Odd Deaths of the Music World III

Can you imagine two different figures of the music world conducting the same exact piece at the same exact place, and suffering the same exact fate decades apart? In this article, you will learn what happened, as well as the untimely death of Darrell Lance Abbott , best known as one of the founding members of the metal band Pantera.

Darrell Lance Abbott (1966 to 2004)

In the music world, Darrell Lance Abbott was known as Dimebag Darrell , a guitarist who was one of the founding members of the metal bands Pantera and Damageplan. His style was respected in the metal community, but he was killed while performing with Damageplan on December 8, 2004. An ex-Marine named Nathan Gale shot Abbott five times. After taking Abbott’s life, Gale turned the gun into the crowd and fired an additional 10 shots. He killed three more people, incuding an employee of the area and the head of security for the band , both of whom attempted to wrestle the gun out of the man’s hands. An audience member who tried to perform CPR on Abbott was also killed. Seven others left the concert that day with wounds. A policeman approached Gale from behind while he had taken a hostage in a headlock, and was able to shoot him in the head. A nurse also attempted to revive Darrell, but he was already dead by the time that paramedics had arrived.

People wondered why Gale would initiate such an attack. Theories started to swirl, such as he was angry that Pantera had broken up and he blamed Abbott for this. Some thought that Pantera might have stolen a song that Gale had written. Some theorized that Gale was a paranoid schizophrenic and that he was convinced that Damageplan members were reading his mind and stealing his thoughts.

When Abbott was buried, he was placed in a KISS casket with Eddie Van Halen’s Charvel Hybrid VH2 guitar resting inside.

Felix Mottl (1856 to 1911)

While conducting Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde’ in 1911, Austrian conductor Mottl died in the process. In his day, he was considered one of the best conductors. During his career, he composed three operas, as well as a string quartet and many other songs and pieces of music. He also was a music teacher that taught pupils that went on to become known singers, composers and conductors. Mottl suffered a heart attack while conducting his 100th performance of ‘Tristan’ in Munich. He was rushed to the hospital, but died 11 days later. Within those brief days, he married his longtime mistress , a soprano named Zdenka Fassbender.

Joseph Keilberth (1908 to 1968)

For an even stranger twist, conductor Joseph Keilberth collapsed while conducting the same exact piece (Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde’) in exactly the same place as Felix Mottl had done so in 1911. Keilberth was a German conductor who specialized in operas.