Former Big Star bassist Andy Hummel died yesterday in his home in Texas, after a two-year battle with cancer. The rock band from Memphis formed in 1971 and consisted of Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel. They broke up and reformed with a different line-up 20 years later.
Sadly, Andy Hummel’s death comes just four months after Alex Chilton’s death, who died of a heart attack. Last March, Hummel had commented on Chilton’s passing as a horrible shock and something completely unexpected.
His death was confirmed yesterday around 4 pm by John Fry founder of Ardent Studios.
So it seems there is only one surviving member of the original band now since Chris Bell also died, in a car accident, in 1978.
Their albums are collections of layered pop songs that drew comparison with the Beatles, the Kinks and the Beach Boys among others with dark lyrics. The band had a sort of cult following in the 80’s, and several well-known bands (like members of R.E.M., Wilco, the Posies) have acknowledged their influence.
I mostly knew Big Star because some of their songs were covered by other artists I listen to, like of course Elliott Smith who sang ‘Thirteen’ many times in concert and recorded it for the movie Thumbsucker.
In interviews, Andy Hummel said he loved surf music and the Beatles when he was young, and he sure reached the stars as his band was recognized as an iconic one, the three studio albums (Number 1 Record, Radio City, Third/Sister Lovers) being included in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone.
Strangely, Andy Hummel died at the same age than Alex Chilton, 59.