DEAD MUSICIANS

POISON OR INHALATION OF VOMIT

2005-01-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Robert Johnson: Age 27
(b. Robert Leroy Johnson, 8 May 1911, Hazlehurst, MS, d. 16 August 1938, Greenwood, MS).
For a subject upon which it is dangerous to generalise, it hardly strains credulity to suggest that Johnson was the fulcrum upon which post-war Chicago blues turned…His lifestyle, that of an itinerant with a ready facility to impress his female audience… One such dalliance brought about his end a year after his last session, poisoned by a jealous husband while performing in a jook joint at Three Forks, outside Greenwood, Mississippi.

Jimi Hendrix: Age 27
(b. Johnny Allen Hendrix, 27 November 1942, Seattle, Washington, d. 18 September 1970. His father subsequently changed his son's name to James Marshall Hendrix).
More superlatives have been bestowed upon Hendrix than any other rock guitarist. Enough said. On 18 September 1970, his girlfriend, Monika Danneman, became alarmed when she was unable to rouse him from sleep. An ambulance was called, but Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. The inquest recorded an open verdict, with death caused by suffocation due to inhalation of vomit. Eric Burdon claimed at the time to possess a suicide note, but this has never been confirmed.
Visitor's note: ~Can you please remove the "suicide note" reference from your info on Jimi Hendrix. Eric Burdon's speculation (and this is the nice way I want to describe this) is totally unnecessary. If it came from Mitch Mitchell, Eddie Kramer, Billy Cox, (Not Mike Jeffrey) or anybody who lived or worked with him, then I would be more tolerant of this opinion. ~ Kevin L. Newton

Bon Scott: Age 33
AC/DC
(b. Ronald Scott, 9 July 1946, Kirriemuir, Scotland, d. 20 February 1980).
Scott graduated from being AC/DC’s chauffeur to becoming their vocalist. HIGHWAY TO HELL in 1979 established them as international stars. This, the band's first album with producer Mutt Lange, also proved to be their last with Bon Scott. On 20 February 1980, after a night of heavy drinking, he was left unconscious in a friend's car, and was later found to be dead, having choked on his own vomit. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. Grave Site

Tommy Dorsey: Age 50
(b. 19 November 1905, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 26 November 1956).
In 1934 he and Jimmy formed the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, which became extremely popular. Despite, or perhaps because of, their close relationship, the brothers frequently argued, sometimes violently, and after one such disagreement in May 1935, Tommy walked out leaving Jimmy to take over leadership of the orchestra. Tommy then took over the excellent danceband led by Joe Haymes. Highly ambitious, Dorsey set about turning the band, which was already a sound and well-disciplined unit, into the finest dance orchestra of the era. And although Frank Sinatra had already begun to establish a reputation with Harry James, it was his stint with Dorsey that made him into an international singing star. Nevertheless, the '50s were difficult times and in 1953, he was happy to be reunited with his brother, whose own outfit had folded. Tommy Dorsey gave Jimmy a featured spot and renamed his band as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. A heavy eater, Tommy Dorsey choked to death in his sleep. He had had a big dinner and was accustomed to using pills to help him sleep.

John Bonham:Age 32
Led Zeppelin
(b. 31 May 1947, Birmingham, England, d. 25 September 1980).
This pivotal quartet was formed in October 1968. The four gelled immediately and having completed outstanding commitments under the name 'New Yardbirds', became Led Zeppelin following an off-the-cuff quip by the Who's Keith Moon, who remarked when rating their prospects that they would probably go down like a lead zeppelin. After releasing In Through The Out Door in 1979 two concerts at Britain's Knebworth Festival were the prelude to a short European tour on which the group unveiled a stripped-down act, inspired, in part, by the punk explosion. Rehearsals were then undertaken for another US tour, but in September 1980, Bonham was found dead following a lengthy drinking bout. On 4 December, Swan Song announced that the group had officially retired.

CAR ACCIDENT OR AIR CRASH

2005-01-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Eden Ahbez: Age 86
Born Alexander Aberle
(b. 15 April 1908, Brooklyn, NY d. 4 March 1995, CA)
Eden Ahbez was one of the authentic fringe figures in space age pop, a one-shot wonder so dramatically different from anyone else that he became, perhaps, a greater legend than his accomplishments justify. Born a good Jewish boy in Brooklyn, he ended up cultivating a Christ-like appearance and reputation among the fruits and nuts of sunny southern California... he died in 1995 after being hit by a car.
~Space Age Pop, more bio:
Eden Ahbez, composer of the legendary Nat King Cole hit, "Nature Boy," died on March 4, 1995, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Sky Valley, California. "Nature Boy," originally written in the late 1940's, was recorded by dozens of artists, including George Benson and Ahbez, himself. Brooklyn-born Ahbez lived semi-reclusively during his later years in Desert Hot Springs, California. Two albums of Ahbez music are being released in 1995. ~ASCAP

Rex Allen Sr.: Age 77
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Rex Allen Sr., a singer and actor in Westerns who also served as the voice on Walt Disney films and TV shows, died from injuries suffered when he accidentally was run over by a car. He was 77. Police believe his caretaker did not realize Allen was behind the car when she began to back it up, police spokeswoman Judy Altieri said. Detectives were attempting to determine whether Allen had fallen before he was hit. Allen, who grew up on an Arizona ranch, starred in several western movies, including a 1949 film called ``The Arizona Cowboy,'' and in a television series called ``Frontier Doctor.'' His signature stallion for the western movies, Koko the Wonder Horse, was added in his second film, ``The Hills of Oklahoma.'' ...Allen joined with the National Barn Dance on WLS in Chicago and subsequently was signed by Mercury Records. His hits included ``Streets of Laredo'' and ``Crying in the Chapel.''

Jack Anglin: Age 46
Country
(b.13 March 1916, on a farm near Columbia, Williamson County, Tennessee, d. 7 March 1963).
Jack worked at a local hosiery mill and here became acquainted with his future wife, Louise and through her, her brother Johnnie Wright. At the time Wright, his wife Muriel ( Kitty Wells) and Louise were regulars on WSIX as Johnnie Wright And The Harmony Girls. The two men became friends and when, in 1939, the Anglin Brothers disbanded, Jack was soon performing with Wright as Johnnie Wright And The Happy Roving Cowboys with Jack Anglin. In 1940, they became Johnnie And Jack, who enjoyed much success as a vocal duo until Jack Anglin's career came to an untimely end in 1963. Driving alone to attend a memorial service for Patsy Cline not far from his home, he rounded a bend on New Due West Avenue in Madison at high speed, crashed and was instantly killed. No other vehicle was involved. Alternate take: While driving to Patsy's memorial, he lost control and plunged down an embankment. Although he was still alive when pulled from the wreckage, he was DOA at the hospital. ~ Metroactive

Greg Arama: Age 29
Died: 09-18-79
Amboy Dukes

Stiv Bators: Age 40
Dead Boys
(b. Stivin Bator, 22 October 1949, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, d. 4 June 1990, Paris, France).
Bators formed his first bands Mother Goose and Frankenstein, who were transmuted into a seminal US ‘no wave’ band the Dead Boys. They moved to New York in 1976. Although they officially split in 1978 there would be frequent reunions, as Bators moved to Los Angeles where he recorded demos with friend Jeff Jones (ex-Blue Ash). After appearing in John Walter's cult movie Polyester, Bators formed a touring band with Rick Bremner replacing Quinton. By 1981, Bators had become a permanent member of the Wanderers. After the impressive ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (1981), Bators took Dave Treganna (ex-Sham 69) with him to join James and Nicky Turner (ex-Barracudas) in Lords Of The New Church. Following the Lords' demise, Bators resurfaced in London in 1989 for a Return Of The Living Boys gig. This time his cohorts were drawn from a variety of local personnel, and it was not until he returned to Paris that he entered a recording studio once more. With six songs completed, Bators was hit by car in June 1990, and died the day after. "In June 1990, while standing on a sidewalk in Paris, Stiv was hit by a car. He walked away from the accident, because he was immune by then to suffering pain, but later died in his sleep at home." ~ from Stiv Bators page.

Chris Bell: Age 27
Big Star
(b. 12 Jan 1951, Memphis, TN, d. 28 Dec. 1978, Memphis, TN).
Bell was the major writer and performer for Big Star. Prior to the Box Tops Alex Chilton sang in a few Memphis groups. One of these groups included Bill Cunningham and Chris Bell, though Alex only briefly worked with them at the time. After the Box Tops disbanded Alex returned to Memphis where he joined Chris Bell's power trio, Ice Water. They changed their name to Big Star and recorded two albums which, while unsuccessful at the time, had a huge influence. After Alex Chilton joined the band, Bell quit, unable to deal with their fights. Bell died in a 1978 car crash, hitting a telephone pole.

Jesse Belvin: Age 27
(b. 15 December 1932, San Antonio, Texas, USA, d. 6 February 1960)
Earth Angel, a collaboration with two fellow conscripts, was recorded successfully by The Penguins, while Belvin enjoyed a major hit in his own right with Goodnight My Love, a haunting, romantic ballad adopted by disc jockey Alan Freed as the closing theme to his highly-influential radio show. In 1958 Belvin formed a vocal quintet, The Shields, to record for Dot Records the national Top 20 hit, You Cheated. That same year the singer was signed to RCA Records, who harboured plans to shape him in the mould of Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine. Further hits, including Funny and Guess Who —the latter of which was written by his wife and manager Jo Ann—offered a cool, accomplished vocal style suggestive of a lengthy career, but Belvin died, along with his wife, following a car crash in February 1960. For a more in depth account, see: Eric Lenaburg

Bob Berg: Age 51
(Born Robert Berg 7 April 1951 in Brooklyn, NY. Died: 5 Dec. 2002 in Amagansett , NY)
Robert Berg, saxophonist killed in auto accident; at 51
By Samuel Bruchey, Newsday.
AMAGANSETT, N.Y. - Acclaimed tenor saxophonist Robert Berg was killed Thursday when a cement truck skidded across a snow-slicked road and rammed into his sport utility vehicle, East Hampton police said. Mr. Berg, whose career encompassed free jazz, soul jazz, jazz rock, and straight-ahead playing, was driving east on Route 27 with his wife when the cement truck approached from the opposite direction, Police Chief Todd Sarris said Thursday. The driver of the truck, Dennis Walker Jr., swerved slightly toward the eastbound lane to maneuver around a car that was turning, Sarris said. The slight turn on the slippery pavement was enough to cause the truck to slide across the road and ram Berg's vehicle. ''This appears to have been caused by the weather,'' Sarris said. Mr. Berg, 51, who lived in East Hampton, Long Island, was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife, Arja Berg, 52, suffered facial lacerations and broken bones...Mr. Berg, who was born in Brooklyn, began his musical career in New York City in the 1960s at the High School of Performing Arts and the Juilliard School. For more than a decade, he toured the country and recorded regularly with several bands, playing for Horace Silver and Cedar Walton among others, and developing a hard bop style that echoed such legends as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter. In 1984, Miles Davis invited Mr. Berg to join his fusion band, and after several worldwide tours, Mr. Berg left with the reputation as one of the more interesting tenor saxophonists in the New York music scene. Mr. Berg's solo albums include ''In the Shadows,'' ''Enter the Spirit,'' ''Virtual Reality,'' and ''Riddles.''

Chu Berry: Age 31
tenor sax
(b Leon Berry, 13 September 1910, Wheeling, West Virginia, d. 30 October 1941).
In the early '30s Berry played tenor saxophone with a number of New York bands, including sessions for Spike Hughes and spells with the bands of Benny Carter and Fletcher Henderson. He was in great demand among leaders who were setting up recording and club sessions and played on memorable dates with Roy Eldridge and Lionel Hampton. In 1937, he was added to the star-studded Cab Calloway band, where his musical influence helped build the band's reputation as a fine jazz outfit (despite the leader's exhibitionism). A superbly eloquent soloist, Berry's playing was in the mold of Coleman Hawkins with a rich and emotional sound. However, before he was able to forge a completely distinctive style, he received severe head injuries in a car crash while touring with Calloway and died a few days later.

Marc Bolan: Age 30
T. Rex
(b. Mark Feld, 30 July 1947, London, England, d. 16 September 1977).
Initially dubbed Toby Tyler, he completed several unsuccessful demo discs before reportedly adopting his new surname from ( Bo) b Dy( lan). A former model in the halcyon Mod era, Bolan began his singing career during the mid-60s folk boom. Frustrated at his commercial impasse, the artist then opted to join Napier-Bell proteges John's Children in 1967. He composed their best-known single, Desdemona, but left the line-up after a matter of months to form Tyrannosaurus Rex (later T. Rex). Between 1970-73 this highly popular attraction enjoyed a run of 10 consecutive Top 5 singles, but Marc's refusal to alter the formula of his compositions resulted in an equally spectacular decline. Bolan was, nonetheless, one of the few established musicians to embrace punk and a contemporary television series, MARC, revived a flagging public profile. This ascendancy ended abruptly in September 1977 when the artist, as a passenger in a car driven by his common law wife, American soul singer Gloria Jones, was killed when they crashed into a tree on Barnes Common, London. (T. Rex members: Steve Peregrine Took died in 1980 choking on a cherry pit on mushrooms, and Steve Currie, who had played bass on Electric Warrior and The Slider, met his end in 1981. Also, Marc's first and only wife -they never divoced, June Bolan passed away of a heart attack while vactioning in Turkey in 1995 at age aprox. 46). T. Rex Connections

D. Boon: Age 27
The Minutemen
(b. Dennis Dale Boon, 1 April 1958, d. 22 Dec. 1985).
Formed in 1980 in San Pedro, California, USA, and originally known as the Reactionaries. This influential hardcore trio initially comprised D. Boon (guitar/vocals), Mike Watt (bass) and Frank Tonche (drums), but the last named was replaced by George Hurley prior to recording. Although the trio donated tracks to several independent compilations, notably for the pivotal Radio Tokyo Tapes and the Posh Boy and New Alliance labels, their association with SST Records resulted in some of the genre's most impressive recordings. The Minutemen started in february of 1980 and roared on 'til December 22, 1985 when D. boon was killed in a van accident in Arizona.

Clifford Brown: Age 25
(b. 30 October 1930, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, d. 26 June 1956).
By his late teens Brown had attracted the favorable attention of leading jazzmen, including fellow trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. In the autumn of 1953 he was a member of the big band Lionel Hampton took to Europe. Brown then joined Art Blakey and in mid-1954 teamed up with Max Roach to form the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. The quintet was quickly recognized as one of the outstanding groups in contemporary jazz and Brown as a major trumpeter and composer. On a rain-swept, early morning in June, 1956, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Clifford Brown, along with pianist Richie Powell, and Richie's wife, Nancy (who was driving) was killed when their automobile hurtled over an embankment. Fortunately for jazz fans, Brown's own work persists in the form of his recordings almost any of which can be safely recommended as outstanding examples of the very best of jazz. Indeed, all of his recordings with Roach are classics. See the new book: Clifford Brown : The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter

Milton Brown: Age 32
( b. 8 September 1903 Stephensville, TX, d. 18 April 1936).
Bob Wills and Milton Brown each went on to head one of the two most popular and important Western Swing bands. Wills assumed the title of "King of Western Swing" and remained active for many years. He died on May 13, 1975. Milton Brown, who more properly deserves the title "Founder of Western Swing," died on April 18, 1936, the victim of a tragic automobile accident. Although he wasn't killed on impact, he died five days after the crash, from pneumonia. Milton Brown, only 32 years of age, was lost to us just at a time when he was preparing to rise to prominence on the national scene. A Milton Brown photo. A Milton Brown book: Milton Brown & the Founding of Western Swing

Clifford Lee Burton: Age 24
Metallica
(b. 10 February 1962, USA, d. 27 September 1986, Sweden).
Formed during 1981, in California, USA by Lars Ulrich (b. 26 December 1963, Copenhagen, Denmark; drums) and James Alan Hetfield (b. 3 August 1963, USA; guitar/vocals) after each separately advertised for fellow musicians in the classified advertisements of the American publication THE RECYCLER. Jef Warner (guitar) and Ron McGovney (bass) each had a brief involvement with Metallica, and at the end of 1982, Clifford Lee Burton, formerly of Trauma, joined the band, playing his first live performance on 5 March 1983. Burton had never been a particularly smooth player, but other band members had not attempted to reign him in. They did try once, however, to persuade him to forego his bell-bottom jeans in favor of more traditional heavy metal garb, but quickly realized the attempt was futile; Burton was set in his ways and rarely influenced by others. In truly bizarre heavy metal fashion, one of his dreams had been to invent a gun that shot knives instead of bullets. The Ulrich, Hetfield, Burton and Hammett combination lasted until disaster struck the band in the small hours of 27 September 1986, when Metallica's tour bus overturned in Sweden on an icy road, killing Cliff Burton.

Bianca Butthole: Age 36
Betty Blowtorch
Died outside New Orleans, LA on 15 December 2001
On Saturday, December 15, around 5:30 a.m., after a show with tour mates Nashville Pussy in New Orleans, Bianca took a ride with a friend in his Corvette. Reportedly, the driver was speeding, lost control, spun around and was sideswiped by another car on Bianca's side. She was killed instantly. There have been reports that the driver was intoxicated, but Bianca was sober and had been for several years. The Bronx, New York born, Studio City, California raised musician left behind ex-husband Andrew Halstead, parents Jerry and Angele Woolery, sisters Selina Smith and Victoria Roberts, brother Andrew Wilson and countless admirers.
December 17, 2001 – Bianca Halstead (a.k.a. Bianca Butthole), bassist/singer for Hollywood hard rockers Betty Blowtorch was killed 5:30 a.m. yesterday morning in a car accident in New Orleans. She was 36 years old. The driver of the car was 33-year-old William McAllister, reportedly a correspondent for Metal Sludge. According to Chris Lee from the New Orleans band Supagroup, who was with Bianca up until she left with McAllister, McAllister and Bianca left the El Matador Lounge near on Decatur Street after a night of post-gig partying with tourmates Nashville Pussy following their gig at the Howlin' Wolf. "They were driving on the I10 toward Kinner in a '86 Corvette when McAllister lost control of the wheel and the car spun around. They were sideswiped by another car on Bianca's side and she was killed instantly. McAllister is be held by New Orleans police and is facing criminal charges. The two passengers in the other car have been hospitalized." A local news story on the incident reported today that their car jumped the median and swerved into oncoming traffic before being hit. Sources say McAllister appeared inebriated, though Bianca had been sober for 10 years.

Tommy Caldwell: Age 30
The Marshall Tucker Band
(b. 1950, Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA, d. 28 April 1980).
Formed in 1971 in South Carolina, the Marshall Tucker Band was a ‘southern-rock’ style outfit which maintained modest popularity from the early to late '70s. Their highest-charting album, SEARCHIN' FOR A RAINBOW, came in 1975. Their first single to chart was This Ol' Cowboy, also in 1975. Most of the group's albums were gold or platinum sellers through 1978, and the 1977 single Heard It In A Love Song was their best-selling, reaching number 14. On April 28, 1980, Tommy Caldwell passed away from injuries sustained in a car wreck almost a week earlier. The efect of Caldwell's death took a lot of the wind out of the band's sails, but Marshall Tucker continued on, enlisting old Toy Factory bassist Franklin wilkie to fill the vacancy. The group continued to perform after the death, but never recaptured their '70s success. (Toy Caldwell eventually pursued a solo career and relesed one album, Toy Caldwell Band, in 1992 to good notices. Unfortunately, Caldwell passed away suddenly from heart attack on February 25, 1993).

Helen Carr: Age 36 or 38
Died 1960
With the exception of one song cut with Charles Mingus in 1946 and two with King Curtis later in the 1950s, her CD (which consists of Helen Carr's two Bethlehem albums) has the complete output of the talented but short-lived singer who died in 1960 at age 36. Carr's interpretations fall between jazz and middle-of-the-road pop, yet her treatments of the standards consistently swing and uplift the material. ~Scott Yanow AMG

John Cascella: Age 45
John Mellencamp's Band
Born: April 29, 1947; Died Nov. 14, 1992

William Cathey: Age 33
Billy Stewart's Band
Born: 1937; Died: January 17, 1970
Experiencing brake problems, the new car that Stewart and the group were riding struck a bridge abutment and plunged into a river.

Harry Chapin: Age 37
(b. 7 December 1942, New York, USA, d. 16 July 1981).
The son of a big band drummer, Chapin played in the Brooklyn Heights Boys’ Choir and during his teens formed a group with his brothers, Tom and Stephen. Immensely talented as a writer and film-maker, he directed the Oscar-nominated LEGENDARY CHAMPIONS in 1968, after which he returned to music. He was signed to Elektra Records and his debut HEADS AND TALES and the six-minute single Taxi enjoyed minor success in the US charts. In 1974, Chapin secured the US Christmas number 1 single with the evocative Cat's In The Cradle. With a series of albums, strongly narrative in tone, it was clear that Chapin was capable of extending himself and in 1975 he wrote the Broadway musical revue, THE NIGHT THAT MADE AMERICA FAMOUS. That same year, he also won an Emmy award for his musical work on the children's television series, MAKE A WISH. The title track to his album SEQUEL, which was a story sequel to his first hit Taxi, gave him his final US Top 30 entry. On 16 July, while traveling to a benefit concert, his car was hit by a truck in Jericho, New York and the singer was killed. Chapin, who had several tickets for speeding and moving violations, and had his driver's license revoked, was driving illegally. His oldest brother, James, told Diliberto in People: "Ironically, I don't think this accident was Harry's fault."

Eddie Cochran: Age 21
(b. 3 October 1938, Albert Lea, Minnesota, USA, d. 17 April 1960, Wiltshire, England).
Although Cochran's career was brief, during which time he topped the charts only once, he is now regarded as one of the finest ever rock ‘n’ roll artists. In 1956 his cameo performance of Twenty Flight Rock in the film The Girl Can't Help It gave this handsome James Dean lookalike the career boost he needed and he was signed by Liberty Records. The song Summertime Blues has been recorded and performed by dozens of artists, and is now one of the most famous rock songs of all time. Cochran was killed in Chippenham, Wiltshire, when his taxi suffered a burst tire and veered off the road and crashed. Gene Vincent was a badly injured passenger, as was Sharon Sheeley, co-writer of his posthumous hit Something Else, (which became a major hit for the Sex Pistols in 1979). His biggest record was the inappropriately titled Three Steps To Heaven which topped the UK chart shortly after his untimely death.

