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phoneybeatlemania · 2 years ago

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Do you have the interview/ interviews when Paul says that if John was gay, he would’ve hit on him

Hiya anon!

The closest documented instance Ive come across where Paul more-or-less says “if John was gay he would have hit on me” comes from Julia Baird, Johns half-sister:

Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, was a known homosexual. Epstein was always polite and charming. It has been insinuated that John was drawn to Epstein. I believe there was no such relationship between them. John was macho. But if John was a homosexual, it would have made no difference to me. I’ve asked Paul McCartney, who laughed and said: ‘Why not me? I’m handsome.’ Then he said: ‘I was holed up with John in hotel rooms everywhere. There was never a suggestion of anything like that.’ I believe him.

—Julia Baird, Boston Globe: Lennon’s half-sister remembers… (October 2nd, 1988) via @amoralto

There’s also a 1988 interview in which he makes a similar satirical comment:

I think where [Albert Goldman] starts to exaggerate and says that John was possibly homosexual, I think he throws that in with some of the truth, and it starts to have the same credence as the real truth, and I think that’s the problem with the book. […] And I say, if he’s homosexual [jokingly] I would have thought he’d make a pass at me in 20 years, darling.

—Paul McCartney’s reaction to The Lives Of John Lennon, Today, 1988

This interview is actually only a partial fit for the “if John was gay he would have hit on me” comment given that Paul still uses the words “I would have thought…”, which doesn’t exactly deny any and all possibilities that John might have been bi/gay. And it's notable as well that in both interviews detailed above, he’s being somewhat hyperbolic and comic in saying ‘why not me?’.

They seem to be closest matches I could find though!

However, there’s a surplus of quotes in which Paul reasons that he’s not convinced John was bi/gay, because if John had been Paul would have expected that he would have made some kind of move on him:

There were lots of people asking cheeky questions, and they were always saying, “Well, why – have you ever tried homosexuality, John?” You know, they always used to ask all that kind of stuff. I remember John saying to them, “No, I’ve never met a fella I fancy enough.” And that was his kind of opinion. You know, “I may go – I may be gay one day, if some fella really turns me on.” He was – he was that open about it. But as far as I was concerned, I slept in a million hotel rooms, as we all did, slept in a million places with John, and there was never any hint of it.

—Paul McCartney in interview w/ Roger Scott, 1983 via @amoralto

PAUL: The rumours came later because he’d gone on holiday with a gay guy [Brian] […] I don’t think it is true, I’ll tell you why, cause I slept with him a million times.

HOWARD: And he never came onto you?

PAUL: I tell you. And Ive seen him on tour, roaring drunk, out of his mind—in the early days, before he sobered up, and went to rehab…roaring drunk, and it was always with a female.

HOWARD: It was?

PAUL: Never once…

HOWARD: He was not a homosexual?

PAUL: And I suspect, if you’ve got a little gay tendency and you’re roaring drunk, Im gonna catch him.

HOWARD: Yeah somethings gonna happen…

PAUL: Once...Somewhere…

HOWARD: And he’s gonna come onto you cause you’re a good looking guy, there’s no question about it.

—Paul McCartney in interview w/ Howard Stern, 2001

The funny thing is when later the rumour came out that John was gay, I said: ‘I don’t think so.’ I mean, I don’t know what he did when he went to New York, but certainly not in any of my experiences. We used to sleep together, top and tail it, you know. I always used to say: 'Come on, I would have spotted something here.’ But what I spotted was completely the opposite. It was just chicks, chicks, chicks.

—Paul McCartney in interview w/ Pete Doherty, The Guardian, 2007

This is an incomprehensive collection of Pauls commentaries on Johns sexuality throughout the years, I was just picking out a few interviews that I found interesting. However, if you’d like to read more on this then have a look through this post from @thebeatlesaesthetic!

To be honest, I do actually understand the logic behind thinking ‘well I never saw/heard anything that would suggest he was bi/gay, so he probably wasn’t’. Obviously, don’t get me wrong, it’s a flawed logic—but it’s still one where I can understand the reasoning behind it.

I think right-off-the-bat the ‘he never made a move on me, so he couldn’t be gay’ sentiment could rub off as almost an ego-driven reflection (‘they’re gay, Im attractive—who could resist??’), but to me, its more about just having spent so much of your life with that person, and feeling like you really knew the ins-and-outs of them.

Being drunk and alone-together in a bed would seem like a pretty apt environment to make a move on someone if you were attracted to them, and given that their relationship was already an intense one, I can see the logic in thinking that if John was bisexual, why wouldn’t he take this already potent relationship to the next level?

Obviously, I don’t think Johns relationship with his sexuality was that simple (and furthermore, his relationship and feelings towards Paul were definitely not that simple either), so I think there’s still plenty of room to explain why he might never have attempted a physical relationship with Paul, even if he had wanted one. But as I said before, I can see how Paul got from point A to point B here.

And I think another big thing is that Paul valued his relationship with John a lot, so Im sure he wants to feel like he actually knew this person—which is fair enough, because he obviously did know John very well. But if you have biographers and journalists telling you new information about a close friend, and there’s no way you can actually gain any clarity on this, I think it’s a normal response to reflect on your own experiences in having known that person, and conclude that this is probably sensationalism, given that you never saw anything to support the speculation.

I also find it interesting though that Paul tends to tell things from his own perspective, i.e “as far as I was concerned”, “I would have thought”, “I don’t think it is true”. He’s not saying that he knows John was heterosexual beyond a shadow of a doubt, he’s only saying that he doesn’t think John was bisexual, because he knew him very well and never got that impression from him. So he doesn’t outright deny the rumours, he only offers his own truth on the matter.

To reiterate though, Pauls position is not an entirely unproblematic one, and there’s plenty of criticisms that could be made to counter his logic. But my point is that his thinking on this subject is still understandable.

Bonus: Also, for anyone interested I actually had a recording of the Howard Stern interview from 2001 saved to my library, so if you fancy some visual/audio contexts have a watch!:

#beatles #quotes #asks #paul mccartney #john lennon #pauls psyche #analysis #johns sexuality

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tbelle2772-blog · 8 years ago

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A Journey to Self Love

How does one encapsulate their entire experience of life onto a few written pages? I’m not sure that it is possible, but I am going to give it my best. I was born in 1988 in the state of South Carolina. They deemed me male at birth and that was a mistake that would take me my entire life to reconcile.

As a child, I was quite content with life and myself. I was caring, light-hearted, spirited, and loving. I was quite feminine naturally and my parents took notice of it. At the age of five, they put me into Tai-Kwon-Do in hopes that I would be able to learn to defend myself physically from those who might want to do me harm, due to my feminine nature.

By the age of seven I was still sucking my thumb (my first addiction, one of many to come) and my parents made me an offer. They said that if I quit sucking my thumb they would buy me a Pocahontas Barbie doll! My father reconciled this by stating it was NOT a ‘real’ Barbie doll, but a Native American figurine. You see by this time, most of my friends were girls. We always played with Barbies and I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed to have one. You better believe that I quit sucking my thumb, and so that Pocahontas Barbie doll was mine. It is important to note that before I even left my mother I was using external means (my thumb) to bring about internal peace. This is a behavior that I’ve carried ever since.

By the age of eight I realized that the way I behaved was contrary to what others expected of me. So embarked my journey on how to become a boy. By middle school I was completely isolated from the male population. I tried to imitate the behaviors of males but to no avail. No one was buying my act and I’m not sure I did either.

I began to struggle, as I could not harmonize my religious beliefs with my growing sexual desire for males. I tried to throw myself deeper in to my faith in desperation that if I just loved God hard enough my profane desires might be alleviated. My teen years were filled with hazing, isolation, self-hatred, confusion, and so on. Spring break my junior year in high school I finally agreed to try marijuana. It was magically incredible and I was temporarily relieved of my suffering. Within a couple of weeks I began using cocaine and then alcohol. So began my decade of using mind-altering chemicals in order to avoid and alleviate suffering.

Puberty came late and so did the most unexpected. I had been waiting with such hopes that puberty would save me. My body would masculinize so that I could finally fit into this binary system of sex and gender. That was not what happened. I began to develop fat tissue in my chest. As my nipples protruded a pain began to develop. As the months continue so did the pain. After a year plus it was unbearable. I used to walk down the halls of school pulling at the bottom of my shirt so that no one would see the development of my breasts. I had to walk down stairs so cautiously because it hurt unbearably. One day I pushed back on my chest and much to my surprise a liquid substance secreted from my nipples. Thus began the draining of my breasts. The pain became greater than my shame and I finally told my mother.

