Celebrity Deaths on Christmas Day

Christmas is a holiday celebrated in part as a time of joy and merriment. Aside from being a time for family and gathering to see what was accomplished in the shopping frenzy after Thanksgiving and whether or not a child's reaction to opening a certain present was worth mommy punching the smaller lady in the head to get that last copy of Rock Band for X-box 360, it is also considered at its core to be a religious ceremony.

There are those who reserve the time of Christmas carols, eggnog, and twinkling lights for prayer and remembrance of Jesus Christ who is commonly known not to have been born on December 25th and yet is the date picked for observing his birthday. In this day and age I'm sure Jesus would be a superstar and tabloid fodder, yes it is the new age of celebrity idols gone wild and Hollywood worship.

However, let us not look at the celebrities that were born on the same day that Jesus actually wasn't. Let us not dwell on those families that got to open a womb like it was a flesh wrapped, wet, and bloody gift. Instead let us dwell on the end of things for a moment. Just like the end of Christmas innocence when you realize Santa Clause is not real is, the fact that we are mortal and we eventually realize we are going to die. The following are some of the famous people who died on Christmas day.

James Brown - 2006: The godfather of soul and funk died from pneumonia on Christmas day in Atlanta Georgia. Up until then he was black and proud and saying it loud, possibly spending the holidays getting up and liking being a sex machine, and above all else feelin' good; nuh nah na na nuh. He was 73 years old when he passed.

Birgit Nilsson - 2005: She was a famous opera singer having earned herself the honor of a postage stamp homage in Sweden and also the highest award available to a citizen in that country: Llis Quorum Medal. She was a soprano. She died in her home at the age of 87 from natural causes.