Warren Zevon 1947-2003

Warren Zevon 1947-2003

Monday September 8, 2003
see www.latimes.com for complete obit

L.A. Times OBITUARIES
Warren Zevon, 56; Singer Had a Sense of Grim Theater
By Geoff Boucher, Times Staff Writer

Warren Zevon, a restless, sardonic bard who embodied the dark edge and excess
of the famed singer-songwriter scene in 1970s Southern California, died after a
battle with lung cancer. He was 56.

Zevon died Sunday afternoon at his home in Los Angeles, according to his
manager Irving Azoff, who said that the singer had been "very upbeat" in the
past week due to the success of his new album and the recent birth of twin
grandchildren. "He was in a good place."

[Jackson] Browne, Zevon's close friend, had championed his cause to music mogul
David Geffen and the result would be "Warren Zevon," a 1976 release from Asylum
Records that would make the singer a darling of the critics. Browne produced
the album, which included "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," a major hit a year later for
Linda Ronstadt. The album boasted an impressive crowd of contributors, among
them [Don] Henley, Glenn Frey, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Carl Wilson,
Bonnie Raitt and J.D. Souther. The assembly showed that Zevon was part of the
loose circle of Southern California musicians that forged a defining sound in
1970s rock. [The album includes his song I'll Sleep When I'm Dead].