My senior year of high school, I under went liposuction surgery and removed all of the breast tissue in order to make my body resemble male. I am an intersex person but I didn’t even know what that was at this time. I wanted so badly to be “normal.” I didn’t realize what a mistake of understanding that was. I was normal. I was intersex. Intersex people are normal and are naturally occurring with biology. I eradicated my experience and natural state. If only I had had the understanding of loving myself for myself rather than what I believed others wanted me to be. Now I see that I dismembered my body due to fear and the hopes of acceptance of others rather than my own.

I’ve always had this skewed idea that this next thing is what will bring about peace. I went to college and thought education would save me. I then graduated and traveled Europe. I thought traveling would save me. I went to California and thought being in the LGBT community of San Francisco would save me. I worked on a hippie farm on Mount Madonna and thought that I could find myself under the tit of a goat and chasing chickens. Since that didn’t work I decided to go live in a hippie commune of two hundred plus people in the forest of Guatemala! That surely should do it. Nope. So on to Santiago, Chile to teach English I went. That wasn’t as successful as I had hoped either.

My life began to unravel in 2012 and I could no longer keep up my appearances. I became fragmented in mind, body, and sprit. My addiction to crack and alcohol had consumed me and I was the hostage. Something came to me in my crack and alcohol induced narcosis and revealed to me that in order to ever find peace I was going to have to transition. My pain was so grave that I tried to take my life for a third time to get away from the suffering. I was clearly unsuccessful as I suck at killing myself. I ended up going to rehab and began my transition to female.

My sobriety date is October 25, 2013. Within this time I have done many things such as; work on a leadership board of a non-profit directly giving aid and financial grants to transgender citizens in the state of South Carolina. I’ve held a few jobs but mostly being employed within the sex industry. You see internationally the sex industry is the #1 employer of transgender people, as many places will not higher us knowingly.

I got lost. Fell off the path and so found myself again using external factors to create internal peace. I stayed sober from mind-altering drugs but found other ways to get high. I bathed in the attention of males and their attraction to my body. I felt validated in the way I had always craved. I gave my power away and became dependent on their attention and validation.

In January 2017 love found me most unexpectedly. I met with this guy who said that we was looking for a Domme trans woman and I said that I was looking for a versatile submissive male. At the time we had no idea that we weren’t really looking for that at all. He peered straight through all of my masks. There was no deceiving him. He saw my pain and instead of running in the opposite direction he held it. This changed everything for me. I no longer had to carry it all on my own. So I met again since I was a child, what it meant to be vulnerable. Having this man love me showed me all the ways that I still came up short in loving myself.

After he left and returned to his country I was at such a loss. I no longer had the attention of males and no longer had his love by my side. After tasting love I no longer wanted the instant gratification of male sexual attention. I was stuck with the wreckage I had caused. Again pain became to great to bare and so I cracked into fragmented parts of myself, daily for a couple of weeks. Like in 2013, I was able to construct something entirely new from the destruction of my own creation.

I now have a daily devotion to a daily reflection, sending inspiration to over fifty people daily, practice guided and silent mediation daily, practice yoga a couple times a week, attend recovery meetings weekly, focus on a healthy and nourishing diet daily, and aid those that are suffering when presented. I am finally able to see that craving has been at the root of my suffering in life. Unless I work to remove it through compassion and love it will continue to limit my fullest potential within this life.

“Happiness exists in action, in telling our truth, and in giving away what we want the most.” ~ Eve Ensler

“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” ~ Lao Tzu

“You only lose what you cling to.” “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” ~ Buddha

#trans #intersex #selflove #suffering #pain #addictions #recovery #meditation #yoga #health #nutrition #buddha #lao tzu #eve ensler #love #greatestlove

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blackkudos · 8 years ago

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Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. The daughter of Nat King Cole, she rose to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable" (1975), and "Our Love" (1977). After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole re-emerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide.

On December 31, 2015, Cole died at the age of 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, due to congestive heart failure.

Early life

Natalie Cole was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, the daughter of crooner Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, and raised in the affluent Hancock Park district of Los Angeles. Regarding her childhood, Cole referred to her family as "the black Kennedys" and was exposed to many great singers of jazz, soul and blues. At the age of 6, Natalie sang on her father's Christmas album and later began performing at age 11.

Cole grew up with an older adopted sister, Carole "Cookie" (1944–2009) (her mother Maria's younger sister's daughter), adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959–95), and younger twin sisters Timolin and Casey (born 1961).

Her paternal uncle Freddy Cole is a singer and pianist with numerous albums and awards. Cole enrolled in Northfield School for Girls, an elite New England preparatory school (since 1971 known as Northfield Mount Hermon School) before her father died of lung cancer in February 1965. Soon afterwards she began having a difficult relationship with her mother. She enrolled in the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She transferred briefly to University of Southern California where she pledged the Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She later transferred back to the University of Massachusetts, where she majored in Child Psychology and minored in German, graduating in 1972.

Music career

Early career

Cole grew up listening to a variety of artists from soul artists such as Aretha Franklin to psychedelic blues-rock icon Janis Joplin. After graduation she began singing at small clubs with her band, Black Magic. Clubs initially welcomed her because she was Nat King Cole's daughter, only to be disappointed when she began covering R&B and rock numbers. While performing, she was noted by a couple of producers in the Chicago area, Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy, who then approached her to do records. After cutting several records together, they passed off the music to several record labels. Most labels turned them down with one exception. Capitol Records, her father's label, heard the records and agreed to sign her.

Cole, Yancy, and Jackson went into studios in Los Angeles to polish the recordings they had shipped, resulting in the release of Cole's debut album, Inseparable, which included songs that reminded listeners of Aretha Franklin. In fact, Franklin later contended that songs such as "This Will Be", "I Can't Say No", and others were originally offered to her while she was recording the You album. Franklin turned most of the songs down but agreed to record the title track for her album. Cole also recorded "You". Released in 1975, the album became an instant success thanks to "This Will Be", which became a top ten hit and later winning Cole a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. A second single, "Inseparable", also became a hit. Both songs reached number-one on the R&B chart. Cole also won Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards for her accomplishments. The media's billing of Cole as the "new Aretha Franklin" inadvertently started a rivalry between the two singers.

Initial stardom

Becoming an instant star, Cole responded to critics of an impending sophomore slump with Natalie, released in 1976. The album, like Inseparable, became a gold success thanks to the funk-influenced cut "Sophisticated Lady" and the jazz-influenced "Mr. Melody".

Cole released her first platinum record with her third release, Unpredictable, mainly thanks to the number-one R&B hit, "I've Got Love on My Mind". Originally an album track, the album's closer, "I'm Catching Hell", nonetheless became a popular Cole song during live concert shows. Later in 1977, Cole issued her fourth release and second platinum album, Thankful, which included another signature Cole hit, "Our Love". Cole was the first female artist to have two platinum albums in one year. To capitalize on her fame, Cole starred on her own TV special, which attracted such celebrities as Earth, Wind & Fire, and also appeared on the TV special, "Sinatra and Friends." In 1978, Cole released her first live album, Natalie Live!

In early 1979, the singer was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year, she released two more albums, I Love You So and the Peabo Bryson duet album, We're the Best of Friends. Both albums reached gold status in the U.S. continuing her popularity.

Career detour and resurgence

Following the release of her eighth album, 1980's Don't Look Back, Cole's career began to take a detour. While Cole scored an adult contemporary hit with the soft rock ballad "Someone That I Used To Love" off the album, the album itself failed to go gold. In 1981, Cole's personal problems, including battles with drug addiction, began to attract public notice, and her career suffered as a result. In 1983, following the release of her album I'm Ready, released on Epic, Cole entered a rehab facility in Connecticut and reportedly stayed there for a period of six months.

Following her release, she signed with the Atco imprint Modern Records and released Dangerous, which started a slow resurgence for Cole in terms of record sales and chart success. In 1987, she changed to EMI-Manhattan Records and released the album Everlasting, which returned her to the top of the charts thanks to singles such as "Jump Start (My Heart)", the top ten ballad, "I Live For Your Love", and her dance-pop cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". That success helped Everlasting reach one million in sales and become Cole's first platinum album in ten years. In 1989, she released her follow-up to Everlasting, Good to Be Back, which produced the number two hit "Miss You Like Crazy"; it also achieved international success, reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom.