Rob Collins: Age 33
The Charlatans UK
(Born: 1963, Died: 22 July 1996)
Rob Collins, the great keyboardist and hammond player in The Charlatans, died from injuries resulting from a car crash at Rockfield near Monmouth in Gwent, Wales. on Monday 22nd of July. Rob was only 33 years old. He was divorced and had a four year old daughter. Rob Collins was driving a red BMW with another passanger when the accident occured. They were currently recording their fifth album at Rockfield Studios... ~ http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~zap/charlatans/testhtml/tribute.htm

Keven A. "Dino" Conner, Age 28
H-Town
H-Town's Dino Conner, R&B artist, dies at 28
By MICHAEL D. CLARK
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Keven A. "Dino" Conner, a force in Houston's rhythm and blues scene, died Tuesday in an automobile accident. He was 28. Between the gangsta rap of the Geto Boys and Scarface and the dance bounce of Destiny's Child was the multimillion-album-selling trio who felt so much pride in their hometown they named the group after it: H-Town. Nine years after the group went national with the hit Knockin' Da Boots and more than five years since its last release, H-Town was preparing to reunite. Those plans are now on hold after Conner's death. Houston police report that a sports utility vehicle struck a car driven by Teshya Rae Weisent, 22, in which Conner was a passenger. Conner's twin brother and bandmate, Shazam Conner, said Weisent had just picked Dino Conner up from his recording studio. The SUV allegedly ran a red light and struck the vehicle, throwing Conner and Weisent from the car. Conner died en route to the hospital; Weisent was dead at the scene. "We had basically just finished recording our new album and were getting ready for an H-Town reunion tour," said Shazam Conner. "We really haven't had time to think about what will happen now." H-Town got its break in the early '90s after being signed to 2 Live Crew band leader Luther Campbell's Luke record label. It was the only nonrap group Luke carried at the time. Its first album, Fever For Da Flavor, was anchored by the single Knockin' Da Boots. The song's soulful harmony helped propel it to sales of over 1 million and a rating as the No. 12-selling single of 1993. The clever turn of phrase became synonymous with sex. The next year, H-Town received a best new R&B artist honors Soul Train Award in 1994 and nominations at the American Music and Billboard Awards. Radio morning show host Mad Hatta at Houston's KBXX, 97.9 FM, The Box became friends with H-Town members in 1993. He said one of the thrills of his career was when the trio thanked him while accepting the award on the televised broadcast. "They gave me a shout out and I will never forget it because it was my birthday," said Hatta. H-Town followed up Fever for Da Flavor with 1994's Beggin' After Dark and Ladies Edition. The group also shared space with stars like Snoop Dogg's Dogg Pound on the hip-hop movie soundtrack to Above the Rim, and Brian McKnight on the Addams Family Values soundtrack. Shazam said H-Town remains one of the most successful groups never signed to a major label, with more than 8 million albums sold worldwide. Funeral arrangements for Conner are pending. He is survived by a daughter. A candlelight vigil at 9543 South Main is being arranged for Monday night. More details are available on The Box Web site, www.kbxx.com.

Luis "Papo" Deschamps: Age 23
Sandy y Papo
(d.12 July 1999)
One of the members of the Dominican rap group Sandy y Papo died on Monday (July 12). Luis "Papo" Deschamps was killed in a car accident at the age of 23. Sandy y Papo debuted in 1996 with music that combined merengue rhythms with house and hip-hop. The duo, which also included Sandy Carriello, had been working on its third album recently. ~

Freyda Epstein, Age 46
Trapezoid
Died: May 19, 2003
Berkeley folk musician killed in Virginia crash
A folk musician from Berkeley, Calif. was killed in a head-on crash with a car driven by a man who had allegedly beat and stabbed his girlfriend, police said Monday. The man was also killed. Freyda Epstein, 46, who recorded and toured with the group Trapezoid, was killed early Saturday on U.S. 29 when a car driven by Richard Eugene Brock, 41, crossed the road and hit her rental car head-on. Police believe Brock may have intentionally crossed into Epstein's path. "There were no skid marks, and the angle across the median took him straight to Epstein's car," Trooper V.A. Velasquez said. "It may have been a suicide attempt or an attempt to throw off police. We'll never know." Earlier, Penelope Pelkey, 38, was stabbed and beaten by Brock at her home in Standardsville, Pelkey told police. They left the house and drove to a convenience store in Madison, where Brock allegedly began to beat her before he fled, leaving her at the store. Pelkey was listed in serious condition Monday at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. Epstein, a Boston native, was a member of Trapezoid, a group based in Elkins, W.Va., from 1980 to 1988. She played violin and sang. "During that time we did probably over 1,000 concerts and made three albums together," said Paul Riesler, leader of the group. "She was a remarkable singer." Epstein, who lived in Charlottesville in the 1990s, was on her way to visit fellow musicians there. Epstein moved to California a few years ago and was a lead choral director for the World Harmony Chorus. A memorial service for Epstein will be held Wednesday in Charlottesville. ~(05-19) 18:40 PDT MADISON, Va. (AP) --

Falco: Age 40
(b. Johann Hoelzl, 19 February 1957, Austria, d. February 6, 1998, Dominican Republic).
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Falco, a classical music prodigy who turned to pop music and had a 1986 hit with "Rock Me Amadeus," has died in a traffic accident, officials said Saturday. He was 40. The Austrian-born singer and songwriter, whose original name was Johann Holzel, suffered a severe head injury when his sport utility vehicle collided with a bus as he was pulling onto a highway Friday evening near the resort of Puerto Plata. He died at a Puerta Plata hospital. There were no other injuries in the crash. Police detained the bus driver, but no charges have been filed. Police said Holzel was vacationing at the resort, one of the most popular tourism destinations in this Caribbean country, especially among Europeans. Falco was a classical music child prodigy who turned to pop music. His albums featured the synthesizer-based pop rock that was popular in the 1980s. His hits included "Der Kommisar," "Rock Me Amadeus," and "Vienna Calling." Officials at the hospital where Holzel died said his body was moved to Luis Eduardo Aybar Hospital in Santiago, about 35 miles south of Puerto Plata where an autopsy would be performed.
For Squirrels

Jack Vigliatura: Age 21; Bill White: Age 23
Two articles: Link 1 -- Link 2
On September 8, 1995, the band's van blew a tire and overturned [in Midway, GA] on the way back to Florida from a gig at CBGB's in New York. Vigliatura [the driver], White, and manager Tim Bender were killed, while Tooke and Greigo also suffered injuries. Example, released less than a month later, received overwhelming support from college radio. Tooke and Greigo were encouraged and decided to continue the band with high-school friend Andy Lord on bass. -- John Bush, All-Music Guide

Keith Godchaux: Age 32
Grateful Dead
(b. 19 July 1948; d. 23 July 1980).
After years of ill-health through alcohol abuse, Pigpen died in 1973. He was replaced by Keith Godchaux from Dave Mason's band, who together with his wife Donna on vocals compensated for the tragic loss. Although they had been with the band for some years, Keith and Donna Godcheaux had never truly fitted in. They were asked to leave at the end of 1979. They rebounded into a band called Ghosts which reformed as the Heart of Gold Band. The word is that the first gig was sensational, and a few days later they went into the Dead's Front Street Studio. After one wonderful night of rehearsal, Keith drove off to the car crash that killed him. Visitor's note: "Incidentely, in case you are unfamiliar with the details of Keith Godchaux's death, as I recall, he and a buddy were leaving a toll plaza and drove into the back of a flatbed truck killing KG." ~ BlabMstr@aol.com

Earl Grant: Age 37
(b.20 January 1933, Oklahoma City, OK, d. 10 June 1970).
Earl Grant was an easy-listening pianist/organist and singer who was popular in the late '50s and early '60s. Grant signed to Decca Records in 1958 and reached number 7 in the US charts with his first single, The End, which received airplay on ‘beautiful music’ stations in the USA. His first album, EBB TIDE, released in 1961, was also a number 7 entry. He placed five further singles in the US charts and six more albums (of over 20 released on Decca) through 1968. Grant appeared in a number of films as well. He died in a car accident in Lordsburg, New Mexico, USA.

Michael Hedges: Age 43
(b. 31 Dec. 1953, Enid, OK, d. 1 Dec. 1997 Medocino County, CA).
This American guitarist, singer and composer has moved from being known to possess a highly individual instrumental style to a growing acclaim as a singer and composer. In 1980, he moved to California to study computer music at Stanford University and was signed by the Windham Hill Records label. The 43-year-old Grammy nominee was found dead down a steep embankment. He apparently had died several days earlier while driving home from San Francisco International Airport after a Thanksgiving visit to his girlfriend in Long Island, NY, said his manager and longtime friend, Hillary Burgess. He had been thrown from his 1986 BMW, which had tumbled 120 feet over the cliff, apparently after skidding on a rain-slicked S-curve, California Highway Patrol spokesman Bob Burke said. Worn tires and speed may have contributed to the crash, Burke said . It appeared Hedges had died close to instantly, Deputy Mendocino County Coroner Kevin roin said.

Bertha "Chippie" Hill: Age 45
(Born: March 15, 1905 in Charleston, SC, Died: May 7, 1950 in NYC)
One of the better classic blues singers of the 1920's (and much less vaudeville-oriented than many of her contemporaries), Chippie Hill was one of the few singers of her generation to make a full-fledged comeback in the 1940's. One of 16 children, she started working in 1916 as a dancer before she became better known as a singer. She toured with Ma Rainey's Rabbit Foot Minstrels and then was a solo performer on vaudeville for a long period. Hill settled in Chicago in 1925 and recorded regularly for a few years. After working steadily in the Chicago area until 1930 (including touring with Lovie Austin), she eventually left music to raise seven children. Hill occasionally sang during the next 15 years (including with Jimmie Noone) but mostly worked outside of music. She was rediscovered by writer Rudi Blesh in 1946, working in a bakery. Appearances on Blesh's "This Is Jazz" radio series resulted in her coming back to the music scene, performing at the Village Vanguard, Jimmy Ryan's and even appearing at Carnegie Hall in 1948 with Kid Ory. She sang at the Paris Jazz Festival, worked with Art Hodes in Chicago and was back in prime form in 1950 when she was run over by a car and killed. Chippie Hill, who introduced Richard M. Jones' "Trouble In Mind" in 1926, recorded 23 titles during 1925-29 with such sidemen as Jones, Louis Armstrong, Shirley Clay, Georgia Tom Dorsey, Tampa Red and Punch Miller. She also recorded nine selections on two dates in 1946 with Lee Collins, Lovie Austin, Baby Dodds and Montana Taylor. -- Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Johnny Horton: Age 35
(b. 3 April 1925, Los Angeles, CA, d. 5 November 1960, Texas).
For a time he worked in the fishing industry but began his singing career on KXLA Pasadena in 1950 and soon acquired the nickname of The Singing Fisherman. Horton recorded Honky Tonk Man the day after Elvis Presley recorded Heartbreak Hotel and Presley's bass player, Bill Black, was on the session. The song was successfully revived by Dwight Yoakam in 1986, while George Jones revived another song recorded that day, I'm A One Woman Man, in 1989. He married Hank Williams’ widow, Billie Jean, in September 1953. In 1959, Horton switched direction and concentrated on story songs, often with an historical basis, and had his first US country number l with a Tillman Franks song, When It's Springtime In Alaska. This was followed by his version of Jimmie Driftwood's The Battle Of New Orleans, which became a number l pop and country hit in the USA. On 5 November 1960 Horton was killed in an automobile accident on a Milano, Texas bridge following an appearance at the Skyliner in Austin, which also claimed the life his guitarist, Tommy Tomlinson. Tillman Franks received serious injuries but eventually pulled through. Billie Jean became a country star's widow for the second time in seven years.
Visitor's letter (March 24, 1999):
I did catch one discrepancy, though. It is in the account of Johnny Horton's car accident. I wanted to check it out to see whether you mentioned Tommy Tomlinson, his guitarist. You did. However, you incorrectly stated he was killed in the car wreck. Fortunately for me, he wasn't. He, [and] my father, and Horton were friends. Tommy did lose one leg in the accident and spent the rest of his life in pain. I was born in 1955 and grew up knowing Tommy. He spent a lot of time in our home during my youth and I learned much about the guitar from him. The last time I saw Tommy was in 1975 at my uncle's funeral. He (Tommy) eventually died of congestive heart failure due to longtime addiction to painkillers and amphetamines. I lost track of him after the midseventies but remember reading in the Shreveport La. Times of his death in the very early eighties. Tillman Franks, who played upright bass, was in the backseat of the car wreck and was not hurt terribly bad. He still lives in Shreveport and writes and records gospel music these days. I saw him a couple of years ago at a spring cultural festival I played at on the Red River in Shreveport.

The Jody Grind:
Need more information.
Before there was a Cocktail Nation and a mania for retro lounge music, Atlanta's Jody Grind were turning out jazzy renditions of Gershwin, Bacharach and Dusty Springfield numbers, country & western standards and original rock songs that hybridized those forms with alternative music. Singer Kelly Hogan distinguished the band (Bill Taft; guitars, Walter Brewer; drums and Robert Hayes; bass) from any number of alternative groups, as she was a real singer and used her beautiful voice to great effect. Long an Atlanta scene favorite, in 1990 DB Records released One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure. Followed by the more experimental Lefty's Deceiver, the band's career was cut short following a car accident which killed two members. Hogan continues to perform as a solo act in Atlanta and has released one record. — Denise Sullivan

Kemistry: Age 35
Kemi Olusanya, one half of drum-n-bass duo Kemistry and Storm, was fatally wounded while driving back to London from an appearance in Southhampton with her partner, Storm, during the early hours of Sunday April 25. Storm, who was not injured in any way but emotionally, could not be reached for further details concerning the accident. ~pflash Click on Kemistry for more details

Jonny Kidd: Age 26
Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
(born 1940-died October 7, 1966). Auto accident.

King Ernest: Age 60
(Born: May 30, 1939, Died: March 4, 2000)
LOS ANGELES BASED BLUES SINGER, KING ERNEST, WAS KILLED IN AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT ON SATURDAY NIGHT, MARCH 4, 2000 IN LOS ANGELES, RETURNING HOME FROM AN ENGAGEMENT. *Currently, no other details available

Scott LaFaro: Age 25
jazz bass -- Another link
(Born: April 3, 1936 in Newark, NJ, Died: July 6, 1961 in Geneva, NY)
During his tragically short life, Scott LaFaro quickly developed into one of the most advanced bassists around, competing with Charlie Haden and Charles Mingus. He emphasized high notes, could play with great speed and his interplay with Bill Evans in their trio was mutually stimulating and influential. LaFaro originally played clarinet and tenor before settling on bass while in college. He was with Buddy Morrow's band (1955-56), toured with Chet Baker (1956-57) and worked during the next few years with Ira Sullivan, Barney Kessel, Cal Tjader and Benny Goodman among others. LaFaro joined the Bill Evans Trio in 1959 and, although he would record with Ornette Coleman (including Free Jazz) and gig with Stan Getz, the bassist is best remembered for his association with Evans, particularly their Village Vanguard recordings of 1961. The 25-year old Scott LaFaro's death in a car accident shortly after was a major shock to the jazz world. -- Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide Scott LaFaro's life and career were cut short in July of 1961. While driving home late one night his car went off the road and struck a tree. Scott died instantly and the world lost a talented and innovative musical voice. ©1998 Kevin Crosby. In sum, LaFaro visited Geneva, his home town, spent some time with some local friends, drove one of them to visit a mutual friend, left to return to Geneva, fell asleep at the wheel, hit a tree near Flint, NY, seven miles east of Geneva, and burned to death. The important thing is his art while he lived. ~ Charles A. Ralston

Dave Lambert: Age 49
AKA Dave Alden Lambert
(Born: June 19, 1917 in Boston, MA; Died: Oct. 3, 1966 in Westport, CT)
Best-known for being the "Lambert" in the premiere jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Dave Lambert was already a veteran singer when that ensemble was formed in 1957. Originally a drummer, Lambert sang with Johnny Long's big band for a year. He was with Gene Krupa's Orchestra (1944-45) and when he sang "What's This" with Buddy Stewart, it was considered the first vocal version of a bop line... He appeared with Charlie Parker on a Royal Roost broadcast (1949) and his singers backed Bird on his 1953 recordings of "Old Folks" and "In the Still of the Night"; renditions that are somewhat bizarre... After Lambert, Hendricks & Ross became popular in 1957, that group dominated his activities...He stayed with the ensemble after it became Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan in 1962 (when Annie Ross was succeeded by Yolande Bavan) until its breakup in 1964. The warm-voiced singer's last recording was a scat-filled version of "Donna Lee" performed at a 1965 Charlie Parker memorial concert. Dave Lambert died tragically in 1966, hit by a car while changing a tire. -- Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Meade Lux Lewis: Age 58
piano
(b. 4 September 1905, Chicago, IL, d. 7 June 1964).
Although he was popular in Chicago bars in the '20s, Lewis was little known elsewhere and made his living running a taxicab firm with fellow-pianist Albert Ammons. Encouraged by John Hammond and the enormous success of Honky Tonk Train Blues, which he re-recorded in 1936 (and later), Lewis became one of the most popular and successful of the pianists to enjoy fleeting fame during the boogie-woogie craze. With Ammons and Pete Johnson, billed as the Boogie Woogie Trio, he played at Hammond's Carnegie Hall ‘Spirituals to Swing’ concert and at many top New York clubs. Meade died following a road accident in 1964.

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes: Age 30
(Born: Died: 25 April 2002, Honduras)
TLC
ATLANTA (AP) - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, the effervescent, sometimes volatile rapping member of the Grammy-winning trio TLC, was killed in a car crash in Honduras, her record company said early Friday. Lopes, who would have turned 31 next month, was in the Central American nation for a vacation, Arista Records' senior vice president of publicity Laura Swanson told The Associated Press. Lopes was reportedly among seven people in the car Thursday night and the only fatality...The location of the car crash was not immediately determined. It was unclear whether she was wearing a seatbelt...TLC, which also includes Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, were the group behind such hits as "Waterfall," "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty." Their latest album was "FanMail." Lopes' nickname came from her habit of replacing one lens of her glasses with a condom during performances. In 1994, the band returned with "CrazySexyCool" — Lopes was dubbed the "crazy" member of the group...In 1994, Lopes pleaded guilty to arson in a fire that destroyed the mansion of former Atlanta Falcons receiver Andre Rison, her boyfriend. Lopes was sentenced to a halfway house and five years probation, plus a $10,000 fine. Lopes admitted she started the fire after an argument with Rison. The mansion was valued at more than $1 million. The two later broke up, only to reunite and break up again. However, last year they announced plans to marry...Swanson said that Lopes went frequently to Honduras to vacation. "She just found it really peaceful and tranquil, and it was a very special place for her," she said.
FanMail
TLC
Now & Forever
Tlc
New Book: Lisa Lopes: The Life of a Supernova by Nancy Krulik

Ira Loudermilk (Louvin): Age 40
The Louvin Brothers ---- CDNOW Discography
(b. 21 April 1924, d. 20 June 1965). Another tribute site
Ira took up the mandolin and Charlie the guitar and they created perfect harmonies for country and gospel music, inspired, in particular, by the Blue Sky Boys. In 1943, after winning a talent contest in Chattanooga, they began broadcasting regularly, leading to three shows a day for WMPS in Memphis. They crossed over to the country market with their own composition When I Stop Dreaming, which is now a standard. The Louvin Brothers broke up officially in August, 1963... following the recording of their last album, "Thank God for My Christian Home". Ira started his solo career with Yodel Sweet Molly but he was shot 3 times in the back and badly injured by his 3rd wife, Faye, whom he then divorced. He then married Florence, who sang on his shows as Anne Young, but soon afterwards they both perished in Jefferson City, Missouri on 20 June 1965. Driving home from a performance, Ira's car was struck in a head-on collision. ~Encyclopedia of Popular Music Copyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 1998
The song "Yodel Sweet Molly" was recorded in March, 1965, and not released until August 1965, two months following Louvin's death. Bill Monroe was on tour when Ira died, and he cancelled an engagement to return to Nashville to sing "Where No One Stands Alone" at Ira's funeral. ~ K.F. Raizor (See authoritative book on Louvins: B&N / In Close Harmony)

Polo Montañez: Age 47
born: Fernando Borrego, Died: November 25, 2002
HAVANA, Nov. 27 (AP) — The Cuban singer Polo Montañez, whose country-style music was hugely popular throughout Latin America, died on Tuesday night from head injuries suffered in a car crash, his recording company said today. He was 47. A spokesman for Lusafrica, the record company, said Mr. Montañez died at a military hospital here. He had been in a coma after suffering severe injuries in the accident, which occurred on Nov. 20. He was driving a group of relatives home from a family party when his car collided with a tractor-trailer on a highway outside here. His stepson, Mirel González García, 25, was killed, and Mr. Montañez's wife, Adis García, was injured. Mr. Montañez, whose real name was Fernando Borrego, came from a humble, provincial background to become a musical hit three years ago. He described his song "Guarijo Natural," which topped the charts in Latin America, as a "self-portrait" of a simple country boy who falls in love and enjoys life. Mr. Montañez's success began in Colombia in the late 1990's. Later he toured Latin America, where he gained a huge following, and Europe.

Rushton Moreve: Age 33.
Steppenwolf
died July 1, 1981.
Auto accident.

Criss Oliva: Age 30
Savatage
(April 3, 1963 - October 17, 1993)
Savatage formed in Florida in 1978 as Avatar, led by brothers Jon (vocals) and Criss (guitar) Oliva. They changed their name to Savatage in 1983, pursuing a strongly Judas Priest- and Iron Maiden- influenced style of metal. Their other members included Steve "Doc" Wacholz (drums) and Keith Collins (bass), who was later replaced by Johnny Lee Middleton. They meandered between basic metal and more commercial fare before adding second guitarist Chris Caffery and hitting their stride in 1990 with Gutter Ballet. The band showed a flair for intense, melodic hard rock, dramatic balladry, and elaborate, operatic concepts, which they pursued over their next few albums. Criss Oliva was killed in an auto accident in 1993; he was replaced by former Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick, but the new lineup was ill-received. Dead Winter Dead followed in 1995, and after a three-year absence Savatage returned with The Wake of Magellan. The Final Bell appeared in 1999. -- Steve Huey, All-Music Guide October 17th, Criss and his wife Dawn were driving to Livestock Music festival in Florida when a drunk driver crossed the center line and hit Criss head on. Criss was killed instantly, Dawn narrowly surived the crash. Criss' gravesite is located in Palm Harbor, Florida.~Savatage site

Tommy Perkins, 69
Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys
Born: Died: 7 June 2003
Oklahoma City - Tommy Perkins, former drummer for Bob Wills, died Saturday from injuries suffered in a car accident while he was driving home from a festival celebrating the "King of Western Swing." He was 69. Perkins died in Cotton County after he drove off the H.E. Bailey Turnpike into an embankment. He was not wearing a seat belt, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. Perkins, who lived in Oklahoma City, was returning from the 16th annual Legends of Western Swing Music Festival in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he had performed Friday night. Perkins' performances with Wills included the April 27, 1950, recording of "Faded Love," made when the drummer was just 15 years old. ~ AP Tommy died on Saturday morning June 7,2003 as a result of a heart attack while driving home from Wichita Falls, Texas, where he had played two sessions with the Bob Wills' Texas Playboys on Friday at the Legends of Western Swing weekend. He had told some of his friends he was not feeling well, and had decided to spend Friday night in Wichita Falls before going home. He is and will forever be greatly missed both in our hearts and in the Western Swing community. ~ http://www.texasplayboys.net

"Marvin Pontiac": Age 45
b. 1932, d. June 1977
Marvin Pontiac was hit and killed by a bus in June 1977 ending the life of one of the most enigmatic geniuses of modern music. He was born in 1932, the son of an African father from Mali and a white Jewish mother from New Rochelle, New York...When his mother was institutionalized in 1936, the father returned and brought the young boy to Bamako, Mali where Marvin was raised until he was fifteen...At fifteen Marvin moved by himself to Chicago where he became versed in playing blues harmonica... In 1952, he had a minor hit for Acorn Records with the then controversial song "I'm a Doggy."... Although, approached by other labels, Marvin refused to record for anyone unless the owner of the label came to his home in Slidell, La and mowed his lawn...In 1970 Marvin believed that he was abducted by aliens. He felt his mother had had a similar unsettling experience, which had led to her breakdown. He stopped playing music and dedicated all of his time and energy to amicably contacting these creatures who had previously probed his body so brutally. When he was arrested for riding a bicycle naked down the side streets of Slidell, La, it provided a sad but clear view of Marvin's coming years. In 1971 he moved back to Detroit where he drifted forever and permanently into insanity. ~Strange and Beautiful
Richie Powell: see Clifford Brown for now.

