Where you were when famous people died

[Scoops]

When Prince died I was in the car with my mom. She had to pull over to regain composure.

[dablueboy]

Michael Jackson - was sat downstairs late at night, flicking through the channels and stumbled across Sky News reporting that he was in hospital and there were mixed reports about his status then the full announcements that he was gone, spent the next day binging out on MJ and Jackson 5 songs

Kobe - saw it trending on social media, first thought was to message my best friend who’s a massive Lakers fan, needless to say he was devastated

Princess Diana - with it happening overnight, none of my family knew till we turned the telly on next morning and it was permanently stuck on the news

The Queen - soon as it was announced that medical personnel and the family were called to the Palace, me and my mum knew she had either already gone or would be gone by the evening

Gary Speed (Welsh footballer) - we had Sky Sports News on and the second it came in as breaking news, my and my dad had the exact same reaction, especially as he’d been on telly just the day before on the BBC’s magazine show Football Focus. Hurt me more than him as he’d one time played for my team Everton

[thechase]

Was notified of Diana's death by my dad as soon as I woke up. I remember what was airing the day before too, an episode of Beetleborgs on GMTV. What a week. I still associate Diana's tragedy with the end of 'Cool Britannia' and peak 1990s. 1998 and 1999 just weren't quite the same for me afterwards when seeing in the millennium.

I was looking after my nephew when I heard the Queen was undergoing medical supervision. When Hugh Edwards appeared I knew he wasn't going to repeat the same things he'd been saying the last few hours, his face read much differently

I remember my brother had all of his friends, including a girl I was crushing hard on (she's since become my best friend) gathered at a computer watching the live news streams of Micheal Jackson.

[wildojinx]

When Princess Diana died I was watching a rerun of SNL (The Rob Lowe episode from 96-97) when they broke in with the news.

[The Unconquered Sun]

I had just gotten home from buying a new TV, got everything hooked up, everything was ready to go, turned it on, and the 1st thing I hear out of this new TV …
“ we can now confirm Robin Williams has died”
f***

[ayumidah]

I was online when the news broke about Michael, and watched as various sites one by one stopped working due to overload.

Robin Williams, I was eating supper with my best friend, who had just arrived a couple hours earlier for a few days' visit. Happened to check social media after we finished eating, and saw the breaking news.

Whitney Houston, I was in the ER with my mother, who had dropped a can on her foot and wanted x-rays.

Chris Cornell, I was on twitter when that news broke something after midnight, and didn't sleep the rest of the night. Same with Chester Bennington, though that news broke in the afternoon and I was also in a newlegacyinc stream at the time and I still remember Jawnny's reaction when the chat started talking about it.

[G✇JI☈A]

Living in Australia the the breaking news of t the death of a celebrity in Europe or North America usually happen while I’m sleeping, so mostly it’s just finding out on morning news, social media after I wake up. Except:

Princess Di: Think it was a Saturday afternoon when news broke that she was involved in a car crash. The family TV was tuned to a VFL match (Victorian Football League, can’t remember which teams were playing) on ABC TV when the news broke. Me and my brother were about to walk to a local Video Ezy to rent some movies with the family dog Jessie. There was no real confirmation that the Princess had died but was heavily speculated. One of the football commentators went full on shoot on the paparazzi.

Michael Jackson: news broke while I was working a shithouse car cleaning job. I was cleaning car windows at a Nissan dealership when a co worker told me the news. I did like Michael Jackson as a kid, but I heard the allegations and thought much less of him at the time of his death. Just went “huh” and got on with the job.

David Bowie: this one did hit me hard when it sunk in. I was on Facebook at about 5 in the afternoon on a Monday I think and the official David Bowie page posted that he had died. I thought “well this is obviously a hack” cause I’m not hearing it anywhere else. Then about half an hour later Duncan Jones (Bowie’s son) confirmed it on Twitter.

Chris Cornell: Another one that hit hard. Was just on Twitter after work and saw a breaking news post. Didn’t know it was suicide until hours later. It was just over two years after I saw Soundgarden play in Melbourne what ended up being for the last time.

The Queen: I finished work, I was doing an afternoon to midnight shift. I got home and saw news breaking that the British Royals heading to the where the Queen was on mass. Went to bed before the news broke. Woke up and saw a notification with a news saying “King Charles has…”. Well I knew then.

[The Legend of Groose]

Was at home baby sitting when I heard about Michael Jackson's death.

Just got home from a 3 hour road trip, getting on Facebook and the first thing I saw was a post saying "This can't be real, RIP Kobe", looked it up and sure enough...

Decided to get some Subway for lunch with my dad, we just got out of Subway and turned the radio on to hear about Heath Ledger's death. Both of us were like "WHAT!?"

Princess Diana I was very young watching SNL with the family when they cut away from it to break the news.

Robin Williams I was outside getting some air and saw it on my phone.

I think I heard about Gilbert Gottfried here on the boards.

[WoodStoner1]

Queen = knew it was coming, confirmed when I was waiting for my doctor's appointment.

Whitney = saw it on one of the TVs after leaving a Petula Clark concert.

[wildojinx]

When Richard Nixon died I was on my class trip to Washington DC.

[4real]

Princess Diana: My sister was watching Nickelodeon and there was a news ticker running along the bottom of the screen saying “Switch to Sky News for important breaking news” this was early in the morning and I said to her to turn it over because it must be something important. And so it was. Went up to see my Mum in tears at the news.

