Laura
Exactly six years ago yesterday, Laura Nyro died.
For me and maybe even millions of others, she was the greatest composer of 20th century pop music. Her work was the soundtrack of my youth and the lyrics and melodies still brighten days. (Try Eli, First, Walk).
She drew from rock, jazz, R&B, pop, country, gospel, Broadway - every musical genre in a nation she knew very little of - and worked absolute magic. Barbra Streisand and the Fifth Dimension had hits with many of her songs, but Laura put the heart and soul behind them.
I can't even say or write too much about her or I start weeping.
I can show you the exact spot on Delaware Street in Tonawanda where I was when I heard the news. I was devastated. Just like her mother, she died at age 49 of cervical cancer.
She was 10 years older than I am. I never met her. She was temperamental and quirky, had a dreadful Bronx accent you could cut with a knife, and probably ruined her career prematurely with drugs,
She was a genius.
"I look at you and see the passion eyes of May."
-M!