The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. The long-held theory that the Black Death was an outbreak of plague caused by the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis'' had been challenged by a number of scholars from the 1970s, but has been supported by genetical studies published since 2010. Thought to have started in China, it travelled along the Silk Road and had reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships, it spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% – 60% of Europe's population, reducing the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. This has been seen as having created a series of religious, social and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover. The plague returned at various times, killing more people, until it left Europe in the 19th century.

Overview

There have been three major outbreaks of plague. The Plague of Justinian in the 6th and 7th centuries is the first known attack on record, and marks the first firmly recorded pattern of bubonic plague. From historical descriptions, as much as 40% of the population of Constantinople died from the plague. Modern estimates suggest half of Europe's population was wiped out before the plague disappeared in the 700s. After 750, major epidemic diseases did not appear again in Europe until the Black Death of the 14th century. The Third Pandemic hit China in the 1890s and devastated India but was confined to limited outbreaks in the west.

The Black Death originated in or near China and spread by way of the Silk Road or by ship. It may have reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400.

The plague is thought to have returned at intervals with varying virulence and mortality until the 18th century. On its return in 1603, for example, the plague killed 38,000 Londoners. Other notable 17th-century outbreaks were the Italian Plague of 1629–1631, and the Great Plague of Seville (1647–1652), the Great Plague of London (1665–1666), and the Great Plague of Vienna (1679). There is some controversy over the identity of the disease, but in its virulent form, after the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720–1722, the Great Plague of 1738 (which hit Eastern Europe), and the Russian plague of 1770-1772, it seems to have gradually disappeared from Europe. By the early 19th century, the threat of plague had diminished, but it was quickly replaced by a new disease. The Asiatic cholera was the first of several cholera pandemics to sweep through Asia and Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The 14th century eruption of the Black Death had a drastic effect on Europe's population, irrevocably changing the social structure. It was, arguably, a serious blow to the Catholic Church, and resulted in widespread persecution of minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars, and lepers. The uncertainty of daily survival has been seen as creating a general mood of morbidity, influencing people to "live for the moment", as illustrated by Giovanni Boccaccio in ''The Decameron'' (1353).

Naming

Medieval people called the catastrophe of the 14th century either the "Great Pestilence"' or the "Great Plague". Writers contemporary to the plague referred to the event as the "Great Mortality". Swedish and Danish chronicles of the 16th century described the events as "black" for the first time. Not to describe the late-stage sign of the disease, in which the sufferer's skin would blacken due to subepidermal hemorrhages and the extremities would darken with gangrene, but more likely to refer to black in the sense of glum or dreadful and to denote the terribleness and gloom of the events. The German physician and medical writer Justus Hecker suggested that a mistranslation of the Latin ''atra mors'' (terrible, or black, death) had occurred in Scandinavia when he described the catastrophe in 1832 and harsher winters with reduced harvests. In Northern Europe, new technological innovations such as the heavy plough and the three-field system were not as effective in clearing new fields for harvest as they were in the Mediterranean because the north had poor, clay-like soil. Nestorian graves dating to 1338-9 near Lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgizstan have inscriptions referring to plague and recent investigations by the Russian archeologist Chwolson show a high incidence rate and are thought by many epidemiologists to mark the outbreak of the epidemic, from which they could easily have spread to China and India. In October 2010, medical geneticists confirmed that the plague came from China. In China, the 13th century Mongol conquest disrupted farming and trading, and led to widespread famine starting in 1331 with plague arriving soon after. The population dropped from approximately 120 to 60 million. The 14th-century plague killed an estimated 25 million Chinese and other Asians during the 15 years before it entered Constantinople in 1347.

The disease may have travelled along the Silk Road with Mongol armies and traders or it could have come via ship. By the end of 1346 reports of plague had reached the seaports of Europe: "India was depopulated, Tartary, Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia were covered with dead bodies".

Plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe at the trading city of Caffa in the Crimea in 1347. After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants. The Genoese traders fled, taking the plague by ship into Sicily and the south of Europe, whence it spread north. Whether or not this hypothesis is accurate, it is clear that several existing conditions such as war, famine, and weather contributed to the severity of the Black Death.

European outbreak

There appear to have been several introductions into Europe. It reached Sicily in October 1347 carried by twelve Genoese galleys. where it rapidly spread all over the island. Galleys from Caffa reached Genoa and Venice in January 1348 but it was the outbreak in Pisa a few weeks later that was the entry point to northern Italy. Towards the end of January one of the galleys expelled from Italy arrived in Marseilles.

From Italy the disease spread northwest across Europe, striking France, Spain, Portugal and England by June 1348, then turned and spread east through Germany and Scandinavia from 1348 to 1350. It was introduced in Norway in 1349 when a ship landed at Askøy, then proceeded to spread to Bjørgvin (modern Bergen) but never reached Iceland. Finally it spread to north-western Russia in 1351. The plague spared some parts of Europe, including the Kingdom of Poland and isolated parts of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Middle Eastern outbreak

The plague struck various countries in the Middle East during the pandemic, leading to serious depopulation and permanent change in both economic and social structures. As it spread to western Europe, the disease also entered the region from southern Russia. By autumn 1347, the plague reached Alexandria in Egypt, probably through the port's trade with Constantinople, and ports on the Black Sea. During 1347, the disease travelled eastward to Gaza, and north along the eastern coast to cities in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, including Ashkelon, Acre, Jerusalem, Sidon, Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo. In 1348–49, the disease reached Antioch. The city's residents fled to the north, most of them dying during the journey, but the infection had been spread to the people of Asia Minor.

Mecca became infected in 1349. During the same year, records show the city of Mawsil (Mosul) suffered a massive epidemic, and the city of Baghdad experienced a second round of the disease. In 1351, Yemen experienced an outbreak of the plague. This coincided with the return of King Mujahid of Yemen from imprisonment in Cairo. His party may have brought the disease with them from Egypt.

Symptoms

Contemporary accounts of the plague are often varied or imprecise. The most commonly noted symptom was the appearance of buboes (or gavocciolos) in the groin, the neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled when opened. Boccacio's description is graphic:

"In men and women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg...From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, now minute and numerous. As the gavocciolo had been and still was an infallible token of approaching death, such also were these spots on whomsoever they showed themselves."

