John Prine, Revered Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 73 From Coronavirus

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John Prine, one of the most influential and revered folk and country songwriters of the last 50 years and an unassuming man who was still producing quality work after two bouts with cancer, has died at the age of 73 after being infected with the COVID-19 virus.

Prine died in a Nashville hospital on Monday, according to the New York Times. His wife and manager, Fiona Prine, tested positive on March 17 and the couple entered quarantine at that point.

John Prine’s initial test, Fiona said on social media that day, had been inconclusive, but the Prine family said on Sunday that John developed COVID-19 symptoms on Thursday, March 26, and was hospitalized that day and was intubated on Saturday and in critical condition on Sunday.

Prine was nominated for 10 Grammys over the course of his career, including Best New Artist in 1973. He won the Recording Academy’s Hall of Fame Award in 2015 and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year. He was also elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019 and became the first songwriter to perform at the Library of Congress in the fall of 2018.

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“Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism,” Bob Dylan told the Huffington Post in 2009. “Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs.”

But Dylan was far from his only notable fan. Prine became a favorite of other songwriters from the moment he began performing his songs in public during that city’s folk revival of the late 1960s. “I didn’t think anybody was ever going to hear the songs I was writing,” he once said of his days, fresh out of the Army, when he was a full-time mailman and part-time songwriter. “I was just messing around on my own, doing whatever I wanted to just see if it would work.”

But his songs attracted attention when he began performing at clubs in Chicago; one early fan was a hometown journalist, Roger Ebert, who was knocked out by a Prine show and wrote what Ebert said was Prine’s first review: “After a song or two, even the drunks in the audience begin to listen to his lyrics. And then he has you.”

Singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson became a fan even faster than the drunks in Ebert’s audience when Prine auditioned for him in an empty club after one of Kristofferson’s own shows in Chicago. The result was chronicled in the liner notes that Kristofferson wrote for Prine’s first album:

“[H]e started singing, and by the end of the first line we knew we were hearing something else. It must have been like stumbling onto Dylan when he first busted onto the Village scene … Twenty-four years old and he writes like he’s two hundred and twenty … We went away believers, reminded how goddamned good it feels to be turned on by a real creative imagination.”

In short order, Kristofferson helped Prine land a deal with Atlantic Records. His first album, released in 1971 and titled simply “John Prine,” was one of the most impressive debuts of the era. The album contained a string of classics that included “Angel From Montgomery,” a wrenching character study later memorably covered by Bonnie Raitt; “Hello in There,” the heartbreaking story of an elderly couple that would be recorded by Bette Midler, among others; the Vietnam-vet elegy “Sam Stone”; and the timely and sardonic “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore,” which punctured the easy patriotism of the Richard Nixon era. It introduced Prine as an uncommonly astute and compassionate observer of humanity, and also as a damn funny wordsmith.

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The album was not a big seller despite its enormous appeal to critics and other songwriters, and subsequent work did not change his commercial prospects. But through two dozen albums over nearly 40 years, Prine remained a hugely influential songwriter who was held in high esteem by his peers in folk and country music.

With a gruff, plain voice that drew inevitable comparisons to Bob Dylan (the early 1970s being a fertile period for “New Bob Dylan” comparisons), Prine was a modest, self-effacing performer who tossed off his brilliant songs casually. But he was also impossible to keep down: When none of his seven major-label albums made much of a dent on the sales charts, he and his manager formed their own record label, Oh Boy. The label would release his albums for the next 30 years, including two that won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, “The Missing Years” in 1992 and “Fair & Square” in 2006.

Over the years, Prine’s notable songs, which displayed his typical blend of wry humor and deep compassion, would come to include “Christmas in Prison,” “Dear Abby,” “Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard,” “Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone,” “Unwed Fathers,” “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” “It’s a Big Old Goofy World,” “In Spite of Ourselves,” “Summer’s End” and “Knockin’ on Your Screen Door.”

“Writing is about a blank piece of paper and leaving out what’s not supposed to be there,” Prine wrote to introduce his 1993 compilation “The John Prine Anthology: Great Days.” “There were many great days and many not so great days. I tried to turn them all into great songs.”

