Before the days of Social Media a person actually had to do something to become famous.
Or even somewhat famous.
But then, just as quickly as that person became famous, they dropped out of the news. Well, actually they didn’t drop out of the “news”, but rather, they dropped out of the limelight.
If you wanted to know what that person was actually doing then, you had to do actual research, not just pick up your phone and Google them.
But I did often wonder what that person was doing after they became famous?
Are they still alive?
Are they living a normal life, out of the public eye?
Are they still engaged in what ever made them famous at the time?
Here are some people I wonder about: (In no particular order, but I will number them just to separate them)
1 Ken Patera – He was a famous strong man that was in the televised competition, “World’s Strongest Man” and they did crazy competitions with acts of strength. Born in 1942, Ken went to high school in Oregan where he competed in football, wrestling and track and field. Quite the athlete, Ken attended BYU on an athletic scholarship and would win the gold medals in the Pan American Games in Power Lifting in 1971 and won silver at the 1971 World Championships. Injuries cut short his shot put career, but he had other things to keep himself busy. Enter 1973 and Ken became a pro wrestler. With his dynamic personality, Ken became an instant attraction and he entered the arena as, of course, a bad guy. Ken survived a horrific car crash in 1976, hydroplaning across traffic when a thunderstorm hit in Oklahoma. He ended up in a ditch and with his car filling with water, he was able to kick out his windshield, pulling himself out moments before drowning. Declining a ride to the hospital, despite a huge gash to his forehead, Ken just went to a hotel to rest and got on a flight the next morning to go to a scheduled wrestling match. In that match, the crowd grew tired of his rule breaking persona and as he was pounding his opponent, the crowd began throwing chairs into the ring. Then actual fans climbed into the ring and a full riot broke out. Several fans were slammed to the ring floor before other wrestlers ran from the locker room to help bring some sense of order to the situation. Ken had to be helped back to the locker room. In 1977, Ken would win the title of “Most Hated Wrestler”. In the 1st World’s Strongest Man Competition in 1977, Ken finished in 3rd place. He would be a fan favorite in later Strong-Man competitions. In his personal life, Ken would marry and divorce three times, and has two daughters.
In the low point, Ken was denied service after hours, at a McDonalds restaurant in Wisconsin in 1984, making Ken angry enough to throw a rock through a window. AND ……, he and a fellow professional wrestler assaulted the police officers that showed up at his hotel to arrest him and he ended up serving 2 years in prison. In 2018 Ken was part of the lawsuit against the Wrestling association citing brain injuries and the organization concealing the risks of brain injuries. However, the case was dismissed and the appeal was also dismissed. Still living, Ken seems to be living a quiet life, and his where-abouts are currently unknown.
2 Minnie Riperton. I was saddened to hear that Minnie Riperton had died. She died in 1979. Born in 1947 in Chicago, Minnie studied music and dance at Chicago’s Abraham Lincoln Center. Before hitting solid gold with her breakout hit in 1975 where she hit that tremendously high note in “Loving You”, Minnie sang backup vocals for artists Etta James, Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Minnie was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 1976 and her prognosis was bleak, she was given about 6 months to live. Minnie continued to record and tour and was one of the first celebrities to announce publicly that she had cancer. Minnie received the American Cancer Society’s Courage Award, presented to her by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. At the age of 31, Minnie died of breast cancer on July 12, 1979.
3 Dick Wilson. I remember him. From 1964 to 1985, Dick Wilson was “George the Grocer, Mr Whipple” and he routinely scolded shoppers who would “Squeeze the Charmin”. George the Grocer was created by the ad agency Benton & Bowles and was a sensation that lasted for decades and was designated as among the top 100 advertising campaigns of the 20th Century. Mr Whipple reappeared in 1999 (after 14 years off commercials) in more Charmin commercials because he still had to inform shoppers about Charmin. Dick dies in 2007 of Natural causes. BUT …. What ever happened to his sidekick, the stock boy Jimmy who appeared in many of the Charmin commercials? Stock Boy Jimmy was played by Adam Savage, who would later have a starring role in the television series MythBusters.
4.Gabriele Susanne Kerner is still singing and touring, she is touring across 10 different countries and has 26 upcoming concerts in 2025 and 2026. What? You don’t know who Gabriele is? Sure you do …. Oh, wait, you probably know her by her stage name – Nena. Yup, THAT Nena, or “99 Red Balloons”, or originally in German as “99 Luftballons”. Selling over 25 million records, Nena is the most successful German pop singer in history, even though in the US Market, she was a 1-Hit Wonder. Her singing career began when a guitarist saw her dancing at a disco and asked her to audition for his band’s lead singer. That band didn’t last long, yet Gabriele attracted the attention of the record label, and the rest is history. Gabriele got the nickname “Nena” while vacationing with her parents in Spain as a child. “Nena” is a Spanish word for young girl. Nena achieved much success throughout Europe over the decades and is still singing and still touring. In 2009, Nena became a grandmother, when her daughter Larissa gave birth to a daughter Carla Maria, and then only 2 days later, her son Sakias and his wife had a boy, Noah. She would later have two more grandchildren in 2013 and in 2018. Since 2010, Nena’s twins Sakias and Larissa have been backup singers with her on stage and since 2015, her youngest son Simeon has been with her on stage playing keyboards.
And there you have 4 more people that you had forgotten about …….
What did I get out of this? I never knew Minnie Riperton had become such a voice and advocate for breast cancer.
Good for her.
But I do wish I knew where Ken Patera was/is.
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