"This is way too soon and way too unspecific for us to feel that this is at all the right thing to happen."

"Definitely one of the greatest stars of recorded music. There is no doubt of that. He would be in the top 10 of all time, regardless of who the other nine people were."

"It's amazing someone so tall has been felled."

"He's a performer with the word 'boy' in his professional title and boys aren't supposed to die."

i hope he's nowhere near a microphone when news of my death breaks. the first quotation is brilliant.