Ziegler comments that the only medical detail that is questionable is the infallibility of approaching death, as if the bubo discharges, recovery is possible.

This was followed by acute fever and vomiting of blood. Most victims died within two to seven days after infection. David Herlihy identifies another potential sign of the plague: freckle-like spots and rashes which could be the result of flea-bites.

Some accounts, like that of Louis Heyligen, a musician in Avignon who died of the plague in 1348, noted a distinct form of the disease which infected the lungs and led to respiratory problems and which is identified with pneumonic plague.

"It is said that the plague takes three forms. In the first people suffer an infection of the lungs, which leads to breathing difficulties. Whoever has this corruption or contamination to any extent cannot escape but will die within two days. Another form...in which boils erupt under the armpits,...a third form in which people of both sexes are attacked in the groin."

Causes

Medical knowledge had stagnated during the Middle Ages and the most authoritative account at the time came from the Medical Faculty in Paris in a report to the King of France, which blamed the heavens—a conjunction of three planets in 1345, which caused a "great pestilence in the air". This report became the first and most widely circulated of a series of "plague tracts" which sought to give advice to sufferers. That the plague was caused by bad ''air'' became the most widely accepted theory. It is important to realise that the word ''plague'' had no special significance at this time. But the recurrence of outbreaks during the Middle Ages gave it a unique reputation and the name has become the medical term.

The importance of hygiene was only recognised in the nineteenth century and until then it was common that the streets were filthy, with live animals of all sorts around and human fleas and ticks abounding. Any transmissible disease will spread easily in such conditions. One development as a result of the Black Death was the establishment of the idea of quarantine in Dubrovnik in 1377 after continuing outbreaks.

Plague

The dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to ''Yersinia pestis'', also responsible for an epidemic that began in southern China in 1865, eventually spreading to India. The investigation of the pathogen that caused the 19th-century plague was begun by teams of scientists who visited Hong Kong in 1894, among whom was Alexandre Yersin, after whom the pathogen was named ''Yersinia pestis''. The mechanism by which ''Y. pestis'' was usually transmitted was established in 1898 by Paul-Louis Simond and was found to involve the bites of fleas whose midguts had become obstructed by replicating ''Y. pestis'' several days after feeding on an infected host. This blockage results in starvation and aggressive feeding behaviour by the fleas, which repeatedly attempt to clear their blockage by regurgitation, resulting in thousands of plague bacteria being flushed into the feeding site, infecting the host. The bubonic plague mechanism was also dependent on two populations of rodents—one resistant to the disease, who act as hosts, keeping the disease endemic, and a second who lack resistance. When the second population dies, the fleas move on to other hosts, including people, thus creating a human epidemic.

The historian Francis Aidan Gasquet, who had written about the 'Great Pestilence' in 1893 and suggested that "it would appear to be some form of the ordinary Eastern or bubonic plague" was able to adopt the epidemiology of the bubonic plague for the Black Death for the second edition in 1908, implicating rats and fleas in the process, and his interpretation was widely accepted for other ancient and medieval epidemics, such as the Justinian plague that was prevalent in the Eastern Roman Empire from 541 to 700 AD.

The modern bubonic plague has a mortality rate of 30 to 75 percent and symptoms including fever of 38–41 °C (101–105 °F), headaches, painful aching joints, nausea and vomiting, and a general feeling of malaise. If untreated, of those that contract the bubonic plague, 80 percent die within eight days. Pneumonic plague has mortality rate of ninety to ninety-five percent. Symptoms include fever, cough, and blood-tinged sputum. As the disease progresses, sputum becomes free flowing and bright red. Septicemic plague is the least common of the three forms, with a mortality rate close to 100 percent. Symptoms are high fevers and purple skin patches (purpura due to disseminated intravascular coagulation). In cases of pneumonic and particularly septicemic plague the progress of the disease is so rapid that there would often be no time for the development of the enlarged lymph nodes that were noted as buboes.

"Many modern scholars accept that the lethality of the Black Death stemmed from the combination of bubonic and pneumonic plague with other diseases and warn that every historical mention of 'pest' was not necessarily bubonic plague...In her study of 15thC outbreaks, Ann Carmichael states that worms, the pox, fevers and dysentery clearly accompanied bubonic plague."

Alternative explanations

This interpretation was first significantly challenged by the work of British bacteriologist J. F. D. Shrewsbury in 1970, who noted that the reported rates of mortality in rural areas during the 14th century pandemic were inconsistent with the modern bubonic plague, leading him to conclude that contemporary accounts were exaggerations. In 1984 zoologist Graham Twigg produced the first major work to directly challenge the bubonic plague theory, and his doubts about the identity of the Black Death have been taken up by a number of authors, including Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. (2002), David Herlihy (1997), and Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan (2001).

It is recognised that an epidemiological account of the plague is as important as an identification of symptoms, but researchers are hampered by the lack of reliable statistics from this period. Most work has been done on the spread of the plague in England, and even estimates of overall population at the start vary by over 100% as no census was undertaken between the Domesday Book and 1377. Estimates of plague victims are usually extrapolated from figures for the clergy.

In addition to arguing that the rat population was insufficient to account for a bubonic plague pandemic, sceptics of the bubonic plague theory point out that the symptoms of the Black Death are not unique (and arguably in some accounts may differ from bubonic plague); that transference via fleas in goods was likely to be of marginal significance and that the DNA testing may be flawed and have not been repeated elsewhere, despite extensive samples from other mass graves. Other arguments include: the lack of accounts of the death of rats before outbreaks of plague between the 14th and 17th centuries; temperatures that are too cold in Northern Europe for the survival of fleas; that, despite primitive transport systems, the spread of the Black Death was much faster than modern Bubonic plague; that mortality rates of the Black Death appear to be very high; that, while modern bubonic plague is largely endemic as a rural disease, the Black Death indiscriminately struck urban and rural areas; that the pattern of the Black Death, with major outbreaks in the same areas separated by between 5 and 15 years, differs from modern Bubonic plague, which often becomes endemic for decades, flaring up on an annual basis.

Walløe complains that all of these authors "take it for granted that Simond's infection model, black rat → rat flea → human, which was developed to explain the spread of plague in India, is the only way an epidemic of ''Yersinia pestis'' infection could spread", whilst pointing to several other possibilities.

