Friends say Thunder Chicken bassist Wil Lucy was ‘kind-hearted guy’ who died unexpectedly. And Davis performs another Dylan tune with impressive results while his blind audition song charts on Billboard.
Battle Round: Joshua Davis, right, and Brian Johnson singing Monday on “The Voice.”
Friends and relatives will long remember Wil Lucy, bassist for the bands Thunder Chicken and Semi-Casual Bedtime, as a “wonderful human being” and “a kind-hearted, good-natured guy” who supported the local music scene, worthy causes and his circle of soulmates.
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Wil Lucy
Lucy, 35, died suddenly Friday. His life will be celebrated from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Fifth Street Hall, 701 5th St. NW, in Grand Rapids, with a brief service at 6:30 p.m.
Friend and Thunder Chicken fan Lori VanderMolen called him “a supporter of local music and a great bass player, just a great guy.”
“Wil was always a very quiet guy, but when he had something to say, it always made you smile,” VanderMolen said. “He had a great sense of humor, great taste in music, loved to cook and share his food creations with us, and he also loved animals. … He was the most wildly creative person. He always had the best Halloween costumes.”
Thunder Chicken and Semi-Casual Bedtime guitarist Kevin Geerling said the two musicians played and wrote music together since they were teenagers. Geerling considered Lucy “a twin brother when it comes to music,” with Thunder Chicken leaning toward heavy rock and Semi-Casual Bedtime toward “lighter, more upbeat rock.”
“Wil had a passion for playing music that is rarely seen,” Geerling told Local Spins. “He put every emotion into his song playing. He was a natural performer. It could be a 400-person show at the old Intersection or 3,500-plus at the DeltaPlex, Wil on stage performing would draw a crowd in and have them talking about it from after the show until years from now.”
“Wil was a wonderful human being and an excellent musician,” said Tim Jones, a longtime friend of Lucy’s mother, Rebecca Marks. “He will be missed. It is so sad.”
On Stage: Thunder Chicken performing last November with Lucy at right.
Born in Chapel Hill, N.C., Lucy was a longtime Grand Rapids resident who worked for 10 years at Skywalk Deli, where “customers became friends and co-workers became family.” Not only was he a musician, but he performed in the Cangue League theater group, embraced art, wrote songs and stories, and made mix tapes.
VanderMolen, who chairs the board of directors for the Grand Rapids Red Project, said Lucy advocated to get the Skywalk Deli involved in the Red Project and participate in its Dining Out for Life fundraiser.
“He always wanted to help in any way he could,” she said. “He loved his friends. He loved his community, both the music community and the community in general.”
He is survived by his mother, Rebecca Marks, father, Tony Lucy, and grandfather, Bob Lucy.
Geerling said Thunder Chicken reunited for a benefit show last November to support Mike Smith of Kamilla — the last show the band ever played.
“Every single song I have written with him is special and it is destroying me that I will never write or perform music with him ever again,” Geerling said.
“We are all just heartbroken,” said VanderMolen, who noted his death was unexpected. A heart attack is suspected as the possible cause. “He was so kind, generous and thoughtful. He’s truly going to be missed. … Maybe his cause of death was the fact that his heart was just too big for his lifetime.”
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to Crash’s Landing, Kids’ Food Basket or the Wil Lucy Memorial GoFundMe, created to help offset the cost of funeral arrangements.
JOSHUA DAVIS ADVANCES ON ‘THE VOICE’ WHILE HIS VERSION OF DYLAN SONG CHARTS IN TOP 40
Michigan’s Joshua Davis thrived and survived on “The Voice” Monday, impressing judge Adam Levine so much during his duet performance that he “stole” the singer for his own team.
Davis on “The Voice”
The Traverse City musician and songwriter sang Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” along with younger contestant Brian Johnson during the Battle Round of the NBC show, with both singers earning high praise from the panel of four judges. (Watch the video below.)
Country star Blake Shelton, who coached the singers during rehearsals along with pop singer Meghan Trainor (who was brought to tears during the practice session), conceded he had a tough decision because both vocalists had impressive qualities. He said Davis “has that grit that coaches love to hear because we’re jealous of it.”
In the end, he chose Johnson to continue on “The Voice.” But shortly thereafter, Levine used his power to steal Davis for his own team, keeping the Michigan singer-songwriter alive in the popular competition. Judge Pharrell Williams called it “one of the better steals.”
Davis, a veteran Earthwork Music artist well-known to local fans for his solo work and as a member of Steppin’ In It, has said that being part of the Los Angeles-based reality TV singing competition has been a positive “out of the box” experience.
He also sang another Dylan tune, “I Shall Be Released,” during his successful blind audition on ‘The Voice.’ Indeed, it was so successful that his rendition of the song was released as a digital single and soared into the Top 40 of Billboard’s Rock Digital Songs chart. At No. 32 on the chart, Davis’ version of “I Shall Be Released” falls between two new Kid Rock tracks, “Cowboy” and “Johnny Cash,” and ranks above songs by Cage The Elephant, Hozier and AC/DC.
The Battle Round continues at 8 p.m. Tuesday on NBC with another set of contestants.
BATTLE ROUND:’KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR’
BLIND AUDITION: ‘I SHALL BE RELEASED’
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