Brazilian football legend Pelé dies at age 82

News  |  Football

Pele, who had a tumour removed from his colon last year, passed away in a Sao Paolo hospital, his agent said.

Brazilian football legend Pele poses with the FIFA World Cup trophy on March 9, 2014 in Paris. Franck Fife | AFP | Getty Images

Pelé, the legendary Brazilian football player who rose from barefoot poverty to become one of the greatest and best-known athletes in modern history, has died at the age of 82.

Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital, where Pelé was undergoing treatment, said he died at 3:27pm (18:27 GMT) on Thursday “due to multiple organ failures resulting from the progression of colon cancer associated with his previous medical condition.”

The death of the only man to win the World Cup three times as a player was confirmed on his Instagram account.

“Inspiration and love marked the journey of King Pelé, who peacefully passed away today,” the post read.

Brazil's Pelé wears his national team's jersey in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 25, 1962. (AP photo, File)

Pelé, whose real name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, was remembered for his wide-ranging accomplishments, both on and off the football field.

The memorial post on Pelé’s social media page highlighted the star’s international appeal, referencing an incident during the Nigerian civil war when opposing factions agreed to a ceasefire in order to enjoy a match Pelé played in the country.

“On his journey, Edson enchanted the world with his genius in sport, stopped a war, carried out social works all over the world and spread what he most believed to be the cure for all our problems: love. His message today becomes a legacy for future generations,” it read.

A public funeral is set to be held outside Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the Vila Belmiro Stadium, where he played for many years with the Santos football club. The casket is set to pass in front of the house of his 100-year-old mother, Celeste Arantes, before being placed in the center of the field.

The public will be able to pay their respects there on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Tributes poured in from around the world for the late football legend, including one from his daughter, documentary filmmaker Kely Nascimento. She posted a photograph to her Instagram showing family members holding his hand as he rested in a hospital bed.

Brazilian soccer star Pelé waves to admirers, as he and his bride Rosemeri ride in a traditional horse-drawn carriage as they tour Salzburg, Austria, Feb. 25, 1966 (AP Photo/Klaus Frings, File)

“Everything we are is thanks to you,” Nascimento wrote. “We love you infinitely. Rest in peace.”

Medical reports indicated that Pelé passed away due to multiple organ failure, as a result of his battle with colon cancer. He had been hospitalised with multiple ailments, including a respiratory infection, and was also suffering from heart and kidney problems.

Pelé had a tumour removed from his colon in September 2021. He was admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo on November 29.

Doctors there said his colon cancer was showing “progression” and he needed “more extensive care to treat kidney and heart failure”.

Pelé, seen by many as the most talented footballer to ever play the game, led Brazil to a trio of World Cup titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970. He remains Brazil’s leading goal scorer, with 77 goals in 92 games.

Following Argentina’s World Cup win on December 18 in Qatar, Pelé posted a picture on social media of their team lifting the trophy and hailed performances from captain Lionel Messi, France’s rising star Kylian Mbappe and surprise semifinalists Morocco.

“Today, football continues to tell its story, as always, in an enthralling way,” he said. “What a gift it was to watch this spectacle of the future of our sport.”

Brazil players and fans in Qatar also unfurled banners on and off the pitch with an image of the football great and wishes for his recovery.

First published at Aljazeer, December 29, 2022

Sesame Street actor Bob McGrath, who played Bob Johnson, dies aged 90

Bob McGrath (right), who played Bob Johnson on Sesame Street, was involved in the children's
show for five decades. (AP Photo: Chris Pizzello)

McGrath's family shared on Facebook that he died peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones, on December 4.

He was a founding cast member on Sesame Street when the show premiered in 1969, in his role as a friendly neighbour.

His final appearance on the show was in 2017, marking an almost five-decade-long stint as part of the much-loved children's show.

Sesame Workshop — the non-profit organisation behind the TV show — paid tribute to McGrath on Twitter.

"Bob embodied the melodies of Sesame Street like no one else, and his performances brought joy and wonder to generations of children around the world … whether teaching them the ABCs, the people in their neighbourhood, or the simple joy of feeling music in their hearts," the organisation said.

"A revered performer worldwide, Bob's rich tenor filled airwaves and concert halls from Las Vegas to Saskatchewan to Tokyo many times over.

McGrath grew up in Illinois and studied music at the University of Michigan and Manhattan School of Music.

He also was a singer in the 60s series Sing Along With Mitch and launched a successful singing career overseas, in Japan.

Sesame Street actor Alan Muraoka paid tribute to McGrath as his role model, mentor and friend.

"His kindness and wicked sense of humour were such a joy, and I loved him so much," he said on Facebook.