Prine also fought two battles with cancer — first in 1998, when he needed a year of speech therapy after surgery for squamous cell cancer removed part of his neck, and again in 2013 when lung cancer necessitated the removal of a lung.

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But he continued to tour and to make music — and over the years, he became a revered elder statesman in the Americana genre. The phrase elder statesman, though, might make him sound too much like an influence rather than an active participant. Some of his best work came late in his career — particular his 2018 album “The Tree of Forgiveness,” his first collection of new songs in 13 years, his highest-charting album ever and in many ways one of the most eloquent, most touching and funniest albums he’d made since “John Prine” 47 years earlier.

“The Tree of Forgiveness” ended with “When I Get to Heaven,” which served as something of a punchline to the album and now must serve the same purpose to a remarkable career and a remarkable man.

“When I get to heaven
I’m gonna shake God’s hand
Thank him for more blessings
Than one man can stand
Then I’m gonna get a guitar
And start a rock ‘n’ roll band
Check into a swell hotel
Ain’t the afterlife grand?”

Celebrities Who Have Died From the Coronavirus (Photos)

The world continues to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with more people contracting COVID-19 as the days pass. While many have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness. These are the names of some notable figures from Hollywood and the media that we have lost.
Terrence McNally, a four-time Tony Award-winning playwright, died on March 24 at the age of 81 of complications from the coronavirus. His works included "Master Class," "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," which later became a film with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino.
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Italian actress Lucia Bosè, who starred in such films as Michelangelo Antonioni’s "Story of a Love Affair" (1950) and Juan Antonio Bardem’s "Death of a Cyclist" (1955), died on March 23 of pneumonia after contracting COVID-19, according to the Guardian. She was 89.
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Chef Floyd Cardoz, winner of "Top Chef Masters" Season 3, died at the age of 59 of coronavirus complications on March 25.
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Mark Blum, who starred in "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Crocodile Dundee" and the Lifetime/Netflix series "You," died on March 26 of coronavirus complications. The veteran character actor and regular on New York City stages was 69.
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Maria Mercader, a CBS News veteran who worked for over 30 years as a reporter and talent director, died March 29 after testing positive for coronavirus. She was 54.
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Grammy-winning country music singer Joe Diffie died March 29 due to complications from the coronavirus. He announced his diagnosis just two days prior.
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American rock musician Alan Merrill, best known for co-writing and recording the original version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," died March 29 of complications from the coronavirus. He was 69.
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Popular Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, whose career spanned decades, died March 29 due to complications from the coronavirus. He was 70.
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Andrew Jack, a dialect coach who most recently was hired to work with Robert Pattinson on the new Batman movie, died March 31 of complications from coronavirus, TMZ reports. He also appeared in "Star Wars: Episode VII" as a member of Leia's resistance. Jack was 76.
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Adam Schlesinger, Fountains of Wayne singer and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" contribute, died at the age of 52 from coronavirus complications on April 1.
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Ellis Marsalis Jr., New Orleans jazz legend and father of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, died at 85 from COVID-19 complications, Branford said. "Ellis Marsalis was a legend. He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz... He was a teacher, a father, and an icon — and words aren’t sufficient to describe the art, the joy and the wonder he showed the world," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said also.
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Eddie Large, one-half of the comedy duo Little and Large, died April 2 after contracting coronavirus while hospitalized for heart failure. He was 78.
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Sergio Rossi, the Italian shoe designer, died at age 84 after being hospitalized with the virus, the brand confirmed in an Instagram post Friday.
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Patricia Bosworth, a stage and screen actress turned journalist who penned celebrity biographies, died April 2 from complications of the coronavirus. She was 86.
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Tom Dempsey, New Orleans Saints legendary kicker who was born without toes on his right foot and wore a flat shoe that he kicked with, died on April 4 from complications of COVID-19.
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John Prine, one of the most influential and revered folk and country songwriters of the last 50 years, died on April 6 at the age of 73 after being infected with the COVID-19 virus.
