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Artist scheduled to play summer Fraze show dies after battle with cancer
NBA basketball star turned professional musician Wayman Tisdale has passed away after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 44.
Tisdale was scheduled to play this summer at the Fraze Pavilion as part of Boney James and Norman Brown’s Summer Storm show on Aug. 15.
According to Tisdale’s biography on his personal Web site, he was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2007 after he fell down a flight of steps and broke his leg at his home in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 2007. Knee replacement surgery and months of chemotherapy followed. His right leg was amputated above the knee in 2008.
“It really showed me what’s important in life, man. It’s not getting as many houses as I can, not driving the biggest cars,” Tisdale said. “What’s important is family and being healthy.”
“Rebound,” the bass guitarist’s eighth album, released in 2008, was written with the message “if I can do it, you can do it,” according to Tisdale.
Tisdale, a three-time All-American at Oklahoma played 12 seasons in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 15.3 points for his career. He was on the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.
After he retired from the court he became an award-winning jazz musician. Tisdale’s death was announced on the Oklahoma Senate floor Friday by Senate Majority Leader Todd Lamb, who led the chamber in prayer according to an Associated Press report.
Below I posted a video of Tisdale that was shot by ESPN. He obviously had a great smile and a contagious energy. Stay tuned for any news regarding any more changes with the Fraze show.
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