Alan Merrill, famously known for co-writing “I Love Rock and Rock,” the Joan Jett hit song, passed away on March 29 in New York as a result of complications from the novel coronavirus.
Laura Merrill Posts the News on Facebook
Laura Merrill, his daughter, posted on Facebook that the 69-year-old passed away in the morning.
“I was given just two minutes to say my last goodbyes before I was rushed out. He seemed peaceful, and as I left, there was a glimmer of hope that he would not be a ticker on the right-hand side of the CNN/Fox news screen,” Laura wrote.
“I walked fifty blocks home still with hope in my heart. The city that I knew was empty. I felt I was the only person here and perhaps in many ways, I was. By the time I got in the doors to my apartment, I received the news that he was gone.”
Laura Merrill also stated that her father was once in high spirits. She even showed up at a show of his approximately two weeks ago and had taken a photograph for him as he was ready to launch his new album.
Merrill Showed Early Symptoms of COVID-19
She said, “My father played down the ‘cold’ he thought he had. I have made a million jokes about the coronavirus and how it’ll ‘getcha’. Boy, do I feel stupid.”
“I Love Rock and Roll” was a major hit that Jett scored back in 1982. Alan Merrill wrote the song for The Arrows, his band, and recorded it in 1975.
Jett posted on her Twitter account: “I’ve just learned the awful news that Alan Merrill has passed. My thoughts and love go to his family, friends, and the music community as a whole.
“I can still remember watching the Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me. With deep gratitude and sadness, wishing him a safe journey to the other side.”
Merrill was born in New York but grew up in Switzerland, Japan, and Los Angeles before starting his music career in New York.
Famed Japanese Comedian Dies
In a related development, famed Japanese comedian, Ken Shimura, also passed away after contracting COVID-19. He was 70.
The comedian exhibited pneumonia-like symptoms and later passed away Sunday night, his representatives at Izawa Office declared. He reported the symptoms – which included fatigue – on March 17 but was hospitalized by March 20 with severe pneumonia before testing positive for COVID-19 on March 23.
Shimura has been lovingly described as “Japan’s Robin Williams” as the Asian country’s television networks heavily covered his death.
Shimura started his comedy career in 1974 after he joined Drifters, a comedy group. He was known and loved across Japan for his Charlie Chaplin-like “Mustache Dance.”
Shimura also stated in his memoir that Jerry Lewis, the American comedian, inspired him.
The health ministry in Japan recorded up to 173 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, with 68 located in Tokyo.
