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Thank you Claude
A message has appeared on the Montreux Jazz Festival site confirming that Claude Nobs has succumbed to his injuries sustained in a skiing accident recently.
“On January 10th you left us!
Only a few days after your accident in Caux-sur-Montreux, in your beloved mountains, overlooking the lake that you were so fond of.”
TheHighwayStar offers its condolences to Claude’s family and friends.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Sad news rip funky claude
January 10th, 2013 at 23:03Rest in peace, Funky Claude. Thank you for pulling kids out the ground and finding a new recording site for the magnificent Machine Head album. Thank you for the incredible support you gave our favourite band over forty years. Thank you for the wonderful Montreux Jazz Festival that hosted so many luminary acts, jazz and beyond. Such a passionate music aficionado with a huge heart. Deepest condolences to Claude’s family and friends.
January 10th, 2013 at 23:43A great loss, but great memories. Claude must be upstairs with Jon Lord.
January 10th, 2013 at 23:45A sad beginning of what was to be the Purple year… Thank you, Claude, for all your enthousiasm throughout all these years, for bringing the good music closer to us, for the unforgettable concerts, for making us aware of this beautiful place on earth that Montreux is. Emptiness, eagles and snow… See you on the other side!
January 10th, 2013 at 23:52Yes, it’s true. Claude Nobs died today. First Jon, now Claude. When a blind man cries, Lord, there ain’t no sadder tale.
January 11th, 2013 at 00:20Bon voyage Claude. We’ll miss you.
January 11th, 2013 at 00:29Rest in peace Funky Claude! Thoughts & prayers to his family & friends!
January 11th, 2013 at 02:12That message is a hit in the nuts. The Montreux festival is the mecca for real musicians in Europe – not to mention Purple. It’s as well one of the most important sources for live recordings I really appreciate. Thank you indeed, dear Claude that you kept it going for all those decades!
My condolences go out to his family and friends!
January 11th, 2013 at 02:19Onward and upward, Funky Claude. Thanks for your support of the greatest band ever, and for the inimitable Montreux Jazz Festival. May we all have such vitality.
January 11th, 2013 at 02:27So sad to hear and read about this loss. Now “Funky Claude will be running in and out pulling angels out the ground” Rest In Peace, Mr. Nobs.
January 11th, 2013 at 02:38RIP Funky Claude
January 11th, 2013 at 03:14;-( Rest in peace, beauty and music, dear Funky Claude!
January 11th, 2013 at 05:36Very sad news.
January 11th, 2013 at 06:41RIP Funky Claude
January 11th, 2013 at 07:22Unfortunately, there is no maybe about it. Here is an article in lematin.ch for those who read french:
http://www.lematin.ch/loisirs/claude-nobs-decede/story/14848295
January 11th, 2013 at 07:46RIP to the Montreux Jazz man, Claude Nobs.
January 11th, 2013 at 07:51The new year is beginning with sad news.
January 11th, 2013 at 09:09RIP -tragic loss!
January 11th, 2013 at 09:54Smoke on the water. RIP.
January 11th, 2013 at 10:14Horrible new. Thanks Claude, we’ll remeber you as part of the Purple family, and of course, pulling kids out the ground.
January 11th, 2013 at 10:54this is most unexpected and my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Claude Nobs. i am still grieving the loss of Jon Lord and see all of this as a reminder to cherish each day and the gifts God has given us in our loved ones. i will always remember Claude as one who went beyond the smoke and fire “to pull kids out of ground.” Rest in peace.
January 11th, 2013 at 12:34All the older pearls are falling down to the ground : (
January 11th, 2013 at 13:01A huge piece of the Purple Puzzle is gone. Ironic really. He is connected to Purple through that now sacred event in 1971 that ‘burned the place to the ground’ later to be the origin of the most well known guitar riff on the planet. ‘Fire’. His demise? A snow skiing incident. ‘Ice’. Purple should add a song to their new album in tribute of this iconic figure whom they have a long and deep relationship with over the last 40 years. “Fire and Ice”.
RIP Mr. Nobs
CheerZ
January 11th, 2013 at 14:20This is a very tragic news. “Funky Claude” was a key figure in the history of DP and a prime organizer and fine man.
He’ll have a great jam with Jon Lord and other Montreux-heroes, who are in music-heaven now….
Thank you for the music.
Karl-Heinz
January 11th, 2013 at 17:10Angels in the sky!! Rest in peace!! brazilian fan.
