• Mikie
    6.7k
    Thought about this today while listening to Harry Belafonte, who only recently (!) died. Just a random list of influential people who are still around — and feel like they’ve been around forever, in the sense that their careers have spanned my entire life and most of my parents’ lives.

    If you were in a coma starting in 1967, and woke up today 56 years later, much of the following list would make you feel right at home.

    • Tony Bennett
    • John Kander
    • Johnny Mathis
    • Bobby Vinton
    • Dion
    • Julie Andrews
    • Bob Dylan
    • Frankie Valli
    • Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr
    • Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
    • Van Morrison
    • Brian Wilson & Mike Love & Al Jardine
    • Roger Waters & Dave Gilmore
    • Jimmy Page & Robert Plant
    • Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel
    • Willie Nelson
    • John Fogarty
    • Neil Young
    • Cat Stevens
    • Bob Newhart
    • Dick van Dyke
    • Bill Cosby
    • Doc Severinsen
    • Woody Allen
    • Mel Brooks
    • Jane Fonda
    • Carol Burnett
    • Carlos Santana
    • Noam Chomsky
    • Henry Kissinger
    • Pat Buchanan
    • Jimmy Carter
    • Bob Barker
    • Irving Yalom
    • Jimmy Buffett
    • John Williams
    • Johnny Gilbert
    • Dick Cavett
    • William Shatner
    • Jane Goodall
    • Buzz Aldrin
    • Gloria Steinem
    • Dolores Huerta
    • Ralph Nader
    • Phil Donohue
    • Quincy Jones
    • Sophia Lauren
    • Rex Reed
    • Robert Wagner
    • Richard Dawkins
    • William Daniels
    • Alfonso Arau
    • Elaine May
    • Clint Eastwood
    • Gene Hackman
    • James Earl Jones
    • David Attenborough
    • Warren Beatty
    • Dr. Ruth
    • Isabel Perón
    • Ethel Kennedy
    • Don King

      Many more I’ve missed, so feel free to add. But these people started so young and got so famous so quickly that it’s as if they’ve been in the background since the 1880s.

      Pat Sajak retiring from Wheel of Fortune is another catalyst. Gordon Lightfoot and Tina Turner dying also got me thinking.

      [Written in June 2023 originally]
  • 180 Proof
    15.4k
    [ ... ] Dion
    Julie Andrews
    Bob Dylan
    Frankie Valli
    Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr
    Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
    Van Morrison [ ... ]
    Mikie
    The only name of the still-living that surprises me on this list is Keith Richards. :death: :flower:
  • Mikie
    6.7k


    True— but you know what really surprised me? Frankie Valli. He was big before Dylan and the Beatles!
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    Well, cross Bennett off the list…
    :confused:
  • Noble Dust
    7.9k
    I know Dick Van Dyke's grandson. Good dude.

    If the list were in order, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards would be at the top...
  • jgill
    3.9k
    But these people started so young and got so famous so quickly that it’s as if they’ve been in the background since the 1880s.Mikie

    ?
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    I know Dick Van Dyke's grandson. Good dude.Noble Dust

    That’s cool!
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    Lost this week.

    Jane Birkin - Je t'aime.

    https://youtu.be/JIQiGN-vO-g

    They sneaked this into the 9th Grade end of year dance, Oh the memories of being 15!
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    Carlos Santana should be on the list maybe, he is close to 80.

