David Riley, the bassist for Big Black, has died at 59. From David Riley’s partner, Rachel Brown:
Sad news my Chicago friends. My dearest friend and longtime housemate Dave Riley lost his short battle with cancer this morning. In late August he developed a persistent sore throat which wasn’t responsive to antibiotics. Initially dismissed as acid-reflux, further testing showed that he had a large squamous cell carcinoma in his throat which had already spread to several places in his lungs. Since treatment wouldn’t have made any difference, Dave chose to come home to die. His doctor predicted that he had about 6 months left, but sadly the cancer was so aggressive that he didn’t even make it an additional two. […]