Dave Prater: Age 50
Sam and Dave
(Born: May 9, 1937 Ocilla, GA. Died: Syracuse, GA, April 9, 1988)
Dave Prater, one-half of the soul duo Sam and Dave. Prater died in a car crash in Georgia. He was 50. Prater met partner Sam Moore in Miami in 1958. Sam and Dave's Memphis-style soul was popular throughout the 1960's on such hits as "Hold On I'm Comin'" and "Soul Man," which won a Grammy Award. The duo, never on the best of terms, broke up in 1981. Sam and Dave gained renewed popularity in 1978 when the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, revived "Soul Man". Prater then reformed the duo with a new partner, Sam Daniels.

David Proch: Age 44
The Skyliners
(d. Oct 19, 1998, outside of Pittsburg, PA)
David Proch, a singer who became the third person to sing first tenor for the group the Skyliners, died Monday in a car accident. He was 44. His car collided with a truck hauling asphalt on U.S. Route 30 near Ligonier, about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh. Proch was singing with another group when the Skyliners came to hear him sing in 1993. At first listen, the Skyliners' original lead singer, Jimmy Beaumont, invited him to join the group.

John Morris Rankin: Age 40
Rankin Family
(Died: January 16, 2000; Whale Cove, Nova Scotia)
Whale Cove - Road salt may have been a factor in the death [Jan. 16th, 2000] of musician John Morris Rankin. Salt spilled by a provincial Transportation Department truck left a large, unexpected bump on Route 219 moments before the internationally known Celtic musician and member of the Rankins approached in his sports utility vehicle. Mr. Rankin was on his way to Cheticamp to attend a hockey tournament. "There was certainly a mound or pile of salt . . . and from talking to our staff, this seemed to be a little bigger ... (than) the ordinary," department spokesman Chris Welner said. The mound, less than a third of a metre high and as wide as a single lane, created a speed bump in the 80 km/h zone. It's believed Mr. Rankin swerved to avoid the bump, then lost control of the truck, which plunged over a 25-metre cliff into the Atlantic Ocean near Margaree Harbour...No autopsy will be performed. Police cannot say whether he died from injuries suffered in the crash or drowned. Read more ~By Tera Camus / Cape Breton Bureau

Razzle: Age 21
Hanoi Rocks
(b. Nicholas Dingley, 2 December 1963, Isle Of Wight, England, d. 7 December 1984).
This Finnish heavy rock band were distinguished by their leaning towards '70s glam rock, which they carried off with more style and conviction than any of their peers. The band traveled to London where they began recording ORIENTAL BEAT. Soon after it was finished Casino was sacked (and joined the Road Rats) and replaced by Razzle, who had previously played with Demon Preacher and the Dark. They hit the UK charts for the first and only time in 1984 with a cover version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Up Around The Bend, but the year ended in tragedy. The band were in the US when Razzle was killed in a car crash on 7 December. The car driver—Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe—was later found guilty of Vehicular Manslaughter. However, Monroe never really accepted the loss of Razzle and in early 1985 he told the band he intended to quit. Hanoi Rocks played their final gig in May 1985.

Sweetpea Robinson: Age
Sax
"...The two altos trade licks on Sippin' with Cisco, and one gets an idea of how Eric's sound developed and relates to Sweetpea Robinson, who Roy Porter once told me was a fantastic player but who died young, I believe in an auto accident. Simosko swears it is Dolphy on the Wig tunes. Roy Porter now has an autobiography out in which he agrees with Simosko."~ http://farcry.neurobio.pitt.edu/Discographies/EarlyRec.html

Bessie Smith: Age 43
(b. 15 April 1894, Chattanooga, TN, d. 26 September 1937).
In her childhood, Smith sang on street corners before joining a touring black minstrel show as a dancer. Also in the show was Ma Rainey and before long the young newcomer was also singing the blues. By 1920 Smith was headlining a touring show and was well on the way to becoming the finest singer of the blues the USA would ever hear. On the night of September 26, 1937, after appearing at a juke joint in Sunflower County, Mississippi, Smith and her fiance Richard Morgan were driving to Memphis from where they would embark for New York, when their car was struck head-on by a truck. Morgan suffered only minor injuries but Smith's right arm was nearly severed and she was bleeding profusely. Though it has never been proven conclusively, legend has it that Smith was denied treatment from several "whites only" hospitals in the Delta before arriving at a "colored's only" hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi. But by the time she arrived it was too late for she had died from loss of blood. Most blues historians affirm this account of Smith's death to be accurate, though some state that she actually died at the scene of the crash or shortly thereafter.

Red Sovine: Age 61
(b. Woodrow Wilson Sovine, 17 July 1918, Charleston, West Virginia, d. 4 April 1980).
Sovine acquired the nickname of The Old Syrup Sopper following the sponsorship by Johnny Fair Syrup of some radio shows, and the title is apt for such narrations as Daddy's Girl. From 1954 Sovine was a regular at GRAND OLE OPRY and, in all, he had 31 US country chart entries. He particularly scored with maudlin narrations about truckdrivers and his successes include Giddyup Go (a US country number 1 about a truck driver being reunited with his son), Phantom 309 (a truck-driving ghost story!) and his million-selling saga of a crippled boy and his CB radio, Teddy Bear (1976). Sequels and parodies of Teddy Bear abound, Sovine refused to record Teddy Bear's Last Ride, which became a US country hit for Diana Williams. He retaliated with Little Joe to indicate that
Teddy Bear was not dead after all. In 1980 Sovine died of a heart attack at the wheel of his car in Nashville.

Calder Spanier: Age 33
(died 4 Dec 1997)
Charlie Hunter / Curvature
In addition to his work with Curvature, Calder recorded two albums for Blue
Note with the Charlie Hunter Quartet. Before this, Calder had played with Charlie on the streets of Europe at a time when both musicians were honing in on their individual sounds. In addition to the saxophone, Calder played guitar and composed many of the tunes the Quartet played, and was about to release a CD of more jazzy vocal pop tunes he had written before his tragic death on December 4, 1997. Calder was on his way back from a gig in San Francisco when his car stalled on the Bay Bridge. As he went to fill his car with gas, he was struck by on oncoming vehicle. His death is a huge loss for the Bay Area music community. Anyone who had the opportunity to catch the Charlie Hunter Quartet live could easily see he gave 120 percent to the music. ~charliehunter.com --- another CS link

Billy Stewart: Age 33
(Born: Mar 24, 1937 in Washington, D.C., Died: Jan 17, 1970 in Neuse River, NC)
Billy Stewart was one of the most distinctive vocal stylists of the '60s. His stuttering, word-doubling attack owed more to jazz scat singing than to the gospel influences of many of his peers. A jovial, rotund piano player who toured with Bo Diddley and, through him, gained entry to Chess Records, Stewart scored biggest in 1966 with a smash Top Ten version of George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward's "Summertime," an atypically (for Chess) big-band arrangement (featuring Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White on drums) with Stewart in a vocal tour de force, masterfully scatting around, stuttering through, and generally turning the melody inside out. It was not your typical '60s soul music, but Stewart's success opened the door for other jazz-influenced singers like Georgie Fame to gain a place on radio playlists of the day. Stewart died tragically at age 33 in a 1970 auto accident. -- Christine Ohlman, All-Music Guide Billy Stewart's Band --- Experiencing brake problems, the new car in which Stewart and the group were riding struck a bridge abutment and plunged into a river. ~ www.musicsales.uk.co

Lynn Strait: Age 30
Snot
b. 1968 d. December 11, 1998.
Though some details are still unknown, according to Sean Henning, the band's co-manager, Strait was exiting the 101 freeway between his hometown of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria when his Ford Tempo collided with a truck at approximately 1 p.m. The ensuing three-vehicle crash resulted in the death of Strait. Also killed was Strait's dog, Dobbs, who fans know from his appearance on the cover of Snot's Geffen debut album Get Some (May 1997) and who became the band's mascot and symbol.

Frank Teschemacher: Age 25
(b. Mar 13, 1906 in Kansas City, MO, d. Feb 29, 1932 in Chicago, IL)
Frank Teschemacher was a member of the Austin High Gang, a group of young White jazz musicians in Chicago in the 1920s. Teschemacher made his recording debut in 1927 with the McKenzie-Condon Chicagoans and has a very hot clarinet solo on "Nobody's Sweetheart". He was a multi-talented musician who played clarinet, violin, banjo, and alto sax. Teschemacher recorded in Chicago on a variety of sessions in 1927, then moved to New York in 1928, where he played with Ben Pollack, Sam Lanin and Red Nichols and then returned to Chicago the following year....On the blustery evening of February 29, 1932 Tesch invited Wild Bill Davison to spend the night at his apartment to prepare for a band rehearsal the following day. They took Davidson's Packard Phaeton convertible and made a few stops on the way, one of which was in the company of drummer George Wettling at bandleader Charlie Straight's speakeasy. At about 2:00 am Davison was northbound on Magnolia Avenue in the city's Uptown neighborhood approaching Wilson Avenue with the Packard's top down. Tesch was hunched down against the wind and cold in the front seat with his hands thrust deeply into the pockets of a heavy overcoat. As Davison began to cross Wilson Avenue, his car was struck broadside by a Yellow Cab traveling on Wilson Avenue with its headlights off. The Packard was spun into a tree and both occupants were thrown over the windshield. Tesch struck his head on the concrete curb, suffering a very severe skull fracture. He was transported to Ravenswood Hospital (about a mile west of the accident site) where he died four hours later. The doctors believed that Tesch's chances for survival would have been much improved had his hands been free to protect his head. Although Davison was briefly detained by the police, a coroner's inquest absolved both him and the cab driver of negligence. Still, the accident weighed heavily upon Davison and caused him to leave Chicago for several years. Frank Teschemacher was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, IL (not far from Austin High School) just ten days short of his twenty-sixth birthday and with his ex-wife, Helen, in attendance. His pallbearers included bandleader Floyd Town, drummer George Wettling and pianist Jess Stacy. ~Red Hot Jazz

Dottie West: Age 58
(b. Dorothy Marie Marsh, 11 October 1932, McMinnville, Tennessee, d. 4 September 1991).
In 1962, at the recommendation of Jim Reeves, Chet Atkins signed her to RCA Records. Her first US country chart hit Let Me Off At The Corner was in 1963, the same year that the first song she wrote, Is This Me, became a number 3 country hit for Jim Reeves. A country Top 10 solo hit of her own song Here Comes My Baby followed, which so successfully launched her career that between 1964-84, she charted a further 60 US country hits. The following year the song made her the first female country singer to win a Grammy. She has won many solo awards and in 1978 and 1979 she and Kenny Rogers were voted the Country Music Association Vocal Duo of the Year. She appeared in two films Second Fiddle To An Old Guitar and There's A Still On The Hill, and has played the Grand Ole Opry regularly since first becoming a member in 1964. On Friday 30 August 1991, due to problems with her own car, she asked an 81-year-old neighbour to drive her to the Opry for her scheduled appearance. His car crashed at high speed when it left the ramp to the Opry car park, vaulted in the air and hit the central division. Both occupants were rushed to the Vanderbilt Medical Centre in a critical condition. Dottie West suffered a severe rupture of the liver and, in spite of several operations, surgeons could not control the bleeding. Although fully aware of the extent of her injuries, she was unable to speak and sadly died a few days later on 4 September.

Clarence White: Age 29
Byrds/ Kentucky Colonels
(b. 7 June 1944, Lewiston, Maine, d. 14 July 1973, Palmdale, CA).
White started playing acoustic guitar and singing in a bluegrass group with his brothers when only 10 years old, and the group materialized into the Kentucky Colonels in 1961. After leaving the Kentucky Colonels, he switched to electric guitar and became a session musician, playing on albums by Randy Newman and Linda Ronstadt. White joined Nashville West in 1968, and then the Byrds. The Byrds flew the coop in 1973 and White reformed the Kentucky Colonels to play Los Angeles clubs and also to tour Europe. He worked on albums by Maria Muldaur and Gene Parsons and also began his solo album, although only four tracks were recorded. He was knocked down and killed by a drunk driver while loading equipment into his car after a show on 14 July 1973. What there is of his solo album was included on the compilation on Sierra Briar Records, Silver Meteor.

Meri Wilson: Age 53
(Born: Died: December 28, 2002 in Sumpter County, Georgia, USA)
A 1970's pop star and Americus arts supporter died in a car accident Saturday night. Fifty-three-year-old Meri Wilson Edgemon was killed after she lost control of her car on Highway 377 in Sumter County. In 1976, she had a platinum record hit with her song "Telephone Man." She stayed active in the arts all her life, and was current president of the Americus Arts Council and the Civic Chorus. Edgemon had just arranged and directed the music for the "Cotton Patch Gospel" performance at the Rylander Theatre, receiving a state award for the project. A national award is pending.
AIR CRASH

Aaliyah: Age 22
(born: Aaliyah Haughton, New York 16 January 1979; died Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas 25 August 2001) ,
Aaliyah was at the forefront of the Nineties' mainstream acceptance of R&B which now sees acts like Destiny's Child and 3LW go straight into the US and UK pop charts. A teen idol who scored her first transatlantic hit with "Back and Forth" in 1994 at the age of 15 and remained a chart presence for the next seven years, she went on to model for the fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and made her acting début last year opposite the Chinese martial arts legend Jet Li in the film Romeo Must Die... The rhythm 'n' blues singer was killed in a plane crash after a video shoot in the Bahamas. She was 22.
NASSAU, Bahamas (CNN) -- The small aircraft that crashed...on the island of Abaco, killing singer Aaliyah and eight others, was overloaded by hundreds of pounds, officials said Thursday. The extra weight -- and the way in which it was distributed -- most likely contributed to the plane's crash shortly after takeoff, said John Frank, executive director of the Cessna Pilots' Association...Immediately after the crash Saturday at Marsh Harbour airport, airport employees told CNN that baggage handlers and the pilot of the Cessna 402 had complained before takeoff that the aircraft was overloaded with luggage, but the passengers insisted on taking everything with them. Aaliyah (Limited Edition)
Books: Aaliyah: An R&B Princess in Words and Pictures by Kelly Kenyatta
Aaliyah: More Than a Woman by Christopher John Farley
Aaliyah by Tim Footman

The Bar-Kays':
Jimmy King(b.1949; guitar), Ronnie Caldwell (b. 1948; organ), Phalin Jones (b. 1949; saxophone),
and Carl Cunningham (b. 1949; drums).

The Bar-Kays were employed as Otis Redding's backing group on tour, and the tragic plane crash in 1967, which took his life, also claimed King, Caldwell, Jones and Cunningham. James Alexander, who fortuitously missed the flight, put a new line-up together with Ben Cauley, the sole survivor of the accident.

Big Bopper: Age 29
(b. Jape Perry Richardson, 24 October 1930, Sabine Pass, Texas, USA, d.3 February 1959).
After working as a disc jockey in Beaumont, Richardson won a recording contract with Mercury, releasing two unsuccessful singles in 1957. The following year, under his radio monicker The Big Bopper, he recorded the ebullient Chantilly Lace, a rock ‘n’ roll classic, complete with blaring saxophone and an insistent guitar run. Backed with the satiric The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor, the disc was a transatlantic hit. The follow up, Big Bopper's Wedding underlined the singer's love of novelty and proved popular enough to win him a place on a tour with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. On 3 February 1959, a plane carrying the three stars crashed, leaving no survivors.

David Box: Age 22
(b. Harold David Box, Sulphur Springs on 11 August 1943; d. 23 October 1964)
After the death of Buddy Holly, the Crickets used various lead singers on their records. One was David Box who sang lead on the Crickets' recording of "Peggy Sue Got Married"...The song was among the last Cricket singles to be issued on Coral - and one of the very best released after Buddy died...David also worked with local band Buddy and the Kings. Buddy Groves vocal/guitar, Carl Banks bass and Bill Daniels presumably on drums. Daniels was a qualified pilot and the quartet hired a Cesna Skyhawk 172 to take them to a gig in Harris County on . The plane crashed nose first and overturned on the return flight. There were no survivers.

Stephen Canaday: Age 55
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Former Ozark Mountain Daredevils member Stephen Canaday was killed Saturday (Sept. 25, 1999)
when the vintage airplane in which he was riding crashed into a vacant house in Nashville. Witnesses to the crash attempted to perform CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Canaday, 55, but he died en route to a local hospital. Canaday’s companion in the plane, computer/software programmer Rick Loudermilk, 52, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigating officials could not immediately determine the cause of the crash but said Canaday may have been shooting low-level aerial photographs from the North American SNJ-5, a single-engine training plane from the World War II era... Canaday, 55, joined the Ozark Mountain Daredevils in 1977. More recently, he had worked at a Nashville photographic-supply store and as a tour manager for country singer Lee Roy Parnell and Nashville folk-rocker Marshall Chapman. -- Brian Mansfield

Bill Chase: Age 39
(b. 1935; d. 9 August 1974, Jackson, MN)
In 1974, Chase chartered a plane to take him and three band members to a performance in Jackson, MN. The weather was bad with a low ceiling, and the airport in Jackson had little communications equipment. The plane went down, but was not found until the next day. There were no survivors. - Dick Cooper Chase's entire band lost their lives: (BILL CHASE, JOHN EMMA, WALLY YOHN and WALTER CLARK).

Patsy Cline: Age 30
(b. Virginia Patterson Hensley, 8 September 1932, Gore, near Winchester, Virginia, d. 5 March 1963).
Patsy's manager, Randy Hughes, was the son-in-law of Cowboy Copas. In 1963 Randy flew Patsy to Kansas City for a benefit for the widow of a country disc jockey who had died in a car crash. The return journey was hampered by storms and poor visibility. On 5 March 1963 Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Randy Hughes were killed when their plane crashed in swamped woodlands in Camden, Tennessee, 85 miles from Nashville. Identification was difficult as only Patsy's shoulders, the back of her head and right arm were in one recognizable piece. Another country star, Jack Anglin, of the duo Johnny And Jack, was killed on the way to her funeral. Patsy's single at the time of her death was, ironically, Leavin' On Your Mind.
Link to: Patsy Cline: Original Keys for Singers: Piano/Vocal: (Sheet Music)

Cowboy Copas: Age 49
(b. Lloyd Estel Copas, 15 July 1913, near Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, d. 5 March 1963).
Copas was raised on a small ranch and taught himself the fiddle and guitar before he was 10 years old. His son-in-law, Randy Hughes, also managed Patsy Cline and all three were killed, along with Hawkshaw Hawkins, in a plane crash on 5 March 1963. A few weeks later, Copas had a posthumous country hit with a record ironically entitled Goodbye Kisses.