Cole released her best-selling album with 1991's Unforgettable... with Love on Elektra Records, which saw Cole singing songs her famous father recorded, nearly 20 years after she initially had refused to cover her father's songs during live concerts. Cole produced vocal arrangements for the songs, with piano accompaniment by her uncle Ike Cole. Cole's label released an interactive duet between Cole and her father on the title song, "Unforgettable". The song eventually reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number ten on the R&B chart, going gold. Unforgettable...with Love eventually sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone and won several Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for the top song.

Cole followed that success with another album of jazz standards, titled Take a Look, in 1993, which included her recording of the title track in the same styling that her idol Aretha Franklin had recorded nearly 30 years earlier. The album eventually went gold while a holiday album, Holly & Ivy, also became gold. Another standards release, Stardust, went platinum and featured another duet with her father on a modern version of "When I Fall in Love", which helped Cole earn another Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Later works

In 1999, Cole returned to her 1980s-era urban contemporary recording style with the release of Snowfall on the Sahara on June and second holiday album The Magic of Christmas on October, which recorded with London Symphony Orchestra. A year later, the singer collaborated on the production of her biopic, Livin' For Love: The Natalie Cole Story, which featured Theresa Randle in the role of Cole. She also released the compilation Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 to fulfill her contract with Elektra. She changed to Verve Records and released two albums. 2002's Ask a Woman Who Knows continued her jazz aspirations, while 2006's Leavin' again featured Cole singing pop, rock and R&B standards. Her cover of Aretha Franklin's "Daydreaming", became a minor hit on the R&B charts. In 2008, seventeen years after Unforgettable... with Love, Cole released Still Unforgettable, which included not only songs made famous by her father but other artists, including Frank Sinatra. The album later resulted in Grammy wins for Cole.

In April 2012, she appeared as a Pennington Great Performers series artist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

Television and film career

Cole carved out a secondary career in acting. She also appeared several times in live concerts or other music related programs, including the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute with sidemen Richard Campbell, Jeffrey Worrell, Eddie Cole and Dave Joyce. In 1990, she (along with jazz vocalist Al Jarreau) sang the song "Mr. President" (written by Ray Reach, Mike Loveless and Joe Sterling) on HBO's Comic Relief special, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. After Johnny Mathis appeared on a special of Cole's in 1980, the two kept in contact, and in 1992, he invited Cole to be a part of his television special titled "A Tribute To Nat Cole" for BBC-TV in England. It had high viewer ratings and was successful. From that project, an album with the same name was released, and featured several medley and solo numbers.

In 1992, following the success of the Unforgettable: With Love album, PBS broadcast a special based on the album. Unforgettable, With Love: Natalie Cole Sings the Songs of Nat "King" Cole received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program; and Cole received a nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance, losing to Bette Midler.

In 1993, she was among the Guests of Honor attending Wrestlemania IX at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada. She was interviewed by television staff after the conclusion of the Money Incorporated vs Megamaniacs tag team match regarding her upcoming work. The same year she performed at the 65th Academy Awards performing a medley of two Oscar-nominated songs: "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing", both originally performed by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard.

Cole made a number of dramatic appearances on television, including guest appearances on I'll Fly Away, Touched by an Angel, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2006, she made a memorable guest appearance on the ABC show Grey's Anatomy as a terminally ill patient. Her character visited Seattle Grace Hospital to have a fork removed from her neck that her husband had stabbed her with during a mishap; the couple had been having sex in public.

Cole also made several appearances in feature films, most recently in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely. She appeared in several made-for-TV movies, most notably as the lead in Lily in Winter. Cole was featured on Macy Gray's album Big, singing "Finally Make Me Happy".

In 2001, she starred as herself in Livin' for Love: the Natalie Cole Story, for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special.

She also sang the national anthem with the Atlanta University Center Chorus at Super Bowl XXVIII.

On December 2, 2006, Cole performed for the first time in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, as part of the annual Cayman Jazz Fest.

On the February 5, 2007, episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Cole sang "I Say a Little Prayer" at a benefit dinner for Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson).

She can also be seen in the last scene of Nas' music video for "Can't Forget About You". The song uses a sample of her father's song "Unforgettable". Cole is sitting at a piano in a cabaret-style lounge mouthing her father's song with Nas standing beside her.

Cole also performed "Something's Gotta Give" on American Idol on April 29, 2009.

In September 2010, Cole performed with Andrea Bocelli in a concert at the Kodak Theatre, for his album My Christmas, in which she recorded a duet with him, and from December 10–13, 2009, she appeared with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in their annual Christmas concerts. Both were videotaped for presentation on PBS in December 2010.

On July 22, 2011, Cole appeared on the reality television series, The Real Housewives of New York City.

In February 2012, Cole appeared as a guest judge on the fourth series of reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race. The bottom two competitors lip-synced to her song This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) to decide who would stay and who would be eliminated.

On Father’s Day, 2013, Natalie was in Tina Sinatra's Father’s Day Special on Sirius Radio. It also featured Deana Martin, Monica Mancini and Daisy Torme, all reminiscing about their famous fathers.

Personal life

Cole was married three times. She married Marvin Yancy, songwriter, producer and former member of the 1970s R&B group The Independents on July 31, 1976. She had a son, Robert Adam "Robbie" Yancy (born October 14, 1977); he is now a musician who toured with her. Marvin was her producer, and an ordained Baptist minister who helped reintroduce her to religion. Under his influence, Cole changed from a lapsed Episcopalian to become a devout Baptist. Cole and Yancy got divorced in 1980 before Yancy died of a heart attack in 1985, aged 34. In 1989, Cole married record producer and former drummer for the band Rufus, Andre Fischer; they were divorced in 1995. In 2001, Cole married bishop Kenneth Dupree; they divorced in 2004.

Cole was active in the Afghan World Foundation cause, supporting Sonia Nassery Cole (no relation).

Drug abuse and recovery

In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder, which described her battle with drugs during much of her life, including heroin and crack cocaine. Cole said she began recreational drug use while attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was arrested in Toronto, Canada, for possession of heroin in 1975. Cole continued to spiral out of control – including one incident during which she refused to evacuate a burning building, and another during which her young son Robert nearly drowned in the family swimming pool while she was on a drug binge. She entered rehab in 1983.

Her autobiography was released in conjunction with a made-for-TV movie, Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story, which aired December 10, 2000 on NBC and re-aired October 26, 2011, on Centric TV.

Health issues

Cole announced in 2008 that she had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which is a liver disease that is spread through contact with infected blood. Cole attributed having the disease to her past intravenous drug use. Cole explained in 2009 that hepatitis C “stayed in my body for 25 years, and it could still happen to...addicts who are fooling around with drugs, especially needles.”

Four months after starting treatment for hepatitis C, Cole experienced kidney failure and required dialysis three times a week for nine months. Following her appeal for a kidney on the Larry King Show, she was contacted by the organ procurement agency One Legacy, in May 2009. The facilitated donation came from a family requesting that, if there were a match, their donor’s kidney be designated for Cole.

Death and funeral

Cole canceled several events in December 2015 due to illness. It was reported on January 1, 2016, that she had died the day prior at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her family stated that at the time of her death, Cole had "ongoing health issues". According to Cole's publicist, Maureen O’Connor, the singer's death was the result of congestive heart failure.

In official news on her cause of death, her family stated that Cole was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension after her kidney transplant in 2009.

Cole's son, along with her sisters, offered the following comment. "Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived ... with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever."

Cole's funeral was held on January 11, 2016, at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. David Foster, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Eddie Levert, Mary Wilson, Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Jesse Jackson, Angela Bassett, Denise Nicholas, Marla Gibbs, Jackée Harry and Freda Payne were among the mourners at the funeral. After the funeral, she was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Accolades and honorsGrammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Cole received nine awards from 21 nominations.

Latin Grammys

The Latin Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

Wikipedia

#Natalie Cole

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shg11 · 7 years ago

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When Kevin Braddock hit rockbottom, he had every intention of killing himself. He recounts what happened next and reveals why so few men ask for help

It was a Monday when Robin Williams killed himself three years ago Monday 11 August 2014. His death was shocking even if in hindsight it shouldnt have been a surprise that the worlds funniest man might also be the most sorrowful, too a person despairing to the point of ending it all.

Its a date I remember well, because Id spent the previous day trying to do the same thing. I was in the psychiatric ward of the Berlin hospital which Id been manhandled into by friends the day before, and I was waiting to see the doctor whod asked me to promise that I wouldnt kill myself.

In her consultation room Id thought about it for a while; Id already told her all I could about what led me to try to die. Id described the methods looping ceaselessly through my mind as I was slumped on the pavement near Berlins TV Tower: the gun, the noose, the blade, the pills, the bottle. The gun, the noose the mantra that would not stop. Since the only thing to hand was the nearby sptkauf (off-licence), Id resolved to drink my way to unreality.

