Medical Bill Support for Linda Tillery

Hi All,

My name is Zoe Ellis. I am the host of this GoFundMe for Linda Tillery. GoFundMe has requested that I add a note to this 'story' to say 1. I am a friend of Linda's. 2. All funds raised will be used to help with medical bills and all costs pertaining to Linda's ongoing medical care, and 3. All funds raised are going to her bank and she is managing all funds herself. If you have not already, please read her note below.

Thank you for all of the support.

Zoe

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A note from Linda:

Hello dear friends, this past year we’ve all faced hardships we never believed possible. COVID 19 has struck whole families killing three to four members at once. COVID 19 caused Oregon Shakespeare Festival to

cancel the play “Black Odyssey” which would have been a major source of income for myself.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those of you who have supported me through my many health challenges.I am still being treated for several chronic, complex illnesses. Since 2018 I’ve been hospitalized three times

and have been tested for COVID 19 three times. Fortunately all tests results were negative.

One of my greatest challenges has been to maintain affordable and well kept housing. Some of you who have parents living in assisted living facilities know the monthly costs can be very high. With the help of my friend Zoe Ellis we’ve established this Go Fund Me campaign to raise enough money to see me through winter. 

No amount is too large or too small. 

I owe many thanks to the staff at Carlton Senior Living for their special considerations. I also thank Carlton Senior Living for maintaining a COVID free facility. I want to thank all the doctors, nurses, lab techs, nursing assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and administrative staff at Piedmont Gardens for challenging me to do my best.

Thanks also to the doctors and nurses at Summit Hospital for keeping me alive and restored through three life-threatening episodes of Congestive Heart Failure. Special kudos to all the specialists who’ve attended me. The Cardiologists, Orthopedists, OB-GYNS, Pulmonologists, Oncologists, ENTS, Hematologists, and Gastroenterologists who’ve kept me alive for so long. I am particularly grateful for the care of my primary physician, Dr. Ella Kamal Khan. You all are the best. 

Most importantly, I thank my Bay Area community for your enduring love and support through all my health struggles. I send my

love.

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Please read about our beloved Linda and her contributions to our Bay Area Music scene written by another Bay Area music treasure and lifetime friend of Linda's, Larry Batiste:

Trailblazer and living legend, Linda Tillery has been at the forefront of the Bay Area and global music scenes for decades. She is a world-class musician who has been an inspiration to me and to numberless musicians all over the Bay Area and the universe. I’ve had the honor of being one the beneficiaries of her great gift as a friend and a peer working with her in local bands, singing background vocals on her recordings, the recordings of other artists, and as a member of her band in the late 1980’s.

Linda is a fearless musician and bandleader who has a way of mentoring you merely by being in her presence whether watching her conduct a band rehearsal, a live performance, or navigating her way through the music industry. As a member of her band, I remember how she would come to rehearsals prepared, knowing each song, it’s direction and how to get you there. Her ability to run a flawless rehearsal was just amazing. She’d know the songs and EVERYBODY’S part. I recall saying to myself, “Okay, now that’s how you run a rehearsal!”. On top of that, she would book the gigs and handle all of the logistics of travel, accommodations etc.  

Linda was the “go to” recording session vocalist, lending her voice and drums to the works of Santana, Boz Scaggs, Coke and Pete Escovedo, Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, and countless other artists. As a social activist, educator, advocate for the rights of artists, and a pioneering voice in women’s music, she was instrumental in shaping not only music, but the world’s perception of artists. In short, Linda influenced many of today’s innovative and socially accepted norms. She continues to inspire and touch the lives of everyone who knows her

personally or through her music, and she is an institution for all music creators and and enthusiasts.

Larry Batiste