Talk:Bobby Freeman

Death reports

An unsourced IP edit on 25 January stated that he had died. The claim is repeated here, and - though the writer, Jeff Tamarkin, is well respected - he says only that: "His death was confirmed by someone who had recently been in touch with the singer, but no details on cause, location or place of death (or the exact date) were available." Before reporting his death as fact, I suggest that we need better sources. Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:20, 31 January 2017 (UTC)

I have now updated the death information, based on this source, which includes family details and in my view can reasonably be assumed to be reliable. It gives a death date of January 28, which seems curious as his death was first reported here on January 25. It also gives his year of birth as 1939 rather than the 1940 given in other, earlier, sources - though all the evidence I've seen confirms 1940 and suggests that 1939 is simply a sub-editing error. Hopefully, these details can be ironed out when more information becomes available. Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:47, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

The report of the singer Bobby Freeman dying Saturday in Anson TX is an error as per this source: in brief, Robert Freeman of Anson was born and raised in Texas and was employed as a welder. However it's entirely possible that the singer did recently pass, and some interested party has happened on the Anson obit and - as the dates more or less fit - mistakenly added two and two. I'm presuming to remove the death locale: I'm leaving the date but will keep an eye out for verification or correction and would suggest others do the same.--Cherrylimerickey (talk) 20:13, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

Hmm.... thank you. I thought the Texas connection was unexpected, but then I have no knowledge of his family background. The news that it was an error seems to leave the position as it was a day or so ago... that we still have no definitive word on his death. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:45, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

PS: Changes that specify his date as being on Jan. 28 should be reverted. They stem from the original version of the VVN article, which included an error (confusion with another Bobby Freeman) that has now been removed. This Bobby Freeman's death was reported here on Jan. 25 - we understand it was earlier in the month but no reliable sources have given any further details. Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:08, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

PPS: Tamarkin's article here has now been revised to say that Freeman died in Texas on Jan.28. Dohhhhh....!!!! That's almost certainly not correct.... the year of birth, information on his career, and his assumed place of death do not match up. In a comment on the article, Tamarkin says that his death has been confirmed by sources close to the singer (which I'm sure is true), and puts a link to the Anson death. But, I'm not convinced. It would be good if some more reliable information could be posted here. Or anywhere.... Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:36, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

PPS: Tamarkin's article has now been - correctly - revised to state that: "His death was confirmed by someone who had recently been in touch with the singer, but no details on cause or place have been revealed. The exact date is also unknown.". Tamarkin's comments note that: "We have received confirmation from two people who were close to him. For whatever reason, his death has not been made public yet but we trust our sources.... the Bobby Freeman who died in Texas [on Jan. 28] is not the singer, and we’ve deleted that information." Ghmyrtle (talk) 10:04, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

Per this source, I believe the issue has now been resolved - he died on January 23. Ghmyrtle (talk) 23:08, 13 February 2017 (UTC)