Big Star Singer Alex Chilton Has Died

Alex Chilton, singer and guitarist of influential ’70s power-pop band Big Star, and basically just an all around music icon, died Wednesday at a hospital in New Orleans. Chilton reportedly suffered a heart attack – only days before Big Star were set to perform at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

The singer, songwriter and guitarist was 59.

“I’m crushed. We’re all just crushed,” said John Fry, owner of Memphis’ Ardent Studios and a longtime friend of Chilton’s. “This sudden death experience is never something that you’re prepared for. And yet it occurs.”

According to the Commercial Appeal newspaper in Chilton’s native Memphis, the artist had been complaining about his health early Thursday and was taken to the emergency room, where he was pronounced dead.

“Alex passed away a couple of hours ago,” Big Star drummer Jody Stephens told the Commercial Appeal. “I don’t have a lot of particulars, but they kind of suspect that it was a heart attack.”

Born William Alexander Chilton in Memphis, Tenn., Chilton was a teen star in the ’60s with the pop-soul group the Box Tops before shifting gears and forming Big Star in 1971 with guitarist/singer Chris Bell, bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens. Big Star’s influence can be traced all over the music map — from R.E.M. and the Replacements to Beck, Wilco and Whiskeytown.

The list could be a lot longer, but we’ll leave it at five to keep our word count down.

In 2003, Rolling Stone named all three Big Star albums – #1 Record, Radio City, and Sister Lovers – to its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Chilton is survived by his wife, Laura, a son, Timothy, and a sister, Cecilia.

I will now go listen to Big Star’s song “Thirteen” on an endless loop until I fall asleep. RIP, Alex.