Phyllis Hyman had struggled to gain the national attention her talent deserved. Hollywood was hard, she was frustrated with weight issues, and she had an unfulfilling love life. On the afternoon of June 30, 1995, just hours before she was to take the stage at the Apollo Theater in New York, Hyman wrote a painful suicide note before taking a lethal dose of sleeping pills:
“I’m tired. I’m tired. Those of you that I love know who you are. May God bless you.”
She was 45.
