The Who's legendary bassist John Entwistle passed away 20 years ago today, June 27th, 2002. He died of a heart attack in his Las Vegas hotel room on the eve of a Who tour.
Entwistle born in Chiswick, West London on October 9, 1944 and was affectionately known as "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers." He was also voted "Bassist of the Millennium" in Musician magazine.
He contributed extensively to The Who's music catalog with classics like "Boris the Spider" and "My Wife."
Entwistle also led his own band. He was also a member of Ringo Starr's All Starr Band in 1995; and loved fishing and painting. His drawing of the band was featured on the cover of The Who By Numbers album.
Pete Townshend talked about the death of Entwistle:
"When he died it was a shock for a number of reasons. We didn't realize how ill he was, how vulnerable he was, and how delicate his situation was. I don't think he'd been entirely honest with us about his situation. Not that that was any of our business except we were a band and were in business together. And so the decision to go on was not hard to make, no, because it wasn't about us. This is not about me this is not about John this is about everybody else."
Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey did go ahead with the tour, which started four days after Entwistle’s death in Los Angeles with Pino Palladino filling in on bass.
Townshend talked about The Who continuing on after Entwistle passed away:
"Now a lot of people felt at first that that's what we should have done -- in other words it was bad taste to go on. And John's mother, Queenie, hates it when I talk like, and probably quite rightly, but you know I think it was bad taste for John to die. It was an awful thing to happen at that particular moment -- the day before our tour started. But it is what happened and, you know, Roger and I were just shaken to our boots by it."
Entwistle was 57 when he died. He once commented on performing well into his 50’s:
"I justify my still playing by the fact that I'm still improving. If I ever stop improving then I probably sort of think about it, but what else can you do. I mean you can't paint all day. Well, you can, but it's not quite as profitable. I think we got grossly underpaid for what we achieved. I still play for money, I have to play for money. I have to think about money because of my lifestyle and people I have to support. Money good. Poverty bad. I intend to keep playing 'til my teeth fall out."
[Source: Classic Hits Today]