A variety of alternatives to the ''Y. pestis'' have been put forward. Twigg suggested that the cause was a form of anthrax and N. F. Cantor (2001) thought it may have been a combination of anthrax and other pandemics. Scott and Duncan have argued that the pandemic was a form of infectious disease that characterise as ''hemorrhagic'' plague similar to Ebola. Archaeologist Barney Sloane has argued that there are insufficient evidence of the extinction of large number of rats in the archaeological record of on the medieval waterfront in London and that the plague spread too quickly to support the thesis that the Y. Pestis was spread from fleas on rats and argues that transmission must have been person to person. However, no single alternative solution has achieved widespread acceptance. Many scholars arguing for the ''Y. pestis'' as the major agent of the pandemic, suggest that its extent and symptoms can be explained by a combination of bubonic plague with other diseases, including typhus, smallpox and respiratory infections. In addition to the bubonic infection, others point to additional septicemic (a type of "blood poisoning") and pneumonic (an airborne plague that attacks the lungs before the rest of the body) forms of the plague, which lengthen the duration of outbreaks throughout the seasons and help account for its high mortality rate and additional recorded symptoms.

DNA evidence

However, in October 2010 the open-access scientific journal ''PloS Pathogens'' published a paper by a multinational team who undertook a new investigation into the role of ''Yersinia pestis'' in the Black Death following the disputed identification by Drancourt & Raoult in 1998. Their surveys tested for DNA and protein signatures specific for ''Y. pestis'' in human skeletons from widely distributed mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that were associated archaeologically with the Black Death and subsequent resurgences. The authors concluded that this new research, together with prior analyses from the south of France and Germany

:"...ends the debate about the etiology of the Black Death, and unambiguously demonstrates that ''Y. pestis'' was the causative agent of the epidemic plague that devastated Europe during the Middle Ages."

The study also found that there were two previously unknown but related clades (genetic branches) of the ''Y. pestis'' genome associated with medieval mass graves. These clades (which are thought to be extinct) were found to be ancestral to modern isolates of the modern ''Y. pestis'' strains ''Orientalis'' and ''Medievalis'', suggesting that the plague may have entered Europe in two waves. Surveys of plague pit remains in France and England indicate that the first variant entered Europe through the port of Marseille around November 1347 and spread through France over the next two years, eventually reaching England in the spring of 1349, where it spread through the country in three epidemics. Surveys of plague pit remains from the Dutch town of Bergen op Zoom showed that the ''Y. pestis'' genotype responsible for the pandemic that spread through the Low Countries from 1350 differed from that found in Britain and France, implying that Bergen op Zoom (and possibly other parts of the southern Netherlands) was not directly infected from England or France in AD 1349 and suggesting that a second wave of plague, different from those in Britain and France, may have been carried to the Low Countries from Norway, the Hanseatic cities or another site.

The results of the Haensch study have since been confirmed and amended. Based on genetical evidence derived from Black Death victims in the East Smithfield burial site in England, Schuenemann et al. in 2011 further conclude "that the Black Death in medieval Europe was caused by a variant of ''Y. pestis'' that may no longer exist."

Consequences

Figures for the death toll vary widely by area and from source to source as new research and discoveries come to light. It killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century. According to medieval historian Philip Daileader in 2007:

The trend of recent research is pointing to a figure more like 45% to 50% of the European population dying during a four-year period. There is a fair amount of geographic variation. In Mediterranean Europe, areas such as Italy, the south of France and Spain, where plague ran for about four years consecutively, it was probably closer to 75% to 80% of the population. In Germany and England ... it was probably closer to 20%.

The most widely accepted estimate for the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran and Syria, during this time, is for a death rate of about a third. The Black Death killed about 40% of Egypt's population. Half of Paris's population of 100,000 people had died. In Italy, Florence's population was reduced from 110,000 or 120,000 inhabitants in 1338 to 50,000 in 1351. At least 60% of Hamburg's and Bremen's population perished. Before 1350, there were about 170,000 settlements in Germany, and this had been reduced by nearly 40,000 by 1450. In 1348, the plague spread so rapidly that before any physicians or government authorities had time to reflect upon its origins, about a third of the European population had already perished. In crowded cities, it was not uncommon for as much as 50% of the population to die. Europeans living in isolated areas suffered less, whereas monks and priests were especially hard hit since they cared for the Black Death's victims.

Because 14th century healers were at a loss to explain the cause, Europeans turned to astrological forces, earthquakes, and the poisoning of wells by Jews as possible reasons for the plague's emergence. In August 1349, the Jewish communities of Mainz and Cologne were exterminated. In February of that same year, the citizens of Strasbourg murdered 2,000 Jews. By 1351, 60 major and 150 smaller Jewish communities had been destroyed. The Brotherhood of the Flagellants, a movement said to number up to 800,000, reached its peak of popularity.

Recurrence

An epidemic of plague dies out after a few months because it has no host in which the bacteria can survive. However that does not mean that there is not somewhere some surviving infection, in a rodent or flea or warm place, that acts as a reservoir so that sooner or later it breaks out again.

The plague repeatedly returned to haunt Europe and the Mediterranean throughout the 14th to 17th centuries. According to Biraben, plague was present somewhere in Europe in every year between 1346 and 1671. The Second Pandemic was particularly widespread in the following years: 1360–1363; 1374; 1400; 1438–1439; 1456–1457; 1464–1466; 1481–1485; 1500–1503; 1518–1531; 1544–1548; 1563–1566; 1573–1588; 1596–1599; 1602–1611; 1623–1640; 1644–1654; and 1664–1667. According to Geoffrey Parker, "France alone lost almost a million people to plague in the epidemic of 1628–31."

In England, in the absence of census figures, historians propose a range of pre-incident population figures from as high as 7 million to as low as 4 million in 1300, and a post-incident population figure as low as 2 million. By the end of 1350 the Black Death had subsided, but it never really died out in England. Over the next few hundred years, there were further outbreaks in 1361–62, 1369, 1379–83, 1389–93, and throughout the first half of the 15th century. An outbreak in 1471 took as much as 10-15% of the population, while the death rate of the plague of 1479-80 could have been as high as 20%. The most general outbreaks in Tudor and Stuart England seem to have begun in 1498, 1535, 1543, 1563, 1589, 1603, 1625, and 1636 and ending in with the Great Plague of London in 1665.