Jim Croce: Age 30
(b. 10 January 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 20 September 1973).
Originally a university disc jockey, Croce played in various rock bands before moving to New York in 1967 where he performed in folk clubs. By 1969, he and his wife, Ingrid, were signed to Capitol Records for APPROACHING DAY. The album's failure led to Croce returning to Pennsylvania and taking on work as a truck driver and telephone engineer. Meanwhile, he continued with songwriting and, after sending demo tapes to former college friend and New York record producer, Tommy West, Croce secured a new deal with the ABC label. Croce's second album, YOU DON'T MESS AROUND WITH JIM, provided him with a US Top 10 hit in the title track and, along with Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) helped establish Croce as a songwriter of distinction. In July 1973, he topped the US charts with the narrative Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Exactly two months later, he died in a plane crash at Natchitoches, Louisiana. when the chartered Beechcraft D-18 snagged the top of a pecan tree during take-off. link to buy: Jim Croce Complete

John Denver: Age 53
(b. Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., 31 December 1943, Roswell, NM,
d.12 October 1997, CA).
One of America's most popular performers during the '70s, Denver's rise to fame began when he was ‘discovered’ in a Los Angeles night club. He initially joined the Back Porch Majority, a nursery group for the renowned New Christy Minstrels but, tiring of his role there, left for the Chad Mitchell Trio where he forged a reputation as a talented songwriter. One of his compositions, Leaving On A Jet Plane, provided an international hit for Peter, Paul And Mary, and this evocative song was the highlight of Denver's debut album, RHYMES AND REASONS. He continued to enjoy a high profile throughout the rest of the decade and forged a concurrent acting career with his role in the film comedy OH, GOD with George Burns. However, although Denver became an unofficial musical ambassador with tours to Russia and China, his recording became less prolific as increasingly he devoted time to charitable work and ecological interests. A San Francisco television station reported that Denver may have crashed while trying to switch from one fuel tank to another. Both tanks were empty, KRON reported. Denver was killed instantly in the crash of the Long-EZ experimental airplane he was piloting on October 12 , in Monterey Bay shortly after take off. Denver, an experienced pilot, had taken delivery of the Y-shaped, futuristic looking plane just a day before the crash. link to: John Denver Books

Jane Dornacker: Age 39
Tubes
(b. 10/1/47, d. 10/22/86, NYC, NY)
Jane sang with the Tubes (wrote and sang their quasi-hit "Don't Touch Me There"), and the performance-art group Leila and the Snakes (late '70s San Francisco - also featuring Pearl Harbor of Explosions fame)... well regarded standup comedienne, played Nurse Murch in the movie "The Right Stuff," mostly SF Bay Area centered but moved to New York City in the early '80s to do radio. She was killed in a helicopter crash over the Hudson River while doing a live traffic report. An audio clip of the broadcast is available at http://www.ohms.com/kyuu7.htm. ~Evan Hulka

Carlos Gardel: Age 44
(Born in France 11 December 1890; Died: 24 June 1935)
Buy Gardel music here Carlos Gardel arrived in Buenos Aires at the age of two. As a young man he became known in the clubs and cafés of the barrios (districts) in Buenos Aires, establishing a famous folk singing duo with José Razzano. But it was in the 1920s, when he began to specialize in tango singing, that he rose to extraordinary fame...[Gardel was one of 17 killed when two Ford Tri Motor airplanes collided in midair over Medellin, Columbia. ~John Kremer] An orgy of grief swept from New York to Puerto Rico, and a woman in Havana suicided. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body made the journey to its final resting place in a Buenos Aires cemetery, traveling via Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro. Instantly immortal and preserved forever young, his enduring fame is measured by the oft heard Argentine expression 'Gardel sings better every day'. Sixty years after his death, a devoted following keeps the legend blazing, playing Gardel's music daily, placing a lit cigarette in the hand of the life-sized statue which graces his tomb and keeping his few films in circulation. ~Lizandro Llancafilo

Bill Graham: Age 60
Promoter
Bill Graham was the P.T. Barnum of rock and roll, an unparalleled showman who forever revolutionized the symbiotic relationship between artists and audiences. A catalyst behind the rise of the San Francisco psychedelic scene of the late 1960s, he almost single- handedly pioneered the business of concert promotion, his fusion of theatricality and professionalism introducing new standards in sound, lighting and stage design. Famed for mixing acts of various musical and racial backgrounds on his bills, Graham nurtured the careers of superstars and cult favorites alike, his influence extending from small club dates to stadium tours and festivals; despite no musical talent of his own, he remains one of the truly seminal figures of the rock era...On the night of October 25, 1991, he and Bill Graham Presents staffers Steve Kahn and Melissa Gold were killed in a helicopter accident; a free concert dubbed "Laughter, Love and Music" soon followed in their honor, headlined by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Santana, Aaron Neville and comedian Robin Williams. At the time of his death, Graham was 60 years old. -- Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide. To buy Bill Graham Presents: My Life inside Rock and Out

Hawkshaw Hawkins: Age 41
(b. Harold Franklin Hawkins, 22 December 1921, Huntingdon, West VA, d. 5 March 1963).
In 1942, he performed on radio in Manila when stationed in the Phillippines. After his discharge, he signed with King Records and did well with Sunny Side Of The Mountain, which became his signature tune. In 1948 he became one of the first country artists to appear on network television. He had US country hits with Pan American, I Love You A Thousand Ways, I'm Just Waiting For You and Slow Poke In 1963 Hawkins released his best-known recording, Justin Tubb's song Lonesome 7-7203. The song entered the US country charts three days before Hawkins died on 5 March 1963 in a plane crash which also claimed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. Lonesome 7-7203 was his only number 1 record in the US country charts. His wife, country singer Jean Shepard, was pregnant at the time and their son was named Harold Franklin Hawkins II in his memory. Barnes and Noble on Hawkins

Buddy Holly: Age 22
(Charles Hardin Holley, 7 September 1936, Lubbock, Texas, d. 3 February 1959).
Holly was one of the first major rock ‘n’ roll groundbreakers, and one of its most influential artists. Holly was an initial inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. On the afternoon of 1 February his tour played in Green Bay, Wisconsin but an evening show was cancelled owing to bad weather. The 2 February date at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa went ahead. It was following this show that Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper chartered a small plane to take them to the next date in Moorhead, Minnesota, rather than travel on the tour bus, which had a defective heater and had previously broken down several times. Owing to the snowy weather the plane crashed minutes after takeoff, killing all three stars and the pilot. (The tour actually continued after their deaths, with Bobby Vee, Jimmy Clanton and Frankie Avalon filling in). Death certificate / C.A.B. Accident Investigation Report Front page of newspaper for sale / To read more link to:
Remembering Buddy: The Definitive Biography of Buddy Holly by John Goldrosen, John Beecher (Contributor)
Behind the Music: The Day the Music Died by Martin Huxley, Quinton Skinner --(Buddy Holly book)
The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens --by Larry Lehmer

Walter Hyatt: Age 46
Uncle Walt's Band
(B. 1950 , D. May 11, 1996)
Former Austinite Hyatt was one of the unfortunate souls aboard the Valujet flight that crashed into the Everglades. The 46 year-old singer-songwriter, who had been living in Nashville since the mid-'80s, was best known as the titular center of Uncle Walt's Band, the early '70s combo featuring Hyatt, Champ Hood and David Ball. Hyatt was an inspiration to, among others, Lyle Lovett, who returned the favor in 1989 by producing Hyatt's "King Tears" album for MCA. Hyatt's most recent album, "Music Town," is on Sugar Hill Records; proceeds from the sale of that record (as well as two Uncle Walt's Band reissues) will benefit Hyatt's wife and three daughters. Donations in his memory should be sent to the Second Presbyterian Church, c/o Hyatt Family Fund, 3511 Belmont Blvd., Nashville, TN 37215. ~By Jason Cohen

Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ronnie Van Zant:
(d. 20 October 1977)
With their tally of gold discs increasing each year and a series of sell-out tours, the band suffered an irrevocable setback in late 1977. On 20 October, Van Zant, Steve Gaines, his sister and backup singer, Cassie and manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed in a plane crash en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (The twin-engine Convair 240 plane short of fuel crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS). Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkenson were all seriously injured but eventually recovered. That same month, Lynyrd Skynyrd's new album STREET SURVIVORS was withdrawn as the sleeve featured a macabre design of the band surrounded by flames. To read more link to: Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Oral History

Dino Martin: Age 35
(Born: July 20, 1953 in Encino, CA ,Died: March 21, 1987 in Mount San Gorgonio, CA)
Entertainer Dean Martin's son Dino Martin, who as member of '60s pop group Dino, Desi and Billy had a hit called "I'm a Fool," killed in the crash [while flying] an Air National Guard [Phantom Fighter] jet in California's San Bernardino Mountains. ~Washington Post

Glenn Miller: Age 40
(Born: Mar 1, 1904 in Clarinda, IA, Died: Dec 15, 1944 in English Channel)
Only Glenn Miller's decision to enlist in the Army stopped his orchestra's success. He did the near-impossible and organized the finest military jazz band ever heard, his Army Air Force Band. By 1944, when it had relocated to London, it featured clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, pianist Mel Powell, drummer/singer Ray McKinley, trumpeter Bobby Nichols and sometimes a string section and a vocal group. Their version of "St. Louis Blues March" became famous and this group's broadcasts and radio transcriptions are well worth searching for. Glenn Miller flew across the English Channel in December 1944 with plans of setting up engagements on the Continent. His plane was shot down (quite possibly in error by the Allies) and lost. ~AMG or December 15, 1944 a cold, wet and foggy afternoon, Glenn Miller departed an RAF-Base, in England in a Norseman C-64 aircraft. The flight was to take Glenn Miller and other passengers to Paris. However, the flight never made it. It is believed the aircraft encountered icing conditions over the English Channel and crashed. Glenn Miller and his band had been performing for Allied Troops prior to the crash and was planning on putting on a show in Paris, France. ~AVSTOP.com

Grace Moore: Age 46
(born:5 Dec. 1901; died 26 Jan. 1947) Photo of Grace
Grace Moore was a figure out of another era, almost a geological age's distance, in popular entertainment-an opera singer who found success on the silver screen and even charted some hit records. Her story is also one of the most compelling tales of success, defeat, redemption, and tragedy in the history of American entertainment. Born to the family of a travelling salesman (and later department store owner) in Tennessee, she developed a love of music, and, fueled by a magnificent voice, bluffed her way onto the Broadway stage. From an eventual star's berth at the Met, she jumped to motion pictures with the advent of the talkies, was destroyed at one studio by the pressures for success and then rescued, and given a whole second career on screen and the concert stage by the politics at another studio, only to die in an air crash a decade later.~Bruce Eder AMG Copenhagen, Denmark, on January 26, 1947, Grace Moore boarded a KLM DC3 to fly to Stockholm. The aircraft taxied out to the runway and was cleared to takeoff. The aircraft rotated and climbed to an altitude of about 150 feet. The aircraft stalled, crashed to the ground and exploded. On the evening before her death, Grace Moore had sung to a packed audience of more than 4000 people.~avstop.com

Rick Nelson: Age 45
(b. Eric Hilliard Nelson, 8 May 1940, Teaneck, New Jersey, d. 31 December 1985, De Kalb, Texas).
One of his greatest moments as a pop singer occurred in the spring of 1961 when he issued the million-selling Travelin Man’ backed with the exuberant Gene Pitney composition Hello Mary Lou. Shortly after the single topped the US charts, Nelson celebrated his 21st birthday and announced that he was changing his performing name from Ricky to Rick. A performance at Madison Square Garden in late 1971 underlined Nelson's difficulties at the time. Although he had recently issued the accomplished RICK SINGS NELSON, on which he wrote every track, the audience were clearly more interested in hearing his early '60s hits. Nelson responded by composing the sarcastic Garden Party, which reaffirmed his determination to go his own way. The single, ironically, went on to sell a million and was his last hit record. On 31 December 1985, a chartered plane carrying him to a concert date in Dallas caught fire and crashed near De Kalb, Texas. To buy the out of print: Teenage Idol Travellin' Man The Complete Biography of Rick Nelson by Bashe, P
Passion Fruit's:

Maria Serrano-Serrano, and Nathaly van het Ende: Age 27
(November 24, 2001)
Plane crash kills 24 in Switzerland --- By ERNST E. ABEGG - Associated Press Writer
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Workers combing through a muddy wood found the flight recorders from a Swiss airliner that crashed near Zurich, killing at least 10 people and leaving 14 others missing and feared dead, officials said Sunday. Nine people survived, two in critical condition...Three women from a German dance-music group, Passion Fruit, were also on board and at least one was believed to have survived, Scheding said. [A pop-music trio called Passion Fruit - two Dutch women and a German woman of Spanish origin, all 27 - was also on the plane. Maria Serrano-Serrano and Nathaly van het Ende were killed, but Debby St. Marteen survived, said the band's manager, Georg Bergheim.] The plane crashed as it approached a nighttime landing strip...The runway is considered more difficult to approach than two others used previously, and the agreement with Germany allowed the use of those two runways in bad weather. Officials said the pilot did not request permission to switch runways. Rain mixed with snow was falling and visibility was poor when the Jumbolino went down just after 10 p.m. Airport officials said communication was normal until the plane suddenly disappeared from radar. The nine survivors walked from the wreckage and were met by rescue workers, said Zurich airport's chief medical officer, Remo Reichlin. Guenther said four were "well, considering the circumstances," three were in stable condition and two in critical condition.
(Spanglish Love Affairs)

Joe Dan Petty: Age 52
Grinderswitch
(Died 8 Janurary 2000, Macon, GA)
Longtime Allman Brothers Band guitar tech and former Grinderswitch bassist Joe Dan Petty was killed in a plane crash Saturday (1/8/00) near the Herbert Smart Airport in Macon, Georgia... The accident occurred about 2:45 in the afternoon after the pilot reported fuel line problems and was attempting to land the aircraft in an opening. Also aboard the plane was an unidentified second person, thought to be a friend of Joe Dan's and fellow pilot. It's not clear who was piloting the plane at the time of the accident. Joe Dan received his pilot's license about a year ago and had owned the plane for two years... Grinderswitch: Working in the commercial shadow of better-known acts, they counted as fans members of the Marshall Tucker Band and a lot of other musicians who felt they deserved a break. The group failed to emerge as much more than a top regional act and an opener for the Allmans and Charlie Daniels, among others, despite recording seven album between 1972 and 1982, first for Capricorn and later for Atlantic. -- Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Otis Redding: Age 26
(September 1941, Dawson, Georgia, USA, d. 10 December 1967). Photo of Otis
The son of a Baptist minister, Redding assimilated gospel music during his childhood and soon became interested in jump blues and R&B. He remained something of a cult figure until 1965 and the release of the magnificent OTIS BLUE in which original material nestled beside the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction and two songs by a further mentor, Sam Cooke. Redding's version of the Temptations' My Girl then became a UK hit, while the singer's popularity was further enhanced by the visit of the Hit The Road Stax revue in 1967. A triumphant appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival suggested that Redding was about to attract an even wider following but tragedy struck on 10 December 1967. The light aircraft in which he was travelling plunged into Lake Monona, Madison, Wisconsin, killing the singer, his valet, the pilot and four members of the Bar-Kays. The wistful (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay, a song Redding recorded just three days earlier, became his only million-seller and US pop number 1. To get the book Otis Redding: From Memphis to the Mainstream, Vol. 8

Jim Reeves: Age 40
(James Travis Reeves, b. 20 August 1923, Galloway, Texas, USA, d. 31 July 1964).
His first singing work was with Moon Mullican's band in Beaumont, Texas and he worked as an announcer and singing disc jockey at KGRI in Henderson for several years. (Reeves bought the station in 1959). In November 1952 Reeves moved to KWKH in Shreveport, where his duties included hosting the "Louisiana Hayride." A land deal took him via private plane (he was a skilled amateur pilot) to Batesville, Arkansas, on July 30, 1964, with pianist Dean Manuel. On July 30, while approaching Nashville on his return, the plane ran into a rainstorm and disappeared from radar. Outside his Brentwood home, Marty Robbins heard something crash. It took two days to find the wreckage and the bodies. To get the book:Like a Moth to a Flame: The Jim Reeves Story

Randy Rhoads: Age 25
(b. Randall William Rhoads, 6 Dec 1956, Santa Monica, CA, d. 19 March 1982).
Possibly one of the greatest hard rock guitarists America ever produced, Randy Rhoads would, had his life not been so tragically curtailed in a freak airplane accident, be talked about in the same breath as Eddie Van Halen or even Jimmy Page. Randy Rhoads was the talented heavy metal guitarist who helped put Ozzy Osbourne back on the charts in the early 1980's. Whilst en route to Florida for further live shows the tour bus made an unscheduled stop where the driver's friend had a small aeroplane. After taking up a couple of band members for a joy ride, Rhoads and a make-up girl were persuaded to enlist. The pilot, high on cocaine, seemingly aimed the aircraft at the empty tour bus and all passengers were killed. Barnes and Noble on Randy Rhoads

Stan Rogers: Age 33
(Born:November 29, 1949 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Died: June 2 , 1983)
Stan Rogers came from Hamilton, Ontario, a six-foot-four poet who started out as a rock bassist before turning to folk music. With his rich voice, he used his music to call to life all of the wonder and mysticism of his native Canada. His singing is occasionally mistaken for that of Gordon Lightfoot, but it's huskier and earthier than Lightfoot's, and his repertoire -- made up of song cycles drawn from throughout Canada -- is also more tradition-oriented and more mystical. Rogers died in a fire aboard an Air Canada flight in Cincinnati, OH, in June 1983, leaving behind a half-dozen albums. -- Bruce Eder, All-Music Guide On June 2, 1983, Rogers was headed home from the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. A fire started in the restroom on Air Canada flight 797. It was forced to land in the Greater Cincinatti Airport. Rogers was one of 23 people who died of smoke inhalation. He was 33. ~Stephen Ide (steve@folkie.riva.com) This article ran in The Patriot Ledger

Melanie Thornton: Age 34
La Bouche
(b. May 1967, South Carolina; died November 24, 2001, Switzerland)
ZURICH (Reuters) - U.S.-born pop singer Melanie Thornton, on tour to publicize her solo album "Ready to Fly,'' died on Saturday night in a Swiss plane crash near Zurich, police said Sunday. "It is true that Miss Thornton was on the passenger list. She is not among the survivors,'' Zurich police spokesman Karl Steiner told Reuters. Nine people survived out of the 33 aboard the Crossair jet and police said 24 were presumed dead. Melanie's latest single, "Wonderful Dream,'' is the song of a new Coca-Cola commercial and was due to be in stores starting Monday. Thornton, born in May 1967 in South Carolina, was for many years the voice of the group La Bouche with whom she had worldwide sales successes with songs such as ``Sweet Dreams,'' ''Fallin' In Love'' and ``Be My Lover.'' But their second album flopped and Thornton left the group in February 2000 for an independent career. Although born in the United States, her singing career started in Germany under the auspices of Franc Farian, who has launched many pop bands. She had arrived with just $15 in her pockets to join her sister in Germany in 1992. With her singing partner Lane McCray, she celebrated world-wide successes with La Bouche and they sold more than 10 million units and obtained gold and platinum awards in over 15 countries.

Graeme 'Shirley' Strachan: Age 49
Skyhooks
(Born: Malvern Australia 2/1/52; Died August 29, 2001)
Australian rock legend Shirley Strachan, front man for Skyhooks has died in a helicopter accident. Graeme 'Shirley' Strachan was piloting the helicopter near Kilroy, northwest of Brisbane when the helicopter crashed into Mount Alexander at around 4pm this afternoon. The Australian music community is both saddened and shocked with the news of one of the country's great larrikans. Skyhooks earned their place in Australian rock history, releasing their debut album Living In The 70's in 1974 and immediately having 6 of the 10 tracks banned from Australian commercial radio. It sold 4x platinum, unheard of in its day... ~by Paul Cashmere

Ritchie Valens: Age 17
(b. Richard Steve Valenzuela, 13 May 1941, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 3 February 1959, Iowa). Valens was the first major Hispanic-American rock star, the artist who popularized the classic '50s hit La Bamba. Valens also performed solo and was heard by Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records, who took him into Gold Star Studios to record several songs. (Keane also shortened the singer's name from Valenzuela to Valens and added the ‘t’ to Richie). In October 1958 the single Donna/’La Bamba’ was issued. It was actually the ballad Donna, written by Valens about his high school friend Donna Ludwig, that was, contrary to popular belief, the side of the record which was the bigger hit, reaching number 2. La Bamba, the b-side, only reached number 22 in the USA but is the more fondly-remembered song. It was on 3 February 1959 when he, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper were killed in an airplane crash following a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa. Newspaper Story To buy the book: Ritchie Valens: The 1st Latino Rocker

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Age 35
Born: Oct 3, 1954 in Dallas, TX; Died: Aug 27, 1990 in East Troy, WI
Sure, Robert Cray had the nascent groundswell's first Top 40 hit with March 1987's "Smoking Gun" (off of Strong Persuader), but it was Vaughan who sold millions of records and had the ability to galvanize arena-sized audiences with his incendiary performances. And in the final hours of his life, it was Vaughan who--by Eric Clapton's admission-- emerged the victor in a good-ol'-fashioned cutting contest on a Wisconsin amphitheater stage, leaving the other world-class participants--Clapton, Cray, Buddy Guy, and Vaughan's brother Jimmie--all wondering to what heights he would eventually take his virtuosity. The question was answered when the helicopter carrying Vaughan to Chicago after the concert slammed into a fog-shrouded hill near the amphitheater in the wee hours of August 27, 1990. He was dead--instantly--at 35. ~by Ted Drozdowski

March 16, 1991: Seven members of singer Reba McEntire's band are among 10 people killed in crash near San Diego

Allen Collins: Age 37
b. July 19, 1952, d. January 23, 1990
He was the original guitarist from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Allen, who survived the accident, endured many problems after the crash which led to his death. He was very heavy into pain medication and his organs shut down. His pain of killing his girlfriend in a car crash and the loss of his band just left him devistated. ~Jim Sheaffer-Smokin'Guns
Surviving guitar player Allan Collins lost his wife in 1980 and in 1986 his girlfriend. Allen formed the short-livrd Rossington-Collins Band with other Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors, became wheelchair-bound from a car accident, and died of pneumonia on January 23, 1990.~We'll Always Remember
Once again tragedy struck Allen in 1986. Driving near his home in Jacksonville, Allen crashed his car in an accident which killed his girlfriend and left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. The injuries also limited the use of his upper body and arms. He later plead no contest to DUI manslaughter. In 1989, Allen developed pneumonia as a result of decreased lung capacity from the paralyzation. He entered the hospital in September where he passed away on January 23, 1990. ©The Freebird Foundation, Inc. ~Skynyrd.com

DROWN

2005-01-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Jeff Buckley:
Age 30

(b. 17 Nov 1966, d. 29 May 1997)
Since he was the son of cult songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley faced more expectations and pre-conceived notions than most singer/songwriters. Buckley began playing as a high school student in New York. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to study music; while he was there, he performed with several jazz and funk bands, as well as playing with Shinehead, a leader in the dancehall reggae movement. Buckley began a solo career playing clubs and coffeehouses, building up a considerable following. Soon, he signed a record deal with Columbia Records, releasing the Live at Sin-e EP in November of 1993. It received good reviews, yet they didn't compare to the raves Buckley's full-length debut, 1994's Grace, received.
On the night of May 29, he and a friend traveled to the local Mud Island Harbor, where Buckley spontaneously decided to go swimming in the Mississippi River and leaped into the water fully- clothed. A few minutes later, he disappeared under the waves; authorities were quickly contacted, but to no avail -- on June 4, his body was finally found floating near the city's famed Beale Street area. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide

Johnny Burnette:
Age 30

(b. 28 March 1934, Memphis, TN
d. 1 August 1964, CA ).
Having attended the same high school as Elvis Presley, Johnny moved into the rockabilly genre by forming a trio with his brother Dorsey Burnette on string bass and school friend Paul Burlison on guitar. After touring with Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent, the trio underwent a change of personnel in November 1956 with the recruitment of drummer Tony Austin. That same month, the trio were featured in Alan Freed's movie ROCK, ROCK, ROCK. By the autumn of 1957, the trio had split and the Burnette brothers moved on to enjoy considerable success as songwriters. After briefly working as a duo, the brothers parted for solo careers. Johnny proved an adept interpreter of teen ballads. Both Dreamin’ and You're Sixteen were transatlantic Top 10 hits. A series of lesser successes followed with Little Boy Sad, Big Big World, Girls and God, Country And My Baby. With his recording career in decline, Burnette formed his own label Magic Lamp in 1964.
In August that year, he accidentally fell from his boat during a fishing trip in Clear Lake, California and drowned. Among the family he left behind was his son Rocky Burnette, who would subsequently achieve recording success at the end of the '70s.
~Music Central 96.

Randy California:
(my sister used to hang out with this guy - Suze)
Age 45
Spirit

(b. Randy Wolfe, 20 Feb. 1951, Los Angeles, d. 2 January 1997).
Guitarist/singer/songwriter Randy California is best known as the leader of Spirit, although he occasionally has made solo albums. A guitar prodigy, California played in Jimi Hendrix's pre-Experience group the Blue Flames in New York's Greenwich Village in the summer of 1966. It was Hendrix who named him Randy "California." Spirit, an eclectic band with rock, jazz, and folk tendencies, was formed in Los Angeles in 1967. After four albums, the original quintet split up in 1971. He rejoined Spirit in 1974 and has led the band ever since. (Spirit charted with ten albums between 1968 and 1976.) Several subsequent Randy California solo albums have been released in Europe.
Randy California died tragically in January of 1997, when he was gripped by an undertow when swimming on the coast of the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Before he died, he was able to save his 12 year-old son, Quinn.
~ William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide

Jimmy Hodder:
Age 42

Steely Dan
(died June 15, 1990).
Hodder drowned but little else is known of his death.

