EarSucker

Mark Linkous, the singer, songwriter and instrumentalist for Sparklehorse, has committed suicide.

His family released a statement saying:

“It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There’s a heaven and there’s a star for you.”

According to Wikipedia:

Linkous committed suicide with a gunshot to the heart outside a friend’s house in Knoxville, Tennesee on March 6, 2010.

So sad. May he rest in peace.

The autopsy results are in for Jay Reatard, who died mysteriously at the age of 29. According to Contact Music, the culprit in his death was a mixture of cocaine and alcohol.

Memphis Medical Examiner Dr. Karen Chancellor has ruled that he passed from “cocaine toxicity”, adding that “alcohol was a contributing factor in his death.”

Reatard passed away in his sleep on January 12, 2010.

RIP.

The founding member of the Matthew Good Band, Geoff Lloyd has sadly passed away this weekend.

He was most recently a part of The Slickjacks, who have updated their Facebook page with the following message:

It is with a heavy heart I have to announce the passing of Geoff Lloyd. Frontman for The Slickjacks, a Brother, and a talented and helpful guy with a heart of gold. Geoff and his wife Lisa were also a huge part of the Cobalt Volunteer army, it would never have re-opened on 06/06/06 without them.

Sadly Geoff had been fighting his inner demons for a number of years, and they finally got the better of him.

Read more about their concert to benefit Geoff’s wife here.

RIP.

“Poltergeist” phenom Zelda Rubinstein passed away today at the age of 76. She was most known as Tangina Barrons in “Poltergeist”, where she played the short psychic who was called to rid the family home of evil forces.

Late December, it was reported that Rubinstein had suffered from both kidney and lung failure. It was said that she was taken off of life support at that time, due to her failing condition.

Friends denounced that statement, saying that she was on her way to recovery.

She passed away earlier today at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles.

RIP.

Rowland S. Howard has passed away yesterday at the Austin Hospital from liver cancer at the age of 50.

He previously played with Nick Cave in The Birthday Party and wrote “Shivers” for The Boys Next Door in 1979. He gained more critical acclaim for his solo album, “Pop Crimes”.

His friend and former bandmate Mick Harvey said, “Sometimes people are ready to go because they have been sick for a long time, but Rowland really wanted to live. Things were going well for him outside of his health and he wanted to take advantage of that and he was very disappointed that he wasn’t well enough to do so.”

RIP. Sad.

A lot of celebrities have passed away this year and a lot of hoaxes have laid claim to celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Jeff Goldblum. So why should Nick Jonas be any different?

One silly source claimed, “Nick Jonas died at the Baylor University Medical Center at 7pm EST after going into cardiac arrest. One report claims Nick experienced chest pains and difficulty breathing while receiving a lap dance from an exotic dancer at the Silver City Cabaret, a popular strip club in Dallas.”

BS Point #1: This source sounds like they’d rather give us the address to the strip club than speak the truth about Nick. The so-called snitch also claimed that Joe Jonas “mentioned Nick had neglected to properly treat his diabetes that evening, being completely enamored by the dancers.”

BS Point #2: Does a Jonas brother even know what the word enamored means, let alone use it in a sentence???

Nick Jonas is not dead and we’ve heard nothing else aside from this nuttery.

This year has been so awful for celebrity deaths. 2009 has really claimed a lot of souls, including Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, Brittany Murphy and countless others. Now, we’ve just learned that the grim reaper has claimed another one: Avenged Sevenfold’s 28-year-old drummer, James Owen Sullivan.

Reportedly, the young drummer died of natural causes, according to Huntington Beach authorities. He was found dead in his home and the Coroner’s Office is investigating his untimely death.

RIP.

Update:

The band has issued this statement regarding The Rev’s death:

“It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy ‘The Rev’ Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world’s best drummers, but more importantly, he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy’s family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time.”

