Michael “Blair” Lawhead, 55, of New York, New York, passed away suddenly at his hair replacement business on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

Michael Blair Lawhead was born Oct. 31, 1962, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the beloved son of Donaldson and Tammara (Cook) Lawhead. He was baptized on April 7, 1963, at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. He grew up in Austin, Minnesota, and graduated from Austin High School in 1981, where he was one of the first recipients of the Austin Music Hall of Fame Award and where he started the Turtle Creek Band. Blair was a member of the Austinaires while in high school. He went on to attend Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, where he studied with Joseph Gingold and received a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a bachelor of music degree. He taught at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Blair toured with the Andy Williams and Perry Como orchestras as a professional violinist. While on tour, he aptly cut both performers’ hair.

In 1989, Blair moved to New York City with a violin, scissors and a dream. Upon graduation from the Manhattan School of Music, he began playing with the orchestras of many Broadway musicals, which include “Annie,” “Carousel,” “The Red Shoes,” “Secret Garden,” “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber,” and the well-known, long-running show, “Ragtime.” Blair was the violinist in the New York compact disc of “Ragtime.” He founded and developed the Chelsea New York Symphony and played in that orchestra for seven years, soloing many times, and also soloing one time with his father as conductor and his brother as violinist. He also started a hair replacement business, “Blair Hair,” and enjoyed many years of satisfied customers. He appreciated and collected art. He was also very fond of his golden retrievers, Gus, Liza, Max and Puck. Blair was an extrovert who loved talking to people. He had a lot of friends who loved him dearly. He enjoyed entertaining and cooking for his guests. He loved the Lord with a deep and abiding faith. Blair will be missed dearly by his family and friends.

He is survived by his parents, Donaldson and Tammara Lawhead of Austin; siblings, Tawnda Jeanne (Paul) Bickford of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and Brandon Vaughn (Jennifer Dolly) Lawhead of Austin; and nieces and nephews, Alexander Paul Bickford, Tristanna Diann Bickford, Brockdon Vaughn Lawhead, Tammara Dolly Lawhead and William Brandon Lawhead. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, John E. and Beula Jean (Street) Cook and Leon and Mary Katherine (Compton) Lawhead, all of Indiana; and great-grandparents, Meletus H. Street and Velma Luota (Bond) Street of Indiana and Homer Leon Lawhead and Lulu Lawhead of Illinois.

Funeral services are tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Austin. Please check the Worlein Funeral Home website, www.worlein.com, for updates. Visitation will be for one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be at Cicero Cemetery in Cicero, Illinois. Memorials are preferred to the Austin High School Music Department ‘In Memory of Blair Lawhead.’ Condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.worlein.com.