Id told the doctor my history of depression, anxiety, panic attacks, drink, drugs, meds, love and fear, my crises of faith and existential dread, and all the other things that seem to go with being human in the 21st century. I had few words left in me, but mumbling through endless tears with my hands in my lap, Id mouthed the words to her: I promise.

I hadnt gone through with the act, but God knows Id wanted to wanted to end it all and wanted it all to end. I was outpatiented for a while, and friends and loved ones looked after for me. Three years later, they still do.

How had things got so bad? In 2009, fed up with London, I bought a one-way ticket to Tegel with vague plans to hang out for a couple of months and run the Berlin marathon. Two months turned into six, then a year and eventually half a decade in that beautifully confused city. In the teeth of this current crisis, Id been struggling to hold things and myself together at the magazine where I was working. Id begun, falteringly, to deal with the dependencies that had got a grip on me (Id long been a heavy, problematic drinker, and Berlin is an easy city in which to hedonise, although by the standards of Berghain regulars, I was a total lightweight).

Meanwhile, depression and anxiety, old adversaries which Id suffered incapacitating episodes with at 21 and 30, had begun ranging back on to my neurological horizons. Id also caught glandular fever, fallen in love, and turned 42 which, as readers of Douglas Adams know, is the meaning of life. I was perpetually stressed, exhausted and despairing at work and it didnt take much for the cascade to begin: yet another work problem, a row, some piece of bad news.

Looking back, Im surprised at how fast I unravelled, how the energyless fog of depression condensed into an electric psychosis, how despair became madness. One day, one of my editors had asked if I was all right. I said: No, Im not, and started listing conflicts and confusions. (I was also surprised that she asked: I mean, its generally not the way that bosses look out for their employees.) A few days later I was in hospital.

Madness comes at you fast, to paraphrase the social media clich.

None of this is to equate my life or story with Robin Williamss in any way, apart from to say that I made it through what the doctor wrote down as a schwere (major) depressive episode, whereas Williams didnt, and Im thankful that one of us is around to talk about this stuff. Above all, Im grateful I found the courage to ask for help.

Facebook gets a lot of stick these days, but in one sense it kept me alive, because Facebook was where I asked for help in a status update that Sunday afternoon which read: Im at the bottom now, can a German speaker come to St Hedwigs with me, I need help, along with my phone number.

I dont know how long Id been there, or how many bottles of Augustiner beer to the worse I was. But I do remember an alternative thought forming from the cognitive murk: I could ask for help. Sure, everyone would see what a pitiful, drunken, helpless, tearful state I was the opposite of what Id prefer to project, yet also the truth. But the thought came: theres another way. I couldnt speak, I seemed to have been silenced, but there was my phone I could test the limits of this thing which helps people (and I quote) connect with friends, family and other people you know.

Keep talking: Tom Chapmans Lions Barber Collective is turning a network of barber shops into safe spaces for men to open up in.

After a few minutes the phone went red hot, bleeping, flashing and ringing. I was hardly in a suitable frame of mind to process these messages, but looking at them a few days later, they said things like: Youll get through this; Stay positive; You are loved; and simply Love you. Some friends offered places in which to recuperate, others offered to come over. Not only was I ashamed at the alarm Id caused, I was also shocked at the volume of support that came through. There turned out to be more in the world than blank nothingness after all.

Help came, and rapidly. Friends took me to the hospital, and my life began to change.

Whether its an effect of social media or not, recently theres been a wave of men admitting to anxiety, depression or addiction, or of having attempted to kill themselves, or knowing someone whos seen the act through, problems which respect neither class, race, age or status and which, statistically and anecdotally, seem to be on the rise.

When Stormzy or Prince Harry admit that they, too, have feelings, struggles and doubts, these confessions challenge the Strength Myth which men have long laboured under. They also represent a tacit plea for help, a kind of Save me from what Im supposed to be, which usually means autonomous, successful, potent, dominant, along with all the other clichs of whats been termed hegemonic masculinity.

And when another male celebrity Ant McPartlin being the latest checks into rehab, you sense that the work being done by organisations such as the Campaign Against Living Miserably (which aims to raise awareness of mental illness and prevent suicide in men) or Tom Chapmans Lions Barber Collective (which is turning a worldwide network of barber shops into safe spaces for men to open up in) is vital.

People are opening up more instead of hiding; things are getting better, says Chapman from his salon in Torquay. Men are starting to feel comfortable talking to one another about their worries, problems and self-doubts, or going to see a GP or a health professional. Chapman decided to set up the Lions Barber Collective as a charity engaged with mens mental health awareness after a friend killed himself. Theres something about the relationship between a barber and their client where theres complete trust, he says.

The Campaign Against living Miserably cites figures from the Office for National Statistics that suicide currently stands as the biggest single killer of men aged under 45 in the UK. In 2014, there were 6,109 suicides in the UK, of which 76% were male. The ratio of male to female suicide has shown a sustained rise over the past 30 years. In 1981, men accounted for 62% of suicides, with the figure rising to 70% in 1988, 75% in 1995 and 78% in 2013.

All of which is why its heartening that in recent years the conversation on the meaning of masculinity has been growing in volume, running parallel to a wider openness on mental illness and health in society today.

The Royal Foundations Heads Together charity harnesses Princes William and Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge to a mission encouraging people to open up about these problems. At a speech given on World Mental Health Day in October 2016, Prince Harry said: Too often we think mental health problems are things that happen to other people, not us. But we will all experience pressure on our mental health at some point during our lives. The more we accept that, the better we can help each other. Catching it and recognising it early saves lives. Its time we ended the shame around mental health the fear of judgment that stops people talking or getting help.

When Stormzy admits he, too, has struggles, it challenges the Strength Myth which men have long laboured under. Photograph: Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage

A few months after my breakdown I returned to the UK and spent a deep, grey winter with my tirelessly patient parents, in the room where I grew up. News arrived one day of a family friend whod taken an overdose thankfully she survived. And on a train one evening I fell into an initially sheepish conversation with a woman in her 50s, each of us cryptically tiptoeing around what we both guessed was going on in each of us.

Well, Ive been ill, I told her, rather euphemistically.

Me, too, she said. Er mind if I ask what kind of ill?

It took some gentle work to overcome a barrier of shame between us, but once we had, the talk became extraordinarily candid and affirming. Shed been visiting her support group. She recounted details of her own psychotic episodes and an attempt to kill herself, then handed me an A4 pamphlet simply entitled My Story, which was heartbreaking along with being one of the bravest, most honest stories Id ever read. We made friends and resolved to stay in touch.

My own story developed, too. I spent a year living monastically in a friends boxroom in Bristol, discovering that recovery is a process rather than a destination, a project of constant modifications and setbacks with modestly miraculous breakthroughs that convince you that life is worth living. Things that have helped me include: learning, sobriety, therapy, meds, volunteering, tai chi, vitamin B, walking, talking, working and much more.

Something else helped. A few days after being taken to hospital, someone I hadnt seen for a decade read my Facebook message and wrote to say: From now on, Kev, be completely honest and open about this stuff. Confront it all head on. And seeing as youre a writer, write it all down. I was consoled by his concern, but also perplexed as to why he was so adamant about this tactic. It turns out his sister had taken her own life.

Recently I was back in Berlin to share the story I wrote down with the people who picked me up and kept me going. It turned into a book I made with my friend Enver, called Torchlight: a Publication About Asking for Help, which details my experiences of breakdown and recovery.

If that sounds like a rather crass sales pitch at the end of a story of common human dysfunction, Id counter that by saying that while we are overwhelmed by digital technologies these days, theres a striking lack of social technologies to assist people in asking for help, talking about their experiences, or sharing the methods they use to deal with the darkness. Facebook offered me the chance to ask for help, but any recovering Ive been fortunate enough to do has been social in the original sense of the word: person-to-person, with friends, family, therapists, study groups, recovery fellowships, sympathetic employers and colleagues, with people I met randomly on trains or in rooms, always in collaboration with others. Recovery is a social exercise that can be assisted but never replaced by digital technologies.

Something else I know now is that we fall apart, alone and in private, but we heal together, with others, the ones who arent shocked or scared by what they see when the mask of shame is removed.

At torchlightsystem.com you can buy Kevins book Torchlight, watch his short film and purchase Practice Cards which offer hints for daily living when suffering from depression and anxiety. The Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, and Mind on 0300 123 3393

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/13/why-do-men-suffer-depression-in-silence

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pedrowells24-blog · 7 years ago

Text

why do men suffer depression in silence?

