New York, NY (March 7, 2019)—Audio engineer/technician Greg “Chico” Lopez, longtime crew chief/RF- and monitor tech for Neil Diamond, suffered a massive stroke on February 20, 2019 as he was heading out on tour with Sebastian Maniscalco.
“Greg was driving the car on the way to airport when DeeAnna, his wife, noticed something was not quite right and suspected he was having a stroke,” said Stan Miller, longtime FOH engineer for Diamond. “It turned out he suffered three mini-strokes, which lead to the massive stroke while in the emergency room, and then off to surgery to clean out the carotid artery.”
Lopez’s career goes back more than 35 years, and includes stints at Firehouse Productions, Maryland Sound, ATKAudiotek and Delicate Productions. In addition to Diamond, Lopez has toured with Yanni, Barbara Streisand, Josh Groban, David Bowie, Ricky Martin and many others.
Miller and Diamond tour archivist Sam Cole have set up a GoFundMe page to help Lopez as he works toward recovery, and donations have been flowing in from across the industry. The journey in recovery will take time—Lopez was recently taken off a ventilator and is now breathing on his own—so the goal is to raise $100,000.
“This appears to be a long road to recovery and what he really needs is mountains of positive thoughts and prayers from all of us that know and love him,” Miller said.
GoFundme account • https://bit.ly/2EEXNV2
