School of Seven Bellsistä ja Secret Machinesista tuttu Curtis menehtyi sunnuntaina 35-vuotiaana imusolmukesyöpään.
Teksti: Jari Setälä, kuva: School of Seven Bells
Loistavan yhdysvaltalaisen dreampop-yhtye School of Seven Bellsin perustajajäsenellä ja kitaristilla Benjamin Curtisilla diagnosoitiin helmikuussa aggressiivinen ja harvinainen imusolmukesyövän muoto lymfoblastinen lymfooma, jonka 5-vuotiseloonjäämisennuste on aikuisilla vain 45–55 prosentin luokkaa.
Vielä alkuvuodesta näytti siltä, että kemoterapiahoitoa läpi vuoden saaneen Curtisin syöpä olisi taudin vaikeudesta huolimatta hoidettavissa, mutta hoidot eivät kuitenkaan tepsineet riittävästi ja Curtis menehtyi Dallas Observer -lehden mukaan newyorkilaisessa sairaalassa sunnuntai-iltana.
Curtis perusti School of Seven Bellsin vuonna 2007 laulajien Alejandra ja Claudia Dehezan kanssa. Yhtye julkaisi kolme albumia, joista debyytti Alpinisms ilmestyi 2008, Disconnect from Desire vuonna 2010 ja viimeiseksi jäänyt levy Ghostory 2012.
Ennen School of Seven Bellsiä Curtis soitti veljensä Brandonin kanssa spacerock-yhtyeessä Secret Machines ja lisäksi muun muassa Polyphonic Spree -yhtyeen esiasteessa Tripping Daisy.
Alapuolella näkyy School of Seven Bellsin lausunto Curtisin kuolemasta:
Dear friends,
Last night, Dec. 29th 2013, we lost our friend and brother Benjamin Curtis to his fight against cancer.
While we had hoped to delay this announcement until a more suitable time when his friends and family could feel better prepared and settled to greet any correspondences from folks attempting to reach out, unfortunately the news has prematurely leaked. So we felt it would be appropriate to at least offer an official acknowledgement from us, in light of all the fans who loved and supported Benjamin and his music.
We kindly ask that his immediate family, friends & bandmates’ privacy be respected during this time, and that instead, any inquires, well wishes, or notes-of-consolation be sent through School of Seven Bells’ management, where it can be shared with them at the suitable time. They can be sent to a special e-mail address here: sviib@wizkidmanagement.com
If relevant, further information will be made available through the suitable channels in the near future.
We can’t thank all of you who supported him and his music through the years enough. All of you who attended or participated in the various benefits in and around New York City over the past year since his diagnosis, and of course those who contributed and gave generously to help support him throughout that journey. You made it possible for all of us, and for him, to see how truly loved he was and how many lives he had touched through his music by your gestures. We will all miss this incredibly talented and rare person every day, but we are fortunate enough that he shared with us his music, and that is something that we can keep forever.