In 1466, perhaps 40,000 people died of plague in Paris. During the 16th and 17th centuries, plague visited Paris for almost one year out of three. The Black Death ravaged Europe for three years before it continued on into Russia, where the disease hit somewhere once every five or six years from 1350 to 1490. Plague epidemics ravaged London in 1563, 1593, 1603, 1625, 1636, and 1665, reducing its population by 10 to 30% during those years. Over 10% of Amsterdam's population died in 1623–1625, and again in 1635–1636, 1655, and 1664. There were twenty-two outbreaks of plague in Venice between 1361 and 1528. The plague of 1576-1577 killed 50,000 in Venice, almost a third of the population. Late outbreaks in central Europe included the Italian Plague of 1629–1631, which is associated with troop movements during the Thirty Years' War, and the Great Plague of Vienna in 1679. Over 60% of Norway's population died from 1348 to 1350. The last plague outbreak ravaged Oslo in 1654.

In the first half of the 17th century a plague claimed some 1,730,000 victims in Italy, or about 14% of the population. In 1656 the plague killed about half of Naples' 300,000 inhabitants. More than 1,250,000 deaths resulted from the extreme incidence of plague in 17th century Spain. The plague of 1649 probably reduced the population of Seville by half. In 1709–1713, a plague epidemic that followed the Great Northern War (1700–1721, Sweden v. Russia and allies) killed about 100,000 in Sweden, and 300,000 in Prussia. The plague killed two-thirds of the inhabitants of Helsinki, and claimed a third of Stockholm's population. Europe's last major epidemic occurred in 1720 in Marseilles. The Black Death ravaged much of the Islamic world. Plague was present in at least one location in the Islamic world virtually every year between 1500 and 1850. Plague repeatedly struck the cities of North Africa. Algiers lost 30,000–50,000 to plague in 1620–21, and again in 1654–57, 1665, 1691, and 1740–42. Plague remained a major event in Ottoman society until the second quarter of the 19th century. Between 1701 and 1750, 37 larger and smaller plague epidemics were recorded in Constantinople, and 31 between 1751 and 1800. Baghdad has suffered severely from visitations of the plague, and sometimes two-thirds of its population has been wiped out.

The Third Pandemic (1855–1959) started in China in the middle of the 19th century, spreading plague to all inhabited continents and killing 10 million people in India alone.

From 1944 through 1993, 362 cases of human plague were reported in the United States; approximately 90% of these occurred in four western states; Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Plague was confirmed in the United States from nine western states during 1995.

The plague bacterium could develop drug-resistance and again become a major health threat. The ability to resist many of the antibiotics used against plague has been found so far in only a single case of the disease in Madagascar, in 1995.

In culture

The Black Death had a profound impact on art and literature throughout the generation that experienced it. Much of the most useful manifestations of the Black Death in literature, to historians, comes from the accounts of its chroniclers. Some of these chroniclers were famous writers, philosophers and rulers such as Boccaccio and Petrarch. Their writings, however, did not reach the majority of the European population. Petrarch's work was read mainly by wealthy nobles and merchants of Italian city-states. He wrote hundreds of letters and vernacular poetry, and passed on to later generations a revised interpretation of courtly love. There was one troubadour, writing in the lyric style long out of fashion, who was active in 1348. Peire Lunel de Montech composed the sorrowful ''sirventes'' "Meravilhar no·s devo pas las gens" during the height of the plague in Toulouse.

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See also

Beak doctor costume

Black Death in England

CCR5, a human gene hypothesised to be associated with the plague

Crisis of the Late Middle Ages

Death (personification)

Global population

Globalization and disease

Plague doctor

Ring a Ring o' Roses

Cronaca fiorentina, Chronicle of Florence 14th century Black Death by Baldassarre Bonaiuti

References

Further reading

}}

Cantor, Norman F. (2001), ''In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made'', New York, Free Press.

Cohn, Samuel K. Jr., (2002), ''The Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe'', London: Arnold.

}} }}

Herlihy, D., (1997), ''The Black Death and the Transformation of the West'', Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

}}

Scott, S., and Duncan, C. J., (2001), ''Biology of Plagues: Evidence from Historical Populations'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shrewsbury, J. F. D., (1970), ''A History of Bubonic Plague in the British Isles'', London: Cambridge University Press

Twigg, G., (1984), ''The Black Death: A Biological Reappraisal'', London: Batsford.

}} 1st editions 1969.

External links

Black Death at BBC

Category:Eurasian history Category:History of Asia Category:History of the Middle East Category:Late Middle Ages Category:Pandemics Category:History of medieval medicine Category:Symbolic color Category:World history

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name	Richard Pryor
birth name	Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor
birth date	December 01, 1940
birth place	Peoria, Illinois, United States
death date	December 10, 2005
death place	Encino, California, United States
death cause	Heart attack
nationality	American
medium	Stand-up, film, television
active	1958–1999
genre	Satire, observational comedy, black comedy, Improvisational comedy, character comedy
subject	Racism, race relations, United States politics, African-American culture, human sexuality, self-deprecation, everyday life, recreational drug use
influences	Lenny Bruce, Jack Benny, Jonathan Winters, Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Redd Foxx, Paul Mooney
Influenced	George Carlin, Martin Lawrence, George Lopez, Denis Leary, Eddie Izzard, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Hicks, Robin Williams, Lewis Black Colin Quinn, Bernie Mac, Joe Rogan, Louis C.K., Patton Oswalt Artie Lange, and Jim Norton
Notable work	''That Nigger's Crazy'' ''Bicentennial Nigger'' Himself in ''Richard Pryor: Live in Concert'' and ''Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip'' Zeke Brown in ''Blue Collar'' Grover T. Muldoon in ''Silver Streak'' Harry Monroe in ''Stir Crazy'' Gus Gorman in ''Superman III''
spouse	Patricia Price (1960–1961; divorced) 1 child Shelley R. Bonis (1968–1969; divorced) 1 child Deborah McGuire (1977–1978; divorced) Jennifer Lee (1979–1982; divorced) Flynn Belaine (1986–1987; divorced) 2 children Flynn Belaine (1990–1991; divorced) Jennifer Lee (2001–2005; widow)
website	RichardPryor.com

}}

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of his era: Jerry Seinfeld called Pryor "The Picasso of our profession"; Bob Newhart has called Pryor "the seminal comedian of the last 50 years.". This legacy can be attributed, in part, to the unusual degree of intimacy Pryor brought to bear on his comedy. As Bill Cosby reportedly once said, "Richard Pryor drew the line between comedy and tragedy as thin as one could possibly paint it."