Art Porter:
Age 35

(b.1961, d. 23 Nov 1996)

Pop-jazz saxophonist Art Porter drowned while in Bangkok on November 23. He was 35. Porter had achieved success in recent years with a series of jazz-pop releases on Verve.

Dennis Wilson:
Age 39

Beach Boys

(b. 4 December 1944, Hawthorne, California, d. 28 December 1983).

The former drummer with the Beach Boys started to develop as a notable songwriter during the late '60s when his elder brother, Brian, became less prolific. Dennis blossomed showing a hitherto unseen sensitivity which had always been clouded by his wild nature and legendary womanizing. Dennis, sadly became a tragic figure, his voice so badly wracked through drug and alcohol abuse ended as merely a painful croak. During a break from recording his unreleased BAMBOO in 1983.
Wilson drowned after diving from his yacht in the harbor at Marina Del Ray, California. As the only Beach Boy to have actually surfed, special dispensation was given to the Wilson family to bury Dennis at sea.
~Music Central 96

Brian Jones:
Age 27

Rolling Stones

(b. Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones, 26 February 1942, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, d. 3 July 1969, Cotchford Farm, Sussex).

While the Stones were re- establishing themselves, Brian Jones was falling deeper into drug abuse. A conviction in late 1968 prompted doubts about his availability for US tours and in the succeeding months he contributed less and less to recordings and became increasingly jealous of Jagger's leading role in the group. Richards' wooing and impregnation of Jones' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg merely increased the tension. Matters reached a crisis point in June 1969 when Jones officially left the group. The following month he was found dead in the swimming pool of the Sussex house that had once belonged to writer A.A. Milne. The official verdict was ‘death by misadventure’.

GUNSHOT

2005-01-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Sam Cooke
Bobby Bloom
Marvin Gaye
Lem Winchester
Stringbean
John Whitehead
Selena
Al Jackson
Eddie Jefferson
John Lennon
Walter Scott
Scrapper Blackwell
Lee Morgan
Jaki Byard
Chano Pozo
Felix Pappalardi
Arlester "Dyke" Christian
Tupac Shakur
Notorious B.I.G.
Big L
(Lamont Coleman)
Freaky Tah
Jam Master Jay
Soulja Slim
Peter Tosh
Junior Braithwaite
Carlton Barrett
Cornell Gunther
Nat "Buster" Wilson
Roy Lee Centers
James Sheppard
Igor Talkov
Rusty Day
Sabotage
Russ Columbo
Camoflauge
Jimmy "Orion" Ellis
Roger Troutman
Stacy Sutherland
Tebogo Madingoane

HERION

2005-01-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

G.G. Allin: Age 36
(AKA Kevin Michael Allin; DOB: 8/29/56 DOD: 6/28/93)
read his obit
Bands include: G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies, The Jabbers.
Cause of death is a little hard to explain... basically, an overdose. he drank some whiskey and exlax... then allegedly shot herione... starting defecating onstage, as usual and eating his feces.... cutting himself up... then he flipped out and started attacking people... he ran from the cops and they found him dead in a ditch the next morning. the official cause of death in the coroner*s report was an overdose. an overdose of what, i'm not sure. probably so much different shit it was just easier to say OVERDOSE, in general. ~from Nikolette Lepora.
(From HEATHEN WORLD)
Hey, have you heard of GG Allin? He died a couple years ago of a heroin overdose. For about 15 years he was the most aggressive, extreme, hated punk rocker on the planet - and the reputation was well deserved. The music he put out was not exactly well produced, but it's power was immense. The best cd to get is "Dirty Love Songs", which is a collection from many of his bands. The following is the tale of his funeral...GG Allin's funeral - I was there less than two months after meeting the guy. Now, we all knew he wasn't going to die of old age and we all knew it wouldn't be an ordinary service, but I wasn't quite prepared for that I saw. The band's drummer was drawing on GG's leg with a magic marker. The body was dressed in his leather jacket and a jockstrap that said "Eat Me". He held a microphone in one hand and a jug of Jim Beam in the other. Everyone was hammered. When the beer ran out, people wrenched the jug from his arms to swig from it. GG looked like hell... you want more?

Tim Buckley: Age 28
(b. 14 February 1947, Washington, DC, USA, d. 29 June 1975).
Tim Buckley died in June 1975, of a heroin overdose. The story goes like this: After a short tour culminating in a sold-out show at an 1,800-capacity venue in Dallas, the band partied on the way home, as was customary. An inebriated Tim proceeded to his good friend Richard Keeling's house in order to score some heroin. As Underwood tells it, Keeling, in flagrante delicto and unwilling to be disturbed, argued with Buckley : "Finally, in frustration, Richard put a quantity of heroin on a mirror and thrust it at Tim, saying, 'Go ahead, take it all', like a challenge. As was his way, Tim sniffed the lot. Whenever he was threatened or told what to do, he rebelled." Staggering and lurching around the house, Buckley had to be taken home, where Judy Buckley laid him on the floor with a pillow. She then put him to bed, thinking he would recover; when she checked later, he'd turned an ominous shade of blue. The paramedics were called but it was too late. Tim Buckley was dead. ~By Martin Aston

Lester Butler: Age 38
13, Red Devils
Born: Nov 12, 1959; Died: May 10, 1998
LA singer and harpist. Lived hard, played hard, died hard: "Les didn't overdose -- he was overdosed while unconscious and unable to help/defend himself. While Les was at the house of Bill B. Friday night May 8 he was injected by a woman named April Ortega. She gave him too much and it caused him to immediately pass out. She and Bill got scared and threw him in an ice-bath but it didnt help. Next her boyfriend Glenn Demidow arrived and they decided to inject Les with cocaine instead of getting him medical attention. Nothing happened. So they injected him again with more cocaine. Nothing happened. So they injected him AGAIN with even more cocaine. They still didn't get him medical help. April and Glenn then drove him to his gig and left him in his van (unconscious) while they went in and listened to Lester's band (without Lester) telling people that he had passed out and was sleeping it off...They still didn't get him medical help but instead took him to their apartment at 2am, they went to sleep, then the next night after he had died in their care dropped his dead body back at Bill B.s house. " ~Anonymous
LESTER'S MUSIC

Herb Caro: Age 22
From an interview with Chuck Nessa:
Well the real surprise is a guy that I'm sure nobody will have heard of. His name is Herb Caro, a clarinet and saxophone player. He plays various tenor solos on here, he plays baritone in a big band and baritone saxophone solos on another small band, and clarinet in ensemble. A young guy that befriended Mingus in San Francisco and he actually worked Mingus' last four record dates in California. Then he promptly went off to New York in search of Charlie Parker and caught the disease of many of those who did the same, then came back home to San Francisco and died of an overdose while in his early 20's. But he's a very interesting player: obviously influenced by Lester in his solos. He sounds at times like he could be Brew Moore or something. And then with his baritone playing he sounds similar to Serge Chaloff. But he's a very young guy, obviously very bright, in his formative years. I can't imagine what he would have turned into had he survived.

Darby Crash: Age 22
Germs
Died: December 7, 1980
Los Angeles punk band the Germs was formed in April 1977 and quickly became one of the most popular and influential in that area of music. The group disbanded in early 1980 but reformed later that year. A week after their first reunion concert, however, singer Crash died of an intentional heroin overdose.
See: Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs

Jesse Ed Davis: Age 43
(Born Sep 21, 1944 in OK, Died Jun 22, 1988 in Venice, CA)
A full-blooded Kiowa Indian, Jesse Ed Davis was perhaps the most versatile session guitarist of the late '60s and early '70s. Whether it was blues, country or rock, Davis' tasteful guitar playing was featured on albums by such giants as Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, John Lennon and John Lee Hooker, among others. It is Davis' weeping slide heard on Clapton's "Hello Old Friend" (from No Reason to Cry), and on both Rock n' Roll and Walls & Bridges, it is Davis who supplied the bulk of the guitar work for ex-Beatle Lennon. In and out of clinics, Davis disappeared from the music industry for a time, spending much of the '80s dealing with alcohol and drug addiction. Just before his death of a suspected drug overdose in 1988, Davis resurfaced playing in the Graffiti Band... ~Steve Kurutz, All-Music Guide

Dwayne "Duck" Goettel: Age 31
Skinny Puppy
(Born: Feb 1, 1964;
Died: August 23, 1995, in his parents' home in Edmonton, Alberta)
Was the drummer for influential industrial band Skinny Puppy, as well as Tear Garden, aDUCK, and Download. Skinny Puppy disbanded June 12, 1995. ~ The ShanMonster

Tim Hardin: 38
(b. 23 December 1941, Eugene, Oregon, USA, d. 29 December 1980).
Beset by heroin addiction, his later work is a ghost of that early excellence. Tim Hardin died, almost forgotten and totally underrated, in December 1980, of a heroin/morphine overdose.

Janis Joplin: Age 27
Big Brother & The Holding Company
(b.19 January 1943, Port Arthur, Texas, USA, d. 4 October 1970).
Joplin developed a brash, uncompromising vocal style quite unlike accustomed folk madonnas Joan Baez and Judy Collins. In 1963 Janis moved to San Francisco where she became a regular attraction at the North Beach Coffee Gallery. This initial spell was blighted by her addiction to amphetamines and in 1965 Joplin returned to Texas in an effort to dry out. The following year Janis was invited back to the Bay Area to front Big Brother And The Holding Company. Janis’ reputation blossomed following the Monterey Pop Festival, of which she was one of the star attractions. Electric Flag members Mike Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks and Nick Gravenites helped assemble a new act, initially known as Janis And The Joplinaires, but later as the Full Tilt Boogie Band. In July they toured Canada with the Grateful Dead, before commencing work on a ‘debut’ album, Pearl. The sessions were all but complete when, on 4 October 1970, Joplin died of a heroin overdose at her Hollywood hotel. Links Page

Frankie Lymon: Age 25
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
(b. 30 September 1942, Washington Heights, New York, d. 28 Feb. 1968, New York City).
Often billed as the ‘boy wonder’, In 1964, he was convicted of possessing narcotics and his finances were in a mess. His private life was equally chaotic and punctuated by three marriages. In February 1968, he was discovered dead on the bathroom floor of his grandmother's New York apartment with a syringe by his side. The Teenager who never grew up was dead at the tragically early age of 25.

David McComb:Age 36
Triffids
(b. , d. 2 February 1999)
A note from a visitor to the David McComb tribute page:
"It is absolutely safe to include David as a Heroin Overdose, That definitely killed him. The piece you have published refers to a car accident. The car accident has been ruled out as a cause of death. On Feb. 14th the coroners finding will be released and it will all be on the public record -- then I have a copy of the Post Mortem report so I am not making this up!" ~ Regards, A friend and fan of D. McComb

Robbie McIntosh: Age 24
Average White Band
(b. 6 May 1950, Dundee, Scotland, d. 23 September 1974, Hollywood)
This sextet was the natural culmination of several soul-influenced Scottish beat groups. AWB, also known as the "White Album" in deference to its cover art, was a superb collection and paired the group's dynamism with Arif Mardin's complementary production. The highlights included a spellbinding version of the Isley Brothers' Work To Do, and the rhythmic original instrumental, Pick Up The Pieces, a worthy US number 1 / UK Top 10 single. A euphoric period was abruptly punctured in 1974 by the tragic death of McIntosh following a fatal ingestion of heroin. Drummer Robbie McIntosh was accidentally poisoned at a Hollywood Hills party when he was spiked with a lethal amount of heroin, and he died at age 24. This event could have caused the premature end of AWB, until the despairing band were joined by Steve Ferrone, an old friend who had replaced Robbie in Oblivion Express. His presence helped get the band back on the road and into the studio to record the Cut The Cake album, which they dedicated to Robbie.

Jonathan Melvoin: 34
Smashing Pumkins, Prince
b 1962 d. 12 July 1996
A backup musician for the Smashing Pumpkins was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose in a Manhattan hotel room early Friday, and the alternative band's drummer was charged with heroin possession. Twenty-two-year-old drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who has a history of drug and alcohol problems, was with keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, 34, when he overdosed at the Regency Hotel. New York police say Chamberlin made the 911 call that brought officers to the Park Avenue hotel at 4:15 a.m. Melvoin, who was not a full-time Pumpkin, was pronounced dead at the scene.Ironically, Jonathan Melvoin's jazz-playing father, Michael, a former chair of the academy, fought to eliminate drugs from the music industry. ~Marcus Errico Eonline

Jim Morrison: Age 27
The Doors
(b.James Douglas Morrison, 8 December 1943, Melbourne, Florida,
d. 3 July 1971, Paris).
The Florida born Morrison was fed up with the music industry in LA, so in March of 1971 he packed up and went to live in Paris with his on again/off again partner, Pamela Courson...Morrison was a rather large shadow of his former self during his final months. Too much booze (he was a confirmed alcoholic), heroin and women. There were vague plans for another Doors album, or a tour, but it was never to be...He and Pam then shared an apartment at 17 rue Beautreillis, near place de la Bastille, not far from Pere Lachaise. Jim had visited the cemetery only a few weeks before his death...It all ended for Jimbo on July 3, 1971 at 5am. It seems that Morrison had spent the evening at Rock n Roll Circus (now called the "Whisky A Go Go" at 57 rue de la Seine), where he acquired a fix. It was Chinese and very pure. Some would say too pure. There is one story that Jim died in the club, then his body was taken back to his apartment. Officially, he died in the apartment, in the bathtub, from heart failure. He was 27. Pam reportedly told the police that Jim complained of feeling ill, and asked her to get a bath ready. Minutes later she discovered him, unconscious in the tub... No autopsy was done, and Pam "could not remember" the name of the doctor who signed the certificate: "Heart problems were aggravated by the abuse of alcohol, followed by an abrupt change of temperature caused cardiac arrest." ...On Wednesday, the coffin was buried secretly in Pere Lachaise. ~Jon Spiteri, Find a Death
From a visitor to this site: I am a huge Doors/Jim Morrison fan and on your site it says that he was killed in the Chinese a Go-go where someone fixed him up some heroine that was "too pure". That is not true. It was late one night that Morrison came home to his apartment when he saw Pamela Courson and a pile of white powder on the table next to her. Jim and Pamela often got in violent fights about her heroine addiction. Pamela did not want to get into another fight so she told Jim that it was Cocaine. Jim had been known to like cocaine so of course, he snorted it. The heroine was too pure and too much for Jim because he never really often did heroine, and the amount was so much that Jim could not handle the amount. He fell to the ground and Pamela panicked and got a tub of warm water ready (this was known to cure heroine addicts). She put Jim in the tub and called the police. Jim Morrison was pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m. on July 3rd, 1971. I hope you reconsider and change the info on your site as it is
inaccurate. Thank you for your time. ~Nick
Jim Morrison may have to be exhumed and moved from Paris, says 'Rolling Stone' magazine, on or around the 6th July 2001... This date is when the 30-year lease on his grave expires. The 'Guvnor' at Père Lachaise cemetery says they are sick of cleaning up after fans who visit Morrison's grave. The cemetery, also contains the remains Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Proust and Jean-Paul Sartre. Ray Manzarek, The Doors minder and spokesman, said that Morrison may be moved to the Czech National Cemetery, and laid to rest next to Franz Kafka, although Morrison's Mum and Dad have the final say.

Bradley Nowell: Age 28
Sublime
(b. Febuary 22,1968 - d. May 25,1996, SF)
Mostly due to KROQ's radio exposure, Sublime signed to MCA for 1994's Robbin' the Hood, which revealed an experimental ethic more in keeping with cut-and-paste dub than the well-tuned rage of the Cali punk revival. The album performed well at college radio, and set the stage for the breakout success of their self-titled third album. On May 25, 1996, however, Brad Nowell was found in a San Francisco hotel room, dead of a heroin overdose. The band collapsed, but Sublime was still slated for a July release. On the strength of the alternative radio hit "What I Got," the album was certified gold by the end of 1996.

Kristen Pfaff: Age 27
Hole Janitor Joe
b. 1967 d. 16 June 94
In June of 1994, Kristen had gone back to Seattle to pack up the things that she had left behind when she had moved back to Minneapolis. Her U-Haul was parked out front of her King County apartment. A friend [Paul Erickson, the bassist in the Minneapolis band Hammerhead] slept in another room while she went in to take a bath. The friend awoke and realized Kristen was not out of the bathroom yet. He knocked. He could hear that she had fallen asleep in the tub-a normal thing for Kristen. He went back to sleep. The next morning, June 16, the worried friend kicked open the door only to find that Kristen had died during the night, a victim of a heroin overdose. What happened in that bathroom that night in June is Kristen's most devastating secret. ~Lynda Davis (with permission of Ms. Pfaff)

Glenn Scott III
Died 8-5-1980 - Bass player -
Played for John Cale, James Chance, The Contortions, 8 Eyed Spy, The Raybeats and James White And The Blacks.

Will Shatter: Age 31
Flipper
(Born 1956, Died 12-9-87)
San Francisco punk band Flipper formed in 1979 with original member Will Shatter (vocals), on Subterranean, the group released its debut, and best-known album, GENERIC, in 1982. Sporting topical lyrics and both hardcore punk and noise dirges, the album is recognized as a classic of west coast punk. Other albums followed on Subterranean in 1984 and 1986, but the following year Shatter died of an accidental heroin overdose.

Hillel Slovak: Age 26
Red Hot Chili Peppers
(b. Jerusalem, Israel 13 April 1962; guitar, d. 28 June 1988).
The guys decided to release a new album by June 1988 but before then they needed to do something about Hillel. His drug addiction was steadily worsening and the Chili family was suffering along with him. A decision was made to let Hillel go after the show in Washington. Angelo Moore, of the support band 'Fishbone', heard what was planned and talked Anthony out of it. Hillel stayed with the band whilst they travelled to England to shoot the now infamous, socks on cocks photo of the Red Hot Chili Peppers walking across that same pedestrian crossing that the Beatles had made famous. They returned to the U.S and decided to release a new album. 4 weeks after a joyous homecoming though, Hillel was gone. The months of drug abuse finally captured his life and he overdosed. Hillel's death shook the band to it's roots. Anthony hid out in a small mexican village-ridding himself of any lingering, narcotic cravings. Jack Irons left the band also, shutting himself from the rest of the world. He blamed the Red Hot Chili Peppers for his friends demise, therefore he wanted nothing more to do with any of it. ~Georgina - A.K.A. Mutha

Layne Staley: Age 34
Alice in Chains
(Born: Kirkland, WA, on August 22, 1967; Died: Mid April 2002)
Layne Staley, the lead singer of the pioneering grunge band Alice in Chains, was found dead on Friday at his home in Seattle. He was 34 years old. Alice in Chains was one of the first grunge bands to gain national attention. Beginning with its 1990 EP, "We Die Young," the group sang bleak visions of death, addiction and despair, set to grinding minor-key guitar riffs. Most of the band's material was written by its guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, though Mr. Staley wrote lyrics for many of its songs, including the band's first hit, "Man in the Box," with the chorus: "Feed my eyes, can you sew them shut?/Jesus Christ, deny your maker."

Vinnie Taylor:
Sha Na Na
By 1974 their act had degenerated to a dreary repetition that took its toll in discord, nervous breakdowns and more irresolvable internal problems culminating in a fatal heroin overdose by Vincent Taylor, a latter-day member.

Johnny Thunders: Age 38
New York Dolls
(b. John Anthony Genzale Jr., 15 July 1952, New York, d. 23 April 1991, New Orleans).
Johnny Thunders first gained recognition as a member of the New York Dolls, an aggregation that built a reputation for its hard R&B-influenced rock sound and glam/punk appearance in the early '70s. Thunders left the band in 1975 along with drummer Jerry Nolan, and the pair formed a new band alongside ex- Television guitarist Richard Hell called the Heartbreakers. Thunders earned a reputation for his shambling stage performances owing to an excess of drugs and alcohol. He later gigged with fellow junkie, Sid Vicious in the Living Dead. Thunders was found dead in a hotel room in New Orleans, Louisiana in mysterious circumstances in 1991. He was 38. Despite Thunders’ notorious drug dependency, the autopsy failed to reveal the cause of death although later reports cite a heroin overdose. Visitor's note: "Also, it might be worth noting in Thunders' section that his body was doubled over into a 'u' and in full rigor when they found him in a room full of drug debris. ~ Allison Mc
Willy DeVille: "I don't know how the word got out that I lived next door, but all of a sudden the phone started ringing and ringing. Rolling Stone was calling, the Village Voice called, his family called, and then his guitar player called. I felt bad for all of them. It was a tragic end, and I mean, he went out in a blaze of glory, ha ha ha, so I thought I might as well make it look real good, you know, out of respect, so I just told everybody that when Johnny died he was laying down on the floor with his guitar in his hands. I made that up. When he came out of the St. Peter's Guest House, riga mortis had set in to such an extent that his body was in a U shape. When you're laying on the floor in a fetal position, doubled over - well, when the body bag came out, it was in a U. It was pretty awful." from Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain

Sid Vicious: Age: 21
Sex Pistols
(b. John Simon Ritchie, 10 May 1957, London, England, d. 2 Feb. 1979).
The Sex Pistol's gigs became synonymous with violence, which reached a peak during the 100 Club's Punk Rock Festival when a girl was blinded in a glass-smashing incident involving the group's most fearful follower, Sid Vicious. On 12 October 1978, his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed in his hotel room and Vicious was charged with murder. While released on bail, he suffered a fatal overdose of heroin and died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of 2 February 1979.

Danny Whitten: Age: 29
Circle, Rockets, Crazy Horse
(d. 18 November 1972)
Crazy Horse evolved in 1969 when singer Neil Young, invited Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot (b. New York, bass) and Ralph Molina (b. Puerto Rico; drums) - all formerly of struggling local attraction the Rockets - to accompany him on his second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. The impressive results inspired an attendant tour, but although the group also contributed to Young's After The Goldrush, their relationship was sundered in the light of Whitten's growing drug dependency. Crazy Horse, completed with the assistance of Jack Nitzsche and Nils Lofgren, featured several notable performances, including the emotional 'I Don't Want To Talk About It', later revived by Stewart, Rod and Everything But The Girl. Whitten succumbed to a heroin overdose in November 1972. // The deaths of Whitten and road crew member Bruce Berry inspired the harrowing Tonight's The Night, on which Young's bare-nerved emotions were expounded over his bleakest songs to date. // The title track, performed twice, was a direct narrative about Berry, while... Danny Whitten was heard singing "Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown," a live track recorded years earlier.

MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES

2005-01-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Bobby Fuller:
Age 22
(b. 22 October 1943, Baytown, TX,
d.18 July 1966, LA, CA)
An inventive and compulsive musician, Bobby Fuller made his recording debut in 1961. The Bobby Fuller Four's early releases were regional hits, then in January 1966 the band reached the US Top 10 with an ebullient reading of the Crickets’ I Fought The Law. This pop classic, later covered by the Clash, was followed up by a Top 30 hit, Love's Made A Fool OF You. The singer's stature seemed assured, but on 18 July 1966 any hope for a bright future was cut short when Fuller's badly beaten body was discovered in a parked car in Los Angeles. His death was attributed to asphyxia through the forced inhalation of gasoline, but further investigations as to the perpetrators of this deed remain unresolved.
At the time of his death, Fuller had been keeping company with a young woman named "Melody," whose ex-boyfriend was a jealous club owner reported to be tied to the local crime syndicate. After Fuller's death, she disappeared and has only recently surfaced to deny complicity in Bobby's death. Other mysterious circumstances took place in the days just after the discovery of Fuller's body. Dalton Powell had been confronted by "three real mean-looking dudes" who had come to the apartment he shared with Reese looking for the guitarist, telling Powell they would return, but Powell and Reese left town after Fuller's funeral and never returned to California. Randy Fuller and the band's road manager were nearly run off the road one evening by a car that had been following them. A private investigator, hired by Fuller's parents and Bob Keane, quit the case after a few days when he was shot at by a would-be assassin. The questions have remained unanswered. ~Bryan Thomas, Director of Publicity :DEL-FI RECORDS

Albert Ayler:
Albert Ayler Disappeared
Age 34
(b. 13 July 1936, Cleveland, Ohio,
d. November 1970, NYC).
His first few albums were taped either in Europe or for European labels, but his reputation was made with the recordings for the New York label ESP, which was established by Bernard Stollman particularly to promote Ayler's music. Until the late '50s the tendency in the development of jazz had been one of increasing harmonic complexity and sophistication. Ornette Coleman and Ayler created styles which, though neither atonal nor entirely free, re-established the primacy of melody. On 25 November 1970 his body was recovered from New York City's East River. One bizarre rumor claimed that there was a bullet hole in the back of the neck. Ayler had not been seen for some 20 days before his body was discovered, and the circumstances of his death remain unclear. The theory that he had been killed by the police has been given much currency. However, he had been very depressed about the breakdown suffered by his brother, Donald Ayler, and close friends have confirmed that he had talked about taking his own life.
But, Gary Peacock is quoted in January 1998 Hot House: "Someone had shot him in the back of the head. Some said it was drugs. But my experience was that he wasn't a druggie. My own suspicion is probably female-related in a way."
Mary Parks told her version of the death of Albert Ayler to English discographer Mike Hames in 1983. She said, "The strains of surviving as a musician in New York seriously affected the mind of Albert’s brother, Donald. Their mother (Myrtle Ayler) blamed Albert for introducing Donald to the musician’s life and continually pressed Albert to look after Donald." The night he disappeared, Ayler again told his lover, "My blood has got to be shed to save my mother and my brother." He smashed one of his saxophones over their television set and stormed out of the house. Mary called the police to report Albert missing....
According to Hames, she said Albert took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and jumped off as the boat neared Liberty Island -- committing suicide.
~a jazz history by Joe Mosbrook
http://www.cleveland.oh.us/wmv_news/jazz39.htm

Mia Zapata:
(I was around Seattle at this time and was happy to find out that they finally caught the bastard! ~ Suze)
Age 27
(b. 25 Aug 1965, KY
d. 7 July 1993,Seattle, WA)
Mia fronted The Gits, who were rising in popularity and recording a new record, when she was brutally raped and strangled, left dead on the street while on her way home. Her murderer has never been found.

Late breaking news:
GITS - Man Found Guilty in Rape, Death of Singer Mia Zapata

--------------------
Man Found Guilty in Rape, Death of Singer
--------------------

By Associated Press

March 25, 2004, 11:20 PM EST
SEATTLE -- A man was found guilty of first-degree murder Thursday in the 1993 rape and strangulation of a rising punk-rock singer. Jesus C. Mezquia, 49, most recently of Marathon, Fla., faces anywhere from 20 years to life in prison, said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the King County prosecutor. No sentencing date was set. Mezquia was arrested in January 2003 in the Florida Keys after DNA from saliva found on Mia Zapata's body linked him to the slaying. A police
investigation found Mezquia had been in the Seattle area at the time of the killing. Zapata, the 27-year-old lead singer of The Gits, was found on a Seattle street, beaten, raped and strangled with the drawstring of her sweat shirt. An autopsy found evidence of a struggle in which Zapata suffered blunt impact to her abdomen and a lacerated liver, court documents said. The jury deliberated three days before returning the guilty verdict. Family and friends of the late singer wept as the decision was read. "I'm just glad that he'll be rotting in prison and we'll be able to live a little bit freer lives," said Steve Moriarty, who was The Gits' drummer. A telephone message left for Mezquia's attorney seeking comment was not immediately returned. Copyright (c) 2004, The Associated Press
About Mia Zapata, a few months ago DNA confirmed some scumbag who has been locked up in Florida jail for years due to some other horrendous crimes was involved with her death. He was a transient who has been confirmed in the Seattle area when Mia was killed. It sounds like pretty solid evidence this guy did it, and if they haven't charged him yet, I bet they will soon.

5/4/03
Kevin K., Portland

Gits News
After ten bloody years of searching for the bastard, DNA has implicated a man in the murder of Mia. The scumbag was arraigned on April 8th, 2003 in King County Superior Court on charges of first degree murder. Hopefully the case will go to trial soon, but we are prepared for a long process. At least its off the street.

CHEERS! Steve Moriarty
A Mia Zapata poem
Home Alive
Unsolved Mysteries TV show did a broadcast on Mia's case.

Blind Lemon Jefferson:
Age 32
(b. July 1897, Wortham, Texas, d. December 1929, Chicago, IL)
Jefferson was one of the earliest and most influential rural blues singers to record. His later recordings seemed to lose some of the originality and impact of his earlier work but he remained popular until his sudden and somewhat mysterious death. Legend has it that he froze to death on the streets of Chicago, although a more likely story is that he died of a heart attack while in his car, possibly during a snow storm, and was abandoned by his driver. At this date it is unlikely that the truth will ever be established.

Chet Baker:
Age 58
(b. Chesney H. Baker, 23 Dec 1929, Yale, Oklahoma
d. 13 May 1988, Amsterdam, Holland)
One of the more lyrical of the early post-war trumpeters, Baker's fragile sound epitomized the so-called ‘cool’ school of West Coast musicians who dominated the American jazz scene of the '50s. Baker studied music while in the army and soon after his discharge, in 1951, he was playing with Charlie Parker. He gained international prominence as a member of Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet and in late 1953, after another short stint with Parker, formed his own group, which proved to be extremely popular. Baker kept this band together for the next three years, but he was not cut out for the life of a bandleader, nor was he able to withstand the pressures and temptations which fame brought him. He succumbed to drug addiction and the rest of his life was a battle against dependency. Inevitably, his music frequently fell by the wayside. In the '80s, in control of his life, although not fully over his addiction, he was once again a regular visitor to international jazz venues and also made a few incursions into the pop world, guesting, for example, on Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding. Probably his best work from this later period comes on a series of records he made for the Danish Steeplechase label with a trio that comprised Doug Raney and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. By this time his clean-cut boyish good looks had vanished beneath a mass of lines and wrinkles—fellow trumpeter Jack Sheldon, told by Baker that they were laugh-lines remarked, ‘Nothing's that funny!’. In his brief prime, Baker's silvery filigrees of sound, albeit severely restricted in tonal and emotional range, brought an unmistakable touch to many fine records; however, his lack of self-esteem rarely allowed him to assert himself or to break through the stylistic bounds imposed by exemplars such as Miles Davis. A film, Let's Get Lost, charts the closing years of the erratic life of this largely unfulfilled musician, who died falling, or possibly jumping, from an Amsterdam hotel window.

Larry Williams:
Age 44
(b. 10 May 1935, New Orleans,LA
d. 2 January 1980, Los Angeles)
Williams recorded a handful of raucous rock ‘n’ roll songs for Specialty Records which, among others, later influenced John Lennon. In 1954, while visiting his old home town of New Orleans, he met and was hired as pianist by Lloyd Price, who recorded for Specialty. His first record was a cover of Price's Just Because, which reached number 11 on the R&B chart for Williams and number 3 for Price. Backed by fellow Specialty artist Little Richard's band, Williams recorded his own Short Fat Fannie. To follow up his song about the fat girl, Williams next recorded one about a skinny girl, Bony Moronie, which was almost as big a hit. Williams had one final chart single for Specialty the following year, Dizzy, Miss Lizzy. (It was later covered by the Beatles, with Lennon singing. They also covered Slow Down and Bad Boy, while Lennon later recorded Bony Moronie and Just Because as a solo, providing Williams with steady royalties income until his death.) A number of singles and an album were issued by Specialty up until 1959 none of which were hits. That year he was arrested for selling drugs and sentenced to prison, causing Specialty to drop him and his career to fade. In January 1980, Williams was found in his Los Angeles home with a gunshot wound in the head, ruled to be self-inflicted, although it was rumoured that Williams was murdered owing to his involvement with drugs and, reportedly, prostitution.

Harry Choates:
Age 29
(b. December 26, 1922,
d. July 17, 1951)
Country/cajun fiddler. By 1950 he had divorced his wife and wound up being arrested for failing to provide support for her and their children. Arrested and jailed in Austin, the sudden withdrawal from alcohol proved too much. His death on July 17,1951 is a fact, though whether it was a result of delerium, an epileptic fit, police cruelty or some combination of each is pure conjecture.

Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin Lunceford
AGE 45
( Born: June 6 , 1902 in Fulton, MS Died: July 12, 1947 in Seaside, OR)
The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra has always been a bit difficult to evaluate. Contemporary observers rated Lunceford's big band at the top with Duke Ellington and Count Basie but, when judging the music solely on their records (and not taking into account their visual show, appearance and showmanship), Lunceford's ensemble has to be placed on the second tier. His orchestra lacked any really classic soloists (altoist Willie Smith and trombonist Trummy Young came the closest) and a large portion of the band's repertoire either featured the dated vocals of Dan Grissom or were pleasant novelties. And yet, the well-rehearsed ensembles were very impressive, some of the arrangements (particularly those of Sy Oliver) were quite original and the use of glee-club vocalists and short concise solos were pleasing and often memorable. Plus Lunceford's was the first orchestra to feature high-note trumpeters (starting with Tommy Stevenson in 1934) and had a strong influence on the early Stan Kenton Orchestra. Although he was trained on several instruments and was featured on flute on "Liza" in the 1940s, Jimmie Lunceford was much more significant as a bandleader than as a musician. While teaching music at Manassa High School in Memphis in 1927, Lunceford organized a student band called the Chickasaw Syncopators, recording two songs that year and a pair in 1930. After leaving Memphis, the band (known by then as the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra) played in Cleveland and Buffalo and cut two songs in 1933 that were not issued until decades later. 1934 was the breakthrough year. The orchestra made a strong impression playing at New York's Cotton Club, waxed a few notable songs for Victor and then started recording regularly for Decca. Their tight ensembles and colorful shows made them a major attraction throughout the remainder of the swing era. Among their many hits were "Rhythm Is Our Business," "Four or Five Times," "Swanee River," "Charmaine," "My Blue Heaven," "Organ Grinder's Swing," "Ain't She Sweet," "For Dancers Only," "'Tain't What You Do, It's the Way That Cha Do It," "Uptown Blues" and "Lunceford Special." The stars of the band included arranger Sy Oliver (on trumpet and vocals), Willie Smith, Trummy Young (who had a hit with "Margie") and tenor saxophonist Joe Thomas.
In 1939 it was a major blow when Tommy Dorsey lured Sy Oliver away (although trumpeters Gerald Wilson and Snooky Young were important new additions). Unfortunately Lunceford underpaid most of his sidemen, not thinking to reward them for their loyalty in the lean years. In 1942 Willie Smith was one of several key players who left for better-paying jobs elsewhere and the orchestra gradually declined. Jimmie Lunceford was still a popular bandleader in 1947 when he suddenly collapsed; rumors have persisted that he was poisoned by a racist restaurant owner who was very reluctant about feeding his band. After Lunceford's death, pianist / arranger Ed Wilcox and Joe Thomas tried to keep the orchestra together but in 1949 the band permanently broke up. -- Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Don Drummond:
Age 27
Skatalites
(b.1943, Kingston, JA,
d. 6 May1969, Kingston, JA).
One of the saddest things about Jamaican music is that one of its principal innovators died before ever seeing the growth and success of the genre he helped to create. His fragile mental condition was not helped by the lack of either financial rewards or recognition for his talents. 1/1/65: Don Drummond was jailed for the murder of his girlfriend, Marguerita Mahfood. He was later convicted and remanded to the Belle Vue Asylum where he ended his days in 1969. Foul play is suspected as he was reported to be in excellent physical health. ~Music Central 96
New Year's Day of 1965, he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, exotic dancer Marguerita Mahfood. Her body was found in his home, the victim of multiple stab wounds; after a brief investigation, Drummond was deemed legally insane, and committed indefinitely to Bellevue Hospital. He died there on May 6, 1969 at the age of 37 -- although officially explained as a suicide, there was no official autopsy, and rumors about his death continue to swirl to this day. At the memorial service, Supersonics drummer Hugh Malcolm ripped up the death certificate, charging the hospital staff with murder and calling Drummond a victim of the government authorities who regularly targeted Kingston-area performers; others claimed Drummond was slain by mobsters in cahoots with the family of Marguerita Mahfood. In any case, his death was the true end of an era, but his influence lives on. ~ Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide

Lenny Breau
Age 43
(Born August 5, 1941
Died August 12, 1984)
Lenny Breau was born August 5, 1941 and died August 12, 1984. Lenny was born in Auburn, Maine, USA to Hal "Lone Pine" Breau and Betty Cody. Lone Pine and Betty were country and western performers who were active together as a live and recording act from the mid 1940's to the late 1950's...In 1968 & 69 Lenny recorded two albums for RCA with his Winnipeg trio featuring Ron Halldorson (electric bass) and Reg Kelln (drums). The first album was a studio session produced in Nashville by Chet Atkins, and the second a live session recorded in Hollywood at the jazz club, "Shelly's Manne Hole" which was produced by Danny Davis. From late 1969 through 1973 Lenny played primarily in Toronto and Ottawa and worked as a sideman for Moe Koffman, Jimmy Dale, Beverly Glenn Copeland and Anne Murray, to name a few. He also led his own trio with various sidemen and performed at such venues as "The Riverboat " and "George's Spagetti House" in Toronto. After doing a national tour with Anne Murray, Lenny returned to Winnipeg late in 1973 and continued performing solo, in trios and as a sideman. Reunited with Kelln and Halldorson, they appeared at U of Manitoba's "Festival of Life and Learning". Lenny also played solo regularly at the "Ting", a Winnipeg coffeehouse. From 1974 until his death Lenny travelled extensively between Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, Nashville, New York, Maine and Los Angeles. During this period Lenny recorded for many small record labels as both leader and sideman. Some of the musicians he worked with included pedal steel great Buddy Emmons, guitarists Chet Atkins and Phil Upchurch and country fiddler Buddy Spicher. The last period of Lenny's life (1981-84) was spent primarily in Los Angeles where he taught guitar at the "Musicians Institute" and performed at several jazz clubs (most notably "Donte's"). Lenny was found dead in the swimming pool of his apartment complex on August 12, 1984. Although his death was originally thought to be an accidental drowning, it was soon discovered that he had actually been murdered. The Los Angeles Coroner report determined that Lenny had been strangled; the case remains unsolved to this date. http://www.guitarchives.com/lb_bio.htm

Wardell Gray:
Age 34
(b. 13 February 1921, Oklahoma City, Ok
d. 25 May 1955, Nevada)
Wardell Gray was one of the top tenors to emerge during the bop era (along with Dexter Gordon and Teddy Edwards). His LesterYoung- influenced tone made his playing attractive to swing musicians as well as younger modernists. He grew up in Detroit, playing in local bands as a teenager. Gray was with Earl Hines during 1943-45, recording with him (1945). That same year he moved to Los Angeles and he became a major part of the Central Avenue scene, having nightly tenor battles with Dexter Gordon; their recording of "The Chase" was popular. Gray recorded with Charlie Parker in 1947 and yet his style appealed to Benny Goodman with whom he played the following year. Among his own sessions, his solos on "Twisted" (1949) and "Farmer's Market" (1952) were turned into memorable vocalese by Annie Ross a few years later. Back in New York, Gray played and recorded with Tadd Dameron and the Count Basie septet and big band (1950-51); "Little Pony," his showcase with the Basie orchestra, is a classic. Gray was featured on some Norman Granz jam sessions ("Apple Jam" has a particularly heated solo) and recorded with Louie Bellson (1952-53). Ironically, Wardell Gray, who in the late '40s was an inspiration to some younger musicians due to his oppostion to drug use, himself became involved in drugs and died mysteriously in Las Vegas on May 25, 1955, when he was just 34. ~Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide
Gray died on 25 May 1955 in circumstances that have never been fully resolved: his body was found in the Nevada Desert, his neck broken. The official report gave the cause of death as a drug overdose, though there was no autopsy, and rumours persisted that Gray had been murdered—either for failing to pay gambling debts or simply as a random victim of racial violence.~Music Central 96

Avery Parrish
Age: 42
(Born: Jan. 24, 1917 in Birmingham, AL
Died: Dec. 1, 1959 in New York, NY)
Avery Parrish will always be most famous for his 1940 recording of "After Hours" with Erskine Hawkins' Orchestra but his playing career was actually tragically brief. Parrish attended Alabama State Teachers College where he became a member of the 'Bama Street Collegians in 1934, which in time became the Erskine Hawkins Big Band. Parrish was with Hawkins through the glory years, staying until 1941 and appearing on all of the band's early recordings. His "After Hours," a classic blues solo, would become a standard in future years. Parrish left Hawkins in 1941 to work in California but a year later he was in a bar fight, suffered partial paralysis and his playing career was over; he was only 24. Avery Parrish, who never recorded under his own name, spent the rest of his life working day jobs and when he was 42 he died mysteriously. — Scott Yanow

Brian Jones
Rolling Stones
Age 27
(b. Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones, 28 February 1942, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
d. 3 July 1969, Cotchford Farm, Sussex)
While the Stones were re- establishing themselves, Brian Jones was falling deeper into drug abuse. A conviction in late 1968 prompted doubts about his availability for US tours and in the succeeding months he contributed less and less to recordings and became increasingly jealous of Jagger's leading role in the group. Richards' wooing and impregnation of Jones' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg merely increased the tension. Matters reached a crisis point in June 1969 when Jones officially left the group. The following month he was found dead in the swimming pool of the Sussex house that had once belonged to writer A.A. Milne. The official verdict was ‘death by misadventure’. ~music central '96
"The many theories of murder mostly revolve around the many people who were at Brian's home that night, and whose police statements all clash and contradict one another. These theories carry a lot of weight and there seems to be too much proof to be just rumours. To find out more about the murder of Brian, look out for the books: 'Golden Stone-The Untold Life And Death Of Brian Jones' by Laura Jackson or 'Paint It Black-The Murder Of Brian Jones' by Geoffrey Giuliano."~redrooster

Swedish girlfriend claims Stones' Brian Jones murdered
Thursday, July 08, 1999
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish woman who found Rolling Stones star Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool 30 years ago has said she believes the guitarist was murdered.
Anna Wohlin, who was Jones' girlfriend at the time of his death, has broken her years of silence with a new book, "Murder of Brian Jones '' published this week.
Wohlin, now 53, told Swedish newspaper Expressen it had taken her this long to be able to talk about the night of July 3, 1969, when she found 27-year-old Jones' dead in the pool at his luxury farmhouse in Hartfield, England.
``It hurt so much and went so deep. It was as if it had not happened to me,'' Wohlin said in the interview. ``I was in such shock that I was sick. Then I repressed it -- I got married.'
A verdict of misadventure was recorded at the inquest into Jones' death. He was believed to have been swimming while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
But Wohlin, who now runs a women's clothing shop in Stockholm, insists that by the time of his death Jones had stopped using hard drugs and had cut back on his drinking.
She claims builder Frank Thorogood, now also dead, killed Jones in a dispute over money. Thorogood was doing some work for Jones at his farm.
This theory gained credibility in 1994 when a recording of an alleged death bed confession by Thorogood came to light. Police briefly reopened the investigation but made no progress.
Wohlin said she decided after her recent divorce to tell her version of Jones' death.
``I felt that I wanted to tell what really happened, mainly for the sake of his son and his closest friends, who also believed that he died when he was on drugs. That wasn't true. I knew what was going on,'' she said. ~Reuters/Variety
• Brian Jones : The Last Decadent by Jeremy Reed;
• Good Night, Sweet Prince by Pamela Richmond

Rodd Keith
Age 37
(Rodney Keith Eskelin)
d. December 15, 1974)
Keith has become a cult figure among record collectors for his work in the "song-poem" (send us your lyrics) industry in the late 60s and early 70s.
Rodd spoke of making a movie. It was said that he liked to take pictures and had bought one of the first video type cameras available. Rodd described how the main character in this movie would jump to their death from a freeway overpass. Nobody thought much about it at the time. Two weeks later Rodd either jumped or fell to his own death in much the same way he described. Some of his friends thought he was depressed, perhaps the result of something in his childhood. Others swear that Rodd could have never taken his life intentionally. He certainly wasn't happy having spent so many years doing demos. There's a rumor going around that Rodd actually had his death leap filmed. It's probably a distortion of Rodd's movie story. Still, it's telling that no one that I've talked to dismissed it as being totally ridiculous, as if it were actually within his character to have done so. All in all, there are just as many compelling reasons to think that Rodd's death was indeed an accident. I like to think that he had a lot to live for. ~Ellery Eskelin

