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World Cafe Remembers The Musicians We Lost In 2017

Three of the artists we lost in 2017: Tom Petty with Mudcrutch (left), Chuck Berry (top right), Jesse Zazu with Those Darlins (bottom right, credit: Veta & Theo).
Courtesy of the artists
Three of the artists we lost in 2017: Tom Petty with Mudcrutch (left), Chuck Berry (top right), Jesse Zazu with Those Darlins (bottom right, credit: Veta & Theo).

If the artist deaths we've collectively mourned over the past couple years have taught us anything, it's to celebrate our living heroes. See that tour. Cheer as loud as you can, while you can.

We were lucky to have some of the artists we lost in 2017 pass through the World Cafe to perform and speak with David Dye, and have collected their sessions below. We also remember Walter Becker of Steely Dan, Fats Domino, Chris Cornell, David Cassidy, Clyde Stubblefield, Prodigy, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, Kim Jonghyun of SHINee, Bunny Sigler and more — artists who didn't make it into the Cafe for sessions, but whose music certainly reached and impacted us. We send love to the families, bandmates and fans of artists we lost this year, and we send eternal beams of thanks for their music out into the ether.

Copyright 2017 XPN

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.