His body of work includes the concert movies and recordings ''Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin''' (1971), ''That Nigger's Crazy'' (1974), ''...Is It Something I Said?'' (1975), ''Bicentennial Nigger'' (1976), ''Richard Pryor: Live in Concert'' (1979), ''Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip'' (1982), and ''Richard Pryor: Here and Now'' (1983). He also starred in numerous films as an actor, such as ''Superman III'' (1983) but was usually in comedies such as ''Silver Streak'' (1976), and occasionally in dramatic roles, such as Paul Schrader's film ''Blue Collar'' (1978). He collaborated on many projects with actor Gene Wilder. Another frequent collaborator was actor/comedian/writer Paul Mooney.

Pryor won an Emmy Award (1973), and five Grammy Awards (1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982). In 1974, he also won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award. The first ever Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was presented to him in 1998. Pryor is listed at "Number 1" on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians.

Early life

Born in Peoria, Illinois, Pryor grew up in his grandmother's brothel, where his mother, Gertrude Thomas, practiced prostitution. His father, LeRoy "Buck Carter" Pryor was a former bartender and boxer.

After his mother abandoned him when he was 10, he was raised primarily by his grandmother Marie Carter, a violent woman who would beat him for any of his eccentricities. Pryor was one of four children raised in his grandmother's brothel. He was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.

He was expelled from school at the age of 14. His first professional performance was playing drums at a night club. Pryor served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960, but spent virtually the entire stint in an army prison. According to a 1999 profile about Pryor in ''The New Yorker'', Pryor was incarcerated for an incident that occurred while stationed in Germany. Annoyed that a white soldier was a bit too amused at the racially charged sections of Douglas Sirk's movie ''Imitation of Life'', Pryor and some other black soldiers beat and stabbed him, though not fatally. According to ''Live on the Sunset Strip'', when he was 19, he worked at a Mafia-owned nightclub in Youngstown, Ohio, as the MC. On hearing that they would not pay a stripper friend of his, he attempted to hold up the owners with a cap pistol. The owners were greatly amused.

During this time, Pryor's girlfriend gave birth to a girl named Renee. Years later, however, he found out that she was not his child. In 1960, he married Patricia Price and they had one child together, Richard Jr. (his first child and first son). They divorced in 1961.

Career

Early career

In 1963, Pryor moved to New York City and began performing regularly in clubs alongside performers such as Bob Dylan and Woody Allen. On one of his first nights, he opened for singer and pianist Nina Simone at New York's Village Gate. Simone recalls Pryor's bout of performance anxiety:

Inspired by Bill Cosby, Pryor began as a middlebrow comic, with material far less controversial than what was to come. Soon, he began appearing regularly on television variety shows, such as ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''The Tonight Show''. His popularity led to success as a comic in Las Vegas. The first five tracks on the 2005 compilation CD ''Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974)'', recorded in 1966 and 1967, capture Pryor in this era.

In September 1967, Pryor had what he called in his autobiography ''Pryor Convictions'' an "epiphany" when he walked onto the stage at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas (with Dean Martin in the audience), looked at the sold-out crowd, exclaimed over the microphone "What the fuck am I doing here!?", and walked off the stage. Afterward, Pryor began working profanity into his act, including "nigger". His first comedy recording, the eponymous 1968 debut release on the Dove/Reprise label, captures this particular period, tracking the evolution of Pryor's routine. Around this time, his parents died — his mother in 1967 and his father in 1968.

In 1967, his second child and first daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born to his girlfriend Maxine Anderson. Later that year, he married Shelley Bonis. In 1969, his third child and second daughter, Rain Pryor, was born. Pryor and Bonis divorced later that year.

Mainstream success

In 1969, Pryor moved to Berkeley, California, where he immersed himself in the counterculture and rubbed elbows with the likes of Huey P. Newton and Ishmael Reed. He signed with the comedy-oriented independent record label Laff Records in 1970, and in 1971 recorded his second album, ''Craps (After Hours)''. In 1973, the relatively unknown comedian appeared in the documentary ''Wattstax'', where he riffed on the tragic-comic absurdities of race relations in Watts and the nation. Not long afterward, Pryor sought a deal with a larger label, and after some time, signed with Stax Records. His third, breakthrough album, ''That Nigger's Crazy'', was released in 1974 and, Laff, who claimed ownership of Pryor's recording rights, almost succeeded in getting an injunction to prevent the album from being sold. Negotiations led to Pryor's release from his Laff contract. In return for this concession, Laff was enabled to release previously unissued material, recorded between 1968 and 1973, at will.

During the legal battle, Stax briefly closed its doors. At this time, Pryor returned to Reprise/Warner Bros. Records, which re-released ''That Nigger's Crazy'', immediately after ''...Is It Something I Said?'', his first album with his new label. With every successful album Pryor recorded for Warner (or later, his concert films and his 1980 freebasing accident), Laff would quickly publish an album of older material to capitalize on Pryor's growing fame—a practice they continued until 1983. The covers of Laff albums tied in thematically with Pryor movies, such as ''The Wizard of Comedy'' for his appearance in ''The Wiz'', ''Are You Serious?'' for ''Silver Streak'', and ''Insane'' for ''Stir Crazy''.

In the 1970s, Pryor wrote for such television shows as ''Sanford and Son'', ''The Flip Wilson Show'' and a Lily Tomlin special, for which he shared an Emmy Award. During this period, Pryor tried to break into mainstream television. He was a guest host on the first season of ''Saturday Night Live''. Richard took long time girlfriend, actress-talk show host Kathrine McKee (sister of Lonette McKee) with him to New York, and she made a brief guest appearance with Pryor on ''SNL''. He participated in a "racist word association" skit with Chevy Chase.

''The Richard Pryor Show'' premiered on NBC in 1977, but was canceled after only four episodes. Television audiences did not respond to the show's controversial subject matter, and Pryor was unwilling to alter his material for network censors. During the short-lived series, he portrayed the first African-American President of the United States, spoofed the ''Star Wars'' cantina, took on gun violence, and in another skit, used costumes and visual distortion to appear nude.

