Blair Alston Mercer Tindall (February 2, 1960 – April 12, 2023) was an Americanoboist, performer, producer, speaker, and journalist. After spending years as a classical musician, she wrote the 2005 memoirMozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, which was later adapted intoa television series.

Tindall was born inChapel Hill, North Carolina, to historianGeorge Brown Tindall^[1] and Blossom Tindall.^[2] She started playing the piano at an early age and switched to oboe when joining the junior high school band; because of her surname's place in alphabetical order, she was the last person able to choose an instrument, and the only one available was the oboe. She completed high school at theNorth Carolina School of the Arts, received bachelor's and master's degrees from theManhattan School of Music,^[3] and a masters in communication fromStanford University,^[4] which she attended on a full tuition fellowship.^[5] She also attendedColumbia University.

Tindall spent 23 years as a professional musician in New York City, playing with such groups as theNew York Philharmonic,Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and theOrchestra of St. Luke's, presenting a critically acclaimed solo debut atCarnegie Recital Hall, and earning a jazzGrammy nomination.^[5] She also performed on many film soundtracks, including those of the moviesMalcolm X, for which she was lauded inCD Review Magazine,^[6]Crooklyn, andTwilight.^{[citation needed]} She has also performed with Rolling Stones drummerCharlie Watts at theBlue Note Jazz Club.^[7]

Tindall taught journalism atStanford and music at theUniversity of California, Berkeley andMills College. She has also received residencies at theMacDowell Colony, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and theUcross Foundation.

While studying at Stanford, Tindall supported herself by performing with theSan Francisco Symphony and as a soloist with theSan Francisco Contemporary Music Players. During this time, she was also a staff business reporter at theExaminer (Hearst) and critic-at-large for theContra Costa Times inWalnut Creek. She went on to write forThe New York Times,Agence France-Presse, theLos Angeles Times,Sierra,The Sydney Morning Herald, and theInternational Herald Tribune.

In 2005, she publishedMozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music (Atlantic Monthly Press), a memoir of her experiences in the classical music world.The New York Times described it as an "eyebrow-raising" book which dispelled the "pristine" image of classical musicians in popular culture.^[2]National Public Radio named it one of the top five arts stories of the year.^[8] Her book was also lauded by musicologistRichard Taruskin inThe New Republic as "the smartest take on [the classical music] situation".^[9] In 2014, the book was adapted for anAmazon Studios web video series of the same name. The pilot was written byRoman Coppola,Jason Schwartzman, andAlex Timbers, and directed byPaul Weitz. The series starsLola Kirke,Malcolm McDowell,Saffron Burrows,Bernadette Peters, andGael García Bernal.^[10]

Tindall married science educatorBill Nye on February 3, 2006. The ceremony was performed byRick Warren at The Entertainment Gathering at theSkirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.Yo-Yo Ma provided the music.^[11] Seven weeks later, the State of California declared the marriage invalid, for reasons that neither Tindall nor Nye have ever revealed. At that point Nye left the relationship and had the marriage annulled.^[12][13]

In 2007, Tindall broke into Nye's house and stole several items including his laptop, which she used to send defamatory emails impersonating him, and damaged his garden with herbicide. In response, Nye obtained arestraining order against her. Tindall acknowledged killing his plants but denied being a threat to him.^[14] After violating the order in 2009, Tindall was ordered to pay $57,000 of Nye's legal expenses.^[15][16] In 2012, Nye sued Tindall for the money, saying she had still not paid the fees.^[17]

Tindall later started a relationship with photographer Chris Sattlberger, and they were engaged at the time of her death.^[2]

Tindall died in Los Angeles on April 12, 2023, at the age of 63.^[18] TheLos Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner ruled that the cause of death wasarteriosclerosis, with chronicethanol consumption given as a contributing factor.^[19]

• Blair Tindall official website
• Blair Tindall discography atDiscogs
• Blair Tindall atIMDb

• 1960 births
• 2023 deaths
• 21st-century American memoirists
• 21st-century American women writers
• Alcohol-related deaths in California
• American classical oboists
• American women classical musicians
• American music journalists
• American women academics
• American women journalists
• American women memoirists
• Columbia University alumni
• Deaths from arteriosclerosis
• Journalists from New York City
• Manhattan School of Music alumni
• Mills College faculty
• People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Stanford University alumni
• Stanford University faculty
• University of California, Berkeley faculty
• University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni
• American women writers about music
• Oboists

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• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016
• Use mdy dates from April 2023