Russ Columbo:
Age 26
Born: Ruggiero Eugenio di Rudolpho Colombo
Birthdate: January 14, 1908
Died: September 2, 1934 at 7:30 pm.
Russ Columbo spent most of Friday, August 31, 1934, at what would be his last session, recording the songs from Universal's Wake Up and Dream for the Brunswick label. That evening, he attended the preview of this film at the Pantages Theater on Hollywood Boulevard with Carole Lombard. His best friend of ten years, portrait photographer Lansing Brown, Jr., was also in the audience, but not seated near Lombard and Columbo. After appearing in close to a dozen films, Russ finally received top billing. A Universal press release, prepared by John LeRoy Johnston ended with this quote from Columbo: "At 26, I find that I have just about everything I want from life and am pretty happy the way things have turned out for me." On Saturday, September 1, Columbo drove to Santa Barbara for the out of town preview of Wake Up and Dream. That morning he had unsuccessfully attempted to telephone Lansing Brown, who had not given Russ his opinion of the film. Carole Lombard, exhausted from working on three productions in a row, heeded her doctor's advice and went with her secretary Madalynne Fields to Lake Arrowhead to rest. Rumors would later abound that the two had a fight, but this is not true. She and Columbo planned a late supper Sunday evening with Carole's mother, Elizabeth Peters, and brother, Stuart. Feeling a remonition of disaster, Lombard tried calling Columbo upon her arrival at Arrowhead, but found the telephone exchanges closed for the evening. They would never speak again...Lansing Brown kept a pair of antique dueling pistols on his desk. According to statements given at the inquest, Brown was toying with one of the pistols and holding an unlighted match in his left hand. The "trick" was that the hammer would ignite the match, although Brown would later testify that he did not know why he had the match and the gun, other than a sort of odd "habit." Unfortunately, the old relic had both gunpowder and a vintage minie ball. Somehow, the match and the hammer triggered the gun powder, and the bullet was discharged. Detectives later determined that the bullet must have ricocheted off the mahogany desk between the two men, striking Russ Columbo in the left eye, lodging at the back of his brain. He slumped in the chair and immediately lost consciousness. It was 1:45 PM. Although Brown's father later testified that there was no evidence of any quarrel, and no one had been drinking liquor that afternoon, rumor claimed that "servants" heard loud voices shortly before the shot. Brown, Sr., assuming Columbo had died instantly, contacted the police. When the coroner's ambulance arrived to pick up the body, it was discovered that Russ was unconscious, but still alive. He was taken first to Hollywood Receiving Hospital, then transferred to the Hospital of the Good Samaritan. Doctors attempted to save his life by surgery, but it was too late. Carole Lombard rushed down by automobile from Lake Arrowhead after being telephoned by surgeon George W. Patterson, but it was close pal and actress Sally Blane who was at Columbo's bedside when he died at 7:30 PM. He was 26 years old.
Burial: Forest Lawn, Glendale CA. Russ was buried on October 17, 1934-this delay was caused by his family's debate on telling Julia Colombo her son was dead. Russ is interred in the Sanctuary of the Vespers of the Great Mausoleum. Unlike the area where Carole Lombard is interred, this hallway is open to the public. Russ rests about a quarter of the way into the Sanctuary on the left side, about 8 feet from the floor. The crypt immediately beneath him is empty. His brother Fiore, who died in 1929, is across from him, but on the top row. The Colombo family ultimately chose not to tell Julia that her son had died, thus creating one of Hollywood's most unusual legends. Julia Colombo died 10 years later, in 1944. ~ Max Pierce

Jesse Belvin :
Age 27
(b. 15 Dec 1932, San Antonio,
d. 6 February 1960, Hope, AR)
Less than three weeks before the first anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, and some 32 years before a presidential candidate made it one of America's most famous small towns, Hope, Arkansas was the site of a horrific car accident. Though very few fans of modern rock and pop music are aware of it, the crash snuffed out the life and career of Jesse Belvin, a major figure in the fusion of black soul and white folk music.
It is strange that Belvin's passing is rarely noted or even mentioned in written histories of American music. He co-wrote one of the biggest hits of the 1950s --- "Earth Angel," a hit for The Penguins in 1955 --- and his recording of "Goodnight My Love" was used by Dick Clark as the closing theme for "American Bandstand" for several years.
Belvin was a golden-voiced crooner who could be a Nat King Cole clone on Tuesday, singing "Guess Who?" and "Old Man River," only to out-Elvis Presley himself on Wednesday, with tunes like "By My Side" and "Just To Say Hello."
In fact, it was that very talent for his emulation of Presley and Little Richard that caused RCA Records to sign Belvin and begin a unique promotion in 1959.
It would be a few years before the civil rights movement built up momentum, and RCA wanted badly to tap into the segregated South, by offering a "Black Elvis." This was ironic, indeed; early promotional material for Presley often called him "The White Soul Singerm" or "A White Little Richard."
The fatal car crash came less than four hours after Belvin had performed the first integrated concert --- that is, to an integrated audience --- in Little Rock. It had been an ugly scene: White supremacists managed to halt the show twice, shouting racial epithets and urging the white teenagers in attendance to leave at once.
There had been at least six death threats on Belvin. So, speeding away from Arkansas was truly a relief, and a cause for celebration.
Belvin's wife, JoAnn, died from her injuries at the Hope Hospital, while his driver --- like Jesse --- died at the scene.
As word reached the black community in Belvin's hometown, Los Angeles, there were immediately rumors of foul play.
One of the first state troopers on the accident scene stated that both of the rear tires on Belvin's black cadillac had been "obviously tampered with." He gave no more details, causing even more speculation. The fact that Belvin had phoned his mother twice in the last three days, every time telling her about the hostile receptions he received, made suspicions stronger: He rarely called home from the road, and never more than once a month.
Belvin's two children were left orphans, until their paternal grandmother agreed to assume legal custody.
In passing, Belvin left behind a legacy of brilliant songwriting as well as a plethora of doubts and confusion. It seems unlikely his story would go untold until the end of the century, even as Holly and Valens were resurrected and immortalized as Rock Gods. Yet, of 500 people surveyed, only one knew who Belvin was, while just seven thought they had heard his name before.
The scorched earth on the highway at Hope was still visible in 1980, leaving us with a sad and painful vacuum, close to the heart of rock and roll.
It is obvious Belvin has been relegated to the end of the rock legend line ... but the quest to make his story known is ever-thriving. We only hope it will one day be told. ~Copyright 1992, 1998 ~by Eric Lenaburg

POOR MAINTENANCE

2005-01-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

Florence Ballard: Age 33
The Supremes
(b. 30 June 1942, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 22 February 1976).
In her teens, Ballard formed the vocal group the Primettes with school friends Mary Wilson and Betty Travis. Diana Ross completed the line-up in 1960. Unhappy with her diminishing role in the Supremes, she repeatedly complained to Gordy and his executives, and the resulting friction led to her being ousted from the group in 1967. By the early '70s, Florence was living in extreme poverty in a Detroit housing project. Her reliance on a lethal cocktail of alcohol and diet pills had weakened her health, and in February 1976 her tragic career ended when she suffered a cardiac arrest.

John Belushi: Age 33
The Blues Brothers
(b. 24 January 1949, Chicago, Illinois, USA. d. 5 March 1982, 8221 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood: The Chateau Marmont hotel, Bungalow #2, Los Angeles, CA, USA).
Comedian/actor/singer John Belushi died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine on March 5,1982, at the age of 33. Belushi had been a regular on TV's "Saturday Night Live," then went on to star in movies such as "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers," which featured his singing.

Bix Beiderbecke: Age 28
(b. Leon Bix Beiderbecke, 10 March 1903, Davenport, Iowa, d. 6 August 1931 New York)
Bix Beiderbecke was one of the greatest jazz musicians of the 1920s. His colorful life, quick rise and fall, and eventual status as a martyr made him a legend even before he died, and he has long stood as proof that not all the innovators in jazz history were black. Possessor of a beautiful, distinctive tone and a strikingly original improvising style, Beiderbecke's only competitor among cornetists in the '20s was Louis Armstrong but (due to their different sounds and styles) one really could not compare them. ~by Scott Yanow. Troubles led him to take refuge in drink and this swiftly degenerated into chronic alcoholism. One of the legends of jazz, a role he would doubtless have found wryly amusing had he lived to know of it. When he died in August 1931, Beiderbecke was still only 28-years-old.

Bunny Berigan: Age 33
(b. Rowland Bernart Berigan, 2 November 1908, Hilbert, Calumet, Wisconsin, USA, d. 2 June 1942).
Personally, Bunny was an alcoholic who worked, played and drank himself to death. But his talent was evident in everything he did musically. Here's what Benny Goodman said in 1981 (from the copyrighted liner notes from "The Pied Piper," ©1995 BMG Music, written by Richard M. Sudhalter):
"It was like a bolt of electricity running through the whole band. He just lifted the whole thing. You can explain it in terms of his tone, his range, musicianship, great ideas. Whatever you want, it's all of that - and none of it. It's a God-given thing."

Big Maybelle: Age 51
(b. Mabel Louise Smith, 1 May c.1920, Jackson, TN, d. 23 January 1972).
Maybelle's career was marred by frequent drug problems which contributed to her early death in Cleveland Ohio in January 1972.

Mike Bloomfield: Age 36
(b. 28 July 1944, Chicago, Illinois, USA d. 15 February 1981).
For many, both critics and fans, Bloomfield was the finest white blues guitarist America has so far produced. A second burst of activity occurred shortly before his tragic death when another three album's worth of material was recorded. Bloomfield was found dead in his car from a suspected accidental drug overdose, a sad end to a ‘star’ who had constantly avoided stardom in order to maintain his own integrity.

Tommy Bolin: Age 25
James Gang/Deep Purple
(b. 1 August 1951, Sioux City, Iowa, USA, d. 4 December 1976, Miami, Florida).
Unable to resist temptation Bolin went on a binge. He recovered in time for their show at the Jai Alai Fronton Hall on December 3rd, where they were supporting Jeff Beck. The set went down a storm with a lengthy version of "Post Toastie" climaxing the performance. Backstage Bolin and Beck posed for a picture after which Tommy returned to his Miami Beach hotel with his girlfriend. Late that night, he passed out; fearful of adverse publicity no doctor was called and, as he seemed to come round, roadies put him back to bed. Around 8 am the following day, Saturday, December 4th, his girlfriend saw that he was looking much worse and finally an ambulance was called, but Bolin died before it arrived. ~Text written by Simon Robinson. Transcribed by Bill Jones in August 1994

Paul Butterfield: Age 44
(BORN: December 17, 1942, Chicago, IL; DIED: May 4, 1987, Hollywood, CA)
Paul Butterfield was a white harmonica player from the south side of Chicago. Paul Butterfield was considered the premier harmonica player of his time. In 1965 "The Paul Butterfield Blues Band" was released and remains a classic to this day. Caught up in sixties flower-power, subsequent releases strayed from the blues format and lacked the power and intensity of their debut album. The band also appeared at Woodstock, and their song "Love March" is featured on the soundtrack album. His death on May 4th, 1987 at the age of 44 was attributed to alcohol and drug abuse. Footnote~DeathRock

Leroy Carr: Age 30
(b. 27 March 1905, Nashville, Tennessee, d. 29 April 1935).
Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell were arguably the most popular and influential male blues artists from 1928 until Carr's death in 1935. In spite of this, the duo is quite underrated today, for several reasons. One, obviously, is that neither survived to be seen by the folk audiences of the sixties, though Blackwell almost made it. Another is that, unlike Robert Johnson, neither had cultivated an image which would lead to a legend surrounding them. Blackwell did not actively seek the limelight, and Carr's laidback songs and "get this man a beer" attitude at a houseparty didn't lend them-selves to such an image. A third and far less obvious reason is that Carr and Blackwell did not live in Chicago. Carr died due to complications of his alcoholism.~Tbone

Steve Clark: Age 30
Def Leppard
(b. 23 April 1960, Sheffield, England, d. 8 January 1991, London, England).
As Def Leppard began work on their belated follow-up to HYSTERIA, Clark was found dead in his London flat after consuming a mixture of drugs and alcohol. // "According to the report, Clark fell asleep on a sofa after drinking heavily in a local pub with a friend. The coroner disclosed that the alcohol level in Clark's blood was three times the British legal limit for driving. Clark had battled alcoholism for several years and had undergone clinical treatment during the past year and a half. The autopsy revealed traces of Valium and morphine along with a fatal quantity of codein. Clark had been taking painkillers as a result of a back injury. Although some British newspapers reported that traces of heroin had been found as well, the coroner found no evidence of the drug." ~David Fricke, Rolling Stone Magazine

Miles Davis: Age 65
(b. 26 May 1926, Alton, Illinois, d. 28 Sept 1991, CA)
"He was known to the general public primarily as a trumpet player. However, in the world of music he had a great deal of influence not only as a innovative bandleader but also as a composer. His music and style was important in the development of improvisational techniques incorporating modes rather than standard chord changes. Miles experiments with modal playing reached its apotheosis in 1959 with his recording of Kind of Blue."~MilesDavis.Com In 1975, after a succession of personal upheavals including a car crash, further drug problems, a shooting incident, more police harassment and eventual arrest, Miles, not surprisingly, retired. During this time he became seriously ill, and it was generally felt that he would never play again. As unpredictable as ever, Davis returned six years later healthy and fit with the comeback album, THE MAN WITH THE HORN. Following further bouts of ill health Miles was admitted to hospital in California and died in September 1991.

Pete Farndon: Age 30
The Pretenders
(b. 2 June 1952, Hereford, England, d. 14 April 1983).
Pete Farndon was found dead in his bath from a drug overdose.

Jerry Garcia: Age 53
The Grateful Dead
(Born: 1 Aug 1942 in San Francisco, CA, Died: 9 Aug 1995 in San Francisco, CA)
Jerry Garcia was the lead guitarist, vocalist, and spokesman for the seminal '60s rock & roll band the Grateful Dead. Throughout his career, he led the Dead through numerous changes, becoming one of the most famous figures in the history of rock & roll. Simultaneously, Garcia pursued an eclectic array of side projects, ranging from the bluegrass group Old & In the Way to his folky solo recordings. Garcia stayed active as a member of the Grateful Dead and as a solo performer until his death in 1995 ... Garcia's solo efforts slowed in the early '80s, as he battled heroin addiction and diabetes. After the Grateful Dead scored their first hit album in 1987 with In the Dark, Garcia pursued a number of solo projects, including several acoustic duet records with David Grisman and a handful of live tours and albums with the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. For the first half of the '90s, Garcia concentrated on Grateful Dead tours and albums, as the band confirmed their status as one of the most popular concert acts in America. However, the guitarist slowly sank back into heroin addiction. Late in the summer of 1995, he entered Serenity Knolls, a drug rehabilitation facility in Forest Knolls, CA. While he was attempting to recover, Garcia died in his sleep of a heart attack on August 9, 1995. Several months after his death, the Grateful Dead announced their disbandment. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide

Judy Garland: Age: 47
(B. Jun 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, MN D. Jun 22, 1969, London, England)
Like so many of Hollywood's most enduring icons, Judy Garland was also among the industry's most tragic figures. An entertainer from virtually infancy onward, she lived and died in the intense glare of the spotlight, leaving behind a legacy encompassing not only classic movies and musical performances but also a catalogue of personal setbacks and career disasters truly horrifying in their sheer number and scope...On June 22 Garland was found dead in her London apartment of an apparently accidental overdose of barbiturates; she was 47 years old.~Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide

Lowell George: Age 34
Little Feat
(b. 13 April 1945, Hollywood, California, USA, d. 29 June 1979).
As Little Feat was disbanding in late 1978, their lead guitarist/songwriter Lowell George recorded a solo album, Thanks I'll Eat It Here, that sounded as loose and funky as the band in their prime. After its release the following year, he set out on tour to support the album*...He left behind a body of gritty, eclectic, and funky rock & roll. On the first five Little Feat albums, his songwriting and instrumental talents are more apparent than on his solo effort, yet that doesn't detract from the record's pleasures. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide
*During the solo concert tour George had a heart attack and died; years of abuse had taken their toll.

Andy Gibb: Age 30
(Bee Gees)
(b. 5 March 1958, Manchester, England, d. 10 March 1988, Oxford, England).
Following the international success of his three elder brothers in the Bee Gees, Andy appeared as a star in his own right in 1977. The pressure of living with the reputation of his superstar brothers, coupled with immense wealth and a hedonistic bent, brought personal problems and he became alarming reliant upon cocaine. Within months of his brothers autumnal and highly successful reunion in the late '80s, tragedy struck when the 30-year-old singer died of an inflammatory heart virus at his home.

Billie Holiday: Age 44
(Eleanora Harris, 7 April 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. d. 17 July 1959).
Billie Holiday's grandfather was one of 17 children of a black Virginia slave and a white Irish plantation owner. Her mother was only 13 when she was born. April 7, 1915, in Baltimore. Her given name was Eleanora Fagan Gough. Her father, Clarence Holiday, was a guitar/banjo player in Fletcher Henderson's band...After being signed by Columbia Records' John Hammond in 1933 for her debut record (accompanied by members of Benny Goodman's studio band), Holiday went on to work with Teddy Wilson, Buck Clayton and Lester Young, who crowned her with the nickname Lady Day. She also toured with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1937 and Artie Shaw in 1938..."I feel like I am playing a horn. I try to improvise like Les Young, like Louis Armstrong, or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel..." Holiday's drug addiction was a problem for her from the beginning of her career. She was beautiful and successful, but by the early forties, the decline had begun. Holiday was using heroin, injecting it every day...Billie continued to use. She was busted again in 1956. At this point she was addicted to alcohol as well as heroin... In July 1959 she collapsed, and was taken to the hospital. While there, now on her death bed, she was again arrested for heroin possession. She died on July 17, 1959. ~HeroinTimes: Billie Holiday, Triumph and Tragedy by Ron Miller

James Honeyman-Scott: Age 25
Pretenders
(b. 1956, Hereford, England, d. 16 June 1982, London, England).
Weakened by a detoxification course for drug addiction, his death in June 1982 occurred shortly after snorting cocaine at a London party. Jim Honeyman-Scott died in his sleep at the home of a friend. His death was due to heart failure caused by cocaine intolerance. The group found a replacement in Robert McIntosh, a Honeyman-Scott sound-alike.

Shannon Hoon: Age 28
Blind Melon
Blind Melon released their second album, Soup, late in the summer of 1995. The album received better reviews than its predecessor, yet it failed to produce a hit single. The group launched an extensive tour that fall to promote Soup that turned out to be ill-fated. Shannon Hoon was found dead on the band's tour bus in New Orleans on Saturday October 21, 1995 of a reported drug overdose; he was 28 years old. ~AMG ~Hoon's tragic death in New Orleans (October "95) [was] from an accidental cocaine overdose. ~Blind-Melon .com

Elmo Hope: Age 43
(Born: June 27, 1923 -- Died: May 19, 1967)
St. Elmo Sylvester Hope was born in New York on June 27, 1923. He began piano studies at age seven and, by 1938, was winning medals for solo recitals. He and his boyhood friend, Bud Powell, spent time together listening to Bach, and playing for each other...["At the very instant when Monk and Powell had lost some of their creative fire, Elmo Hope . . . seemed destined to assume a place among the very finest pianists in jazz history, but he had little chance to build on his achievements. Instead, he left only a few glimpses with which we may conjure what a full and secure career might have offered." ~David H. Rosenthal]...It was obvious that Hope was caught up in the pursuit of the "horse" that many musicians were riding at the time...In 1967 Elmo was hospitalized with pneumonia for several weeks and while recuperating, succumbed to an apparent heart attack. ~Ira Gitler

Kenny Kirkland: Age 43
Sting, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett
(b. 28 Sept 1955, Brooklyn, NY, d. 12? Nov 1998, Queens, NY)
Kenny Kirkland, who gained fans and critical raves the world over from his dazzling piano performances with such artists as Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Garrett and Sting, was found dead in his Queens, New York apartment the morning of Nov. 13. He was 43. The 105th Precinct in Queens received a call at around 9:00 PM Nov. 12 from neighbors reporting "a foul odor." Police gained entry to Kirkland's apartment in Queens' Springfield Gardens section shortly after 2:00 AM on Nov. 13 and discovered his body. According to a report in the New York Daily News, police found drug paraphernalia at the scene. Kirkland's friends and colleagues were said to have been long concerned with his reputed substance abuse and poor health.

Phil Lynott: Age 34
Thin Lizzy
(b. 20 August 1951, Dublin, Eire, d. 4 January 1986).
As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition. Also, as a black man, Lynott was an anomaly in the nearly all-White world of hard rock, and as such imbued much of his work with a sense of alienation; he was the outsider, the romantic guy from the other side of the tracks, a self-styled poet of the lovelorn and downtrodden. -- John Dougan, All-Music Guide In 1986, he suffered a drug overdose and, following a week in a coma, died of heart failure, exacerbated by pneumonia.

Jimmy McCulloch: Age 26
(born Glasgow, Scotland on June 4, 1953; died London, on Sept. 27, 1979)
Jimmy McCulloch was a guitarist for Thunderclap Newman, John Mayall Band, Stone the Crows, and Wings. He died of a mixture of morphine, alcohol and marijuana.

Clyde McPhatter: Age 39
Drifters
(b. Clyde Lensley McPhatter, 15 November 1932, Durham, North Carolina; d. 13 June 1972, New York).
For three years, McPhatter was the lead singer in the seminal R&B vocal group Billy Ward And His Dominoes. He left in 1953 to form The Drifters, whose early releases were enhanced by the singer's emotional, gospel-drenched delivery. In 1954 McPhatter was drafted into the US Army, where he entertained fellow servicemen. Such work prompted a solo career, and the vibrant "Seven Days" (1956) was followed by several other superb performances, many of which, including "Treasure Of Love", "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" and "A Lover's Question", became R&B standards. A hugely influential figure, McPhatter inspired a generation of singers...A 1970 album, on Decca, WELCOME HOME, was his last recording. McPhatter, one of R&B's finest voices, died from a heart attack as a result of alcohol abuse in 1972. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987. ~muze

Country Dick Montana: Age 40
(b. Carmel, CA, in 1955, d. November 8, 1995, in British Columbia, Canada)
Beat Farmers
Country Dick was more than some guy who'd fall off stage and drench you in his beer and sweat. Dick was also a visionary who predicted the current wave of Vegas chic long before Dean Martin became hip again, as well as being a twisted version of a high school cheerleader whose infectious optimism and sincere passion for music made him a continual inspiration of the California and national music scenes. He was a brave and tough mother, not only in how he faced some of the rowdiest audiences to walk in to a bar room, but also how he fought cancer the last few years. Then again, strange as it sounds, Dick was one of the sweetest guys I ever knew. Several years ago, at maybe the lowest point in my life, Dick was one of three people who stopped me from quitting music out of depression and frustration. I will always owe him for that and I will always miss him. Adios compadre. -Dave Alvin. On a cold November night in 1995, Country Dick Montana was on-stage at the Long Horn bar, doing what he loved most, performing, when he collapsed and died. He was only 40 years old, and his solo career was barely out of the starting gate. He had finished recording his excellent solo debut album only weeks before his sudden death.~AMG

Keith Moon: Age 31
The Who
(b. 23 August 1947, Wembley, London, England, d. 7 September 1978).
As the unpredictable, madcap drummer in the Who, Keith Moon cultivated a reputation as one of rock's great characters. Tales of destruction were legendary, but Moon was now increasingly debilitated by drug and alcohol abuse, and his professional life inevitably suffered. Indeed Music Must Change, a track on WHO ARE YOU (1978), was left without a drum track when he was unable to hold the required beat Sadly, the album was to be the last to feature Moon. The cause of death, according to the death certificate, was an overdosage of Chlormethiazole (Heminevrin), self administered but with no evidence of intention. An open vedict was recorded. He was certified dead on arrrival at the Middlesex Hospital, Westminster but was found at his flat in Curzon Place, Mayfair.

John Panozzo: Age 47
Styx
(b. 20 Sept. 1948, d. July 16, 1996 Chicago, IL)
Drummer and co-founder of the band, died at his home in Chicago, IL at the age of 47. The cause of death was ruptured blood vessels resulting from a hemorrage. PANOZZO along with twin brother, bassist Chuck Panozzo, and vocalist/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung -- formed the nucleus of the band which eventually would become known as STYX, the band that would become the first to have four consecutive triple-platinum albums, making them one of the most popular groups in rock 'n' roll history. JOHN PANOZZO was unable to join the band on 1996 77-date U.S. tour due to health reasons.