In 1974, Pryor was arrested for income tax evasion and served 10 days in jail. He married actress Deborah McGuire in 1977, but they divorced in 1978. He soon began dating Jennifer Lee and they married in 1981. They divorced the following year.

In 1979, at the height of his success, Pryor visited Africa. Upon returning to the United States, Pryor swore he would never use the word "nigger" in his stand-up comedy routine again. (However, his favorite epithet, "motherfucker", remains a term of endearment on his official website.)

In the 1970s and 1980s, Pryor appeared in several popular films, including ''Lady Sings the Blues''; ''The Mack''; ''Uptown Saturday Night''; ''Silver Streak''; ''Which Way Is Up?''; ''Car Wash''; ''Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings''; ''Greased Lightning''; ''Blue Collar'' & ''Bustin' Loose''. In 1982, Pryor co-starred with Jackie Gleason in ''The Toy''.

In 1983, Pryor signed a five-year contract with Columbia Pictures for $40,000,000. This resulted in the gentrification of Pryor's onscreen persona and softer, more formulaic films like ''Superman III'', (which earned Pryor $4,000,000), ''Brewster's Millions'', ''Stir Crazy'', ''Moving'', and ''See No Evil, Hear No Evil''. The only film project from this period that recalled his rough roots was Pryor's semi-autobiographic debut as a writer-director, ''Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling'', which was not a major success. Though he made four films with Gene Wilder, the two comic actors were never as close as many thought, according to Wilder's autobiography.

Pryor co-wrote ''Blazing Saddles'', directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder. Pryor was to play the lead role of Bart, but the film's production studio would not insure him, and Mel Brooks chose Cleavon Little instead. Before his infamous 1980 freebasing accident, Pryor was about to start filming Mel Brooks' ''History of the World, Part I'', but was replaced at the last minute by Gregory Hines. Pryor was also originally considered for the role of Billy Ray Valentine on ''Trading Places'', before Eddie Murphy won the part.

Despite a reputation for profanity, Pryor briefly hosted a children's show on CBS in 1984 called ''Pryor's Place''. Like ''Sesame Street'', ''Pryor's Place'' featured a cast of puppets, hanging out and having fun in a surprisingly friendly inner-city environment along with several children and characters portrayed by Pryor himself. However, ''Pryor's Place'' frequently dealt with more sobering issues than ''Sesame Street''. It was canceled shortly after its debut, despite the efforts of famed puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft and a theme song by Ray Parker, Jr. of ''Ghostbusters'' fame.

Pryor co-hosted the Academy Awards twice, and was nominated for an Emmy for a guest role on the television series, ''Chicago Hope''.

Pryor developed a reputation for being difficult and unprofessional on film sets, and for making unreasonable demands. In his autobiography ''Kiss Me Like a Stranger'', co-star Gene Wilder says that Pryor was frequently late to the set during filming of ''Stir Crazy'', and that he demanded, among other things, a helicopter to fly him to and from set. Pryor was also accused of using allegations of on-set racism to force the hand of film producers into giving him more money. Also from Wilder's book:

In 1989, he appeared in ''Harlem Nights'', a comedy-drama crime film starring Eddie Murphy. It was a financial success, grossing 3½ times the amount it cost to make it (worldwide) and is well known for starring three generations of black comedians (Pryor, Murphy, and Redd Foxx).

Personal life

Health problems

Pryor suffered a mild heart attack in November 1977. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986. By the early 1990s, he was confined to using a wheelchair as well as a motor powered scooter for the remainder of his life to get around when his multiple sclerosis began to take its toll on his body. In 1990, Pryor suffered a second and more severe heart attack and underwent triple heart bypass surgery.

The freebasing incident

On June 9, 1980, during the making of the film ''Bustin' Loose'', Pryor set himself on fire after freebasing cocaine while drinking 151-proof rum. He ran down Parthenia St. from his Northridge, California, home, on fire, until subdued by police. He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for burns covering more than half of his body. Pryor spent six weeks in recovery at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital. His daughter, Rain Pryor, stated that Pryor poured high-proof rum over his body and set himself on fire in a bout of drug-induced psychosis.

Pryor incorporated a description of the incident into his "final" comedy show ''Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip'' in 1982. He joked that the event was caused by dunking a cookie into a glass of low-fat and pasteurized milk, causing an explosion. At the end of the bit, he poked fun at people who told jokes about it by waving a lit match and saying, "What's this? It's Richard Pryor running down the street."

After his "final performance", Pryor did not stay away from stand-up comedy long. In 1983, he filmed and released a new concert film and accompanying album, ''Richard Pryor: Here and Now'', which he directed himself. In 1986, he wrote and directed a fictionalized account of his life, ''Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling'' which revolved around the 1980 freebasing incident.

In 1984, his fourth child and second son, Steven, was born to his girlfriend Flynn Belaine. Pryor married Belaine in October 1986. They divorced in July 1987. Before their divorce was final, Belaine conceived Kelsey Pryor. Meanwhile, another of Pryor's girlfriends, Geraldine Mason, gave birth to Franklin Mason, his fifth child and third son, in April 1987. Six months later in October 1987, Belaine gave birth to Kelsey Pryor, Richard's sixth child and third daughter.

Marriages

Pryor was married seven times to five different women: #Patricia Price (1960–1961, divorced) with one child named Richard Pryor Jr. #Shelly Bonis (1967–1969, divorced) with one child named Rain Pryor #Deborah McGuire (September 22, 1977 – 1979, divorced) #Jennifer Lee (August 1981 – October 1982, divorced) #Flynn Belaine (October 1986 – July 1987, divorced) with son Steven (born before the marriage) and daughter Kelsey (before divorce finalized) #Flynn Belaine (1 April 1990 – July 1991, divorced) #Jennifer Lee (June 29, 2001 – December 10, 2005, his death)

His marriages were characterized by accusations of domestic violence and spousal abuse, except for his relationship with Belaine. Most of these allegations were connected to Pryor's drug use. The exception was Patricia Price, who was married to Pryor before his rise to stardom. During his relationship with Pam Grier, Pryor proposed to Deborah McGuire (1977).

