Gospelwatt

So sad, saw him 18m ago and he signed his last album for me, heart goes out to Fiona his wife, their wedding anniversary last week. He beat cancer twice, now this. I had tickets to see him in London when all this was over, RIP, a legend and a beautiful soul.

Prine twice suffered from cancer. In 1996, he had part of his neck removed due to squamous cell carcinoma, and required speech therapy to be able to perform again. In 2013, he had lung cancer, and recovered following surgery.

Prine was hospitalized on 26 March, and was in intensive care for 13 days before dying on Tuesday, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee. Prine’s family confirmed his death to several US media outlets including The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Variety.

Prine won two Grammy awards from 11 nominations, and was also given a lifetime achievement award at the 2020 ceremony. In 2016 he recorded a duets album For Better, or Worse with singers including Alison Krauss, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, and became his biggest chart hit then to date, reaching No 30 in the US charts. He outdid its success in 2018 with The Tree of Forgiveness, which reached No 5.

Fans have since been pouring their condolence:

I spent an hour driving around tonight, listening & singing along to my favorite John Prine songs. He was an amazing lyricist & artist. I can’t believe he’s gone & that #COVID19 took him today. Sang a verse in his honor. Rest in glory, JohnPrine.

So sorry to hear of John’s passing. Grew up listening to his music, and enjoyed seeing him live here in Ireland. Condolences to his family.

Damn that is sad news my friend. I shall pick up my Guitar and play his songs, and spill a little wine in his memory. RIP