 |
| Ivan Neville |
Ivan Neville, vocalist and keyboardist in Dumpstaphunk and a descendant of perhaps the most famous family in New Orleans music, is the latest musician to announce that he suffered from a bout with the novel coronavirus. In an interview with Nola.com on May 20, Neville revealed that he suspects that he contracted COVID-19 when he participated in the all-star Love Rocks NYC charity concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on March 12. Although some safety precautions were enforced, whereby ticket holders were not admitted and attendance was limited to about 200 guests of the performers, Jackson Browne, Paul Shaffer and Larry Campbell were among the musicians who reported falling sick from COVID-19 upon returning home after performing at the concert.
"I woke up one night burning up," said Neville, who is recovering now with his partner and their six-year-old son, all of whom tested positive with the virus. "The screen on the thermometer turned red before the number came up. It was 103. I got a cold facecloth and laid in bed thinking, 'If I die now, I can't even have a funeral.' I was absolutely scared." Neville also was diagnosed with pneumonia, and experienced high fever, low oxygen, and difficulty breathing, so he was placed on oxygen tanks. After two frightening months under a blanket, Neville can now breathe on his own and is performing weekly live steams called Ivan Neville's Piano Sessions. "I truly believe that singing for an hour once a week or so has helped to get my lungs in better shape," he said, "which I really needed."
Broadway star Nick Cordero was hospitalized on March 31 due to the coronavirus and within two days was placed on a ventilator. According to his wife, fitness trainer Amanda Kloots, who posts Cordero's progress daily on social media, Cordero was put into a medically-induced coma to help his breathing; he has since regained consciousness. The actor/singer, who appeared in Broadway's Waitress, Bullets Over Broadway, and Rock of Ages, also went into septic shock, had two "mini strokes," and had a temporary pacemaker placed. Last month, doctors amputated Cordero's right leg after blood thinners used to help with clotting caused other problems, Kloots posted. She also wrote that his lungs have been "severely damaged" by the virus and resemble those of a 50-year smoker. She remains positive and continually solicits prayers for her husband, who remains hospitalized in Los Angeles, California.
Will Carroll, drummer in thrash metal band Death Angel, seemed to have caught COVID-19 while on a concert tour in Europe with Exodus and Testament. Several members of all the bands and their crew and families are recovering now. He felt sick on the flight back to the United States and stayed in bed for five days before being hospitalized. He entered the hospital with a temperature of 102.6 degrees. In the intensive care unit, doctors told their critically-ill patient that his best chance for survival was to be connected to a ventilator, which required him to be chemically paralyzed until doctors deemed him fit enough to come off of it. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Carroll’s heart failed during the first few days because the medication needed to keep him on a ventilator was so taxing on his body. On March 30, Carroll received a standing ovation by his hospital bed just for opening his eyes. "I was in a coma I was for 12 days," Carroll said in a statement. "I know I'm strong and resilient but not that strong. During my coma the doctors told me they had to pump my lungs of all fluid, which was the equivalent of five pounds of beer; they thought I was a goner for sure." Carroll now is recuperating at home.
 |
| Christopher Cross |
Pop singer P!nk called into The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 8 to speak publicly for the first time about being diagnosed with COVID-19 along with her three-year-old-son. "It was terrifying at one point," P!nk said of watching her son suffer with numerous symptoms. "Then I got sick." She described her symptoms as fatigue, chills, nausea and severe breathing problems that required the use of a nebulizer. P!nk's husband, Carey Hart, said later on The Jason Ellis Show, a satellite radio program, that the infant endured a fever in the 102-103 range for a "solid two, going on three weeks straight." The couple tried to bathing the child "four or five times a day" in attempt to "break his temperature." Carey also revealed that his wife "got it pretty bad." He added, "She has asthma. It totally attacked her lungs and her chest. She was having a hard time breathing." By April, P!nk and the child rebounded and tested negative with COVID-19. She then donated $1 million to relief efforts.
Marianne Faithfull, a singer/songwriter/actress best known for her 1964 hit "As Tears Go By," co-written by her then-boyfriend Mick Jagger, this week went home after three weeks of battling the coronavirus in a hospital in London, England. For a time, the singer reportedly struggled to speak. "I want to thank the doctors and nurses who were so good and basically saved my life! Thank you all again for all your care, love, thoughts, prayers and wishes. All my love, Marianne." Faithfull also posted a note to her fans: "I would like to say to all the people who cared for me and thought of me, who sent me love, people I know, people I have never met, thank you for helping me to get better."
Eric Goulden, better known in the music world as Wreckless Eric, was among the first generation of British punk rock with his 1977 song "Whole Wide World." Now living in upstate New York with his wife, singer/songwriter Amy Rigby, Eric wrote on May 20 in his blog "I had a heart attack and spent the weekend before my birthday in intensive care." Eric was already on the recovery side of COVID-19 when he was riding in a car that his wife was driving. "My head had turned into a hot, fuzzy mush, my rib cage was squeezing itself inwards, I had a fairly excruciating pain each side of my chest and my arms had turned into nonsense. It became imperative that we get to the hospital." Eric did not report if the doctors drew a clear connection between his COVID-19 and his heart attack.
Other pop and rock artists continue to recover from the coronavirus, including Sara Bareilles, John Taylor of Duran Duran, David Bryan of Bon Jovi, Oteil Burbridge of Dead & Company and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Gary Holt of Slayer and Exodus, Chucky Billy and Steve Di Giorgio of Testament, Natalie Horner of Cascada, Brandon Hoover of Crown the Empire, and Charlotte Lawrence. Opera singer Placido Domingo, gospel singer Sandi Patty, rhythm & blues artist Kenneth Edmonds (a.k.a. Babyface), hip hop artists Mwana FA, DJ Webstar, Scarface, Slim Thug, and YNW Melly, Broadway performers Laura Bell Bundy, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Aaron Tveit, and country singers Sturgill Simpson, Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel and Kalie Shorr tested positive for COVID-19. Idris Elba, the Golden Globe-winning actor who is also a musician, tested positive but was asymptomatic. Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien posted on social media that he had been home for days with flu-like symptoms and that he "most probably" had the coronavirus, but chose not to test so that the scarce tests would be reserved for the "vulnerable in our community."
In the past two months, numerous music artists have died from complications caused by COVID-19. The rockers included John Prine, Dave Greenfield of the Stranglers, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, Steve Farmer of the Amboy Dukes, Cristina, and New York club circuit regulars Alan Merrill, Sal "Cappi" Capozucca, and Pepo Gonlet. In other music genres, jazz artists Ellis Marsalis Jr., Wallace Roney, Mike Longo, Giuseppi Logan, Lee Konitz, Henry Grimes, and Bucky Pizzarelli, country artists Joe Diffie and Jan Howard, rappers Ty and Fred the Godson, New Orleans bounce music's DJ Black N Mild, African funk-fusion artist Manu Dibango, and Somali music icon Ahmed Ismail Hussein also contracted the illness and died.
All photographs by Everynight Charley Crespo.Click on the links below to view Everynight Charley Crespo's earlier COVID-19 reports:
No comments:
Post a Comment