Terry Kirkman, Association Founding Member, Singer Dead at 83

Terry Kirkman, Singer-songwriter, and the founding member of the 1960s folk-rock band The Association, is dead at 83.

Kirkman’s passing was announced on Sunday in a statement on the Association’s official Facebook page.

The statement read, “We’re saddened to report that Terry Kirkman passed away last night, RIP Terry. He will live on in our hearts and in the music he so brilliantly wrote.”

On December 12, 1939, Kirkman was born in Salina, Kansas. Along with Jules Gary Alexander, Russ Giguere, Ted Bluechel Jr., Brian Cole, and Bob Page (who was soon replaced by Jim Yester), he founded the Association in Los Angeles in 1965.

The group was made up of a sizable ensemble of singers and musicians who were noted for their complex vocal harmonies.

Songs like Cherish, Everything That Touches You, Requiem for the Masses, and Six Man Band were written by Kirkman specifically for the Association.

The group received six Grammy nominations, including three for Cherish in the categories of contemporary rock and roll group performance, vocal group performance, and contemporary rock and roll recording.

Initially leaving the Association in 1972, Kirkman. He departed again in 1984 but came back when the band regrouped in 1979.

Along with other Association members, Kirkman was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.

His wife Heidi, daughter Sasha, son-in-law, and two grandkids remain as survivors of Kirkman.