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May he rest in peace!!

Influential singer/songwriter Alex Chilton dies at 59

Singer/songwriter Alex Chilton, who achieved early fame as a member of the Box Tops before helping to form the highly influential ’70s pop act Big Star, has died at the age of 59.
Paramedics took Chilton to a hospital in New Orleans Wednesday (3/17) after he complained of heart problems, longtime friend John Fry told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He was unconscious by the time he reached the emergency room, according to Fry, and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
“Alex passed away a couple of hours ago,” Big Star drummer Jody Stephens told the newspaper. “I donĂ­t have a lot of particulars, but they kind of suspect that it was a heart attack.” Chilton and Big Star were scheduled to perform at the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX, later this week.
Born in Memphis, Chilton struck early success with his first band, the Box Tops, reaching the top of the pop charts at age 16 with “The Letter,” a No. 1 hit in the US that was covered famously three years later by Joe Cocker on his “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” album.
Following the breakup of the Box Tops in 1969, Chilton began a solo career, teaching himself how to play guitar in the process and recording in Fry’s Memphis Ardent Studios with local musicians. After a short-lived move to New York City, Chilton returned to Memphis in 1971 and joined Big Star, previously a fledgling trio named Icewater featuring Stephens, singer/guitarist Chris Bell and bassist Andy Hummel.
The band released its debut album, “#1 Record,” in 1972 and then promptly disbanded in the wake of Bell’s increasing drug problems, only to reform a few months later as trio with Chilton, Stephens and Hummel. The band’s second album, “Radio City,” appeared in 1974.
A third and final album, “Third/Sister Lovers,” was recorded in 1974, but didn’t surface until 1978, only a few months before Bell died in a car accident, and long after Big Star had broken up a second time. All three Big Star albums are considered hugely influential in the indie-rock world, and helped inspire artists ranging from the members of R.E.M. to Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, who included a song entitled “Alex Chilton” on their 1987 album “Please to Meet Me.”
“Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes around,” reads a line in the song.
Chilton resumed his solo career later in the ’70s and maintained a steady recording career throughout the remainder of his life. His most recent album is 2000’s “Set.”
In the late ’90s, Chilton participated in a reunion with the original members of the Box Tops, and also began touring with a new version of Big Star, featuring Stephens and two members of The Posies: Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. The band recorded one studio album with this lineup, 2005’s “In Space,” which was released by Rykodisc.
“What would be ideal would be to make a ton of money and have nobody know about you,” Chilton told an Associated Press interviewer in 1987. “Fame has a lot of baggage to carry around. I wouldn’t want to be like Bruce Springsteen. I don’t need that much money and wouldn’t want to have 20 bodyguards following me.”
“If I did become really popular, the critics probably wouldn’t like me all that much,” he said. “They like to root for the underdog.”
Chilton is survived by his wife, Laura, and his son, Timothy.