Folk musician Tucker Zimmerman dead at 84

American folk musician Tucker Zimmerman has died at age 84.

Zimmerman and his wife, Marie-Claire Lambert, perished in a house fire at their Belgium home on Saturday, January 17. The two had been married for over fifty years.

The tragedy was first reported by Belgian media and later confirmed by Zimmerman's management via Instagram.

Born Brian Tucker Zimmerman in 1941, the San Franciscan singer-songwriter got his start in music with violin lessons at age four. In 1966, he was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study composition for two years in Rome. There, he wrote over 300 songs, according to his autobiography. After a stint in London, Zimmerman settled in Belgium with wife Lambert.

He released his first album Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman in 1969. David Bowie referred to the album as one of his all-time favorites.

“The guy’s way too qualified for folk, in my opinion,” Bowie said of Zimmerman. “Degrees in theory and composition, studying under composer Henry Onderdonk, Fulbright scholarship, and he wants to be Dylan… I always found this album of stern, angry compositions enthralling.”

Zimmerman's supposed overqualification for folk lent itself to his longevity in the genre: he released 16 albums over the course of his 56-year career.  His 2024 album, Dance of Love, was a collaboration with Big Thief, who provided backing vocals, instrumentation, and production for the project.

Released via 4AD, Dance of Love garnered positive reception and was considered a critical triumph.

In our 2022 interview with Big Thief’s James Krivchenia, he expressed the band’s admiration for Zimmerman, saying, “We love a lot of old, weird folkies!”

"Tucker was a master musician... His songs were biting and revolutionary," Zimmerman's former producer Tony Visconti wrote in a Facebook tribute. "He was one of my oldest friends. David Bowie adored him."

Of his wife, Zimmerman wrote: "Without [Marie-Claire] I would be nowhere in the world except six-feet under. Her love for me and her faith in what I do is beyond belief. She is my guide. She is my muse. She is my driver."

Listen to Zimmerman's 2024 album Dance of Love below.