    It would be a shame to lose him, great music over so many decades.
  • Mikie
    6.7k


    A little “young” for the above list, but I’ve added anyway because it FEELS like he’s been around since the Big Bang.
  • universeness
    6.3k
    Henry Kissinger !!! 100 years old.
    I was also surprised to hear Tommy Steele was still alive!
    th?id=OIP.15ztWSW0vaDgg0hIcMaGpAHaJQ&w=141&h=165&c=8&rs=1&qlt=90&o=6&dpr=1.3&pid=3.1&rm=2
    th?id=OIP.1QDA4Vx-ZZhd-8i_53YLBAHaFG&w=141&h=165&c=8&rs=1&qlt=90&o=6&dpr=1.3&pid=3.1&rm=2
  • Mikie
    6.7k


    Kissinger…yeah. Don’t know if it’s fantastic, but certainly bizarre.
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    A little “young” for the above list, but I’ve added anyway because it FEELS like he’s been around since the Big Bang.Mikie

    Hey, he is older than Cat Stevens and only a couple of years younger that Niel Young.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    Hey, he is older than Cat Stevens and only a couple of years younger that Niel Young.Sir2u

    Touche.
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    And he can make that guitar sing like no other. :rofl:

    If you watch his videos, quite a few of the band's members get a moment of solo playing, something a lot of the great artists don't do. Even with guests, he takes backseat quite often.

    https://youtu.be/6Whgn_iE5uc

    One of my favorites.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    Another one bites the dust. Bob Barker, at 99.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    Henry Kissinger, 100.

    Charles Munger, 99.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    How is Diana Ross only 79?
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    How is Diana Ross only 79?Mikie

    Because there are still a few days until she is 80, on March 26.
  • Hanover
    12.9k
    I like this thread. It presents a good death watch so we can be on the look out and not be surprised when someone drops off.

    My fear though is that one day I'll log on and find my name crossed off from the living. I think I'll feel somewhat slighted, having been alive all this time and then only learning second hand by reading about it on a website. I just feel like something like that deserves an in person conversation, or at least a phone call.
  • Tom Storm
    9.1k
    Paul Hogan is 84. I remember when he was just a pedestrian TV comedian, before he sold out with that pedestrian mega hit, Crocodile Dundee.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    I like this thread. It presents a good death watch so we can be on the look out and not be surprised when someone drops off.Hanover

    Every time I see or hear a name, or come across some legend on Wikipedia that only has a “born” date, I add it to the list. Robert Wagner? I couldn’t believe that he was still alive.

    Some people seemed old even when I was a kid, like the same age they are now. Which is strange, because from a certain perspective they haven’t aged in 40 years.
  • ssu
    8.6k
    If you were in a coma starting in 1967, and woke up today 56 years later, much of the following list would make you feel right at home.Mikie
    And just how many persons from 1967 would know many from that list? Somebody not from Georgia surely will have difficulties to know the Georgia State Senate member Jimmy Carter, who had then only lost a Georgia gubernatorial election. You also have to be quite a Space fan to know Buz Aldrin in 1967, even if he then had I guess two space missions on his record (and the longest space walk). Then it was the Mercury Astronauts that were famous. Not the Gemini and the Apollo missions were just going on...

    Makes me think how many will be around when it is 2080. Yep, there surely will be those that are now for example 10-29 years and we have no idea of them how powerful and well known they will be in the 2080's. However, there are those who we might know.

    Justin Bieber, 86 years.
    Jennifer Lawrence, 90 years.
    Taylor Swift, 91 years.
    Cristiano Ronaldo, 95 years.
    Madonna, 122 years.

    Now, when they estimate that people born now will likely to reach an average age of 100, I'm sure the list will be long.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    And just how many persons from 1967 would know many from that list?ssu

    I’ve gradually added to the list. It made more sense in the original list. But good point.

    Madonna, 122 years.ssu

    Hopefully not. Good lord.
  • Mikie
    6.7k
    I just realized Ethel Kennedy is still alive. How is that possible? Wow…

    RFK got killed in 1968 and they already had 11 kids.
  • Mikie
    6.7k


    I hope Willie lives another 15 years
  • Sir2u
    3.5k
    0_Duanne-Eddy-In-Concert-At-Royal-Festival-Hall-London-Britain-02-Oct-2010.jpg

    RIP Duanne Eddy

  • Mikie
    6.7k
    Duanne EddySir2u

    I have no idea who that is.
  • AmadeusD
    2.6k
    Rabble Rouser. Youtube.
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