When someone is killed, everyone offers their condolences. Some say they’re sorry, others compliment your strength and, the particularly curious, ask what exactly happened.
How about the one that you’ve lost? In the three years since my dad passed away, I still get condolences, which are always appreciated, but what I really want—and rarely get—are the questions about who my dad was. It is his death that I desire to be able to speak about.
So, rather than just praise Gavin DeGraw for his music and his resilience—we get to that too, don’t worry—I asked for a story about his parents. His mom. LynneHe died in 2017 and his father, JWayne2020.
According to the 45-yearold, her parents had very different personalities. Although my mother was strong, she was also tender. My father was strong, despite being tender.
Gavin took me back to when he was about 19, living at home in upstate New York after dropping out of college to focus on his career. “I was in my room working on a song I had written called ‘Waterfall,'” he recalled. “I caught my mother sitting at the top of the staircase, and she said, ‘I want you to know that your father and I feel what you’re doing matters.’ She gave me her vote of confidence and reminded me they weren’t a couple of idiots just saying, ‘Whatever my baby wants to do, they can do.'”