything like that in my life. My mom was so upset that we went home and she was crying too after calling my aunt back in the states. I went into my room, emotionally spent from the days events, put on my headphones and jammed out to Destroyer and Rock N' Roll Over the rest of the afternoon. 

[black_biff_stadler]

I was already a huge queen

 

[Outcrier]

Probably Michael Jackson, everyone was like this: 

[Arry]

Cliff's death...

I was only 10 when that happened and not into 'Tallica yet...  But from the time justice was out I was aware of who we lost. He and Harris influenced more than anyone. I spent hundreds trying to duplicate his bass sound...

[RoeDent]

First one I vividly remember was Princess Diana in 1997. It was the first morning of my first holiday.

[Podaar]

The first that truly effected me was John Bonham and then... what was it, two months later John Lennon? Dark days in the music scene for sure.

[Chino]

[hefdaddy42]

The first one I remember was Elvis.  I didn't know who he was, really, but I remember everyone else freaking out.

Next was John Wayne.