Influential Big Star member Alex Chilton dies
By CHRIS TALBOTT, AP
The Memphis, Tenn., native died at a hospital after experiencing what appeared to be heart problems, said his longtime friend John Fry. Chilton had his first taste of fame with the Box Tops, the band he and his friends started in Memphis. He was 16 but sounded much older when "The Letter," which opens with the lines "Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane. Ain't got time to take a fast train ..." hit the top of the charts in 1967. Their other hits were "Soul Deep" and "Cry Like a Baby."It was Chilton's work with a second Memphis band, Big Star, in the early 1970s that cemented his legacy as a pioneering voice for a generation of kids looking for something real in the glossy world of pop music. The band was never a commercial success, but R.E.M. counted Chilton as an influence, the Replacements name-checked him with their 1987 song "Alex Chilton," and his band still provides a template for musicians today. "In my opinion, Alex was the most talented triple threat musician out of Memphis — and that's saying a ton," Paul Westerberg, the former Replacements frontman, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "His versatility at soulful singing, pop rock songwriting, master of the folk idiom, and his delving into the avant garde, goes without equal. He was also a hell of a guitar player and a great guy."
Chilton's influence was widely felt in the 1980s and 1990s, when a generation of listeners looked to songs like "Thirteen," "I'm in Love With a Girl" and "In the Street" (widely known as the theme song for "That '70s Show") because they perfectly captured teen angst and relayed sometimes-dark emotions that were universal. - (complete article)
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