"Rest well my friend. You did good”.

First published a ABC News December 5, 2022

Canberra pianist Ronan Apcar at National Young Virtuoso Award's final

by Helen Musa

CANBERRA pianist Ronan Apcar, winner of the ACT Young Virtuoso Award held at ArtSound in September, has taken out second place at the competition’s National Young Virtuoso Award final, behind Victorian pianist Anna Gao. Apcar, one of our brightest and best, also won a Canberra Critics Circle Award recently and is now off to bigger things at the Australian National Academy of Music.

Winners…virtuoso pianists Anna Gao and Ronan Apcar.

First published at citynews.com.au, December 6, 2022

Documentary review: ‘Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind,’ a heartfelt ode to a Canadian icon

By KEVIN CRUST |PLANNING EDITOR 

JULY 29, 2020 1:32 PM PT

FOR our neighbours to the north, the documentary “Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind” reaffirms the Canadian singer-songwriter’s position as a national treasure. U.S. audiences will be reminded of the power of an artist who was once a radio staple and regularly sold out shows at the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek Theatre and Universal Amphitheatre whenever he came to L.A.

Gordon Lightfoot. Photo: Erin Leydon, torontolife.com

Written and directed by Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni, the film is smartly structured around notable songs in the Gordon Lightfoot catalog, charting his journey from small-town, post-World War II Ontario to the coffee houses of 1960s Toronto and his chart-topping run of hits in the 1970s, as the gifted musician found success across the folk, country, rock and pop realms.

Known for his distinctive baritone and emotion-rich songs about heartbreak and betrayal (“If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown”), isolation (“Early Morning Rain,” “Song for a Winter’s Night”) and trains and ships (“Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’, Lightfoot connected to Canada’s roots in a way that holds new analogs.

Canadian musicians, including Ronnie Hawkins, Ian and Sylvia Tyson (the former folk duo, now divorced), Anne Murray, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush, Tom Cochrane and Sarah McLachlan, attest to that connection in the documentary, along with observations from Americans Steve Earle, Greg Graffin of Bad Religion and (somewhat inexplicably) Alec Baldwin. Bandmates and Lightfoot’s contemporary, Murray McLauchlan, offer insights into his creative process, but it is the man himself who reveals the most about his work ethic and the price he paid for that devotion.

The five-time Grammy nominee and 2012 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, who studied and learned to write music at an early age, earned perhaps his strongest endorsement from the peers who have covered his songs. Attracted by the poetic lyrics and strong craftsmanship, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Peter, Paul and Mary are among the many who have recorded Lightfoot compositions.

The thrice-married Lightfoot is an affable, introspective and frank subject, acknowledging mistakes made along the way in both art and love, and the intertwined nature of the two pursuits. In the film’s opening scene, after watching a vintage television performance of the 1965 confessional “For Lovin’ Me,” he declares, “I hate that [expletive] song,” dismayed not by the quality of his writing but the revealing content about his first marriage.

Kehoe and Tosoni weave together a bounty of archival footage and photographs to visually capture Lighfoot’s performances across his almost six-decade career. Any detail lost in the documentary’s nontraditional narrative is more than made up for by the powerful emotions it churns up, particularly during a 2018 concert at Toronto’s venerable Massey Hall just before it closed for renovations (nicely established with ghostly imagery during a striking opening titles sequence).

“Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind” is a thoroughly engaging retrospective of a hard-working, hard-living performer who survived to tell the tale. Overcoming alcoholism in his 40s and a near-death experience, Lightfoot learned to embrace life, accept regret and at age 81, is ready to get back out on the road.

Kevin Crust 

Now in his second tour with the Los Angeles Times, totalling more than 25 years, Kevin Crust is the planning editor for Entertainment and Arts. He previously served as deputy film editor and staff writer. A lifelong Southern Californian and a graduate of Mount St. Mary’s, he spends way too much time analysing baseball statistics.

Article first published in The Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2020

Carly Simon Loses Both Sisters to Cancer: Broadway Composer Lucy Simon And Opera Singer Joanna Simon Die One Day Apart

By EJ Panaligan

From left: Lucy, Joanna and Carly Simon. Photo: Disney General Entertainment Con

Musician Carly Simon has lost both of her sisters, Lucy and Joanna, to cancer one day apart from each other. Lucy, known throughout her life and career as a composer on Broadway, died of metastatic breast cancer at the age of 82 on Thursday in her Piermont, N.Y. home. Joanna, the oldest of the sisters who was known as an opera singer, died of thyroid cancer at 85 on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.

