Obit: Donnie Brooks, 71; singer had Top 10 hit with 'Mission Bell'

[CrankyYankee]

Donnie Brooks, a singer with rockabilly roots who had a top 10 pop hit with the love song "Mission Bell" in 1960, has died. He was 71.

Brooks, who lived in Burbank, died Friday of congestive heart failure at Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City, said his wife, Penny Brooks.

[EDIT]

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituar...ry?coll=la-news-obituaries&ctrack=1&cset=true


[EDIT-post truncated because originating material is copyprotected. Unauthorized use of copyrighted content is in violation of Radio-Info's TOS.]

 

[Those RRRRs]

I wonder if anyone besides me wonders if he rang the mission bell at Mission Hospital and the nurse didn't hear him ring that mission bell because she was outside smoking.

If we were allowed to smoke inside a hospital like the good old days, maybe she would have been able to put the cigarette out in the ashtray at the nurses station and run to his room to give him oxygen and Donnie Brooks would still be with us.

For whom did the mission bell toll? It tolled for the nurse, who should have immediately known her mission was to listen for the mission bell and go runnin'. But that mission went unknown, because she was forced to profusely puff outdoors. The result? The mission bell tolled for Mr. Brooks one final time.

Mission Bell was a good record, as was the flipside on ERA records, called "Do It For Me."

 

[Those RRRRs]

I wonder how he died. Was he a smoker?

 

[Al Timiter]

Maybe he was in the MISSIONary position when it happened.

 

[kgbsamfm]

Donnie was one of the good guys. He hadn't smoked for many years and really never fully recovered from an auto accident in 2005. He was quite a showman and dearly loved his fans. I knew Donnie well for many years, we had lots of belly laughs together and a lot of us will miss him greatly.