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Allen Garfield, who appeared in such films as “The Conversation,” “Nashville” and “Irreconcilable Differences,” died April 7 due to coronavirus complications, according to his sister. He was 80.
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Charles Gregory, an Emmy-nominated hairstylist who frequently collaborated with Tyler Perry on his films and TV shows, died of complications from COVID-19 on April 8.
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Hilary Heath, an actress and producer who starred opposite Vincent Price in horror movies in the late 1960s and early '70s, died in April of COVID-19 complications. She was 74.
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Rick May, a voice actor best known to gamers as the husky-throated Soldier in Team Fortress 2, died in Swedish nursing home on April 13 after contracting COVID-19. He was 79.
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Allen Daviau, a 5-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, died April 15 at age 77. He frequently collaborated with Steven Spielberg, and worked on such films as "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and "The Color Purple"
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Henry Grimes, celebrated jazz bassist, died on April 15 at age 84, according to WGBO. He worked with such legends as Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins.
"Knight Rider" and "Magnum P.I." producer Joel Rogosin died of coronavirus at the MPTF nursing home. He became the fifth person to die from COVID-19 complications at the facility.
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Rapper Fred the Godson died after contracting coronavirus, a representative confirmed to Complex. He wrote on social media of his diagnosis on April 6, but he did not recover.
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Art director Matteo De Cosmo, who worked on films including "Emergence," "The Punisher" and "Luke Cage," died of coronavirus complications. He was 52.
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Roy Horn, best known as half of the legendary Siegfried & Roy magic and animal act in Las Vegas, died on May 8 from complications due to coronavirus.
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Legendary Auburn football coach Pat Dye died on June 1 after combating COVID-19 and other medical conditions. He was 80.
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Chris Trousdale, a member of the boy band Dream Street, died of coronavirus complications on June 2. He was 34.
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Broadway star Nick Cordero passed away on July 5 due to complications from coronavirus. He was 41.
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Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza who sought the Republican nomination for president in 2012, died July 30 from complications of the coronavirus. He was 74. He was hospitalized in Atlanta just days after attending a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was seen without a mask.
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Trini Lopez, the singer of "If I Had a Hammer" and an actor in "The Dirty Dozen," died on Aug. 11 from COVID-19. He was 83.
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Tom Seaver, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, died on Aug. 31 in his sleep of complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19.
Harold Budd, ambient musician and composer for several Hollywood films, died from complications of the coronavirus, his manager said Dec. 8. The Brian Eno and Cocteau Twins collaborator was 84 years old.
Carol Sutton, actress who has starred on HBO’s “Lovecraft County” and OWN’s “Queen Sugar" and appeared in such films as "Monster's Ball," "Ray" and "The Help," died of complications of COVID-19 on Dec. 10. She was 76.
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Charley Pride, one of the first Black performers to break through in the country music scene, died of complications from COVID-19 on Dec. 12, just weeks after his final performance at the CMA Awards show back in November. He was 86.
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Grammy-winning country singer K.T. Oslin, died Dec. 21. Although her cause of death was not immediately known, a friend told the Associated Press that she had been diagnosed with COVID-19. She was 78.
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Linda Torres, known as Angela Raiola's friend on VH1's reality series "Big Ang" and "Mob Wives," died of COVID-19 on April 1, 2021, following breast cancer surgery. She was 67.
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Alvin Ing, star of Broadway's "Flower Drum Song" and "Pacific Overture" died July 31, 2021 after battling COVID-19 for two weeks. The fierce advocate for the AAPI community was 89.
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Sonny Chiba, a martial arts master and a Japanese actor who played legendary sword maker Hattori Hanzo in “Kill Bill,” has died from pneumonia caused by COVID-19. He was 82.
Phil Valentine, Right-wing radio host, died after more than a month-long battle with COVID. He was 61 years old.
Colin Powell, a former top military officer who rose to become the first Black Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, died on October 18, 2021 at age 84 of complications from COVID.
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Colin Powell is the latest notable person to die from complications of the illness

The world continues to be upended by the coronavirus pandemic, with more people contracting COVID-19 as the days pass. While many have recovered, some have died from complications of the illness. These are the names of some notable figures from Hollywood and the media that we have lost.

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