Costello joins Magic Sam and Stevie Ray Vaughan as exciting young blues talents who left us just as they're hitting their stride.
It was hardly a month ago when I was on this space talking up this brand new release by blues wunderkind Sean Costello called We Can Get Together. Costello really impressed me as the former guitar prodigy who was poised to take up a long-term residency at the top of the blues echelon and Together was a slam dunk to expand his fan base further. At the time I opined:…
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26 - Jon
We continue to deal with Seans death in our own ways. Sonia, dont worry if that writer had the balls he would use his real name to post nasty things about Sean. He sounds like a frustrated musician.....jealous...or somebody Sean or I pissed off at some point cause he obviously saw us play.... [Personal attack deleted].
27 - annoymous
Gosh this is sad
I just find this out now months and months later
I used to jam out with him years ago probably back in 2002 and we used talk about music and how we were born a week apart.
This makes me so sad
Just to let you know he's the reason or one of the main reasons levon is back out playing again.
I was there I saw the whole thing unfold
I just googled him to see what he was up to and got this news...I'm in utter shock
We lost a good one! a real good one!
He taught me so much about music and life
:(
28 - FilthyMcNasty
Jon, it is YOU who is the mental eunuch!
29 - shifty
Great musician, wonderful gifts. My condolences to his family and friends. I had just found his music and was telling others about him.
Regardless of the cause, he didn't deserve to die. We've all done things that could have put us in the graveyard. People here are casting stones...
30 - Bill Kline
I remember first reading about Sean in a Philadelphia Inquirer review of his first album. I read it by chance, I don't know that I have ever before, or ever since read that column. After reading the great review, I bought the CD. Wow, this man could play! I told all of my friends and we became instant fans. Saw him many a time @ Warmdaddys in Philly. It was a "must see" for us everytime he came through. I never became friends with him, but I did shake his hand a few times, grab an autograph, tell him how much I loved what he did.
I can't believe that he passed.
I really can't believe that I didn't know until just now. I was just thinking it had been quite some time since I had seen Sean and started looking to see where I could go hear him play, but sadly that just won't be anymore.
I always remember the great nights we had listening to him, the excitement of meeting someone that talented, the wild facial contusions Sean would make when he was jamming, the great joy we all took in seeing him let it just come to him and play like no one could.
I know how he must of felt at times, it is a struggle for many of us.
Sean, we will always remember you.
31 - Marty
This guy,the multi talented Sean Costello, was the future of the blues. I had the pleasure of watching him perform on 4 occasions, twice in the US and twice over here in the UK, and he seemed to get better each time.Words cannot describe how i feel, let alone his family and closest friends, for this loss. He will always be fondly remembered over here in Hartlepool,England.R.I.P Sean
32 - Terry Ott
I have been listening to nothing but Sean's CD's (and Susan Tedeschi's when he played with her) for days now after learning of his death. I don't know how much longer it will be "just Sean" on my speakers, but I am not close to be being tired of his work. I am tired of thinking of his death, and sick about it, but of his music? ... never will I tire of IT. So very special.
I first heard Sean when he was about 20. I wandered into a little club in Savannah, having heard the sound from outside. That was it. Since then, I've seen him a half dozen times --- whenever our paths were reasonably close to intersecting somewhere.
Never did I imagine that I would have all of his CD's. Now in my 60's, I expected my children and grandchildren would collect the rest after I died. There should have been 50, not 5.
I can think of no other death outside my biological and marital family that has affected me like Sean's. The way he wrote, and sang, and performed, it seemed like he was "inside his music" and that he took me with him. Selfishly, I wanted those "escapes" with Sean for the rest of my days.
Though their talents led them in different directions, and though I never knew Sean, he seemingly resembles my youngest son in terms of his personality and how people feel about him when in his presence. And my son has fought some tough emotional battles that he didn't deserve to go through. I have, too. It just happens. Maybe it happened to Sean, I don't know that, but if so there is nothing "straightforward" about it that anyone else can really understand.
I would encourage the moderator to simply remove the parts of this thread what have turned into a tasteless and insensitive confrontation. From what I know of Sean Costello, he would not want any of that associated with himself or his memory.
As inquisitive humans, when something traumatic affects us in some way (as this has me, on an emotional level), we naturally try to understand "why?" As someone said earlier, it helps with the closure and is just part of grieving. But we'll never REALLY know why, only that we wish it hadn't.
33 - Pico
I've always felt that music exists to enrich our lives and anyone who can deliver life-enriching music is of a special class of people.
It's so disheartening to learn of when such a person like Sean is no longer with us for whatever reason, especially when he had so much of his life ahead of him. It's equally heartening to know of people he was able to make such a positive impact through his music before he died.
Thanks to Terry, Marty, Bill and other like-minded posters on this thread for your comments.
34 - The Sean Costello Fund for Bipolar Research
BENEFIT CONCERT TO BE HELD IN HONOR OF SEAN COSTELLO
ATLANTA, GA - The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research will hold its first benefit concert Sunday, March 1, 2009 at the North Atlanta High Center for the Arts. Sean was a beloved blues musician from Atlanta, who was internationally acclaimed, and in his honor, fellow musicians Lurrie Bell [2008 Living Blues Awards for Blues Artist of the Year and Most Outstanding Guitarist], Jason Ricci [Muddy Waters Award for most promising new talent], The Wood Brothers, King Johnson, Felix and the Cats with Jon Liebman and the Soul Shakers will lend their time and talent to this cause. Doors will open at 4p.m. for review of silent auction items with entertainment to follow at 4:30p.m. Tickets are $30 and will be available online and at the door. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Donations are tax deductible.
The benefit emerges as the first project of The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research, an organization founded by his mother, Debbie Costello Smith, upon Sean's untimely passing. Sean was acclaimed for his musical prowess at a very early age. He was designated the Beale Street Blues Society Best Performer at age 15; was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award for his album Cuttin' In in 2000; was voted Best Blues Band in Creative Loafing and Atlanta magazine; was featured on the cover of Blues Revue in February of 2002; and was named the Best New Act by the French Blues Feste in 2003. Most recently, Sean was nominated for two Blues Music Awards: Best Contemporary Blues Album and Best Contemporary Blues Male Artist of 2008.
Sean resided in Atlanta, but was known throughout Europe and the U.S. as a talented, but humble musician who readily shared his talent with young and old. He played with musical greats BB King, Buddy Guy, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Hubert Sumlin, Elvis Costello, Etta James, Pinetop Perkins, Bo Diddley, Little Jimmy King, Nappy Brown, Bob Margolin, and many others. He formed special and lasting relationships with Felix Reyes, Donnie McCormick and Levon Helm. Sean had the honor of playing for James Cotton's birthday, as he was Mr. Cotton's favorite band.
Sean passed away suddenly in April last year on the eve of his 29th birthday, after quietly battling depression and anxiety for more than 10 years. It was only a year before his passing that Sean was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. At the time of his passing, he was in treatment to overcome the debilitating symptoms of this mood disorder and the often associated self-medication.
The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research is a non-profit organization that has attracted a dedicated Board of Directors and an Advisory Board of renowned clinical researchers as a direct result of Sean's reputation as an artist, an exceptional person and friend. In creating the fund, the board hopes to increase research for treatment, develop and support education for early diagnosis and intervention, and eventually create a program for musicians and artists seeking holistic support in their effort to lead functional, healthy lives.
For more information, please visit The Sean Costello Fund.