He had six children: Richard Jr., Elizabeth, Rain, Steven, Franklin and Kelsey.

Later life

In his later years starting in the early 1990s, Richard Pryor used a power operated vehicle/scooter due to multiple sclerosis (M.S., which he said stood for "More Shit"). He appears on the scooter in his last film appearance, a small role in David Lynch's ''Lost Highway'' (1997) playing an auto repair garage manager named Arnie.

In 1998, Pryor won the first Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. According to former Kennedy Center President Lawrence J. Wilker,

In 2000, Rhino Records remastered all of Pryor's Reprise and WB albums for inclusion in the box set ''...And It's Deep Too! The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (1968–1992)''.

In early 2000, he appeared in the cold open of The Norm Show in the episode entitled "Norm vs. The Boxer". He played an elderly man in a wheel chair who lost the rights to in-home nursing when he kept attacking the nurses, before attacking Norm himself (using a body double).

In 2001, he remarried Jennifer Lee, who also had become his manager.

In 2002 a television documentary depicted Pryor's life and career. Broadcast in the UK as part of the Channel 4 series ''Kings of Black Comedy'', it was produced, directed and narrated by David Upshal. It featured rare clips from Pryor's 1960s stand-up appearances and movies such as ''Silver Streak'', ''Blue Collar'', ''Stir Crazy'', and ''Richard Pryor Live In Concert''. Contributors included Whoopi Goldberg, Dave Chappelle, Lily Tomlin, George Carlin, Joan Rivers, Ice-T, and Paul Mooney. The show tracked down the two cops who rescued Pryor from his "freebasing incident", former managers and even school friends from Pryor's home town of Peoria, Illinois. In the US the show went out as part of the ''Heroes of Black Comedy'' series on Comedy Central, narrated by Don Cheadle.

In 2002, Pryor and his wife and manager, Jennifer Lee Pryor, won legal rights to all the Laff material, which amounted to almost 40 hours of reel-to-reel analog tape. After going through the tapes and getting Richard's blessing, Jennifer Lee Pryor gave access to the tapes to Rhino Records in 2004. These tapes, including the entire ''Craps'' album, form the basis of the double-CD release ''Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974)''.

A 2003 television documentary, ''Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!'' consisted of archival footage of Pryor's performances and testimonials from fellow comedians, including Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Wanda Sykes, and Denis Leary, on Pryor's influence on comedy.

In 2004, Pryor was voted #1 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. In a 2005 British poll to find ''The Comedian's Comedian'', Pryor was voted the 10th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

In late 2004, his sister said he had lost his voice as result of his M.S. However, on January 9, 2005, Pryor's wife, Jennifer Lee, rebutted this statement in a post on Pryor's official website, citing Richard as saying: "I'm sick of hearing this shit about me not talking... not true... I have good days, bad days... but I still am a talkin' motherfucker!"

Pryor was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. The animal rights organization PETA gives out an award in Pryor's name to people who have done outstanding work to alleviate animal suffering. Pryor was active in animal rights and was deeply concerned about the plight of elephants in circuses and zoos.

Death

On December 10, 2005, nine days after his birthday, Pryor suffered a heart attack in Encino, California. He was taken to a local hospital after his wife's attempts to resuscitate him failed. He was pronounced dead at 7:58 am PST. He was 65 years old. His widow Jennifer was quoted as saying, "At the end, there was a smile on his face." He was cremated and his ashes were given to family.

Remembrance and legacy

A planned biopic entitled "Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?" is being produced by Chris Rock and Adam Sandler. The film will star Marlon Wayans as the young Pryor. Other actors previously attached include Mike Epps and Eddie Murphy. The film will be directed by Bill Condon and is scheduled for a 2011 release.

On December 19, 2005, BET aired a Pryor special. It included commentary from fellow comedians, and insight into his upbringing.

An image of Pryor can be seen on the Rage Against the Machine music video for their Soulsonic Force cover of "Renegades of Funk".

There is a street just west of the downtown Peoria area named in his honor.

On March 1, 2008, fellow comedian George Carlin performed his final HBO special. An image of Pryor can be seen in the background throughout his set.

Discography

Albums

;Official canon

''Richard Pryor'' (Dove/Reprise, 1968)

''Craps (After Hours)'' (Laff Records, 1971, reissued 1993 by Loose Cannon/Island)

''That Nigger's Crazy'', (Partee/Stax, 1974, reissued 1975 by Reprise)

''...Is It Something I Said?'', (Reprise, 1975, reissued 1991 on CD by Warner Archives)

''Bicentennial Nigger'', (Reprise, 1976)

''Wanted: Live in Concert'' (2-LP set), (Warner Bros. Records, 1978)

''Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip'' (Warner Bros. Records, 1982)

''Here and Now'', (Warner Bros. Records, 1983)

;Others

''L.A. Jail'', (Tiger Lily, 1976)

''Are You Serious ???'', (Laff, 1977)

''Who Me? I'm Not Him'', (Laff, 1977)

''Black Ben The Blacksmith'', (Laff, 1978)

''The Wizard of Comedy'', (Laff, 1978)

''Outrageous'', (Laff, 1979)

''Insane'', (Laff, 1980)

''Holy Smoke!'', (Laff, 1980)

''Rev. Du Rite'', (Laff, 1981)

''Richard Pryor Live!'' (picture disc), (Phoenix/Audiofidelity, 1982)

''Supernigger'', (Laff. 1983)

Compilations

''Pryor Goes Foxx Hunting'', (Laff. 1973)

* Split LP with Redd Foxx, containing previously released tracks from ''Craps (After Hours)''

''Down And Dirty'', (Laff. 1975)

* Split LP with Redd Foxx, containing previously released tracks from ''Craps (After Hours)''

''Richard Pryor Meets... Richard & Willie And... The SLA!!'', (Laff. 1976)

* Split LP with black ventriloquist act Richard And Willie, containing previously released tracks from ''Craps (After Hours)''

''Richard Pryor's Greatest Hits'', (Warner Bros. Records, 1977)

* Contains tracks from ''Craps (After Hours)'', ''That Nigger's Crazy'', and ''...Is It Something I Said?'', plus a previously unreleased track from 1975, "Ali".

