Tanya Coleman, a Wellesley mom who at one time managed her son’s rock band, but lately was content to watch him rock on and enjoy his success, died Tuesday, May 12 in New Haven. Coleman was in her early 50s.
She was known as the backbone of The House on Cliff, her guitarist/vocalist son Charles Coleman’s band, and rocked on at show after show in support of young people with big dreams that they were making happen. The name of the band is nod to the many hours the young men spent practicing in the basement of the house on that well-known road in town.
Everything about her exuded fun and energy and optimism, whether she was pitching in to plant the post office window boxes with the Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild, a group of which she was a long-time member, or just lunching with the ladies, any day was a good day for that, just as long as she wasn’t helping out the guys on tour.
On Monday night she was at Toad’s Place in New Haven, proudly listening to her son and his band, having a blast, because Toad’s is a seriously good place to do just that. But a medical emergency there landed her in the hospital, and on Tuesday night, she was gone
Tanya’s last Facebook post read: “Happy Mother’s Day!!! I am having the best celebration as I have my beautiful son and the magnificent boys of The House on Cliff home…wishing everyone a fabulous day tomorrow. Xoxox”
That was absolutely our Tanya all around. Sharing her own happiness and wishing the same for all of us. She was a beautiful lady, and I can’t believe Wellesley has lost one of its wild women, the kind who never got the blues. Put together a bunch of harpists, some slamming vocalists, and maybe some thunder percussionists up there, Tanya. Heaven can no doubt use your organizational skills tempered with the joie de vivre only you could bring to such a project.
Down here, we will remember you and hum a happy tune, because that’s how you’d want us to rock on.
Tanya leaves her husband, Stephen; and her son, Wellesley High School graduate Charles.
Beautifully written Deborah!
Great tribute to a fabulous woman! She took in both of my sons who are acting and playing music professionally and fed them and gave them their own bed rooms and treated them literally like members of her own family_like her own sons. There will be a special place in Rock and Roll heaven for Tanya Coleman. May God Bless Stephen and Charles and give them peace.
What a wonderful tribute to our beloved friend. She was so supportive of not only her son’s musical aspirations, but the hopes and dreams of all of us. So many young musicians have voiced the same message: she built up their confidence and supported them as if they were her own, because to her, we were all family. The last thing she said to us, and probably to all of us, was ” We love you guys!”