Rock legend Billy Thorpe dies
Email Print Normal font Large font February 28, 2007 - 9:14AM
Billy Thorpe ... the rock legend has died after suffering a major heart attack.
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AdvertisementAustralian rock legend Billy Thorpe has died after suffering a major heart attack, a spokesman for Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital said this morning.
"Mr Billy Thorpe did pass away at St Vincent's Hospital in the early hours of this morning," St Vincent's spokesman David Faktor told the Nine Network.
"I understand he passed away from a heart attack. His family were with him when he passed away."
Emergency crews attended Thorpe's home in Sydney just after midnight (AEDT) where the 60-year-old was suffering from chest pains.
It's understood Thorpe was taken by ambulance to the hospital about 2am (AEDT).
He stayed in emergency in a serious condition but went into cardiac arrest around 2.30 this morning and hospital staff weren't able to revive him.
Funeral details
Funeral details for the rock icon are expected to be announced within the next 24 hours.
"He woke at 1am feeling terrible. Shortly after that he had a massive heart attack, the paramedics were called to the house, they worked very hard in hospital," Thorpe's manager Michael Chugg told the Nine Network.
"In the next 24 hours, the family will make a statement with details of funeral services and everything."
An obviously distraught Chugg, said he was devastated by Thorpe's death.
He said Thorpe had just finished recording a new album and had just finished an acoustic tour.
"His tour manager Norm Sweeney told me that yesterday that everybody around him was blown away by how happy he was and how great the future was looking and for this to happen is just a terrible tragedy."
Sue Westwood of the Westernport Hotel in San Remo in Victoria said Thorpe played his final gig there on Sunday night.
"He was fantastic - it was really good, he was funny, just lovely, and he really got the crowd going," she said.
"My mum came, she's 65 and she just loved it - it was mainly an older crowd.
"He looked well - we were all saying how great he looked for 60."
Thorpe is survived by his wife Lynne, and daughters Rusty and Lauren.
Thorpe was born in England but migrated with his family to Brisbane in the 1950s.
He moved to Sydney in 1963 and recorded his first song the next year with his band Billy and the Aztecs.
They went on to perform at sell-out venues across Australia and had a string of hits in the 60s and 70s.
His music career has spanned five decades and he has also written two autobiographies.
AAP
but Australia has lost its share of fine people this last year.
