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Fred Knittle - 1925 - 4 January 2009

For those who saw the movie "Young at Heart," you'll know immediately who Fred is.  For those who haven't, do your heart a favor and catch it as soon as you can or attend one of their concerts if they come to an area near you.  Fred's version of "Fix You" is the most beautiful rendition on the planet - even Chris Martin said so.

A Tribute to Fred Knittle 

Fred Knittle, 83, died Thursday, January 1, 2009 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Fred was born in Utica, New York, where he attended grammar and high school.  In World War II, he served with the U.S. Army Infantry in North Africa ad Italy and then, after the War ended in Europe, with the Combat Engineers in the Philippine Islands with the U.S. Army Occupation Forces in Japan.  He attended Utica College, then a satellite campus of Syracuse University, on the GI Bill. It was during his senior year, 1949, when he met his future bride, Barbara Essel. They married in 1951 and moved to Staten Island, New York where Fred was Program Director for the Staten Island YMCA.  Within three years, they moved into Manhattan when Fred became Executive Director of the Uptown YMCA.     
   In 1958, Fred accepted a position as Director of Development for George Williams College, a YMCA training facility in Chicago.  They were there for only a year and a half, before Fred was asked to become Vice President for Development at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton.  Fred and Barbara moved to Florence in the fall of 1959, and he was with the school for nearly thirty years, raising over 22 million dollars during that time. He retired in 1987. Fred believed strongly in the school and its mission: that all people could communicate in this world - that everyone could have a voice. According to him, he wasn't a fund-raiser, he was a "friend-raiser", his job was to make people believe in the school, and the donations would take care of themselves. For Fred, rich wasn't just a monetary idea.  It was about whom you surrounded yourself with, who believed in you, and whom you believed in. He worked this way, but he also lived this way. In addition to his work for Clarke School, he also served his community in the Kiwanis Club, The Lions Club, was active in the Soap Box Derby, and volunteered his time for local youth sports, from football and soccer to basketball and his favorite game to play, baseball.
   He was King Winter in Northampton's Winter Carnival, played "Gramps" in the Volunteers In Northampton Schools fundraising shows, and participated in the Hospital Follies. Never a trained singer, but always a lover of music, he dabbled in performing for most of his life, but never made it a regular thing.
   After Fred retired from Clarke School, Barbara felt it would be good for her sanity to get him out from underfoot.  She suggested he audition for the Young@Heart Chorus, and he spent most of the time in retirement singing with the group, a collection of seniors ranging in age from 68 to 95 years.  With the group, he returned to Europe, singing in Holland, Belgium and Germany. After retiring from the chorus due to health restrictions in 2002, he returned for an occasional show, including the show that became the basis for the Young@Heart movie. His version of "Fix You" from the movie became a Youtube sensation, with almost 1 million viewings around the world.
  Despite being born and raised in New York, he became a die-hard fan of both the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, and after both the Red Sox and the Patriots won championships in 2004, joked that he could now die a happy man.
  Fred is missed terribly by his loving wife of 57 years, Barbara. He often said that their marriage was based on faith and trust.  She had no faith in him and he didn't trust her. He is also lovingly remembered by his four children and their families: Elise Knittle of Santa Cruz, CA, her husband Quentin Williams, and their four children: Byron, Alanna, Lynette and Benjamin; Bill Knittle, of Holyoke, MA, his fiancé Alice Klinge, and their three children: Christopher, Elenora and Lucas; Bob Knittle of Worcester, MA, his wife Mary, and their four children: Sean, Megan, Brian and Michael; and Paul Knittle of Amesbury, MA, his wife Tara Nelson, and their daughter, Hannah.
   He was able to spend his last few days surrounded by family, visited by friends, sharing stories, telling jokes, watching football, some of his favorite pastimes. He died peacefully, knowing that he was loved and will be missed, but feeling he had led a full and happy life and had been blessed with a loving wife and family, including the twelve grandchildren that he couldn't get enough of.

