Linda Chorney's mom Shirley had one wish before the cancer that reared its head in early 2014 claimed her as a casualty: She wanted to live long enough to see her singer-songwriter daughter open for the Beach Boys at Tucson Arena on Saturday night.
"She said she just wanted to hang on long enough to go on our family trip in December, and then be at my show," Chorney said in a Facebook message. "Well, she didn't make it."
Shirley Chorney died on Dec. 1. She was 79 years old.
At Saturday night's concert, Chorney paid tribute to her mother in the only way she knew how: She gave her mom â "my biggest fan" â Â the best seat in the house.
Chorney sprinkled some of Shirley Chorney's ashes around her mike stand "so she would have the best seat in the house." Every once in awhile during her 25-minute set, Chorney would look down at her feet. No one in the audience knew what was going on and Chorney joked afterward that "I hope it was legal."
"I felt her love," the 54-year-old New Jersey transplant and 2012 Grammy nominee said. "I heard my mom saying, 'Don't cry, Linda. Your mascara will run."
Shirley Chorney was married to her husband Paul for 59 years. Paul Chorney was in the audience for Saturday's concert.
