RIP: Marc Fournier

A fellow I'd known for since the mid-'90's from New England - we e-mailed sporadically and kept in touch w/ online after he moved to Atlanta.

His e-mail just bounced back to me that I'd sent for wishing him a happy birthday - imagine my surprise when looking up his band's site I found out the following:

Marc passed away in 2005.

Here's the story from the web. I was shocked - and wanted to share the story.

Marc Fournier, 1965-2005

By atl_andisheh

November 28th, 2005 @ 9:50 AM Uncategorized

Fans of local music might know Marc as Soolaiman, the lead singer of the popular Atlanta Neil Diamond tribute band, Hot August Knights. According to an e-mail from his brother, Marc died last weekend of complications resulting from pneumonia. He was just 40.

Marc was a great performer and, in my admittedly few conversations with him, a kind, engaging and interesting man. You can see him performing as Soolaiman in the documentary Feel Neil by Atlanta director David Sarich.

(Photo credit: Ken Kelly, copied from hotaugustknights.com)