USA TODAY tribute

Young @ Heart singer dies at age 83/ January 04, 2009
Fred Knittle, one of the old-timers from the recent documentary Young@Heart, about an senior citizen singing group that performs modern rock songs, died today at age 83 after a short battle with cancer.
Knittle, a World War II machine-gunner who spent most of his working life as an executive at The Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Mass., was a breakout figure in the film, released by Fox Searchlight last spring.
Though using an oxygen tube due to offset problems from his congestive heart failure, Knittle delivered a heartbreaking rendition of Coldplay's Fix You in the film, displaying a deep, steady baritone that was unhampered by his other health troubles.
It was an especially touching moment because Knittle had rehearsed the song to perform as a duet with friend Bob Salvini, who is seen in the movie during rehearsals but died shortly before the concert finale.
"What do some of the words mean? I still don't understand it," Knittle said of his signature song in an interview before the film's release. "We've got all these problems, but there's still a ray of hope, and at the end of them, 'I will try to fix you.' "
Young@Heart has such bittersweet moments but is largely a lighthearted exploration of how these people, late in life, rejuvenate themselves with music their children or grandchildren might listen to.
Before he started singing rock songs, Knittle wasn't exactly a fan. His feeling was, "Turn it down and turn it off. The Clash? We wouldn't have allowed that in our house. Sonic Youth? No way, shape or form. … Now we have the old and the young captured by this kind of music."
Knittle was frequently a source of comic relief in the film, playfully delivering one-liners to his wife of more than 55 years, Barbara, who was his devoted straight man.
In keeping with Knittle's offbeat sense of humor, the Young@Heart singing group often put a comical spin on their cover versions of hits, such as The Ramones' I Wanna Be Sedated or the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive," the latter of which was performed in the movie with the heavyset Knittle playing a lothario in a white leisure suit.
Other rock songs about pain and melancholy had different meaning for the aged performers. Knittle said one of his favorites was The Flaming Lips' All We Have Is Now, a sad song to some, but he said he sang it thinking of ways to enjoy the present.
He is survived by his wife, their four children, 12 grandchildren, and a lifetime of corny jokes.
Just three weeks ago, after getting word that his cancer was inoperable, Knittle faced his fate with the resolve and humor of a life well lived: "Although I wish there was more pleasant news about my condition … Oh well, I don't expect to get out of this world alive."
Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-01-01-fred-knittle-obit_N.htm

Daily Hampshire Gazette Tribute

Fred Knittle, Fondly Remembered
January 04, 2009
Young@Heart singer fondly remembered


NORTHAMPTON - Wherever Fred Knittle goes from here, it's a good bet he'll have a joke ready and be looking for someone to sing with.

Knittle, the most recognizable face of the internationally known Young at Heart Chorus, died Thursday at the age of 83.

The cause of death was cancer, but Knittle had been in poor health for years, suffering from congestive heart failure that limited his mobility and required him to breath through an oxygen tube. But his rich baritone voice, somehow, cut through all the ailments like a storm.

His famous line, "I went from continent to continent until I became incontinent," was typical of Knittle's upbeat way of dealing with his health problems.

The deep-voiced singer became a superstar in the last year of his life, as his moving solo on Coldplay's "Fix You" is a mainstay on YouTube, and one of the many highlights from the Young at Heart documentary, released earlier this year to both critical and popular acclaim. Knittle's courageous performance in the film, brought out of retirement to do one last show, has come to symbolize the spirit and joie de vivre of Young at Heart.

"We were very lucky to have been in his presence," said the group's longtime director Bob Cilman. "His relationship with Barbara, his wife of 57 years, was special."

Friend-raising

Knittle was born in Utica, N.Y., in 1925. He was a U.S. Army machine-gunner in World War II, fighting in Europe and in the Philippines. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1950. He and his wife, Barbara, raised three sons and a daughter and have 12 grandchildren. The couple came to Northampton in 1959, where he became vice president for development at Clarke School for the Deaf. He held the job for 30 years, raising $22 million for the school over that time.

"His concept of what he did was never called fundraising," said his eldest son, Bill Knittle. "He called it #friend-raising.' He never needed to ask for money - when people knew what Clarke was all about, they gave."