During Lucy Simon’s Broadway career, she was nominated for a Tony award in Original Score for her work on the long-running musical “The Secret Garden.” Before she became a composer, she and Carly Simon started out as a folk act in Provincetown, Mass. billed as the Simon Sisters, and their recording of “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. in 1981, Lucy Simon won a Grammy with her husband David Levine in Best Recording for Children for “In Harmony,” winning the award again in 1983 for the album’s sequel.

More recently, Lucy Simon had contributed work to the musical “On Cedar Street,” based on the 2015 book “Our Souls at Night” with Victoria Clark directing, but her cancer battle forced her to step away from the project. She is survived by her husband David, her daughter Julie and former husband Christopher Knight, her sister Carly, grandchildren Sophie, Ben, Charlie and Evie.

Joanna Simon started performed regularly on opera and concert stages in 1962, when she made her debut at the New York City Opera as Mozart’s Cherubino. In 1972, she performed the titular role in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s “Black Widow” at the Seattle Opera, while in 1975 she performed the role of Pelagia in the world premiere of Robert Starer’s “The Last Lover” at the Caramoor Music Festival. Her singing career ran through until 1986, participating in numerous recordings along the way with orchestras, including performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Joanna Simon sings Saint-Saëns' Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice) from his opera Samson and Delilah, on the Ed Sullivan Show, March 28, 1971. This was the last episode hosted by Ed Sullivan and Simon was his final guest. YouTube, click here!

Lucy and Joanna Simon’s deaths follow the death of brother Peter, the youngest of the four siblings who was a photographer. He died of cardiac arrest at the age of 71 in 2018 after a bout with cancer.

First published at Variety, October 21, 2022

Joanna Simon, Opera Singer from Famously Musical Family, Dies at 85

A renowned mezzo-soprano, she grew up alongside her younger sisters, Carly and Lucy, both of whom became singer-songwriters.

Joanna Simon performing at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1999. She was one of the best-known American opera 

singers to emerge in the 1960s. Credit...Photo: Steve J. Sherman

by Clay Risen

Joanna Simon, a smoky-voiced mezzo-soprano who grew up in a family loaded with musical talent, including her younger sisters Carly and Lucy, before forging an acclaimed career as an opera and concert singer, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 85.

Mary Ascheim, a first cousin of Ms. Simon’s, said the cause was thyroid cancer. Ms. Simon died in a hospital a day before Lucy Simon’s death at 82 at her home in Piermont, N.Y.

Ms. Simon was one of the best-known American opera singers to emerge in the 1960s, a time when arts funding was flush, audiences were full and gleaming new music palaces were opening, chief among them the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York.

Her easy grace and glamorous good looks made her a popular guest on television talk shows. She sang and sat for interviews on “The Tonight Show” and “The Dick Cavett Show,” and she was a featured performer on the last original telecast of “The Ed Sullivan Show” before it went off the air in 1971.

Joanna Simon as the cover girl for Stereo Review, October 1971.
Simon was featured in an article by journalist William Livingstone.

In her embrace of popular culture, Ms. Simon was not too far removed from her singer-songwriter sisters. Carly Simon achieved lasting fame in the early 1970s with pop hits like “Anticipation” and “You’re So Vain.” Lucy Simon sang with Carly early on — they were billed as the Simon Sisters — and later found success as a composer. She received a Tony nomination in 1991 for best original score, for the musical “The Secret Garden.”

She continued her opera training in Vienna, then returned to New York to start her career.

The sisters occasionally crossed paths. Joanna sang backup on Carly’s album “No Secrets” (1972) and Lucy’s album “Lucy Simon” (1975), and Carly played guitar offstage during Joanna’s performance on “The Mike Douglas Show” in 1971. Carly wrote her own opera, “Romulus Hunt,” released as an album in 1993; it featured a character named Joanna, a mezzo-soprano.

The sisters grew up singing and playing music together and remained close as adults, avoiding the petty jealousies that often ensnare siblings engaged in similar careers.

“When Lucy was 16, I envied her hourglass figure,” Joanna Simon told The Toronto Star in 1985. “When Carly first became successful, I envied her first $200,000 check. But those feelings lasted for 20 minutes, and I didn’t dwell on them. I knew it was a given in the operatic world that very few achieved that kind of success. I never expected it, so I wasn’t disappointed.”

Ms. Simon in “Bomarzo” with New York City Opera in 1967, the year the opera, by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, had its debut. She was the first to sing the role of Pantasilea, a courtesan in 16th-century Italy, in that opera. Credit...New York City Opera

Joanna Elizabeth Simon was born on Oct. 20, 1936, in Manhattan, the oldest child of Richard L. Simon, a publisher and founder of Simon & Schuster, and Andrea (Heinemann) Simon, a singer and homemaker. The family lived in Manhattan and, later, the Fieldston neighborhood of the Bronx.

