Local music scene loses voice of Cliff Turner

On Nov. 14, Cliff Turner was onstage with his band at the Quehanna Motor Lodge in Karthaus.

Music was his life. It was the last time he played in public.

Turner, 59, of Unionville, who died Friday, was a lifelong musician. He was a member of at least seven bands since high school, including his most recent, The Cliff Turner Band and the popular central Pennsylvania group Cliff Turner and the Afterburners.

He was a man who had battled health issues for years. In 2004, he was on dialysis but had a kidney transplant in 2005. In 2006, his body rejected that organ and he was back on dialysis, but had been doing well since.

“It was unexpected,” said his fiancee, Beth Hertzell. “He’d had health issues on and off, but there wasn’t anything currently that gave us any indication that we were going to lose him.”

He left behind Hertzell, plus his three children, Colin, Ashleigh and Becka.

He also left a healthy fan base for his own blend of funky, soulful Motown.

“People loved him,” said Chuck Treier, owner of the Quehanna Motor Lodge. “It’s a loss. He was just so very friendly. A nice person, really.”

Hertzell could not help but laugh several times, talking about the man she loved.

“He was pretty open with people about who he really was. That person you saw out and about laughing and smiling and enjoying every day was how he was. We had a lot of fun. He was a very genuine person. He just spread that joy,” she said.

Treier found out about Turner’s band from one of his part-time bartenders, who had also helped care for Turner when he was sick.

“They were very good,” he said. The band had just signed to play at Quehanna through 2016.

Hertzell loved when Turner played “My Girl” during his sets. That was her ringtone on his cellphone.

“I don’t know that he had one favorite song,” she said. “He loved all kinds. He was working on learning some new music for next year and looking to the future.”

Services are being handled by the Wetzler Funeral Home in Bellefonte. A public visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, with the funeral at 11 a.m. Thursday and burial at Union Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Organ Donation Awareness Fund, 5944 Coral Ridge Drive, Suite 268, Coral Springs, FL 33076.

“He would want to raise awareness,” Hertzell said.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Local music scene loses voice of Cliff Turner."