When Kevin Braddock hit rockbottom, he had every intention of killing himself. He recounts what happened next and reveals why so few men ask for help

Madness comes at you fast, to paraphrase the social media clich.

Keep talking: Tom Chapmans Lions Barber Collective is turning a network of barber shops into safe spaces for men to open up in.

Help came, and rapidly. Friends took me to the hospital, and my life began to change.

When Stormzy admits he, too, has struggles, it challenges the Strength Myth which men have long laboured under. Photograph: Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage

Well, Ive been ill, I told her, rather euphemistically.

Me, too, she said. Er mind if I ask what kind of ill?

Something else I know now is that we fall apart, alone and in private, but we heal together, with others, the ones who arent shocked or scared by what they see when the mask of shame is removed.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/13/why-do-men-suffer-depression-in-silence

0 notes

gaylemccoy972-blog · 7 years ago

Text

why do men suffer depression in silence?

When Kevin Braddock hit rockbottom, he had every intention of killing himself. He recounts what happened next and reveals why so few men ask for help

Madness comes at you fast, to paraphrase the social media clich.

Keep talking: Tom Chapmans Lions Barber Collective is turning a network of barber shops into safe spaces for men to open up in.

Help came, and rapidly. Friends took me to the hospital, and my life began to change.

When Stormzy admits he, too, has struggles, it challenges the Strength Myth which men have long laboured under. Photograph: Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage

Well, Ive been ill, I told her, rather euphemistically.

Me, too, she said. Er mind if I ask what kind of ill?

Something else I know now is that we fall apart, alone and in private, but we heal together, with others, the ones who arent shocked or scared by what they see when the mask of shame is removed.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/13/why-do-men-suffer-depression-in-silence

0 notes

bradporter65-blog · 7 years ago

Text

why do men suffer depression in silence?

When Kevin Braddock hit rockbottom, he had every intention of killing himself. He recounts what happened next and reveals why so few men ask for help

Madness comes at you fast, to paraphrase the social media clich.

Keep talking: Tom Chapmans Lions Barber Collective is turning a network of barber shops into safe spaces for men to open up in.

Help came, and rapidly. Friends took me to the hospital, and my life began to change.

When Stormzy admits he, too, has struggles, it challenges the Strength Myth which men have long laboured under. Photograph: Shirlaine Forrest/WireImage

Well, Ive been ill, I told her, rather euphemistically.

Me, too, she said. Er mind if I ask what kind of ill?

Something else I know now is that we fall apart, alone and in private, but we heal together, with others, the ones who arent shocked or scared by what they see when the mask of shame is removed.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/13/why-do-men-suffer-depression-in-silence

0 notes

the-telegraph-sport-yahoopa-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Football mourns Graham Taylor: Farewell to a gentleman

Graham Taylor, 1944-2017

English football bid farewell on Thursday to Graham Taylor, the manager whose promising career never quite recovered from his England team’s failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals and yet survived the ultimate old-media excoriation with his sense of humour intact.

The death of Taylor was announced by his family, with the 72-year-old suffering a suspected heart attack. Having been held responsible for England’s one failure to reach a World Cup finals in nine editions of the tournament going back to 1978, Taylor’s was a unique position in English football but his love of the game and trenchant honesty won him many admirers.

The failed World Cup qualifying campaign, that came to a head in October 1993 when England lost their crucial penultimate qualifier 2-0 to Holland, was immortalised in the television documentary An Impossible Job, an engrossing fly-on-the-wall exposé of life as the England manager. It was the last time anyone in that position has granted unfiltered access to a high-profile role and preceded the high-stakes, high-income, PR-sensitive modern game.

It was also where Taylor coined some of the most enduring phrases in English football, “Do I not like that”, “Can we not knock it?” and “Hit Les!” His impotent fury as England went down to defeat stood as the template for the struggling, stressed-out football manager of the age and the sharply satirical Mike Bassett films borrowed heavily from it.

Yet for all the exhortations to Carlton Palmer and laments to the linesman about the standard of refereeing in the critical game in Rotterdam, An Impossible Job includes moments when Taylor’s humanity shines through. He admonishes a fan racially abusing John Barnes at Wembley with the withering line: “You’re talking about another human being so just watch your language.”

Taylor, whose father Tommy was sports editor on the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, covering the early days of Kevin Keegan’s career, never held a grudge against the media, even when The Sun put a turnip on his head after England’s elimination from the 1992 European Championship at the hands of Sweden.

From 2003, Taylor worked as a summariser for BBC Radio Five Live covering England games, and travelling with the press pack, some of whom had once demanded his sacking, was courteous, good fun and helpful to reporters. He insisted that An Impossible Job fulfilled its purpose – to show the England manager’s role as well as that of the players, fans and media as it really was.

Credit: rex

Gary Lineker, who was substituted by Taylor during England’s defeat by Sweden that sealed their exit from Euro 92, said his former manager was “an outstanding manager, lover of football and thoroughly decent man”. Playing his last game for his country, Lineker was on 48 goals, one away from Sir Bobby Charlton’s then-record of 49, and was denied a chance to save England and claim his place in the record books.

There was an affectionate, grateful tribute from Elton John, the pop star chairman of Watford in the 1970s and 1980s who appointed Taylor in 1977 and saw him lead the club from the old fourth division to the top-flight in the space of five years, where they finished second in their first season, 1982-1983.

John described Taylor as “like a brother” to him.

“He took my beloved Watford from the depths of the lower leagues to uncharted territory and into Europe. We have become a leading English club because of his managerial wisdom and genius. This is a sad and dark day for Watford. The club and the town.

Taylor never held a grudge against the the media, despite their treatment of him

“We will cherish Graham and drown our sorrows in the many brilliant memories he gave us. I love you Graham. I will miss you very much.”

Taylor was 31 when he was appointed to his first management job, at Lincoln City, who he led to the fourth division title having finished a low-key 1960s playing career there. He won four promotions at Watford, and achieved that second place finish behind Liverpool in the first division in 1983.

His team reached the 1984 FA Cup final, losing to Everton.

Although history tends to remember Taylor as a long-ball merchant, his teams were notable for the hard-running, pressing style that is back in vogue. They would put opponents under extreme pressure and he was exacting about fitness levels and discipline.

He brought through a generation of excellent young players from the Watford youth team overseen in those days by coach Tom Walley.

Among them were Kenny Jackett, Luther Blissett, Nigel Gibbs, Nigel Callaghan, Gary Porter, Steve Terry, Jimmy Gilligan, Ian Richardson and one of the greatest English players of all time, John Barnes. Barnes was discovered by the club in 1981, aged 18, playing at non-league Sudbury Court and was sold to Liverpool six years later as one of the most exciting talents in world football.

That same summer in 1987, Taylor was persuaded to drop down to the second division to take charge of the relegated Aston Villa, winning promotion at the first time of asking in 1988. They narrowly stayed up the following season and then, in 1989-1990, he again finished second in the first division, again behind Liverpool.

Taylor achieved some success as a club manager Credit: rex

Taking over England after they reached the 1990 World Cup semi-finals, he started strongly but an uninspiring performance at Euro 92 meant that the pressure grew. Defeat by Norway in World Cup qualification, and only two to progress from the group, meant it came to a climax in Rotterdam in October 1993 where England lost 2-0 in controversial circumstances.

Taylor’s complaint to the linesman, “The referee has got me the sack, thank him ever so much for that won’t you?” is the stuff of football legend and he was proved correct. He was sacked after the final qualifier against San Marino in November.

Taylor's decision to substitute Gary Lineker cost the striker his chance of matching or breaking an England goalscoring record Credit: rex

He had brief spells at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa, with five years between 1996 and 2001 at Watford where he won two promotions to take the club from the third tier into the Premier League in 1998.

After that, Taylor was best known for his work with BBC Five Live where he analysed the struggles of his successors as England manager. Remembering his own travails in the job he was always fair, and he said he never regretted taking the job or the transparency with which he approached it.

He said that at least people could see how much he cared.

3:09PM

Taylor's CV

PLAYER

1962–1968 Grimsby Town 1968–1972 Lincoln City

Taylor during his Grimsby playing days Credit: rex

MANAGER

1972–1977 Lincoln City 1977–1987 Watford 1987–1990 Aston Villa 1990–1993 England 1994–1995 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1996–2001 Watford 2002–2003 Aston Villa

3:02PM

Gazza on Taylor

Paul Gascoigne has paid tribute to Taylor, saying: "His enthusiasm for life and football was incredible."

