Mac Miller was probably the worst one… I’m a little younger than him and watching his career from early on felt like watching an older brother develop and making it big. He made the soundtrack to most of my youth.

Freddy Mercury, for sure.

Not a celebrity, kind of like @pedz@lemmy.ca, but Daniel Naroditsky.

I did not expect his death would affect me as much as it did. Fuck K.

David Bowie. I really mourned him, didn't expect to feel so strongly about someone I never met. Feel like the world got significantly duller and darker since he took off.

Initially I was upset when I heard about John Peel passing away because I listened to him so much - possibly more his Home Truths show on Radio 4 than the Peel Sessions for which he was better known. Listening to him talk to regular people about their lives was a regular feature of my Saturday mornings.

Later I learned about his sexual abuse of teenagers and now don't care about him at all.

Hearing about Rush Limbaugh's death made me smile pretty big.

Sean Lock

The first time I've felt genuine shock at a celebrity death, RIP undisputed Carrot in a Box champion

Steve albini. I'm still not over it tbh.

Terry Pratchett

Robin Williams

Damn. Hard call. There's only been a few that have hit me because I don't really have a parasocial connection to anyone to any degree worth mentioning.

That being said, the three that made me actually cry were Vonnegut, Kris Kristofferson, and Chester Bennington.

Chester, I was listening to the one more light album when I found out, so it hit extra hard.

Vonnegut though, he more than any other writer made me think and want to create with words. He shaped how I view literature and think about writing. So his death hit harder than most.

Kristofferson, it's that I had known it was coming. He'd already been lost to a great degree, but I had been low key dreading the news because he's so damn iconic. He's the kind of poet I wish I could be. And his music was also damn good lol. Also, he's symbolic of an era of music that's disappeared, and as the last of the highwaymen have died, with only one left there's this hole in the world that isn't likely to be filled now that the entire music industry has fallen into disarray. It's much harder for that kind of poet bard to exist and have their music spread now. In any genre, btw; the same difficulties exist in folk, metal, rap, etc.

Anyway, those are the ones that made me cry as a grown-ass man. I suspect I'll shed another tear when Willie goes, and I know I'm gonna fall apart a little when Dolly does. Luckily, the next wave of writers and musicians that I'd likely cry over are a good twenty years younger (or more) than them, so I'll have a break after that. Likely be dead myself before most of the others would go.

Chadwick Boseman. I was 24 when he died. I'm mixed and a huge nerd. He was one of the first times I saw representation like that in a comic book hero in a movie or TV show. T'Challa was a king, and his death came out of nowhere

Chris Cornell hit hard especially when you go back and listen to his lyrics.

Taking the question literally, I'll say Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Anthony Bourdain

Steve Irwin

I don't know if he counts as a celebrity but, Aaron Schwartz.

A couple I haven't seen yet but both were impactful to me: Prince and David Bowie. Both deaths felt so close in time together and came by complete surprise.

Phil Hartman

Akira Toriyama

Mitch Hedberg

Anton Yelchin was so goddamn young and had an entire career ahead of him.

Trevor Moore

Probably Chris Cornell. (I'm old)

Frank Zappa and Christopher Hitchens. Maybe not personally, but i really feel like there are some losses that the world doesn't realize.

Andre Braugher

Kurt Cobain

Jimi Hendrix

Ozzy Ozbourne.

Billy Mays.