Michael Been of "The Call" Passes

[Conan71]

I had no earthly idea he was this old:

Oklahoma City-born rock musician Michael Been, whose band The Call rose to MTV-level fame in the 1980s, died of an apparent heart attack Thursday at a music festival in Hasselt, Belgium.

He was 60.

Been, who was The Call's lead singer and chief composer, was on tour as a sound man with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, for which his son, Robert Levon Been, is lead singer and bassist. That band was performing at the Pukkelpop Festival on the same bill with Oklahoma City's Flaming Lips.

"Salvator hospital in Hasselt has just notified us of the death of Michael Been," festival organizer Chokri Mahassine said in a written, translated statement to the press in Belgium. "He was taken ill in the backstage area. First aid was immediately administrated, and the Red Cross and medical urgence (sic) teams were immediately at the scene."

One of Been's songs, "Oklahoma," written for The Call's 1986 Elektra Records album "Reconciled," was among the 10 finalists in the official state rock song competition of 2009.

Jeff Moore, director of exhibits at the Oklahoma History Center, said a line from that song became the inspiration for the name of "Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit," which opened at the center in
May 2009.

A section of that exhibit is devoted to Been and The Call

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=269&articleid=20100820_371_0_Oklaho113033

Sidenote: They had hits in the 1980's like: "The Walls Came Down", "Everywhere I Go", "I Still Believe (Great Design)",  "Let the Day Begin". Their song "I still believe" was used in the "Lost Boys" movie soundtrack. I saw them play at Hoffbrau in Tulsa in the early '90's after their fame had cooled off.  Great show, great artists with a positive subliminal message.

[charky]

Sad news. Great and very underrated band. Wore out their records back in college. Rest well Michael.

[guido911]

[Conan71]

He developed a serious weight problem. He looked to be around 300 pounds when I saw them here. More recent pics look as if he trimmed back down some.