Gascoigne was initially dropped by Taylor, which led critics of the manager to say he was unable to handle star players. A run of injuries - including the knee injury he suffered in the 1991 FA Cup final - meant he was unable to play a full part in Taylor's England reign.

Paul Gascoigne at England training with David Platt, Lee Dixon and Graham Taylor Credit: rex

The former Tottenham and Lazio star is trying to beat an addiction to alcohol but spoke fondly of Taylor when he heard the news of his death and passed on his condolences via A1 Sporting Speakers from rehab.

"I'm deeply sorry to hear about Graham Taylor. He will be a miss, and his enthusiasm for life and football was incredible. My thoughts go out to his family," he said in a statement.

2:53PM

'He got the best out of people'

Lawrie McMenemy, Taylor's England assistant manager, has paid tribute on BBC Radio Five Live: "I am really just trying to get over the shock. He was a good, solid fellow.

"He took Watford through all four divisions to second top in the top flight.

"He was ready and capable of doing the England job when he got it. He was a good man-manager, he got the best out of people."

Credit: reuters

2:43PM

Photo memories

There are so many cracking photos of Taylor that leave you smiling simply in response to the grin on his face.

Here he is when Watford manager with Luther Blissett in 1978:

Credit: rex

With Gazza in 1992:

Credit: rex

Leading his England players on a run in 1992:

Credit: getty images

And eyeballing a racing pigeon in 1990:

Credit: rex

2:33PM

More tributes...

Gordon Taylor, a playing contemporary and chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association since 1981, told BBC Radio Five Live: "It's a real shock. He was a real gentleman. I've known him since we were both 15 at England schoolboy trials.

"It was sad the way that the England job turned out for him, but that's happened to a lot of England managers.

"He was a real quality human being. He cared about his fellow professionals and the good of the game. He should be remembered as a man who added to the game, who really showed his ability as a manager.

"He thought a lot about the game, was in his own mould. I'm proud and privileged to have been able to call him a friend."

Former England international Peter Shilton, who worked as goalkeeping coach in Taylor's backroom staff with the national team, said: "The way he came through from the grassroots at Lincoln all the way to the England job, mark him out as a real football man and I always liked and respected him.

"He had his own style, of course, but he really knew and loved the game and I enjoyed working with him. He was a true football man."

2:27PM

Look at that smile

There is no shortage of wonderful images being shared on social media and this short clip is up there with the best of them.

Look at that smile pic.twitter.com/iTWsAfBS1Z

— Ollie Trenchard (@OllieTrenchard) January 12, 2017

2:20PM

Lovely words from Sir Elton

I am deeply saddened and shocked to hear about Graham's passing. He was like a brother to me. We shared an unbreakable bond since we first met. We went on an incredible journey together and it will stay with me forever. He took my beloved Watford from the depths of the lower leagues to unchartered territory and into Europe. We have become a leading English club because of his managerial wisdom and genius. This is a sad and dark day for Watford. The club and the town. We will cherish Graham and drown our sorrows in the many brilliant memories he gave us. I love you Graham. I will miss you very much. My thoughts go out to Rita, Joanne, Karen and the whole Taylor family. @watfordfcofficial #GrahamTaylor #RIP

A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Jan 12, 2017 at 6:00am PST

2:15PM

More than just a football man

Beyond football, Graham Taylor worked very hard to get Paul McGrath and Elton John through alcoholism.

Devestated to hear of Graham's sad passing, what a gentleman. In my darkest days himself and Rita were always there for me #RipGrahamAHero

— Paul McGrath (@Paulmcgrath5) January 12, 2017

2:09PM

Returning to his beloved Watford

After his England nightmare, and a brief period at Wolves, Graham Taylor returned for a second spell at Watford, where he recovered his old touch with back-to-back promotions to the Premier League.

This time, however, the Hornets could not avoid relegation and Taylor announced his decision to retire in 2001 - although not before becoming only the third manager to oversee 1,000 league games in England, following Brian Clough and Jim Smith.

Credit: ACTION IMAGES

In retirement, Taylor spent his time working as a television and radio pundit for the BBC while also helping Watford through a period of financial difficulty.

He served as the club's chairman from 2009 until 2012 and a stand at Vicarage Road was renamed the Graham Taylor Stand in his honour in 2014.

Taylor remained a cherished contributor to the town's charity and community events and he was made an Honorary Freeman of the borough in 2001. He leaves his wife Rita and two daughters, Joanne and Karen.

2:03PM

Tributes continue to flood in...

Completely shocked by news of Graham Taylor. Always held him in the very highest regard - the man who gave me my first @england cap. So sad.

— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) January 12, 2017

A sad day for football Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Graham Taylor May he rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/T5HBd6fuxu

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) January 12, 2017

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former @England manager Graham Taylor.

— The FA (@FA) January 12, 2017

We are deeply saddened today by news of the death of our former manager Graham Taylor. RIP Graham. #AVFCpic.twitter.com/QCU1cCzCxN

— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) January 12, 2017

Sad news about Graham Taylor . Had so much respect for him . Gave me my premier league debut and I will always be thankful .

— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) January 12, 2017

1:59PM

Humble beginnings

Taylor began his career in football as a player with Grimsby before having a spell with Lincoln and then moving into management with the latter club.

We are saddened to hear of the passing of former GTFC player & England manager, Graham Taylor. Our thoughts are with Graham's family. #GTFCpic.twitter.com/2ddDuMVtst

— Grimsby Town FC (@officialgtfc) January 12, 2017

1:57PM

Graham Taylor - England manager

It's safe to say Taylor's appointment as national team manager was not everyone's liking. However, early about his lack of major trophies eased when England lost just once in his first 21 games at the helm, but things quickly turned sour at Euro 92 when a surprise 2-1 defeat to Sweden ensured the team failed to make it out of their group.

Taylor was heavily criticised for his decision to substitute Gary Lineker with the score at 1-1.

Credit: GETTY IMAGES

An ageing and injury-afflicted England then failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup following a miserable campaign that included crucial defeats to Norway and Holland.

Key absentees and unfortunate refereeing decisions certainly played their part but Taylor never extracted the maximum from his most talented players and later admitted the job came too soon in his coaching career. A television documentary, granted behind-the-scenes access to Taylor's final months in charge, revealed in graphic detail the strain he had endured.

youtube

1:46PM

The man who worked the Watford miracle

Graham Taylor had gained a reputation as one of the country's brightest young coaches and in 1977 was approached by Watford chairman Elton John, who had initially wanted Bobby Moore, but turned to Taylor on the glowing recommendation of England manager Don Revie.

Taylor was not immediately convinced. After all, Watford were languishing in the Fourth Division, from which he had just earned promotion, and when John stated his ambition for the Hornets to be playing in Europe, Taylor rolled his eyes.

Graham Taylor with Elton John

Hoping to dampen the pop star's lofty expectations, Taylor said it would cost the club almost a million pounds.

"Right, let's give it a go," John replied.

Five seasons and three promotions later, Watford had finished second in the First Division, ahead of Manchester United, and qualified for the Uefa Cup.

It was one of the most rapid and remarkable surges English football has ever seen. Inspired by the young winger John Barnes and a lethal striker in Luther Blissett, Watford beat Arsenal twice, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton.

They finished runners-up, second only to Bob Paisley's Liverpool, while Blissett ended the campaign top scorer with 27 goals in the league, 33 overall.

Graham Taylor (right) with George Reilly and Les Taylor Credit: ALAN COZZI

Taylor forged a team that was not only successful on the pitch but engaging off it, a 'community club' in the true sense of the phrase in a way that would be unrecognisable today.

Players regularly visited supporters at work, free of charge or any marketing motive, and when Taylor first arrived he took to the streets of Watford to ask fans for their views. At a time when football was plagued by hooliganism, the club stood as a beacon of cohesion and local harmony.

Taylor steered Watford to the third round of the Uefa Cup the following season as well as the FA Cup final, where they lost to Everton, but despite establishing their status in the First Division, they could never match the heady heights of 1983 and he moved to Aston Villa.

1:37PM

Wolves v Aston Villa

Fittingly, this weekend two of Taylor's former clubs will play each other on Saturday in the Championship - Wolves v Aston Villa at 5.30pm.

1:29PM

Tributes to Taylor

Devastated to hear the news Graham Taylor has passed away. Greatest influence on my career. My condolences to Rita and family

— Tony Daley MSc (@TonyDaley7) January 12, 2017

Graham Taylor: a charming man, and very kind. His time with England might have soured him. He refused to let that happen.