Knittle was a large man and a natural athlete who played semi-pro football in Utica and soccer in college. He claims to have clubbed the longest home run ever hit in a ballpark in Utica, off a pitcher, as luck would have it, who was Barbara's boyfriend at the time. Asked if that was the moment that won Barbara's heart, Bill Knittle said, "He liked to think so."

Though a native of New York, he transplanted his allegiances to the Red Sox and the Patriots the day he blew into town, and was still holding out hope for another Pats Super Bowl win this year.

Contrary to the evidence onscreen or in live performance, Knittle was not a trained singer or performer.

"He sang a little bit as a young man, but gave it up," said Bill Knittle. "He was always interested in music, and sang around the house, but it wasn't until he retired that he began taking it seriously."

At the urging of his wife, Knittle auditioned for the Young at Heart in 1992.

Cilman calls the first time he heard Knittle sing an indelible moment in his life. "I was amazed. We had dreamt of having a bass singer for years."

Of the many highlights in his 16-year stint with the group, he once sang "Big Bad John" in full cowboy garb in "Flaming Saddles," the western revue the Chorus did with the Gay Men's Chorus. Also memorable was his rendition of "Why Not Take ... All of Me," a take on Lorena Bobbitt's famed snip-snip-snip of her husband's private parts.

Knittle was on board for the group's first three European tours. In Ghent and in Brussels, Belgium, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he played Bill Clinton singing "Prisoner of Love" while mezzo soprano Elaine Fligman, playing Hillary, sang "Stand By Your Man."

"He was a treasure, a good, good person," said Fligman, 85, of Amherst, a member of Young at Heart for 17 years. "Aside from his gift for comedy, he had a voice that anyone in the Metropolitan Opera would be thankful to have."

In "Kiss of Fire," Fligman performed a duet with Knittle - he dressed as a dashing caballero, she with rose clenched in her teeth.

"His shape was all wrong, but oh, well," she said with a laugh. "Just the thrill of singing with somebody with such a glorious voice. He sang it absolutely straight, which of course made it such fun."

Fligman, who recently retired from the group due to health issues of her own, can relate to Knittle's desire to keep singing.

"He is irreplaceable," said Fligman. "You might find people who can do some of what he does, but it's unlikely you'll ever find someone who can do it all."

In appearances with school groups, said Cilman, Knittle had a natural ability to bridge generation gaps.

"He wanted to do Nat King Cole's #Unforgettable' as a duet with a student. The student would be prepared, learning the song before the Chorus got there, but Fred's voice and his size could be intimidating.

"But he was always so gracious, so supportive and encouraging. Kids invariably walked away from the experience feeling very comfortable and confident about themselves."

"He loved every minute of his time with Young at Heart," said Bill Knittle. "To be brought out of retirement to do that film was an extreme boost to him. All capped off with that incredible moment in June, where he led the Chorus in the National Anthem at Fenway Park."

Knittle seemed to walk around with a catalogue of old songs and jokes he could pull out at a second's notice. Former WHMP morning jock Dennis Lee was part of a close-knit group that joined Knittle every Tuesday for lunch. Dubbed the Romeos by Knittle (Retired Old Men Eating Out), the weekly sessions, continuing right up until last month, featured Knittle holding court while the rest convulsed in laughter.

"My wife's a religious cook," Lee said, relating one of Knittle's favorites. "Everything's a sacrifice or a burnt offering."

"He was Mr. Positive," said Lee, "the king of the glass half full. He was a born performer. If he opened the refrigerator and the light came on, he could do three minutes right there."

Knittle kept his sense of humor right to the end. In the hospital, with his whole family around him, he'd clutch at his throat and make like he was choking, then laugh at the horrified reaction. His hospital room was decorated with pictures and posters of his Young at Heart career and emails came flooding in from fans the world over.

"He finally had an international audience for some of his jokes," said Bill Knittle.
 By Bob Flaherty
Daily Hampshire Gazette © 2008 All rights reserved
http://www.gazettenet.com/print/217452 

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