<\/p>\n
Chad Lovell performing with his alternative band Course of Empire.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Kerry Crafton<\/p>\n
Chad Lovell, a well-known Deep Ellum<\/a>-based musician<\/a>, died on Tuesday, seven\u00a0years\u00a0after sustaining traumatic brain injuries from a fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lovell, 59, was a drummer for the band Course of Empire and sound engineer at the Curtain Club in Deep Ellum.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody in Deep Ellum knows Chad,\u201d his mother, Yvonne Lovell, told The Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n She said he was \u201cborn with rhythm,\u201d playing the drum keys on his mother\u2019s at-home organ in Terrell while he was still in a high chair.<\/p>\n Seeing his musical talent, Yvonne Lovell and her husband attempted to get him into piano lessons at a young age. He refused until a drum teacher advised him to do so. His love for music, specifically drumming, flourished.\u00a0He later played in the band at Mesquite High School.<\/p>\n After a short stint at Dallas College Eastfield Campus, he returned home to Terrell and\u00a0told his mother he was never going back to school.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Because I know more than they do,\u2019 and he wasn’t being facetious,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was true. Chad was just brilliant, but he wasn’t overt with it. He was very kind. He was just Chad.\u201d<\/p>\n Chad Lovell became one of two drummers for Course of Empire, an alternative rock band, which toured and produced three albums from 1988 to 1998, according to the band\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When the band separated, Lovell became a sound engineer at the Curtain Club in Deep Ellum and worked for Deep Ellum Radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kerry Crafton, a Deep Ellum producer and engineer, said he and Lovell immediately bonded when they met 15 years ago. He described Lovell\u2019s impact on Deep Ellum\u2019s music scene in one word: “Inestimable.”<\/p>\n Crafton\u00a0recalled\u00a0Lovell\u2019s spontaneous 53rd birthday celebration late one night at several bars in Deep Ellum as one of his fondest last memories together before his accident.<\/p>\n \u201cHe worked hard, and he wanted everybody to sound great,\u201d Crafton said. \u201cHe was always gracious and kind to everybody, but then he could also tell it like it is if he needed to, no doubt. But he was just a great, just a great graceful soul.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2019,\u00a0Lovell fell in his home, suffering traumatic brain injuries, leaving doctors to predict he would not live more than four days. He was diagnosed with \u201cunresponsive wakefulness\u201d and lived for seven years after, moving in and out of several nursing homes, according to his mother.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Family and friends shared updates on his recovery on an \u201cOfficial Chad Lovell Update<\/a>\u201d Facebook page with almost 2,000 members. In 2021, friends hosted the sold-out \u201cLove for Lovell<\/a>\u201d show at Club Dada in Deep Ellum to raise money for his recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Crafton said he hopes his friend is remembered as a musical soul, powerful musician and great person, but more specifically for how he was in his prime as the Course of Empire drummer.<\/p>\n \u201cWith his sticks raised in the air, and just the look of determination on his face, and his ugly sunglasses cocked back on his head \u2013 that’s fun Chad. That’s how I remember it,\u201d Crafton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n