Jerry Nelson

Jerry Nelson was a puppeteer, singer, and musician who was best known for performing with The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock. Over a thousand puppets were performed by him, but his best known characters were Count von Count, Gobo Fraggle, and Floyd Pepper. Jerry performed his characters for many specials, appearances, and even films. Nelson has also performed on other shows such as The Secret Life of Toys, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, and Dog City. He also wrote songs on some of the shows he worked on. I'm amazed he was able to puppeteer in other places such as New York, Canada, Los Angeles, Germany, and England. I've read that before meeting Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson began puppeteering with Bil Baird on many marionette shows. In the mid 2000's, he stopped puppeteering his Muppet characters from health problems. However he continued to voice his Sesame Street characters up until 2012 when Season 44 was produced. That year, Jerry died after previous years of health issues complicated by COPD. Luckily, almost all of Nelson's characters were passed on to Matt Vogel, while Gobo was passed on to John Tartaglia. Both Sesame Street and the Muppets paid tribute to him, the former had an episode while the latter dedicated their last film in his memory. The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock still aren't the same without him. Jerry Nelson, you can puppeteer and write/perform songs, there is nothing you can't do. You may be gone now, but at least you're one of those people to perform over a thousand characters whether you're puppeteering or voice acting. You will still be remembered as one of the greatest Muppet performers today from me and all of your co-workers/friends. Always have great memories from above Jerry. Rest in peace Nelson!