Thievery Corpration vocalist commits suicide

[LaG]

http://www.gwhatchet.com/news/2005/02/22/C...de-875145.shtml

Breaking News: Music professor commits suicide

By Ryan Holeywell

Posted Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Music professor Pam Bricker, who was a part of the University's jazz

department for five years, took her own life last weekend, an official

from the Maryland Medical Examiner's office said Wednesday.

On Sunday night, one of her band mates called her ex-husband, Gareth

Branwyn, to say that she did not show up to a scheduled performance.

Branwyn called the police immediately, he said, because she never

missed a show. She was pronounced dead at 10:35 a.m. Monday by the

Maryland Medical Examiner's Office.

"She could be on her deathbed with the flu and she would take cold

medicine and go to the gig," Branwyn said. "As far as she was

concerned you just don't miss jobs."

Branwyn, who was Bricker's husband for 22 years before they split up

two years ago, said she was a caring person filled with love for the

people in her life.

"She was an extraordinary, sweet person and really did have a great

love for people and all of the people around her," he said. "She was

very devoted and loving to the people that meant a lot to her life,

and there were a lot of those people."

Bricker was as a part-time faculty member in the music department

since 2000, said Tracy Schario, GW's director of Media Relations.

"She was extremely well liked by students and faculty, and was an

extremely well respected performer and teacher," Schario said.

Bricker sang with the faculty jazz combo and taught jazz voice,

Schario said. Sophomore Corey Brekher said he has attended nearly

every jam session since he came to GW and that Bricker left an impact

on him after going to his first concert.

"I was pretty blown away not only by her vocals but her musical

abilities - how she sang and moved, and her encyclopedic knowledge of

all types of music," Brekher said.

Well known on the local D.C. jazz scene, Bricker was a 15-time nominee

for the Washington Area Music Association's annual award, according to

her Web site biography.

"All these musicians really respected her, not only as a singer, but

as a musician," Branwyn said. "That's one of the things that really

strikes me about her. She had an unbelievable devotion to the

professionalism about what she did."

Bricker was a vocalist in the band Thievery Corporation, appearing on

its first three albums. She performed vocals for the group's song

"Lebanese Blonde," which was featured on the Grammy award-winning

soundtrack to the movie "Garden State."

Branwyn said Bricker had a strong command of vocals, noting that "her

understanding of rhythm and timing was just impeccable." Both Branwyn

and Brekher said she seemed most comfortable when she was performing.

"It really was her home, and in those songs is where she really was

alive and most comfortable," he said.

Schario said the University Counseling Center has been working with

students and faculty in the music department.

Roy Gunther, chair of the music department, said Bricker was popular

and cared deeply about her students.

"She was very popular for people to listen to and she was popular with

students," Gunther said. "She was a fine singer ... and showed how

much she cared about students and their development."

Gunther explained that as a jazz voice instructor, Bricker didn't

teach voice in the "technical" sense; she taught students how to use

their existing skills in the jazz realm and showed them how

personality should come through in their music.

Bricker, who sang with the faculty jazz combo as part of the popular

Friday jazz jam sessions, related particularly well to the faculty in

the jazz and voice areas, Gunther said.

In a statement, University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said

the community would remember Bricker fondly.

"Pam will be remembered for her talents, generosity and ability to

communicate through song," Trachtenberg wrote.

ESL Music, Thievery Corporation's record label, released a statement

late Wednesday afternoon that highlighted her talents and personality.

"Her classy, easy-going nature, professionalism, and her distinct,

beautiful voice will be eternally missed," the statement read. "Music

fans from D.C. to Istanbul and everywhere in between mourn her loss,

and we mourn with you."

Bricker's skills were unmatched in the D.C. jazz community, and she

subscribed to the idea that "a vocalist should be an instrument and

act like one," Branwyn said. He said many of the city's leading female

jazz vocalists were her students and said she took pride in teaching.

Though Bricker was battling depression, she was still able to do her

job and teach students, even through her worst times, Branwyn said.

"She's been struggling with depression; even in the midst of the worst

of that, she would say, 'Well I gotta go, I got a student.' She never

stopped seeing students even in middle of recent struggles," Branwyn

said.

Details about a funeral or memorial service have not been formulated,

Khalil Ghannam, a music department executive aid, wrote in a music

department listserv e-mail sent out Wednesday. On Friday, there will

be further faculty and student sessions with Counseling Center

representatives in Phillips Hall room B120 at noon.

[Sa1Nt]

A shto se ubila? Mislim chemu ovoliki text pohvala o njoj? :)

[Guest]

:(

[LaG]

mozhda je chula da prodigy ne dolazi na exit!

[Guest]

zar nije bilo jednostavnije reci: necu u srbiju

stranu na shalu, RIP

[Guest]

ma kapiram da je saznala da ima rak ili tako neko sranje..