Interesting that their deaths are paired... Buddy and Otis in plane crashes, Marvin and Sam in violent shootings. To the extent that the former are more noted than the latter (and I think that is somewhat true):
- Buddy's was the first big rock and roll death, and was compounded by being joined by Valens and the Big Bopper. Otis came later.
- Marvin's death was pretty immediately viewed as a tragedy... since enshrined in fictional form in Jungle Fever. Sam Cooke's was always viewed as murky and no one is sure what happened.
- Sam Cooke certainly, and to a lesser extent Otis but still applicable, was a victim of the (general, not strict) racial segregation on radio. Probably among African Americans you heard a heck of a lot mor about Sam Cooke's deaths at the time then you did about Buddy Holly's at the time.
- Marvin Gaye is overrated and Otis Redding is underrated. (Hee hee.)
