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The Sacramento Bee just released a touching obituary for jazz musician Robert Scott Ringwald – “known to most as Bob, and the lucky few as Dad and PopPop” – written by his daughter, actress and author Molly Ringwald . Bob, who instilled in Molly a long-standing love of jazz, passed away on Tuesday August 3 at the age of 80.
Anyone who knew Bob also knew about his mischievous side and his ever-present, slightly saucy sense of humor. If you hadn’t begged enough to get off his list of email jokes, you would have received a few just days before his death, “wrote the young Ringwald in her sweet, long tribute. Molly detailed the life of her father, from the time he was declared legally blind as a baby and became totally blind as a teenager, marveling at how it never held him back in his career.
“Although he never wanted to be defined by his blindness, he couldn’t help but be an ambassador to change the perception of what is possible while living with a disability. Her dignity, humor, strength of character and courage will always be remembered and cherished by all whose lives have been touched by hers, ”Molly wrote. “The lyrics of the song” Old Bones “, which he often performed in his later years, summed up his philosophy around a busy life:” I love life, I would like to relive it / Just to have the chance to go back / And let my life begin / Oh yeah, I would love to do it again.
Bob Ringwald, a pre-teen alumnus of the California School for the Blind in Berkeley, began taking piano, guitar, and banjo lessons at age 5; soon developed a passion for traditional New Orleans jazz; and started playing professionally at the age of 17, growing a beard so that he could look old enough to have access to adult-only beatnik nightclubs like Berkeley’s the Iron Sandal. In the 1970s, he was playing shows seven nights a week in Northern California.
Bob also helped organize the first Sacramento Jazz Festival in 1974 as one of the first members of the festival’s board of directors; in 2012, Bob was honored by the festival as “the emperor of jazz”. He then hosted a radio show on KCSN-FM called “Bob Ringwald’s Bourbon Street Parade” after moving to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, he was once a guest announcer at a Dodgers game, reading the Braille line-up while standing on the pitch.
Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment in 2013 when she released her first jazz album Except sometimes (which included a loungey remake of Simple Minds’ The breakfast club hit “Don’t You Forget About Me”), Molly spoke of her father’s musical influence – remembering sitting down with her Fulton Street Jazz Band when she was just 3 and going out a collection of Dixieland jazz with his father’s band called I want to be loved by you at the age of 6. “There were probably around a thousand copies printed, and you could get them on eBay if you wanted to pay big bucks,” she laughed, apparently unaware that parts of the album have since surfaced. in line.
“I’m sure there are people who doubt [about my music career], but most people who really know me know that I have a background in jazz. I feel like I have jazz in my DNA, ”Ringwald told Yahoo Entertainment. The character of Molly in season 1 of the sitcom of the 80s The facts of life often took to singing, which was another example of her father’s early inspiration.
Bob Ringwald is survived by his wife of 60 years, Adele; his sister, Renée Angus; daughters Molly Ringwald and Beth Ringwald Carnes; son Kelly Ringwald; and four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, a great-grandson and a step-great-grandson. In lieu of flowers, the Ringwald family is asking for donations to be made to the Foundation Fighting Blindness or CURE Childhood Cancer. Read Molly in full Sacramento Bee tribute to his father here.
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