The Queen: Was watching Arsenal in the Europa League when the news broke.

Chester Bennington: Was on holiday with friends in Barcelona when the news broke and I pretty much listened only to Linkin Park for the rest of the holiday

Chris Cornell: On break at work. I’m a fan but not compared to my house mate at the time who was a huge Cornell fan even his solo stuff texted him to let him know and he was gutted. Got home from work and we played Cornell videos on YouTube for a few hours.

[Deleted]

The only one I specifically remember is Princess Diana.

I had been staying the night at my moms house (as a teen I lived with my dad and this was I think the only time I actually slept at my moms after they split up. I had been watching ECW on the public access channel late at night while my mom was doing my hair in dreads. She went to bed after finishing my hair, but I couldn't sleep in the living room of a place I didn't live, so I stayed up all night watching tv (pre streaming kids) and whatever stupid reruns were on. They interrupted the shows at like 2 am with breaking news about it.

[poodoojenkins]

Michael Jackson- I was loading my gear into Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte when the bass player of a band called the Body Bags (ironically) passed me coming down the ramp. He just looked at me and said "Michael Jackson is dead", which I just kind of snorted out some sound of disbelief at. I walked inside and sure enough, it was all over TV.

Dimebag Darrell- This was easily the first time, and one of the few, where I actually felt a tremendous loss over a celebrity death. He was a hero of mine, and someone I had been lucky enough to meet briefly only about 7 months before. The drummer in my band called me far too early the morning after and told me. I was still laying in bed. We read the reports and cried together over the phone. It was a rough day. Still can't listen to Pantera like I used to.

George Carlin- Another one that hit me incredibly hard, maybe even the hardest. Another HUGE hero, and one that me and my mom share a deep love for. I was walking to work when a good friend called me. It stopped me right in my tracks, standing halfway up a hill right next to a parking garage. Cried a good bit that day.

Taylor Hawkins- I was laying in bed again, grabbed my phone to look at Facebook, and it was one of the first things I saw. One of my favorite drummers, a guy I have stolen countless licks from for almost 30 years, and the drummer of one of my favorite bands ever. I accomplished almost nothing that day, I remember.

Neil Peart- As much as the others hurt, this is the only one that compares with Carlin's death, and may well be the hardest one. Neil Peart was someone I have listened to, gotten inspiration from, and admired greatly as not only an artist, but a person. Reading his books actually made me change certain aspects of my life and career. He made me realize that I didn't owe anyone anything simply because I'm a professional performer, and I didn't HAVE to participate in aspects of the job that I'm not comfortable with. I'm literally a happier person now because of the things he helped put in perspective. I remember the day his death was announced (he had actually passed a few days earlier). A friend of mine, a fellow drummer who believes anything he reads, is the one who called me. I had to look it up to be sure. I remember sitting on the balcony of my old apartment, reading the reports, and tears hitting my phone before I even knew I was crying. I had a gig that night, and playing my drums actually felt...wrong. Like there was some great disturbance in the force that only us drummers could feel, and we felt it SO deep. I think it was kinda like "What's the point when the GOAT is gone?" I did a drum solo that night, and instead of my usual tricks, I used it to pay tribute to the best drummer of all time, and just busted out as many of his signature licks I could actually play, and it wrapped up beautifully when the bass player jumped in and did the intro to "YYZ" with me as the impromptu finale.

[salz4life]

Mar 3, 2023 21:55:47 GMT -5 Ishmeal Loves Kaseyhausen said:

One that always sticks out to me is Princess Diana. I was camping with my family. We went to the camp store for some supplies and I saw the newspaper on the counter with the huge headline and everyone was shocked.

I woke up hungover and for some reason I had CNN and so the bottom of the screen saying she was dead. I was shocked. The other thing I remember is my girlfriend at the time being pissed at me for going out drinking and being mad that I had just found out she died. We weren't dating for much longer anyway.... but still. LOL

[salz4life]

When Kobe died I was just rummaging through Twitter when I saw random people saying it. I totally thought it was a hoax and it took a few minutes before the "Special Report" stingers started coming in.

[Beets by Schrute]

Scrolling on here when I learned about Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Whitney Houston, David Bowie, and Ultimate Warrior.

Queen Elizabeth- I was in my garage unloading groceries when I got the tweet from the Royal Family.

Kobe- That Sunday afternoon, I was lounging around the house while my wife was laying down with our son. I was in the kitchen when I got a notification from ESPN app which I don’t get unless it’s a major breaking story. Said “What?!” very loud it woke my wife.

Michael Jackson- I worked on a restaurant by the beach in Panama City that day. Ironically, I bought the essentials Michael Jackson that morning and listened to some on my lunch break.

A group of kids I was serving said something about Michael Jackson dying which I didn’t believe at first. The TVs we had were ESPN all day every day and they wouldn’t report on this. Two hours later, channel switched and I saw the headline of Michael’s passing.

Robin Williams- Looking for an old article on NBC about Casey Kasem when I saw the banner headline.

[Nr1Humanoid]

Masturbating probably.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

JFK I was on this lovely little patch of grass with a great view....

[Casey Jones]

For Micheal Jackson. I read it here first. I thought it was another hoax and didn't believe it at first.

Princess Di. I was camping. When a cousin of my mother showed up out of the blue and said "Diana's dead" as soon as she got out of the car. I thought she was talking about another cousin.

Kurt Cobain. A girl I used to walk to school with was crying when I got to her house.