Killing me softly with his song: The life and death of Bassist Dewey Tucker

I found this post very hard to write. I don’t think that other than the story of Opera tenor Ryan Smith have I been so affected by the story of a musi­cian that sadly I was only intro­duced to after their death. Dewey Tucker was a 24-​year-​old well-​known Bay area bass player who got the oppor­tu­nity to tour the world at a very young age play­ing with Lauryn Hill as well as other acclaimed artists. He also played for the groups The Coup and the Kev Choice Ensemble.

Sadly Dewey was killed on January 12, 2010 in what police believe to be a ran­dom shoot­ing while he was on his way to a rehearsal. This young man by all accounts was a gifted musi­cian and a won­der­ful young man who lived his music.

As I read about his story, I was touched by his easy smile and the kind spirit that I could see that trans­lated through mere images on a screen. As a stranger and observer of this young man’s life after his death, I was heart­bro­ken that he died so sense­lessly. I found myself ask­ing why? Why did he have to die? He wasn’t harm­ing any­one. He didn’t fit the pro­file of some­one who was liv­ing in a way that would lead to his demise because of his own actions. He had no crim­i­nal his­tory and was loved by seem­ingly every­one who knew him. He was sim­ply Dewey.

I saw in him the faces of so many young men I know who are mak­ing a con­tri­bu­tion to soci­ety and not tak­ing away from it and I mourn his loss. My heart goes out to his fam­ily and all who were priv­i­leged to be touched and affected by him. Even though I did not know him he has deeply touched me.

I often say that with most good musi­cians what­ever instru­ment they play you can hear their voice. The dis­tinct sound that inher­ently belongs to them. When I heard Dewey play, I could hear his. I could hear his bass chords telling me a beau­ti­ful story that had a tragic end. I hoped that by this post, I could leave a writ­ten expres­sion of not only how he affected me, but how he and his music needs to live on until we see him again.

Reflecting on his life and his impact on myself and oth­ers brought these lyrics to mind:

I heard he played a good song
I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him and lis­ten for a while
And there he was, this young boy
A stranger to my eyes

Strummin’ my pain with his fin­gers
Singin’ my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly, with his song
Telling his whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song

Your bass has been silenced Dewey but the mem­ory of you and it’s music will not been for­got­ten.

The Coup’s trib­ute to Dewey Tucker

Thanks for read­ing,