RIP Gary Moore?

[OldManC]

I'm glad you posted that because I was really hoping that report was wrong. Plus he wasn't 28.

[Basvarken]

The "source" of that was the Sun...

[uwe]

Heart attack in your sleep when no one is around to help you is kind of sneaky too. It's another rock star death really, Robert Palmer, the Toto drummer, JAE ... the list is endless. Always makes me wonder whether that is the price paid for cocaine abuse decades before, but of course non-cocaine users die of heart attacks too.

[gweimer]

Sleep apnea can also kill you in the night.  And I'm sure there's not much information on whether any of those people had this condition.

[lowend1]

Sleep apnea can also kill you in the night.  And I'm sure there's not much information on whether any of those people had this condition.

I'm not a doctor, but I have "played doctor".
Heart attacks are usually pretty obvious in an autopsy. I find it odd, though that if Moore did die purely of a heart attack, they didn't just come out and say that. The fact that they are waiting for toxicology results gives one pause. "Natural Causes" really only means that there was no foul play - no murder or suicide. There is certainly an underlying cause or condition at 58 years old.
The partying ultimately catches up to most people (unless you're Keith Richards or Lemmy). The three that Uwe mentioned were certainly heart attacks - Entwistle and Porcaro's deaths were apparently triggered by cocaine use - not sure about Palmer.  

[Basvarken]

At the time the word was he had some sort of allergic reaction to a pesticide he was working with in the garden.

Someone had been watching Spinal Tap maybe?

[lowend1]

Perhaps the Irish should not visit Spain...
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/people/boyzone-stars-completely-devastated-by-death-of-stephen-gately-20091012-gsl9.html

[uwe]

Robert Palmer was a cocaine head in the late seventies and eighties. Like lots of people (e.g. Bowie in his pre-Berlin phase, Parfitt and Rossi from Status Quo, Parfitt now has multiple bypasses for it). Because it was perceived as a "clean" drug, people thought they would get away with everything and that the most serious repercussion was psychological addiction. Not so. While contaminated heroin has a better chance of killing you than contaminated cocaine, it is almost unheard of that a former heroin junkie dies, say, 15 years after his last heroin hit without having taken the drug again. Your body seems to recover from it once you are and stay clean. In contrast, with cocaine, your heart muscle seems to have a very long memory. It always makes me wonder how ex-cocaine abusers must feel when they read of another heart attack death of someone known to have (ab)used the stuff.

[lowend1]

There is enough things that can kill you, so there is no reason to tempt fate. I'm glad I can say that I have never touched cocaine... or been drunk, or smoked anything other than to try it. Seriously. I can also say that I had vocal cord cancer - something that is typically associated with heavy use of the above. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in life.

[Freuds_Cat]

Heart attack in your sleep when no one is around to help you is kind of sneaky too. It's another rock star death really, Robert Palmer, the Toto drummer, JAE ... the list is endless. Always makes me wonder whether that is the price paid for cocaine abuse decades before, but of course non-cocaine users die of heart attacks too.

Add Billy Thorpe to that list. Another former self admitted Cocaine abuser who died too young of a heart attack even though very fit and healthy at the time.

[Dave W]

We may not know what all these people died from, but we know they didn't die of old age.

I remember an interview with Carol Kaye in one of the alternative bass magazines, probably in the late 90s. She talked about how the L.A. studios were very professional in the 60s, then drugs started creeping by the early 70s, then a noticeable number of those users wound up dying of heart attacks before age 60.

[the mojo hobo]

I can also say that I had vocal cord cancer

So how did that turn out? I too had cancer on my left vocal cord. Seven weeks of radiation therapy got rid of it and most of my voice too. Now, three years later I'm cancer free but my left vocal cord is paralyzed. I can talk OK but can't yell and can't sing (although there are those that will say I couldn't sing before). I did smoke, I still drink, but they say all respiratory cancers in Vietnam veterans are caused by exposure to Agent Orange, so I'm going with that.

[lowend1]

So how did that turn out? I too had cancer on my left vocal cord. Seven weeks of radiation therapy got rid of it and most of my voice too. Now, three years later I'm cancer free but my left vocal cord is paralyzed. I can talk OK but can't yell and can't sing (although there are those that will say I couldn't sing before). I did smoke, I still drink, but they say all respiratory cancers in Vietnam veterans are caused by exposure to Agent Orange, so I'm going with that.

Another member of the club! An increasing number of vocal cord cancers are caused by reflux, as well as the HPV virus - which is why they have also tied it to oral sex (I asked the doc - "from giving or receiving?"). It is showing up more and more in younger people (I was 44 at the time).
6+ years out, I'm cancer-free. Last month I had scar tissue removed from the area above the cords - a "late effect" of the radiation treatments - that had blocked 50% of my airway. It is considered "reconstructive" surgery because if they just cut the scar tissue out, the probability is that it will recur. So... now I can breathe again, which is always nice. There are several other issues related to the treatments that I will probably always have to wrestle with, but you know how that is already. I don't have a paralyzed cord, but my voice is pretty much in the same state as yours.

[uwe]

Isn't that what Rod Stewart had too? Glad you guys are over it.

"So... now I can breathe again, which is always nice."

Ouch. 

[lowend1]

Isn't that what Rod Stewart had too? Glad you guys are over it.

"So... now I can breathe again, which is always nice."

Ouch. 

Rod Stewart had thyroid cancer. Same general area. Levon Helm had vocal cord cancer. Stewart only had surgery, while Helm underwent daily radiation treatments, like Mojo and I did, in addition to the operation. Both regained their singing voices to some degree - Helm's took seven years to rebuild. If you have to get it there, it's best to have it on the vocal cords themselves because there is no lymphatic system in the immediate area - which sorta minimizes the risk of spread to other parts of the body. Unfortunately, you don't get to choose in these matters.