The Fat Angel Sings

Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. He was known for the dark and somewhat bizarre sense of humor in his lyrics.
He sang about Werewolfs, Lawyers and other humorous topics. We are talking about Warren Zevon who, if he were still with us, would have turned 68 years old today.
Warren was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Beverly Cope (née Simmons) and William Zevon. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and his original surname was Zivotovsky. William was a bookie who handled volume bets and dice games for notorious Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen. William worked for years in Cohen’s Combination, where he was known as Stumpy Zevon, and was best man at Cohen’s first marriage.
In interviews, Zevon described a lifelong phobia of doctors and said he seldom received medical assessment. Shortly before playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 2002, he started feeling dizzy and developed a chronic cough. After a period of suffering with pain and shortness of breath, Zevon was encouraged by his dentist to see a physician; he was diagnosed with inoperable peritoneal mesothelioma (cancer of the abdominal lining that is associated with exposure to asbestos). Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon instead began recording his final album, “The Wind,” which includes guest appearances by close friends including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, David Lindley, Billy Bob Thornton, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, and others. At the request of the VH1, documentarian Nick Read was given access to the sessions; his cameras documented a man who retained his mordant sense of humor, even as his health was deteriorating over time.

Warren passed away on September. 7th, 2003. He was 56 years old.
Zevon’s work has often been praised by well-known musicians, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. His best-known compositions include “Werewolves of London”, “Lawyers, Guns and Money”, “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” and “Johnny Strikes Up the Band”, all of which are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978). Other well-known songs written by Zevon have been recorded by other artists, including “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (a top 40 hit by Linda Ronstadt), “Accidentally Like a Martyr”, “Mohammed’s Radio”, “Carmelita”, and “Hasten Down the Wind”.

Along with his own compositions, Zevon recorded or performed occasional covers, including Allen Toussaint’s A Certain Girl, Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and Leonard Cohen’s “First We Take Manhattan”. He was a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman later performed guest vocals on “Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)” with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra on Warren Zevon’s My Ride’s Here album.