— Paul Hayward (@_PaulHayward) January 12, 2017

Absolutely gutted to hear the news about Graham Taylor - what an absolute gentleman

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) January 12, 2017

Met him many times - a true gent and entertaining company. RIP Graham Taylor. https://t.co/LyB9PcyWWk

— Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) January 12, 2017

Very sad to hear the news about Graham Taylor. A @WatfordFC legend and an absolute gentleman

— Ashley Young (@youngy18) January 12, 2017

Terrible news about Graham Taylor. My thoughts are with is family #RIP

— Ray Parlour (@RealRomfordPele) January 12, 2017

1:24PM

BREAKING NEWS - Graham Taylor has died

Former Aston Villa and England manager Graham Taylor has died, aged 72.

The Birmingham Mail announced the news earlier this afternoon.

Taylor was a defender for Grimsby and Lincoln City before becoming a manager when he took over the latter in 1972.

He also had two spells at both Watford and Aston Villa - leading both to the runners-up spots in the old First Division - as well as having a stint at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Taylor was appointed England manager in 1990 and spent just over three years at the helm of the national team.

Graham Taylor life and times

#_revsp:the_telegraph_818 #_author:Sam Wallace #_uuid:b7a0e2c8-ff8f-38cb-b7c0-87c4ca77707b #_category:yct:001000001 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000G6gZREAZ #sport

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newstfionline · 8 years ago

Text

Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America’s Opioid Crisis

NY Times, Jan. 6, 2017

Opioid addiction is America’s 50-state epidemic. It courses along Interstate highways in the form of cheap smuggled heroin, and flows out of “pill mill” clinics where pain medicine is handed out like candy. It has ripped through New England towns, where people overdose in the aisles of dollar stores, and it has ravaged coal country, where addicts speed-dial the sole doctor in town licensed to prescribe a medication.

Public health officials have called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 33,000 people in 2015. Overdose deaths were nearly equal to the number of deaths from car crashes. In 2015, for the first time, deaths from heroin alone surpassed gun homicides.

And there’s no sign it’s letting up, a team of New York Times reporters found as they examined the epidemic on the ground in states across the country. Here are their stories.

MARBLEHEAD, MASS. In Suburbia, ‘Tired of Everything’ Katie Harvey walked out of the house where she lived with friends, shoved her duffel bag into her mother’s car and burst into tears.

“I need to go to detox,” she told her mother, Maureen Cavanagh. “I’m just tired of everything.”

Ms. Harvey, 24, had been shooting heroin for three years. She had been in and out of detox--eight times altogether. But it had always been someone else’s idea.

This time, Ms. Harvey made the arrangements herself. She had come to loathe her life. “I haven’t even been doing enough to get really high,” she said. “I’m just maintaining myself so I don’t get sick.”

Before she left for detox, Ms. Harvey curled up on the couch in her mother’s living room in this well-to-do suburb north of Boston and reflected on her life: her low self-esteem despite model-worthy good looks; her many lies to her family; how she had pawned her mother’s jewelry and had sex with strange men for money to pay for drugs.

As she spoke, tears spilled from her eyes. She wiped them with the cuff of her sweater, which covered track marks and a tattoo that said “freedom”--her goal, to be unshackled from the prison of addiction.

Ms. Harvey had been a popular honors student. But she developed anorexia. Alcohol was next. By 21, she was hooked on heroin.

In 2015, she was arrested on charges of prostitution. In an extraordinary act of contrition, she wrote a public apology online to her friends and family.

Still, she plunged in deeper. She estimated that at her worst, she was shooting up a staggering number of times a day, perhaps as many as 15--heroin, cocaine, fentanyl. She overdosed five times. In Massachusetts, almost five residents die every day from overdoses.

“I don’t know how I’m alive, honestly,” Ms. Harvey said.

That night in October, she went into detox. Four days later, she checked out. She went back to her friends and drugs, developing an abscess on her arm, probably from dirty needles.

Two weeks later, she was back in detox. This time, she stayed, then entered a 30-day treatment program.

The return trips to detox have been an emotional roller coaster for her mother. To cope, Ms. Cavanagh founded a group, Magnolia New Beginnings, to help drug users and their families.

Among her words of advice: Tell your children you love them, because “it might be the last thing you say to them.”--Katharine Q. Seelye

MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA Help May Be Thin on the Ground Andrea Steen is one of the fortunate ones. For people in this rural community of 28,000, getting medication to help overcome opioid addiction used to require long drives to treatment centers.

That changed about a year ago when two doctors here were licensed to prescribe Suboxone, a drug that eases withdrawal symptoms and helps keep opioid cravings at bay. Now Ms. Steen is one of their patients, coming once a month to check in and renew her prescription.

This epidemic is different from those of the past in significant ways. One is that it has spawned a growing demand for medications that can help modify addiction’s impact.

One of them is naloxone, known as Narcan, a powerful antidote that has jolted hundreds of overdosed users back to life. Another is buprenorphine, typically sold as Suboxone.

By keeping users from experiencing cravings and withdrawal, Suboxone can make it easier for addicts to stay off heroin and other opioids. The number of doctors certified to prescribe buprenorphine has more than doubled since 2011, to about 36,000 from about 16,000, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Yet the drug remains out of reach for many rural Americans.

Ms. Steen, 46, is among 20 patients who get Suboxone from the two doctors authorized to prescribe it here. Until last summer, she said, she abused Vicodin and morphine relentlessly. She would steal them from her disabled husband, who would try in vain to hide them. But sometimes she couldn’t root out the pills fast enough, and she would experience what every addict dreads most: withdrawal.

She heard about Suboxone from a friend in Tennessee whom she met through Facebook.

“She could tell when I was high,” Ms. Steen said. “Her husband was on Suboxone. She was trying to help me.”

Ms. Steen started on Suboxone in July, initially making weekly visits to Dr. Nicole Gastala and Dr. Timothy Swinton, the family practitioners here who prescribe the drug. Then it was every other week.

Unlike methadone, which also helps treat opioid addiction but must be taken under supervision at special clinics, Suboxone can be taken at home. Some doctors fail to follow Suboxone patients closely, or to test their urine to make sure they are not abusing or selling the medication or using other drugs. But the protocol here is strict.

Besides her doctor visits, Ms. Steen must attend group therapy and have regular urine tests.

She has mostly stopped craving opioids, for now.--Abby Goodnough

LOS ANGELES Tough-Love Rehab They enter through an unmarked turquoise storefront, nestled between fashion boutiques on Melrose Avenue. They gather in a circle, ready for the tough-love approach they have come to expect from Howard C. Samuels, a clinical psychologist who runs the Hills, a drug rehabilitation center whose location is central to its marketing.

A spot in the room is hard to come by, as are most drug rehabilitation services, especially for the poor and anyone without the proper insurance. The Hills, which can cost around $50,000, serves a more privileged population, yet its mission is no less daunting.

In 2014, heroin became the most common reported drug of choice among those seeking treatment in Los Angeles County, surpassing marijuana and methamphetamine.

Dr. Samuels began with what he called a reality check. “How many of you have been to at least five treatment centers?” he asked. Nearly every one of the 19 clients in the room raised a hand.

“How about 10?” Still half of the clients raised their hands.

One of them, Jordan, who agreed to tell his story only if his last name was not disclosed, knows he is one of the lucky ones. This is only his third time in rehab, a relative rookie at 33 years old. This was his 118th day sober.

He had smoked pot, taken ecstasy and occasionally snorted cocaine. But heroin seemed off-limits to him, a college-educated son of two therapists, until a friend offered him some to smoke. Four years later, he blew through a $20,000 inheritance in a month to get what he called the best heroin in the city.

After his first days of detox were over at the Hills, Jordan began what would be months of therapy. He confronted what Dr. Samuels calls “character defects,” and rattles his off easily: lust, anger, lack of discipline.

On this day, he knows he will draw the wrath of Dr. Samuels: Subverting the rules, he recently went out for his seventh tattoo. “My addiction has been replaced with addiction to other things: going to the gym, smoking, girls, getting tattoos.”

“Don’t you owe me an apology?” Dr. Samuels said to him, almost shouting.

Jordan answered quietly: “Yeah, I guess I owe you and some people an apology.”

“I’m glad you’re apologizing to me. That’s good, but what’s bad is, it came so naturally,” Dr. Samuels said.

“All of us have some real impulse control problems,” he continued. “That’s why we’re drug addicts.”--Jennifer Medina

SEATTLE ‘For the Grace of God, There Go I’ The girl looked to be barely out of her teens, and was teetering on the brink of consciousness.