January 11th, 2013 at 23:29Oh No!!! Thankfully, his legacy will live forever in the likes of the Festival, and his name, forever in a song. Saw him at the Festival when Purple closed it a few years back. Appeared to be a very nice, congenial, and wonderful man. His loss will surely be felt by many. Rest his soul, and may his eternity be even more fulfilling than his life must have been.
January 11th, 2013 at 23:38Abbiamo perso un grande della musica uno che amava la musica e che l’ha diffusa e fatta conoscere in tutto il mondo e non da ultimo a contributu al grande successo dei Deep Purple a partire dal lontano 1971. Grazie Funky Claude ci mancherai.
January 12th, 2013 at 07:37Your name will never be forgotten, “Smoke on the water” will see to that, people around the world will always hear about “Funky Claude” giving a helping hand to get the “kids” out of the burning Casino and helping Deep Purple find a new place to record the greatest Rock album in the world, “Machine Head.” RIP!
January 12th, 2013 at 10:27bad news … RIP Claude
January 12th, 2013 at 11:28Just as I feared a TBI took Claude as it did a dear friend of mine.
January 12th, 2013 at 11:39Rest in Peace Funky Claude, you are Immortalized in Song Forever.
The Purp’s family taking another hit. So sad they get their air and written time when all is too late. Appreciate these cats while they are still with us….I demand all radio stations do a 24 loop of SOTW!
January 12th, 2013 at 12:03Sad news, The immortalised Claude was a big part of the Deep Purple story. May he rest in peace, we owe him much
January 12th, 2013 at 17:20Good Bye Funky Claude ! RIP .. “Not dead but gone before”
January 13th, 2013 at 04:54Thanks for all and Rest in Peace “Funky Claude”
Condolences to Claude Nobs family and friends.
Swiss TV SRF 1 Sunday January 13th, 23:00
“Let The Good Times Roll”
40 Jahre Jazzfestival Montreux
January 13th, 2013 at 10:54Hats off for a life achievement in making music accessable for not only Swiss people but for legions of music fans.
January 13th, 2013 at 16:32You went too quickly. A huge impact on culure. The image from the Machine Head LP album gatefold and the amazing true, narrative story behind the song and the song itself. Claude Nobs is there. But the amzing part of it all, such hard work of long time, contiuosly could never be valued. We need such keepers and concert promotors who have the genuin interest, the needed force and genlte ways. Sad news. RIP
RIP Funky Claude. You’ll be greatly missed!!
January 13th, 2013 at 17:34“Funky Claude was running in and….” will remain forever. RIP and THANK YOU!!!
January 13th, 2013 at 18:09“Funky Claude was running in and out…” Rock in Peace dear Claude!!!
January 13th, 2013 at 19:05A very important person of the Deep Purple history has left us.
January 14th, 2013 at 22:25I’m sure he is having a glass of wine with Jon now. And playing great music.
RIP.
Excellent tribute from Ian Anderson to Claude Nobs, at the Jethro Tull website!
January 15th, 2013 at 06:10We had the great fortune to meet Funky Claude in Montreux, he was a most gracious gentle man who was well loved. R.I.P
January 15th, 2013 at 18:45What a loss…! As well as being forever a part of Deep Purple’s history, he gave the rock and jazz worlds on of the (if not THE) very premier music festivals, with the finest acts in the world lining up. His interest always seemed to be primarily to make for the most spectacular show rather than the most spectacular bank statement. RIP Claude Nobs!
P.S. the up and coming new Purple album should now have some sort of homage to him, in song or album title or sleeve detail or whatever, shouldn’t it?
January 15th, 2013 at 22:18Plus, the Montreux festival should now be renamed Claude Nobs festival!
January 15th, 2013 at 22:21desde Argentina expreso mis sentimentos de tristeza por la perdida del Purple Suizo
January 17th, 2013 at 17:09sad news R.I.P
January 17th, 2013 at 19:17Don’t take my words as any kind of sarkazm,but Funky Cloud has proabably great life and he left us great way too.The way how he lef this world can be a “any skier dream”when we think he would be 77 years old in February.
January 20th, 2013 at 10:08Go ski,watch the magic surrounding of the place you love and never come back.Looks like the way which goes directly to paradise for me.Anyway Funky Cloud became to be a holy man thanks to notorious famous story about puting kids out of the ground from burning place,made him hero long ago already.He deserve nice decease too.
R.I.P.Mr.Funky Cloud.