Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon built a career on the collision between dark subject matter and a wry, literate sense of humor, turning mercenaries, addicts, and monsters into vehicles for sharp social commentary set to polished Los Angeles rock arrangements.

The Los Angeles Years

In the mid-1970s Zevon settled into the same Los Angeles singer-songwriter circle that produced the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, at one point rooming with a then-unknown Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham before they joined Fleetwood Mac^[1]. That scene gave him a crucial early champion in Jackson Browne, who produced and promoted Zevon's self-titled 1976 major-label debut^[1]. The album impressed critics and fellow musicians but sold poorly, a pattern of critical respect outpacing commercial reward that would define much of his career^[1].

Zevon leaned on collaborations with bigger names throughout his working life, a thread that ran from Jackson Browne and the Eagles guesting on his debut to Bruce Springsteen appearing on his final record decades later^[1]. That pattern paid off fully in 1978, when Excitable Boy, co-produced by Browne and Waddy Wachtel, became his best-selling album and produced his only Top 40 single, "Werewolves of London"^[1].

Final Years

In 2002 Zevon was diagnosed with inoperable peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer usually linked to asbestos exposure, and chose not to pursue treatment^[2]. He spent his remaining time working, appearing for a full hour as David Letterman's only guest in October 2002, an appearance remembered for his gallows humor and his advice to enjoy every sandwich^[3]. He also gathered a long list of famous friends and collaborators, including Browne, Don Henley, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen, to record one last album, The Wind, which was released ten days before he died on September 7, 2003, at age 56^[2].