Local musicians and fans are mourning the loss of the lead singer of Darik and the Funbags.
Darik Pearson, 54, died on Tuesday after a 6-year-long battle with prostate cancer, according to a Facebook post made by his wife, Michele Kopchak Pearson.
Music composer James A. Norkawich and a friend of Pearson said Pearson’s passing is a great loss to Connecticut’s music scene.
“The music world, at least here in Connecticut and Massachusetts, will never be the same,” Norkawich said.
Pearson was the lead singer of the band Darik and the Funbags; they have performed across the Northeast since 1997.
“No performance was ever the same, and the people that followed them in their early 20s are now in their 50s and 60s and yet he still had that same energy,” Norkawich said.
Pearson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020 when he was 48 years old.
His death comes as doctors are researching why younger adults are being diagnosed with cancer.
“There’s some very interesting data about the rise of early on set cancers in gen-x and millennials and then more recently compared to earlier birth cohorts, for example baby boomers,” said Dr. Veda Giri, Yale Cancer Center Early Onset Cancer program director.
Giri said doctors and researchers are studying multiple factors that could play a role in the “national trend,” including diets, environments, lifestyles, and exposure to microplastics and overly processed food, which were not as common in older generations.
The Early Onset Cancer Program helps patients and families to navigate their cancer journey from diagnosis to survivorship. In addition, it further educates medical providers on early screening and prevention.
“Providing educational information. For example, “who should be screened for early on set cancers, how risk factors play into that decision-making and this is a really big effort we’re going to be undertaking now going forward,” Giri explained.