''...And It's Deep Too! The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (1968–1992)'' (9-CD box set) (Warner Bros. Records/Rhino, 2000)

* Box set collection containing all Warner Bros. albums plus a bonus disc of previously unissued material from 1973 to 1992.

''The Anthology (1968–1992)'' (2-CD set) (Warner Bros. Records/Rhino, 2002 in music/2002)

* Highlights culled from the albums collected in the ''...And It's Deep Too!'' box set.

''Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974)'' (2-CD set) (Warner Bros. Records/Rhino, 2005)

* Pryor-authorized compilation of material released on Laff, including the entire ''Craps (After Hours)'' album.

Filmography

''The Busy Body'' (1967)

''Uncle Tom's Fairy Tales'' (1968)

''Wild in the Streets'' (1968)

''Black Brigade'' (1970)

''The Phynx'' (1970)

''You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat'' (1971)

''Dynamite Chicken'' (1972)

''Lady Sings the Blues'' (1972)

''The Mack'' (1973)

''Wattstax'' (1973)

''Hit!'' (1973)

''Some Call It Loving'' (1973)

''Uptown Saturday Night'' (1974)

''The Lion Roars Again'' (1975)

''Adios Amigo'' (1976)

''Car Wash'' (1976)

''The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings'' (1976)

''Silver Streak'' (1976)

''Which Way Is Up?'' (1977)

''Greased Lightning'' (1977)

''Blue Collar'' (1978)

''The Wiz'' (1978)

''California Suite'' (1978)

''Richard Pryor: Live in Concert'' (1979)

''The Muppet Movie'' (1979) (cameo)

''Wholly Moses'' (1980)

''In God We Tru$t'' (1980)

''Stir Crazy'' (1980)

''Bustin' Loose'' (1981)

''Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip'' (1982)

''Some Kind of Hero'' (1982)

''The Toy'' (1982)

''Superman III'' (1983)

''Richard Pryor: Here and Now'' (1983)

''Motown 25'' (1983)

''Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin''' (1985)

''Brewster's Millions'' (1985)

''Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling'' (1986)

''Critical Condition'' (1987)

''Moving'' (1988)

''See No Evil, Hear No Evil'' (1989)

''Harlem Nights'' (1989)

''The Three Muscatels'' (1991)

''Another You'' (1991)

''A Century of Cinema'' (1994)

''Mad Dog Time'' (1996)

''Lost Highway'' (1997)

''The Norm Show'' (1999, Cameo in Opening of Season 2, Episode 11)

''Bitter Jester'' (2003)

''I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$@!! (2003)

''Richard Pryor: The Funniest Man Dead Or Alive'' (2005, BET Special)

''Black Dynamite'' (2009) Cameo via archive footage

References

External links

Richard Pryor: Stand-Up Philosopher, ''City Journal,'' Spring 2009

Post by Richard Pryor on his official website rebutting voice-loss rumors

Richard Pryor's KFC Cruelty Billboard

Richard Pryor's Ancestry

''Bright Lights Film Journal'' career profile

;Obituaries

Category:1940 births Category:2005 deaths Category:African American comedians Category:African American film actors Category:American film actors Category:American social commentators Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Disease-related deaths in California Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Mark Twain Prize recipients Category:People from Peoria, Illinois Category:Deaths from multiple sclerosis

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Living Death was a German heavy metal band from Velbert, whose career spanned from the early 1980s until the early 1990s.

Biography

Living Death was formed in 1980 in Velbert, Germany by Reiner and Dieter Kelch, and Frank Fricke, starting out as a simple power metal band. In 1981 drummer Frank Schubring and vocalist Thorsten "Toto" Bergmann join the band, completing their first line-up. A year later they recorded their self-titled demo resulting, in 1983, a deal with Earthshaker. Later that year Frank Schubring leaves the band and is replaced by Harald Lutze.

In 1984 Living Death released their rough-sounding debut album ''Vengeance of Hell'' which, despite poor production quality, sold well in all independent charts. Living Death then went on tour in support of Warlock. Leading into them firing drummer Harald Lutze and replacing him with Andreas Overhoff. In January of 1985 they release the EP ''Watch-Out!'' with three remixed songs from the first LP and the self-titled track. In August ''Metal Revolution'' is released. A year later they sign a deal with Aaarrg Records and the EP ''Back to the Weapons'' is recorded and shortly before its release they find a new drummer, Atomic Steif.

In 1987, the album ''Protected from Reality'' was released, followed by 1988's ''Live'' EP, featuring four songs off their second album. After the release of their fourth studio album ''Worlds Neuroses'' in 1989, band members Toto, Fred, and Atomic Steif leave the band. The remaining Living Death members then recruited vocalist Gerald Thelen, and drummer Frank Ullrich as replacements. With this line-up Living Death split-up in 1991 after the release of ''Killing In Action''.

Members

Last known line up

Thorsten "Toto" Bergmann (singer)

Andreas Oberhoff (drummer)

Reiner Kelch (guitar)

Dieter Kelch (bass)

Previous members

Vocals:

Thorsten "Toto" Bergmann (1981-1989) (Sacred Chao, X-Mas Project)

Gerald Thelen (1989-1991)

Guitars:

Frank Fricke (1980-1988) (Mekong Delta, X-Mas Project, ex-U.D.O.)

Fred (1988-1989) (Sacred Chao)

Drums:

Frank Schubring (1981-1983)

Eric (session drums on ''Vengeance of Hell'')

Harald Lutze (1984)

Andreas Oberhoff (1984-1986)

Atomic Steif (1986-1989) (Stahlträger, Assassin, Sodom, Holy Moses, Violent Force, Sacred Chao)

Discography

Studio albums

''Vengeance of Hell'' (1984)

''Metal Revolution'' (1985)

''Protected From Reality'' (1987)

''Worlds Neuroses'' (1989)

''Killing In Action'' (1991)

EPs

''Watch Out!'' (1985)

''Back To The Weapons'' (1986)

''Live'' (1988)

Compilation albums

''Living Death Best of'' (1994)

Singles

''Eisbein (mit Sauerkraut)'' (1987)

Demos

''Demo 83'' (1983)

''Pre-Production Demo'' (1984)

References

External links

Fan website

Fan page on MySpace

Category:German thrash metal musical groups Category:German heavy metal musical groups

de:Living Death (Band) es:Living Death fr:Living Death (groupe) nl:Living Death ru:Living Death