The voice behind the iconic 1970s rock track “Signs” has died from COVID-19 at the age of 77.
Les Emmerson, the lead singer of Five Man Electrical Band, succumbed to the coronavirus in his home city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, last Friday, the CBC reported.
The frontman contracted COVID in November. Emmerson — who was doubly vaccinated — had “underlying health issues” that contributed to his vulnerability, his wife, Monik Emmerson, told Rolling Stone.
“Music was his life up until the very end,” she told the CBC. “He lived and breathed music.”
After Emmerson and his Canadian group changed its name from the Staccatos to Five Man Electrical Band, they went international with the hit “Signs” in the early ’70s — only striking gold after the original, B-side recording had cut two guitar solos for it to be more radio-friendly.
“Suddenly it broke in Seattle and that area and it just kept spreading,” keyboardist Ted Gerow told the CBC.
The song’s inspiration came from Emmerson when he took a trip on iconic Route 66 and felt that the many advertorial billboards plastered along the road were ruining the natural beauty of America’s heartland and southwest.
In the years following, Emmerson used the anthem’s popularity to rally social causes for children’s hospitals and climate change. He went on to re-record the tune as “Signs4Change” with newer, more environmentally conscious lyrics, the network reported.
Emmerson is also remembered fondly for his lighthearted approach to the world, Gerow said.
“One of his famous quotes was: ‘Fun is the best thing to have’ … That’s how he lived his life.”
“I want people to know that he meant something different to everybody,” his daughter, Kristina Emmerson-Barrett, told Rolling Stone. “He was a musician first and he loved his music, he loved his craft. He was an artist at heart, but he was so much more than that.”