Justin Kase

05/14/2026

05/06/2026

05/04/2026

I was really sad to hear about the passing of Jimmi Melton.

I remember interviewing him multiple times downtown back when I worked at WINK News.

I can't remember ever going to a music walk downtown and not seeing Jimmi there jamming out on those steps where he always performed.

Recently, we caught up with Jimmi and spoke with him about grief for our Valerie's House segment called Grief on the Street.

One of our Teen Ambassadors was asking people which emotions they associate with grief, and Jimmi was happy to share with us what he thought.

As for the thing that I'll always remember about him besides his music, it was his pride in the new story that was done on him by Gulf Coast News.

He would bring it up to me every time I saw him. He was so proud of this moment and of this story: https://youtu.be/_GGNFltBLo4?si=Wb5c69Vz4yjh068r