Do live concerts take their own
Does singing exert pressure on the heart? Do live concerts take their own toll in the context of energy consumed and physical pressures? Should a singer with heart ailment avoid singing in the interest of longevity?
Krishnakumar Kunnath aka KK, passed away doing what he loved – singing on stage. His going away suddenly and at a young age left thousands of fans grieving and questioning the circumstances under which he collapsed.
While there is a melancholic comfort in knowing that a musician died doing what he loved but the tragic circumstances – the fact it played out in front of a live audience – makes it even more unfortunate. Also, there have been several instances of musicians dying while performing.
Playback singer KK, was singing at a live concert at Ultadanga Gurudas Mahavidyalaya at the Nazrul Mancha stage when he fell ill during a performance on stage. Known to be a non-smoker, teetotaller and generally fit; what killed KK? That is the big question.
KK was repeatedly saying on stage that he was not feeling well. He wanted the spotlight turned off. KK finished the Live concert at 8:30 pm and returned to the hotel. A video showed him looking unwell while being rushed out of the venue. He went back to his hotel where his condition reportedly deteriorated. He reportedly suffered from chest pain and died on the way to hospital.
According to media reports, when he was brought in, his condition was reported to have deteriorated. He was later examined and declared dead. He was 53 years old at the time of his death.
Kolkata Police has registered a case of unnatural death over the demise of KK. The organisers are being questioned as over 7000 people were packed in an auditorium meant for just 2,500. The air-conditioning was poor. There was excessive Heat and humidity inside. KK complained about it.
So, how was this allowed to happen? The case has been lodged with New Market Police Station under whose jurisdiction falls the five-star hotel where KK had put up and felt unwell before being taken to a hospital.
"We have started an investigation into singer KK's death and a case of unnatural death has been registered with the New Market Police Station. We are talking to the hotel authorities and scrutinising CCTV footage to understand what had happened before he was taken to the hospital," a police officer added.
Does singing exert pressure on the heart? Do live concerts take their own toll in the context of energy consumed and physical pressures? Should a singer with heart ailment avoid singing in the interest of longevity?
Vocal cords are designed to help sing across an entire range. But sometimes, when you try to push too far outside your comfort zone, extrinsic muscles get involved to help. And that is vocal strain, say the experts.
There are 3 examples from the past. Each tells its own story. They were all famous playback singers.
Mukesh died of a heart attack on 27 August 1976 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, where he had gone to perform in a concert. He was 53. He had a history of heart ailment. He was apparently medically advised not to perform at live concerts. But he went ahead as per available information
That morning, he got up early and went to take a shower. He came out short of breath and complaining of chest pains. He was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead. The rest of the concert was completed by Lata Mangeshkar and his son Nitin Mukesh. His body was flown to India by Mangeshkar.
By September 1987, the hugely famous Kishore Kumar had decided to retire as he was unhappy with kind of songs and tunes being made by music directors and was planning to return to his birthplace Khandwa.
On 13 October 1987—his brother Ashok's 76th birthday—he died of a heart attack in Bombay at 4:45 pm. He was 58. He had also suffered from a prior heart attack and advised to take it easy. Once referring to his heart attack, Kishore famously said: "Main dil se gaata haoon shayad isliye dil kamzor ho gaya.” (I sing from the heart; maybe that’s why it has become weak.)
He had recorded his last song, "Guru Guru"—a duet with Asha Bhosle for the film Waqt Ki Aawaz (1988) composed by Bappi Lahiri for Mithun Chakraborty and Sridevi—the day before he died.
Mohammed Rafi died at 10:25 pm on July 31, 1980, following a massive heart attack, aged 55. Apparently, that day he kept rehearsing with a bunch of producers despite feeling nauseous. The last song sung by Rafi was for the movie Aas Paas, with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
Looking at this trio it is evident that celebrity singers often choose to ignore physical danger rather than suffocate their talent.
The great American rocker Bruce Springsteen is known to have lost kilos after a live concert due to the energy he expended on stage, physical rigours and associated intensity.
“The biggest thing is diet, diet, diet,” Springsteen said. “I don't eat too much, and I don't eat bad food, except for every once in a while, when I want to have some fun for myself. So, I think anybody that's trying to get in shape, exercise is always important of course, but diet is 90 percent of the game.” So, to perform live one must be in shape and reasonably fit.
But there is a long list of tragic deaths on stage.
In January 1996, opera singer Richard Versalle was performing in The Makropulos Case. The tenor sang the role of Vitek, an old man who works in a law firm. In the opera's opening scene, Versalle stood perched high atop a library-style ladder to put away a case file. Versalle sang the line, "Too bad you can only live so long" and then, inadvertently proving his point, the 63-year-old singer fell off the ladder. Versalle reportedly suffered a heart attack that caused him to fall.
Apart from Megadeth, metal exponent Menza played with several bands, including Chodle's Trunk, Fear Assembly, Orphaned to Hatred, and OHM. It was during a gig with OHM in May 2016 that Menza's heart gave out. The 51-year-old collapsed onstage during the third song of the band's set at a show in Studio City, California, and he was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital.
Les Harvey, guitarist for the up-and-coming Scottish blues-rock band Stone the Crows, was at a concert in Swansea, Wales, on May 3, 1972, Harvey was tuning up his instrument in front of about 1,200 fans and made the fatal mistake of grabbing a microphone. It hadn't been properly grounded. He was electrocuted. Harvey was just 27 years old.
On November 8, 1995, Montana and the Beat Farmers played in front of a packed house at the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, British Columbia. At the end of the song "The Girl I Almost Married," Montana collapsed onto the drums. He was 40 years old and dead from what was later ruled to be an acute aneurysm.
Back home, KK had a large and loyal fan following. KK could capture the mood, inflect and modulate according to the actor and emote through his voice. Music producer Anu Malik gave an example of how KK chose a higher octave despite the challenges involved. He refused to be intimidated or settle for the easier path.
On TV, his friend and well-known playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya said KK was the perfect playback singer. “There is a difference between a singer and playback singer. KK was brilliant as playback.”
KK made his Bollywood debut with Maachis (Chhod aaye hum woh galiya). But his full-fledged Bollywood debut is considered the song Tadap Tadap Ke from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. One of his most popular music albums is 'Pal'.
"There is a certain energy an artiste gets when he or she is on stage. No matter what one's condition is, once I am on stage, I forget everything and simply perform," KK had said in his memoir on his official website, The Mesmerizer.
His 1999 debut album Pal was critically acclaimed. From the early 2000s, he blazed a career in playback singing and recorded a wide range of popular songs for Bollywood films.
KK has recorded songs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali, among other languages.
Abhijeet Bhattacharya, the singer, has a very blunt way of hitting the nail. He said on TV that quite a few producers used KK to climb up and then discarded him. They suffered as a consequence. Even many of the new talent keep copying KK, he said in disgust.
But we will leave the last word to KK: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
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