The Simon children took to music early; Joanna could play piano at 6 years old. In high school she thought she would become an actress, though by college, at Sarah Lawrence (which Carly also later attended), she had switched to musical comedy. Then a voice coach encouraged her to consider opera.

Upon graduating in 1958 with a degree in literature, she continued her opera training in Vienna, then returned to New York to start her career.

Ms. Simon, who lived in Manhattan, married Gerald Walker, a novelist and editor at The New York Times Magazine, in 1976. He died in 2004. She dated Walter Cronkite until his death in 2009.

In addition to her sister Carly, she is survived by her stepson, David Walker, and a step-grandson. Her brother, Peter, a photojournalist, died in 2018.

Ms. Simon continued to sing professionally through the early 1980s, then gradually pulled back before retiring in 1986 to join “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” on PBS as a cultural correspondent. She won an Emmy Award in 1991 for a documentary on creativity and manic depression.

Funding for arts programming at “MacNeil/Lehrer” eventually dried up, and her position was cut. Casting about for a new career, she became a real-estate broker. Within six months, she told The Times in 1997, she had sold $6 million in property. She later became a vice president of her company, Fox Residential Group.

Joanna Simon arrives for the Vanity Fair 2007 Tribeca Film Festival party at the State Supreme Courthouse on April 24, 2007 in New York City. Evan Agostini/Getty Images For Tribeca Film Festival

While her musical background wasn’t the key to her newfound success, she said it sometimes came in handy.

“When I take customers into potential apartments, I go into the next apartment and vocalize,” she said. “If they can hear me, it’s no deal.”

Clay Risen is an obituaries reporter for The Times. Previously, he was a senior editor on the Politics desk and a deputy op-ed editor on the Opinion desk. He is the author, most recently, of “Bourbon: The Story of Kentucky Whiskey.”

First published at The New York Times, October 21, 2022

Vaughan Williams: Complicated, but Not Quite Conservative

The English composer deserves a fresh assessment as the world does (and doesn’t) observe the 150th anniversary of his birth.

One critic wrote in the 1960s that Ralph Vaughan Williams “may turn out to be the most important symphonist of the century,” while also complaining about how seldom his works were performed.Credit...Hulton-Deutsch Collection, via Getty Images

by David Allen

Oct. 12, 2022

Ralph Vaughan Williams understood what his fate was likely to be.

“Every composer cannot expect to have a worldwide message, but he may reasonably expect to have a special message for his own people,” Vaughan Williams, an Englishman, said in a series of lectures on folk music and nationalism at Bryn Mawr College in 1932. “Many young composers,” he went on, “make the mistake of imagining they can be universal without at first having been local.”

There was a time when it seemed plausible that Vaughan Williams might become, if not exactly a universal composer, then at least something more than the countrymen he had described as “unappreciated at home and unknown abroad” in the 1912 essay “Who Wants the English Composer?”

Several of Vaughan Williams’s nine symphonies were staples in the United States in his lifetime, and from the depths of the Blitz around 1940 to the front-page news of his death in 1958, he was among the 20th-century composers that American orchestras played most. The New York Times critic Olin Downes even placed him near the summit of contemporary composition in 1954, though he feared that his “kinship to modern society” meant that “the music of the Englishman will age sooner than that of Sibelius with the passing of the period that bore it.”

So it seemed. When Harold Schonberg, Downes’s successor, argued in The Times in 1964 that “Vaughan Williams may turn out to be the most important symphonist of the century,” he did so while complaining that his scores were no longer performed, and alongside a report about how busy Benjamin Britten had become.

If Vaughan Williams’s music has since recovered in Britain after a period when it was the butt of modernist jokes — “The Lark Ascending” and “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” are routinely elected the favourite works of radio listeners there — the same has hardly been true elsewhere, even in this, the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Perhaps Aaron Copland’s judgment juin 1931, that Vaughan Williams was “the kind of local composer who stands for something great in the musical development of his own country but whose actual musical contribution cannot bear exportation,” was in the end right.

On this page of Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony, he referred to
“Pilgrim’s Progress” with the inscription “Upon this place stood a cross,
and a little below a sepulchre.”Credit...via Royal College of Music

IT IS AT THIS POINT in an essay on an arguably overlooked composer that a critic will often suggest that the judgment of history is wrong, explaining that new research shows that the subject, if renowned as a conservative, was in fact a progressive, deserving of a fresh assessment.

First published at The New York Times, October 12, 2022