What is the first celebrity death you remember?

[ClassicStripe]

My daughter has been asking lots of questions about today’s tragic news (a boy at school told her about it) and it made me think this is probably the first celebrity death she has taken note of and will probably be the first one she remembered. The first celebrity death I remember is Princess Diana. I was about the same age DD is now.

Pete Duel of Alias Smith and Jones. I was 9 and terribly upset.

Jimi Hendrix & Janis Joplin, when I was 6.

Not sure but possibly John Lennon, definitely Karen Carpenter.

You beat me to it@Reallyoldperson !
I was going to put this on then I thought ''Oh dear I will be giving my age away!''
I was not quite 8 years old and in primary school.A girl came into the cloakroom as we washed our hands and said she had heard one of the teachers saying the king had died.
It was also the first time I realised that there was such a thing as death.I even remember the mournful music being played on the radio all day much to my mother's disgust as all other programmes were cancelled.I was scared to go to sleep for ages because when I asked what death was I was told it is when you go to sleep and never wake up.
My grandfather belonged to a uniformed organisation and I remember him having a black armband on his uniform coat.

Elvis

Winston Churchill, I remember the River part where the cranes dipped in salute.
I was alive but I don't remember the death of George 6. Perhaps because we had no tv then. I remember the Coronation of QE2 because I saw much of it on tv.

Oh yes, I had him on my bedroom wall.

Elvis Presley - I was 8 and remember hearing about it on the news and my parents talking about it.

Freddie Mercury

Winston Churchill. I remember the funeral procession on television in black and white. It was on a Saturday.

Elvis but had no idea who he was

Elvis. August 1977. I was 17. I’m sure there were others but I don’t remember remembering.

I very vaguely remember Karen Carpenter and Phil Lynott.

The main ones though were Freddie Mercury and River Phoenix.

Freddie. I was very sad.

Tommy Cooper, basically live on weekend prime time tv

Marc Bolan

Bloody hell, just realised I was only 4 when that happened but I recall it vividly. Didn’t realise at the time he had died of course

Otis Redding

Elvis. Only because a girl in class was crying and the teacher was nasty to her.

Elvis.

Freddie Mercury. I would have been 12/13. But also, and not quite the point of the question, Anne Diamond’s son Sebastian. Her baby’s cot death really had an impact on me and my friends. We were only children and so saddened by it. I guess that is the first time we were faced with the reality that anyone at any age could die.

John Lennon. My dad shed a tear in the car as the news broke on the radio.

We were watching Tommy Cooper on TV when he collapsed, everyone including us, thought it was part of the act and laughed.

Princess Diana for me too. I went to watch early morning kids TV downstairs but all channels were showing the news instead. I ran up to tell my parents and they didn’t believe me at first.

Princess grace and I remember veiled heads at the funeral

The first one that stands out for me was Mel from Mel and Kim, so not superstar famous, but I had Respectable on 12" and thought they were so cool. I'd never really thought about death that much and I couldn't believe that this funky, cool young woman, not much older than me, could die of cancer.