Alex Chilton, singer and guitarist of Big Star, one of the most influential rock groups to emerge from the early 1970s, has passed away at the age of 59. Chilton reportedly suffered a heart attack today in New Orleans, just days before Big Star were scheduled to perform at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. Chilton had been complaining about his health earlier in the day, and was eventually taken to a New Orleans hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Big Star drummer Jody Stephens confirmed Chilton’s passing, Memphis
The 16-year-old boy who led the Box Tops to the top of the charts with 1967’s “The Letter” (”Give me a ticket for an aeroplane, ain’t got time to take a fast train”) and grew into the founder of the incomparably influential Big Star was no more. It hit especially hard in Austin where the reformed Big Star was to play the final set of the final night of South By Southwest 2010.
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