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The recent string of celebrity passings has been a lot to process as they often are when they happen in clusters indicative of the much discussed “Rule of 3s” that foretells celebrity deaths coming in trios.

This most recent round had some heavy hitters included that were widely regarded as titans of their respective fields, but that also became pioneers in traversing the different forms of media.

Hulk Hogan was possibly the most recognizable face in professional wrestling for a number of decades where he carried the popularity of the business on his shoulders and helped turn it into the pop culture juggernaut that it is to this day.

He also opened the door for wrestlers to explore other career paths like movies and TV shows. I’ll let you decide whether that’s a good thing or not.

Ozzy Osbourne could easily be considered a founding father of heavy metal music with his dark onstage persona and subject matter and his unmistakable voice that so perfectly fits into what the genre is all about.

He also, along with his family, was one of the first celebrities to allow a camera crew into his home to show the world what the daily life of a famous rock star looks like by way of the reality show. I’ll again let you decide the merits of that venture.

Despite both men being successful in their extracurricular activities outside of what they were most known for, there’s a name in that group of recently deceased celebrities that expertly lent his talents to another form of media, maybe even better than Hogan and Osbourne.

My first exposure to the world’s most famous flugelhorn player, Chuck Mangione, was in his numerous guest appearances playing a fictionalized version of himself on the animated show King of the Hill.

Before we continue, I don’t know that Chuck Mangione is actually the world’s most famous flugelhorn player. There could very well be a slew of flugelhorn players that are more well-known, but I know what a flugelhorn is because of Chuck Mangione, so I think it’s a safe bet that he’s the most prominent.

My apologies to any flugelhorn aficionados if I’m speaking out of turn.

Back to the topic at hand…

Mangione played himself on KOTH starting with a first season episode in which he is featured in a commercial for Mega Lo Mart, a fictional corporate department store. He also appeared in an episode later that season as the narrator of a fire safety video watched by Bobby Hill when his parents go to Dallas for a Boggle tournament.

He made guest appearances throughout the series, maybe most prominently in the two-episode arc “Propane Boom.”

The continuing joke on the show is that Mangione was hired by Mega Lo Mart to be their spokesperson, and as part of the deal, he’s required to be at every store opening, which at one point they joked equaled 400 a year.

After some negligence on the part of Buckley, the Hills’ niece Luanne’s boyfriend at the time who was promoted to manager of Mega Lo Mart’s propane department, the store where Mangione was set to perform exploded due to a propane leak, killing Buckley.

Mangione survives the explosion and is later seen attending a support group for survivors where he tells the group that every song he plays now just sounds like “Feels So Good,” arguably his most famous tune.

The joke carries through until the final episode of the series where he starts to play the National Anthem and, a few notes in, transitions to “Feels So Good.”

He’s also the subject of an episode in Season 7 where it is revealed that he has secretly been living in Mega Lo Mart hidden by stacks of paper towels due to the exhaustive schedule that the store keeps him on.

The episode ends with Mangione playing “Feels So Good” on the roof of the building backlit by the moon.

Mangione’s willingness to play along as the KOTH writers created this character that at points seems to think he’s the biggest star in the world despite playing department store openings suggests that the instrumentalist was far from what the show portrayed.

If he were truly that full of himself, it’s hard to imagine he would have signed up for the gig.

But long before his role on King of the Hill, Mangione had already made his mark on pop culture. Despite having no lyrics, “Feels So Good” was so popular that he was invited to play the song on the 1979 edition of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

The song was a surprise instrumental hit and even reached as far as #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. Mangione was also a two-time Grammy award winner.

While he may not have reached the superstar status of a Hulk Hogan or Ozzy Osbourne, Mangione deserves his share of flowers, for his musical contributions, but maybe even more so for his work on King of the Hill.

Not only did he help create some unforgettable scenes, but he also managed to reintroduce himself to a whole new generation of fans with his role on the show.

Anything that I know about Chuck Mangione stems from seeing him play himself on a cartoon on TV, and while it may be much cooler to say you discovered his music in a smoky, dimly-lit jazz club in a big city, I appreciate the fact that he was able to set aside any pretense and lend his voice to bring some humor to the masses.

Every appearance he made on King of the Hill featured him wearing the same outfit as the album cover for “Feels So Good”: a red and white shirt and a brown felt, feather brimmed hat. On the same cover, he’s hugging his flugelhorn tightly and wearing the biggest smile on his face.

I hope he got to know that his contributions to the world left the smile on the faces of those who enjoyed his art, whether it be on the flugelhorn or the TV.