“She couldn’t even form a sentence,” said Dan Manus, a soft-spoken 61-year-old in a Seattle Seahawks cap. His jaw tightened as he recalled the night in October when he and his partner on the King County Emergency Service Patrol found the girl and, he thinks, saved her life.

A former addict, he knows the terrain too well. He’s been clean for 22 years now, and working for the county for the last nine.

“I can relate to everybody I work with down there, because for the grace of God, there go I,” Mr. Manus said, standing in the patrol parking lot between runs. “So, yeah, I feel like this kind of was my calling.”

The Emergency Service Patrol was established in the 1980s by a private charity (later taken over by King County) to rescue street alcoholics by bringing them to a safe “sobering center” to sleep it off.

In October, though, in an acknowledgment of heroin’s new ravages--treatment admissions for heroin in King County surpassed alcohol for the first time in 2015--Mr. Manus and other patrol crew members were trained and equipped with naloxone.

“Harm reduction” is an approach that was to some degree pioneered here. One of the nation’s first clean-needle exchanges started in nearby Tacoma in 1988.

King County is now considering opening what could be the country’s first safe-injection site. There, addicts could use drugs under supervision by a health worker who may, crucially, also open the door to recovery programs, all under one roof.

For Mr. Manus, the crisis is personal. In 1992, he was saved from death by someone who found him in mid-overdose and called paramedics.

Seattle was a different, harder-edged city back then. Grunge music, and the heroin that swirled like a slipstream through the lives and song lyrics of some of its stars, was spilling out of the clubs.

The mix of drugs was changing, too. Heroin’s impact in King County surged in the late 1990s in the number of times it was identified in connection with a drug death, before beginning a near decade-long slide--a period that coincided with an increase in the number of times prescription opioids were found in victims’ bodies, which peaked in 2009. In that same year, heroin’s role began rising again to hit its highest-ever, worst numbers in 2014 with a drop since then, according to county figures.

More people lately seem to be on complex combinations of drugs, Mr. Manus said--like the girl who, at his direction, was treated by paramedics.

“It just seems today that there’s so much more out there, so many more people,” Mr. Manus said quietly. “It feels nonstop.”--Kirk Johnson

NOGALES, ARIZ. Outwitting the Mules A tipster warned: Look out for a silver Nissan Sentra approaching the busy Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz., a crucial gateway for cheap heroin made in Mexico.

Early one morning, the Nissan rolled into passport control. A Customs and Border Protection officer caught the telltale signs of a driver who had something to hide: the darting eyes, the tight grip on the steering wheel.

The driver carried a border-crossing card, an entry permission given only to Mexican citizens. He also carried his wife and two small children and a load of heavy drugs: four pounds of methamphetamine in the passenger’s backrest, and seven and a half pounds of heroin between the engine and the dashboard.

Last year, Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than 930 pounds of heroin in Arizona, which is almost one-third of all heroin seized along the entire southern border. Agents acknowledge that they catch only a small fraction of what goes through.

Much of the heroin that enters this country comes hidden in cars, concealed in suitcases, squeezed inside hollowed fire extinguishers, or strapped to the thighs, crotches and chests of Mexicans and Americans who cross between the two countries.

To the special agents assigned to Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, mules are the first link of a knotted chain that may or may not lead to the agents’ ultimate prize: a top drug trafficker.

“It’s about preventing the narcotics from entering the community,” said Jesus Lozania, the agent in charge in Nogales. “It’s taking down the organization from the bottom all the way to the top: the mules, the people who coordinate the logistics, the persons who handle the money after the narcotics are sold in the United States. That cash has to make its way back to Mexico.”

It is about building conspiracy cases bit by bit.

That morning at the border, three special agents noticed the black letters stamped on the bricks of heroin: LEY. “That’s probably from the Chino Leys, probably Sinaloa,” said one of the agents, who declined to provide his name because he works undercover.

The Chino Leys, he said, are one of the drug distribution organizations in the Sinaloa cartel, which controls the routes that slice through Arizona, aimed for the Northeast. Cleveland, New York and New Jersey are main destinations for Sinaloa’s heroin these days.

The driver said he had borrowed his cousin’s car to come to Nogales to buy sweaters. The disbelieving agent pressed on. The driver crossed his arms.

“The guy’s not talking,” the agent said.--Fernanda Santos

HUNTINGTON, UTAH Staying Clean in the High Desert As she drives to work each morning, past horse ranches and nodding oil pumps, Marsha World stops to give her son, Kolton, a pale yellow pill to help keep him off heroin for another day.

There are few options for drug treatment in the high desert of central Utah, a remote expanse of struggling coal mines, white-steepled Mormon towns and some of the country’s highest opiate death rates.

The lone doctor licensed to prescribe one addiction-treating drug has a waiting list. The main detox center is the county jail. So mothers like Ms. World occupy the lonely front lines of a heroin crisis that has reached deep into the remotest corners of rural America.

The sun was just skimming over the sagebrush hills when Ms. World climbed out of her car and palmed that day’s naltrexone pill for her 30-year-old son. Unlike other medications Mr. World has taken over 11 years of addiction and rehab, jail and relapse, this one seemed to help.

Mr. World was in a treatment program ordered by the local drug court, and Ms. World had promised the judge she would keep the pills at her house and bring one to him. Every day.

The rate of prescription overdose deaths among the 32,000 people sprinkled across two neighboring counties in this corner of Utah is nearly four times the state average. Addiction has rippled through ranks of miners who relied on pain pills after years of digging coal and working in the power plants.

Karen Dolan, who runs the Four Corners Behavioral Health center in the nearby town of Price, the only substance-abuse facility for miles, said three of her staff members had lost family members to addiction. At the power plant where her husband works, some of his co-workers’ family members have died of overdoses. Heroin accounts for 31 percent of the clinic’s admissions, up from 3 percent in 2010.

“People call every day and say, ‘Do you have an opening?’” Ms. Dolan said. “We don’t have any money to pay for medication-assisted treatment, and we don’t have prescribers to provide treatment.”

After years struggling with heroin addiction in Salt Lake City, Mr. World moved back in 2013, to the community where he had grown up in a loving family that went to Mormon services on weekends. (He is no longer a part of the church.)

But it was no sanctuary. When Mr. World found a stray Chihuahua on the road a few months ago, it turned out the dog’s young owner was in jail because of an opiate addiction. And getting drugs here proved just as easy as in the city: One Facebook message to an acquaintance did it.

But it has been more than 300 days since he last used. His days now are work, therapy, random drug tests at the sheriff’s office and morning visits from Mom.

“Love you,” she said after he took his pill. She hugged her son and his boyfriend goodbye, and drove to her job at the dry cleaner.--Jack Healy

MILWAUKEE In the End, Uncomprehending Sometimes they call themselves “the last responders.”

They work in the county medical examiner’s office, in a low-slung brick building downtown in the shadow of an old Pabst factory. Here is where they take over after a drug addiction has been more powerful than pleas from family, 12-step programs or even Narcan.

“We’re the end of the line,” said Sara Schreiber, the forensic technical director, walking through the autopsy rooms to talk about the office’s part in the opioid addiction epidemic--a crisis that has hit especially hard here.

Last year, 299 people in Milwaukee County died of drug-related overdoses. One of them was the medical examiner’s own son.

Adam Peterson died in September at the age of 29, found unresponsive in a friend’s apartment. “At this time I am not speaking publicly about Adam’s death, and I appreciate your forbearance as my wife and I work through this issue,” his father, Brian L. Peterson, the medical examiner, wrote in an email.

Dr. Peterson has continued his work despite his grief. He oversees a staff of nearly 30 people--administrators, toxicologists and laboratory employees--who have perhaps never been more overwhelmed. They are confronting a surge of drug-related deaths in Milwaukee County, the most populous county in Wisconsin, with nearly one million people in the city and suburbs.

They have witnessed an alarming rise in drug-related deaths for years now: 251 deaths in 2014, 255 in 2015, and they surpassed those figures in 2016. Dr. Peterson’s son was among those who died last summer in a surge of overdoses that in seven weeks took more than 70 lives.

Ms. Schreiber has witnessed much of the epidemic. The victims have been mostly middle-aged; more male than female; more white than black.

As she walked through the laboratory, she pointed out the epidemic’s effects. Now, the machines that analyze blood to help determine the ever-more-toxic blends of drugs are running far more often. They’re juggling more cases and analyzing more specimens than before.

Ms. Schreiber and her colleagues struggle with questions that they cannot answer. What can they do to stem the epidemic? How can they influence people while they are still alive?

It’s hard to know where to begin, she said. “You can’t outrun it.”--Julie Bosman

#opiod epidemic #addiction #drug-related deaths #drug treatment

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