25: Shannon Hoon (9/26/67-10/21/95) "Change" for my new gallery "Telling
Stories from the Grave" and the November Song Titles/One Artist Challenge.



"But I know we can't all stay here forever,
So I want to write my words on the face of today
...And then they'll paint it
And oh as I fade away,
They'll all look at me and say, they'll say,
"Hey look at him and where he is these days."
When life is hard, you have to change."

Hoon, born in Lafayette, IN, was an American singer-songwriter and musician.
He was the frontman and lead singer of the band Blind Melon. In July 1995,
Hoon and his girlfriend, Lisa Crouse, had a daughter named Nico Blue. Before
the birth of his daughter, Hoon entered rehab again. In August, Blind Melon
planned to tour to support their album Soup, so Hoon allowed a drug counselor
to accompany him on the road. The counselor, unable to keep Hoon from relapsing,
was dismissed days before Hoon's death.

After a disappointing performance in Houston, Hoon launched himself into an
all-night drug binge. The next day, on October 21, 1995, Blind Melon was
scheduled to play a show in New Orleans at Tipitina's. The band's sound
engineer, Owen Orzack, went to the tour bus to wake up Hoon for a sound check
but was unable to rouse him. An ambulance arrived, and Hoon was pronounced dead
on the scene, at the age of 28. The cause of death was attributed to a cocaine
overdose. Such a colorful free spirit lost to the trappings of fame.