How did Larry Hunt aka ‘Bucket Man’ die? San Francisco street drummer, 64, was an ‘America’s Got Talent’ alum
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Larry Hunt, the "Bucket man" who performed on the sidewalks of downtown San Francisco with his percussion-based soundtrack, has died at the age of 64. The well-known street drummer who appeared on 'America's Got Talent' and in the Will Smith film 'The Pursuit of Happyness' died at the age of 64 on Thursday, February 23. Although his cause of death has not been determined, his friends informed KTVU that he died of an overdose.
Hunt was known for playing on a drum set he fashioned out of flipped buckets and pots and filled Market Street in San Francisco with the sound of his drumming. The producers of Smith's 2006 movie urged him to make sure he was on the sidewalk while they were filming so he could appear in a scene because he had become such a fixture on the street, DailyMail reported. He toured abroad and gave his own Ted Talk about drumming. "If I stop playing, I'll die," he said in a 2009 interview with ABC7 news.
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How did Larry Hunt die?
Although the exact cause of death has not yet been made public, drug overdose is thought to be the cause, as reported by KTVU. Hunt would often play at a market stall owned by Reverend Charles Gray, who said Hunt's passing was a sign of the type of assistance the city's elderly and previously homeless require. Even his friends remarked that because the city's homeless population had few resources available to them, his death should act as a warning. "A lot of these people, they get trapped in these SROs, and they can't find their way out. It's a real tough situation," he told SFGATE.
"Whether it was drug-related or whatever it was, it's a deep depression that comes with living in these conditions,'" he said. "People in there need more mental services and more services that can help these people get into a more standard way of living."
The San Francisco Human Services Agency oversees SRO operations. The organization informed the outlet (SFGATE) that they are only able to concentrate on providing food and accommodation to formerly homeless persons and that its residents must independently seek out mental health therapy. "I don't have the answers, but I think checking on some of these seniors in these SROs would be more helpful to a lot of them — to see what their talent is and what they have to offer," said Grays. "This generation of seniors is being forgotten. When I was coming up, we respected the elders. The elders really got a lot of love. I'm here, and I get no support," he added.
'We are all devastated'
Hunt, who had been homeless before, had been living in an SRO house when he died unexpectedly. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, Hunt's friends are planning a memorial for him and want to include the instruments he used in his homemade drum set in the service. Tourists and onlookers frequently stopped by to record him playing the drums because of his fame. He said in 2016 that he had "made San Francisco more alive" to The Chronicle. 14 five-gallon buckets were used to construct his drum kit, which was also topped with metal pots and pans, a cowbell for additional percussion, and rolls of duct tape to keep everything together.
"We are all devastated," said local musician Brian Compton, who met Hunt when the latter was playing drums close to the UC Berkeley campus in the 1990s. "Every time I would see him on the Berkeley campus playing drums," Campton told The San Francisco Chronicle. "As a bass player, I liked what I heard," Compton suggested that the drummer use his skills on the streets of San Francisco after he and Hunt performed together at several college parties. "There are too many crazy people in San Francisco," Hunt responded, according to Compton, to which he allegedly replied, "You'll fit right in."