Canadian singer Gino Vannelli is mourning the loss of his mother to COVID-19.
Delia Vannelli died inside a seniors home in Montreal just shy of her 93rd birthday.
“[COVID-19] took her swiftly,” Vanellii shared on his website. “One day she was eating, the next day: a fever, short of breath, closed her eyes, then gone.”
The “Black Cars” singer and his brothers Joe and Ross were not able to see their mother in her final days due to the pandemic.
“We are very grateful she did not suffer long from painful drawn-out symptoms associated with this virus,” he wrote. “The regret remains in not saying goodbye face to face, and the utter frustration of not being able to be there for any funeral ceremony.”
Delia and her husband Joseph, a singer and barber, raised their boys in Montreal. All three went on to have successful music careers – Joe, 69, is a composer and producer and Ross, 64, is a film score composer.
Gino, now 67, became a successful recording artist, earning a Grammy nomination in 1978 for “I Just Wanna Stop” and another in 1981. He has won several Juno Awards.
“Mom … thank you for putting up … with my daily drumming for years,” he wrote in his tribute. “The long and loud band practices going back all the way to 1965. Always welcoming any hungry musician or friend for [a] meal with the family.”