Photo: Ron T. Young with Kyle Simmons (from her Facebook page) | By Alison Berg, RMPBS | Crowds silenced and jaws dropped when Kyle Simmons took a stage. From small, local bars to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Simmons’ piercing voice, songwriting skills and stage presence are left in the hearts of those who are celebrating her life after she died Sunday. She was 34 years old and died of acute liver failure.
Simmons grew up in Denver. At 17 years old, she formed her first band called A Girl Named Kyle. The band played venues around the city and sold out Bluebird Theater, which set her on track for a successful music career touring around Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.
At a vigil for Simmons on Monday at Blush & Blu, a Denver lesbian bar, friends shared their favorite memories of performing together, growing in their musical careers and feeling welcomed by her warm and inviting presence.
“I know that her music will live on, and I think it’s a good reminder to just live your life to the fullest and leave it all on the stage,” said Sarah Slaton, a friend of Simmons and another queer musician in Denver. “Whatever your version of the stage is, just give it your all.”
Simmons was best-known for her lead-singer role in Speakeasy Tiger, a Denver-based rock-electro band, which she left in 2010. She also performed with other bands, including Take to the Oars, who she took the stage with at Red Rocks.
Ryan Gombeski, a member of Take to the Oars, said the energy at Red Rocks changed when Simmons took the stage, as fans were pulled in by her magnetic charm.
“Her voice was just so haunting and unmistakable and distinct,” Gombeski said. “There’s no one like her, in this scene or any scene that I’ve heard.”
As a lesbian musician, Simmons also brought queer representation to Denver’s musical world, which other musicians said will be part of her lasting legacy.
“I think she set an example for people in the queer scene, whether they’re artists or not,” Slaton said. “People want to see visibility and see a reflection of themselves on stage, and she gave that to a lot of people and inspired people to do that themselves.”
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Read the rest of the tribute here:
https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/denver-musicians-queer-community-celebrate-life-and-mourn-loss-of-late-musician/
Alison Berg is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at alisonberg@rmpbs.org.
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Our music community continues to lose our talented artists. We are going to miss them so much. If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
October 2022
26: Lia Origoni, 103, Italian singer and stage actress.
25: Zuzana Burianová, 75, Czech singer and actress (Hospital at the End of the City, My Sweet Little Village, Návštevníci) (death announced on this date); Branislav Hronec, 81, Slovak composer, pianist and conductor; Paul Stoddard, American singer (Diecast).
24: Christine Farnon, 97, American music industry executive; Leslie Jordan*, 67, American actor (Will & Grace, Hearts Afire, Call Me Kat), Emmy winner (2006), and singer (Gospel); Gregg Philbin, 75, American rock bassist (REO Speedwagon).
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Jordan
https://thelesliejordan.com/about/
23: Don Edwards, 86, American cowboy singer; Libor Pešek, 89, Czech conductor (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, CNSO, Slovak Philharmonic); Galina Pisarenko, 88, Russian opera singer (Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, Komische Oper Berlin) and voice teacher (Moscow Conservatory).
22: Luiz Galvão, 87, Brazilian songwriter (Novos Baianos); Rodney Graham, 73, Canadian visual artist and musician.
21: Zuri Craig, 44, American actor and singer (America’s Got Talent); Robert Gordy, 91, American music publishing executive and actor (Lady Sings the Blues).
20: Atarah Ben-Tovim, 82, British flautist, cancer; Bettye Crutcher, 83, American songwriter (“Who’s Making Love”); Lucy Simon, 82, American composer (The Secret Garden) and folk singer (The Simon Sisters), Grammy winner (1981, 1983), breast cancer; Tsin Ting, 88, Taiwanese singer and voice actress (Diau Charn, The Love Eterne, The Mermaid).
19: Koji Nakamoto, 81, Japanese actor (Yawara!, Asako I & II), comedian, and guitarist (The Drifters), traffic collision; Geoff Nuttall, 56, Canadian violinist (St. Lawrence String Quartet); Joanna Simon, 85, American opera singer, thyroid cancer.
18: Franco Gatti, 80, Italian singer, guitarist and keyboardist (Ricchi e Poveri); Robert Gordon, 75, American rockabilly singer.
17: Michael Ponti, 84, German pianist.
16: Nosfe, 37, Romanian rapper, heart attack.
15: Noel Duggan, 73, Irish musician (Clannad, The Duggans); Mikaben, 41, Haitian singer, songwriter, and producer, cardiac arrest; Marty Sammon, 45, American blues pianist (Buddy Guy); Joyce Sims, 63, American R&B singer-songwriter (“Come Into My Life”); Thomas Sleeper, 66, American composer and conductor, complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
14: Mariana Nicolesco, 73, Romanian operatic soprano.
13: Fuzzy, 83, Danish composer (Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day); Verckys Kiamuangana Mateta, 78, Congolese saxophonist and composer; Christina Moser, 70, Swiss singer and composer (Krisma); Steve Roberts, 68, British drummer (U.K. Subs), suicide (death announced on this date); Mike Schank, 53, American musician and actor (American Movie, Storytelling, Hamlet A.D.D.), cancer.
12: Bernardo Adam Ferrero, 80, Spanish composer, conductor and musicologist; Monsta O, 56, American rapper (Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.).
11: Dame Angela Lansbury, 96, British-American-Irish actress (The Manchurian Candidate, Sweeney Todd, Murder, She Wrote) and singer, five-time Tony winner; Willie Spence*, 23, American singer (American Idol), traffic collision.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Spence [We are very saddened by this loss. Willie was a really cool guy and a great singer.]
10: Leon Schidlowsky, 91, Chilean-Israeli composer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2022
Denver Musicians, Queer Community Celebrate Life and Mourn Loss of Late Musician Kyle Simmons // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