There’s another Twitter hoax going around that Kanye West has gone to the big gay fish heaven in the sky. But that isn’t true….

Don’t worry, he’ll be blogging mad in no time IN ALL CAPS!

I need a hobby, seriously.

We here at Earsucker are still in shock that Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein has left us. There are no words to explain how sad we are for his family and those whom he’s left behind.

Here’s what the celebrity world has said: (continue reading…)

We’ve just received word that a new photo of Michael Jackson and his children has been revealed.

The photo shows Michael along with Prince Michael, Paris, and Prince Michael II (aka Blanket) and was taken on November 27, 2008. (continue reading…)

Slash’s mother, Ola Hudson, has passed away in Los Angeles after suffering a battle with lung cancer.

Hudson passed away at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica on Friday evening. She was only 62-years-old.

About five hours ago, Slash twittered, “Back in the studio today but I’m having a hard time concentrating.”

She is survived by sons Slash, 43, Albion, 38, and ex-husband, Anthony Hudson.

Our best wishes go out to Slash and his family in this tough time. May she rest in peace.

Jay Bennett, a multi-instrumentalist and former member of the band Wilco, has passed away Sunday morning.

It was reported on The Undertow Collective’s website:

We are profoundly saddened to report that our friend died in his sleep last night. Jay was a beautiful human being who will be missed.

There has been no cause of death associated with the incident, but Bennett’s friend and collaborator, Edward Burch, says, “Early this morning, Jay died in his sleep and an autopsy is being performed.”

R.I.P. Jay Bennett

Image via BeatCrave

The guy who allegedly murdered rapper Dolla, Monday afternoon, has just pleaded not guilty to the crime. According to NME, Dolla’s murder suspect, Aubrey Berry has entered his not guilty plea in court on Friday.

He pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. He was arrested at LAX when he was confronted at the airport with a weapon on his person.

Berry remains in jail on $5 million bail and claims that he shot Dolla in fear for his own life, after an altercation in an Atlanta nightclub, a few weeks back.

Dolla was in L.A. starting to work on his debut album, which was set to be released by Jive Records this summer.

RIP Dolla.

Image Credit: MixMatters

You may not have heard of Dolla before today, but he was an aspiring rapper out of Atlanta, Georgia. Dolla was murdered Monday afternoon, after the perpetrator brandished a gun at The Beverly Center in L.A. and shot him in the head.

That was the only photo that I could locate of the victim, from a 2008 CD, titled, “I’m Tore Up”.

TMZ has found out the identity of the suspect, who was trying to board a plane at LAX, with a gun. The perp, Aubery Berry, who was sitting there at the airport:

LAX police spotted a man who matched the description, sitting in the lobby area of Terminal 1. Cops approached Berry and almost immediately he said he knew why cops were there and then raised his hands and told them he had a 9 millimeter handgun in his waistband.

R.I.P. Dolla, he was only 21.

Via The L.A. Times / Image via Amazon

Late rapper Pimp C is set to release a posthumous album.

Pimp C passed away in December 2007 from an accidental overdose combined with sleep apnea.

Prior to his death, he was working on an album, in addition to the work that he had created for UGK on their album, “For Life”.

Bun B says, “We had enough vocals. But it wasn’t just about taking whatever vocals I had available; it was about constructing songs. It wasn’t about just throwing all the Pimp C I had out there. I had to really try to make an album.”

The album is titled, “The Naked Soul Of Sweet James Jones” and is planned for release on Rap-A-Lot Records.

Bring it!

[Image Credit: Extra Medium via Flickr]

It’s being reported that Dr. Dre’s young son, Andre Young, Jr. has passed away. His body was found at his Woodland Hills home on Saturday morning.

His mother found him unresponsive when she checked on him at 10 a.m. and called an ambulance. He was said to have been out the night before and got home at 5:30 a.m.

The cause of death is unknown at this time.

Our condolences to the Young family in this very hard time.

R.I.P.