Charlie Parker: Age 34
(August 1920, Kansas City, Kansas, USA, d. 12 March 1955).
Charlie Parker was black music's first existential hero. There were problems. However, Parker's heroin-related health problems came to a head following the notorious Loverman session of July 1946 when, after setting his hotel-room on fire, the saxophonist was incarcerated in the psychiatric wing of the LA County Jail and then spent six months in a rehabilitation centre (commemorated in Relaxin' At Camarillo’, 1947). His health had continued to give him problems: ulcers and cirrhosis of the liver. His last public appearance was on 4 March 1955, at Birdland, the club named after him: it was a fiasco —Parker and pianist Bud Powell rowed onstage, the latter storming off followed shortly by bassist Charles Mingus. Disillusioned, obese and racked by illness, Parker died eight days later in the hotel suite of Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, a wealthy aristocrat and stalwart bebop fan.

Gram Parsons: Age 26
Flying Burrito Brothers
(b. Ingram Cecil Connor III, 5 November 1946, Winter Haven, FL, d. Joshua Tree, CA 19 September 1973).
"During the funeral ceremony for Gram's close friend Clarence White, Gram was overheard stating that when he died, rather than being buried in the ground, he would like to be taken out to The Joshua Tree desert of southern California and burned. After Gram died in The Joshua Tree Inn, his body was taken to the Los Angeles International Airport in preparation for being flown to Louisiana for burial. Gram's road manager Phil Kaufman and a friend, Michael Martin, got very intoxicated, borrowed a broken down hearse and drove to LAX to retrieve the body. When they arrived, they told the shipping clerk that Gram's remains were to be sent out of another airport, flashed some bogus paperwork and falsely signed for the body. After crashing into a wall and almost being arrested, Phil, Michael and Gram drove back to The Joshua Tree Desert, stopping only to buy more beer and a container of gasoline. They took Gram's remains into the desert, poured gasoline inside the coffin and set him ablaze. The two were arrested several days later and fined $700.00 for stealing and burning the COFFIN (it was is not against the law to steal a dead body). Gram's partially burned remains were finally laid to rest in a modest cemetery near New Orleans, LA. Gram's death in 1973 as a result of ‘drug toxicity’ emphasized its air of poignancy, and the mysterious theft of his body after the funeral, whereupon his road manager, Philip Kaufman cremated the body in the desert, carrying out Gram's wishes, added to the singer's legend." ~ http://www.gramparsons.com/ Gram's death in 1973 as a result of "drug toxicity."

Art Pepper: Age 56
(Born: 9/1/1925 in Gardena, CA ;Died: 6/1/1982 in Panorama City, CA)
Pepper was undeniably a West Coast jazzman. As a native of Gardena, California, he had more claim to the label than many Eastern and Midwest players who came to the Los Angeles area and played in the less overtly emotional manner that came to define the style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on L.A.'s Central Avenue. Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for his solo skills, and by 1952 he began cutting more intimate and open quartet and quintet sessions under his own name. By this time he had already developed a dependence on alcohol, pills, and heroin that led to an erratic lifestyle and (in 1952) the first of several arrests and incarcerations. For the remainder of the decade, Pepper alternated stretches in what he would later refer to as "la pinta" (the joint) with bursts of recording activity. more: http://www.fantasyjazz.com/html/pepper_bio.html

Esther Phillips: Age 48
AKA born: Esther Mae Jones
(Born Dec 23, 1935 in Galveston, TX; Died Aug 7, 1984 in Carson, CA)
Esther Phillips was perhaps too versatile for her own good, at least commercially speaking; while she was adept at singing blues, early R&B, gritty soul, jazz, straight-up pop, disco, and even country, her record companies often lacked a clear idea of how to market her, which prevented her from reaching as wide an audience as she otherwise might have. An acquired taste for some, Phillips' voice had an idiosyncratic, nasal quality that often earned comparisons to Nina Simone, although she herself counted Dinah Washington as a chief inspiration. Phillips' career began when she was very young and by some accounts, she was already battling drug addiction during her teenage years; whenever her problems took root, the lasting impact on her health claimed her life before the age of 50...Her last R&B chart single was 1983's "Turn Me Out," a one-off for the small Winning label; unfortunately, her health soon began to fail, the culmination of her previous years of addiction combined with a more recent flirtation with the bottle. Phillips died in Los Angeles on August 7, 1984, of liver and kidney failure. ~ Steve Huey

Elvis Aron Presley: Age 42
(b. 8 January 1935, Tupelo, Mississippi; d. 16 August 1977, Memphis, TN).
The most celebrated popular music phenomenon of his era and, for many, the purest embodiment of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis's life and career have become part of rock legend. He collapsed onstage on a couple of occasions and finally on 16 August 1977 his tired, burnt-out body expired. The official cause of death was a heart attack, no doubt brought on by barbiturate usage over a long period. IS ELVIS ALIVE?
Elvis had a fascination with numerology - an interest he fed by reading Cheiro's Book of Numbers. The theory that the King orchestrated his death is further supported when considering the significance of the date of his alleged death. The date in question is August 16,1977. By adding the numbers in the date, 8, 16, and 1977, you get 2001. This is the title of Elvis' favorite movie in which the hero plans his immortality in the bathroom. Elvis spent a considerable amount of time doing the same: planning his afterlife on the john. Elvis spent so much time in the bathroom that he had his toilet converted into a reclining comfy chair. Coincidentally, the bathroom is also where Elvis's body was reportedly found. Given Elvis's religious affiliation (Christianity), he had a fascination with things that come in threes i.e. father, son, and holy ghost. The sum of the digits from his favorite film (2+0+0+1) is three. Let's consider the triad of the repetition of the number 24. 2001 (favorite film) less 1977 (year of death) is 24. The two numbers from the day of death (8/16) when added up equal 24. The sum of the digits in the year of death (1+9+7+7) also equals 24. That is 3 occurrences of the number 24 which is divisible by 3, and when divided by three the result, 8 has a perfect cubed root (2x2x2=8). Elvis loved numerology, and when you consider the numeric significance of the date of his alleged death, it is clear that if indeed he did plan to fake his death, he could not have chosen a better date.

Jimmy Reed: Age 50
(b. Mathis James Reed, 6 September 1925, Leland, Mississippi; d. 29 August 1976, Oakland, CA).
To counter the positive elements in his life, Reed was continually undermined by his own unreliability, illness (he was an epileptic) and a fascination for the bottle. He visited Europe in the early '60s by which time it was obvious that not all was well with him. He was supremely unreliable and prone to appear on stage drunk. Inactive much of the time due to illness, Reed seemed on the road to recovery and further success, having controlled his drink problem. Ironically he died soon after of respiratory failure. He was buried in Chicago.

David Ruffin: Age 50
The Temptations
(b. 18 January 1941, Meridian, Mississippi, USA, d. 1 June 1991).
The younger brother of Jimmy Ruffin and the cousin of Melvin Franklin of the Temptations. He toured with Eddie Kendricks and Dennis Edwards as Tribute To The Temptations on a package tour in 1991. A few weeks after the last performance he died in tragic circumstances after an overdose of crack.

Carter Glen Stanley: Age 41
The Stanley Brothers
(b. 27 August 1925, McClure, Dickenson County, Virginia, d. Bristol, Virginia, on 1 December 1966).
The hectic schedules caused Carter to develop a drink problem; his health was badly affected and he died in hospital in Bristol, Virginia, on 1 December 1966.

Bob Stinson: Age 35
The Replacements
(born: 12/17/59 - 2/18/95)
1985 saw the band poised on the edge of national success, having inked a deal with Sire/Reprise Records and scoring an appearance on Saturday Night Live. The tour left the foursome exhausted and burnt out on their perpetual swingin’ party and, citing Bob’s legendary taste for excesses, the other three members asked him to leave the group. The Replacements went on without Bob, with Westerberg and replacement guitarist Bob “Slim” Dunlap taking over axe duties. Bob continued to play in local bands (Static Taxi and The Bleeding Hearts, among others) and to struggle with the addictions that had plagued him since adolescence. Friends and acquaintances remember him as a fascinating storyteller and a colorful figure on the local scene and, unlike some of his contemporaries, he was always accessible to his fans. Though his love for libation never quite abated, the summer and fall of 1994 found Bob with renewed energy and plans to head back into the studio. During the early winter months, he met with his ex-wife Carleen and agreed to play on her upcoming album, a project that never came about. On February 18th, 1995, Bob was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment, and though those close to him weren’t surprised that his lifestyle had taken such a heavy toll, fans the world over were shocked and in mourning. He left behind a son, his mother Anita, his brother Tommy, and a slew of admirers of both his musicianship and his affable personality. read more from the same article by Tom Hallett

Jack Teagarden: Age 58
(b. Weldon L. Teagarden, 29 August 1905, Vernon, Texas, USA, d. 15 January 1964).
"I play pretty; Jackson Teagarden plays great!" --- Tommy Dorsey
In late 1933, he signed a five-year contract with Paul Whiteman Orchestra . After leaving Whiteman in 1939 Jack Teagarden put together a big band that would continue to play until 1946. From 1947 to 1951 he was a sideman with the Louis Armstrong's All-Stars. After leaving Armstrong , Teagarden led a Dixieland sextet throughout the remainder of his career, playing with such talented musicians as Jimmy McPartland , and (during a 1957 European tour) pianist Earl Hines. Teagarden toured the Far East during 1958-59, teamed up one last time with Eddie Condon for a television show/recording session in 1961. He died from pneumonia in New Orleans in 1964.

Merle Travis: Age 65
(b.Merle Robert Travis, 29 November 1917, Rosewood, Kentucky, d. 20 October 1983, Tahlequah, OK).
Says Tennessee Ernie Ford, ‘Merle Travis was one of the most talented men I ever met. He could write songs that would knock your hat off, but he was a chronic alcoholic and when those binges would come, there was nothing we could do about it.’ Travis died in October 1983.

Gene Vincent: Age 36
(Eugene Vincent Craddock, 11 February 1935, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, d. 12 October 1971).
One of the original bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll, the self-destructive Vincent was involved in a motorcycle crash in 1955 and his left leg was permanently damaged. Although he failed to retrieve past glories on record, he toured frequently and survived the car crash which killed Eddie Cochran. The often intolerable pain he suffered due to his festering leg merely exacerbated his alcoholism, which in turn devastated his health. On 12 October 1971, his abused body finally succumbed to a fatal seizure and rock ‘n’ roll lost one of its genuinely great rebellious spirits.

Jeremy Michael Ward: Age 27
Mars Volta, De Facto
Jeremy Michael Ward from The Mars Volta tragically passed away at his home in Los Angeles, California this past Sunday (25th May 2003). An official statement reads as follows: "We are very saddened to announce that our dear friend Jeremy Michael Ward of THE MARS VOLTA and DE FACTO passed away from an apparent drug overdose at his home in Los Angeles on May 25, 2003. He was 27 years old. He and the rest of The Mars Volta had only just returned to L.A. for a week of rest between legs of their support tour with RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. No further information is currently available."

Dinah Washington: Age 39
(b. Ruth Jones, 29 August 1924, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA, d. 14 December 1963). She was settling down happily with her seventh husband when she took a lethal combination of pills, probably by accident after having too much to drink.

Keith Whitley: Age 33
(b. 1 July 1955, Sandy Hook, Kentucky, USA, d. 8 May 1989, Goodlettsville, TN).
At the age of 17, he survived a 120 mph car crash which killed a friend, and at 19, he drove a car off a cliff into a river. Whitley joined J.D. Crowe And The New South and his lead vocals on SOMEWHERE BETWEEN, were appreciated in Nashville. He subsequently returned to drinking, which resulted in him dying at his home in Goodlettsville, TN in 1989. The cause of death, alcohol poisoning. The alcohol level --roughly the equivalent of 20 shots of 100 proof liquor drunk in two hours time.
Whitley had been an alcoholic from the beginning of his career, long before he had reached the legal drinking age. He had unsuccessfully tried treatment and therapy, and had even claimed to have conquered the disease, but this was not so. Whitley was not a social drinker, rather he consumed liquor when he was alone, making it difficult for those around him to detect his drinking. Indeed, though relatives saw Whitley and claim that he was sober as late as two hours before his death, he was found dead in his home near Nashville on May 9, 1989, with a large quantity--nearly five times Tennessee's legal limit for driving--of alcohol in his bloodstream; traces of Valium and cocaine were also found. ~ http://www.countrycharts.com/2Steppin/Keith%20Whitley.htm

Hank Williams: Age 29
(Hiram Williams, 17 September 1923, Georgiana, Alabama d. 1 January 1953, Virginia).
His lifestyle was akin to the later spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. He drank too much, took drugs (admittedly, excessive numbers of painkillers for his back), played with guns, destroyed hotel rooms, threw money out of windows and permanently lived in conflict... An 18-year-old taxi driver, Charles Carr, was hired to drive Williams’ Cadillac. They set off with Hank having a bottle of whiskey for company. He sank into a deep sleep. A policeman who stopped the car for ignoring speed restrictions remarked, ‘That guy looks dead’. Five hours later, Carr discovered that his passenger was indeed dead. Death was officially due to ‘severe heart attack with hemorrhage’ but alcohol and pills played their part. Some commentators took Williams’ current number 1, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, as an indication that he knew he was going.

SUICIDE

2005-01-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

Chris Acland: Age 30
Lush
(b. 7 September 1966, d. October 96)
Tragically, Chris committed suicide at his parents home in Cumbria in October 1996. "The haunting Lower Eastside Tourist is even, more or less, about the October '96 suicide of Lush drummer Chris Acland: 'People come and people go/Drop in the ocean, drop in the flow,' Mark Eitzel sings as a sad farewell." ~From Power Trio Peter Buck goes West with Eitzel...

Graham Bond: Age 36
Graham Bond Organization
AKA: Graham John Clifton Bon
(Born: Oct 28, 1937 in Romford, Essex, England, Died: May 8, 1974 in London
Bond never recaptured the heights of his work with the Organization. In the late '60s, he moved to the U.S., recording albums with musicians including Harvey Brooks, Harvey Mandel, and Hal Blaine. Moving back to Britain, he worked with Ginger Baker's Airforce, the Jack Bruce Band, and Cream lyricist Pete Brown, as well as forming the band Holy Magick, who recorded a couple albums. Bond's demise was more tragic than most: he developed serious drug and alcohol problems and an obsession with the occult, and it has even been posthumously speculated (in the British Bond biography Mighty Shadow) that he sexually abused his stepdaughter. He committed suicide by throwing himself into the path of a London Underground train in 1974. -- Richie Unterberger, All-Music Guide

Adrian Borland: Age 41
(b.1957, d. 26 April 1999, London)
On April 26th. 1999 Adrian Borland died. [He] committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a train in London on early Monday morning. He was right in the middle of the recording session for his new solo album. Adrian Borland leaves a great work, which is documented on more than twenty albums . He was present as a singer, guitar player and - especially - as a songwriter since the late 70`s, when he formed his first band THE OUTSIDERS, his contribution to the "New Wave" whilst at the same time creating electronic music with the band SECOND LAYER. International recognition as front man with legendary eighties band THE SOUND was followed by a crazy affair with HONOLULU MOUNTAIN DAFFODILS, under the pseudonym Joachim Pimento, belting out a wired STOOGES-like sound together with a few friends from his Wimbledon local. ~In memoriam Adrian Borland

Tommy Boyce: Age 55
(Born: September 29,1939 in Charlottesville, VA,
Died: Nov 23, 1994 Nashville, TN)
Boyce recorded for RCA Records and had one self-written charting single, "I'll Remember Carol" b/w "Too Late For Tears" peak at #80 Pop on Billboard's charts in fall 1962.He began writing with Bobby Hart, with their first success being "Come A Little Bit Closer," a 1964 #3 Pop smash for Jay and the Americans.Signed as staff songwriters for Screen Gems Music, the music publishing arm of Columbia Pictures' TV production arm, Screen Gems, they began to write songs for the soundtrack of the studios' hit TV show The Monkees airing in primetime on NBC-TV; "Theme From The Monkees," "Last Train To Clarksville," gold, #1 Pop, fall 1966, "(I'm Not Your)Steppin' Stone"-the charting B-side of "I'm A Believer"...Boyce & Hart toured with The Monkees in the 70s and recorded with some of the group's members on albums as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart. Boyce wrote and produced for Iggy Pop, UK band Darts, Del Shannon and Meat Loaf. Boyce, who appeared on TV talk shows sharing his travails with depression, succumbed to the illness, committing suicide at his Nashville residence in 1994. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

Herman Brood: Age 55
(b: 5 November 1946 in Zwolle, Netherlands; d: 11 July 2001, Amsterdam)
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Herman Brood, a well known artist and a top musician on the Dutch rock scene for 30 years, jumped to his death from the roof of an Amsterdam hotel on Wednesday, police said. He was 55. Brood, who spoke about the difficulty of ending his daily drug habit, had been complaining of poor health and depression, and had told a close friend he didn't want to fade away. Brood entered art school at 17 and joined musical groups beginning in the 1960s. He became a sensation with his 1978 hit single "Saturday Night," which he wrote as leader of the band Wild Romance. Over 25 years he recorded nearly 20 albums, on his own or with a variety of groups, and also acted in Dutch movies. He briefly withdrew from recording in the early 1990s to focus on painting and poetry. But in one year, 1994, he released a book, a new CD and a film. As his success grew, Brood became known as much for his drug-based wild life style as for his art. He quit drugs last summer after his doctor warned him his life was at risk, but the television reported his mental and physical health quickly deteriorated.

Roy Buchanan: Age 48
(b.23 September 1939, Ozark, Alabama, USA, d. August 1988).
The son of a preacher, Buchanan discovered gospel music through the influence of traveling revivalists. LOADING ZONE was an accomplished album and contained two of his finest (and longest) outings; the pulsating Green Onions featured shared solos with the song's co-composer Steve Cropper and the extraordinary Ramon's Blues (again with Cropper). His trademark was a battered Fender Telecaster guitar. Buchanan was never comfortable with the role of virtuoso. A shy, reticent individual, he made several unsuccessful suicide attempts before hanging himself in a police cell in 1988, following his arrest on a drunk-driving charge.
"Reading on your web site the rundown of the suicide (most think) of Roy Buchanan, it should be noted that he... was not arrested on drunk driving (he never learned to drive!) but public intoxication. And there was only one known prior suicide attempt, not several as your entry states. You might also mention the recording that really shows him at his best was "Live Stock" a 1974 live recording, (that was actually recorded in 2 locations). " ~ Regards, Bob B.

Leon Chappelear: Age 53
aka Leon Chappel
(b. Horace Leon Chappelear, 1 Aug. 1909; d. 22 Oct. 1962)
Chappelear was a gifted songwriter and guitarist who admired Jimmie Rodgers. The Lone Star Cowboys became Chappelear's group after the Sheltons broke away. Chappelear turned it into a popular early western swing band. On September 13, 1935 (a Friday the 13th), Chappelear was involved in an auto accident that affected his brain, temperament, and behavior. Tragically, his injuries caused him to be unable to sing as well as he once did and his career suffered greatly. He got involved in many strange and questionable activities that landed him in jail at one point for gambling. He moved to the west coast in the early 50s and recorded a series of sides for Capitol as "Leon Chappel." see:Automatic Mama. Chappelear committed suicide in 1962, despondent over a career gone sour. He shot himself in the face with a shotgun. Leon Chappelear was only 53 years old. ~ Cary Ginell

Kurt Cobain: Age 27
Nirvana
(b. Kurt Donald Cobain, 20 February 1967, Hoquiam, Seattle, d. 5 April 1994, Seattle). His descent into self-destruction accelerated in 1994 as he went into a coma during dates in Italy (it was later confirmed that this had all the markings of a failed suicide attempt), before returning to Seattle to shoot himself on April 5, 1994. Link to: The Suicide Note / Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross

Sonny Criss: Age 50
(Born in Memphis, Tenn., on Oct. 23, 1927, Died on Nov. 19, 1977, LA,CA) Photo
A talented bop altoist, Sonny Criss was influenced by Charlie Parker but had his own heavier sound. He spent most of his life in the Los Angeles area starting in 1942. In 1946 he worked in Howard McGhee's band with Charlie Parker and Teddy Edwards and can be heard on several jam sessions on Savoy in 1947. Criss spent periods playing with Johnny Otis, Gerald Wilson, and Billy Eckstine (1950-51) and was with Stan Kenton in 1955. He also worked with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars and Buddy Rich's quartet (1958) in addition to leading his own groups, recording three albums for Imperial in 1956. Criss lived in Europe during 1962-65, recorded some excellent sets for Prestige during 1966-69 and in the 1970s headed sessions for Fresh Sound, Xanadu, Muse and a couple of commercial efforts for Impulse. After European tours in 1973 and 1974, Sonny Criss' career seemed on an upswing. But due to the pain of cancer, he chose to commit suicide in 1977. -- Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Criss died on Nov. 19...of a self-inflicted gunshot as he was preparing for his initial tour of Japan.~Will Smith

Darby Crash: Age 22
Germs
Died: December 7, 1980
Los Angeles punk band the Germs was formed in April 1977 and quickly became one of the most popular and influential in that area of music. The group disbanded in early 1980 but reformed later that year. A week after their first reunion concert, however, singer Crash died of an intentional heroin overdose.
See: Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs

Ian Curtis: Age 23
Joy Division
(b.15 July 1956, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, d. 18 May 1980).
On 18 May 1980, the eve of Joy Division's proposed visit to America, Ian Curtis was found hanged. The verdict was suicide. A note was allegedly found bearing the words: ‘At this moment I wish I were dead. I just can't cope anymore’. To read more Link to: Touching From A Distance. Ian Curtis And Joy Division

Nick Drake: Age 26
(b. 19 June 1948, Burma, d. 25 November 1974).
Born into an upper middle-class background, Drake was raised in Tanworth-in-Arden, near Birmingham. FIVE LEAVES LEFT was a mature, melodic collection which invoked the mood of Van Morrison's ASTRAL WEEKS or Tim Buckley's HAPPY SAD. By contrast BRYTER LAYTER was altogether more worldly, and featured support from emphatic, rather than intuitive, musicians. Indisputably Drake's most commercial album, the singer was reportedly stunned when it failed to reap due reward. On 25 November 1974, Nick Drake was found dead in his bedroom. Although the coroner's verdict was suicide, relatives and acquaintances feel that his overdose of a prescribed drug was accidental. Interest in this ill-fated performer has increased over the years and his catalogue contains some of the era's most accomplished music. Drake is now seen as a hugely influential artist. To read more Link to:

Jim Ellison: Age 31
Material Issue
(born:1964, died:June 20, 1996)
Long before the Smashing Pumpkins became Chicago's most famous export, Material Issue was doing its part to put the Windy City on the musical map. Signed to Mercury Records in 1990, vocalist-guitarist-songwriter Jim Ellison, bassist Ted Ansani and drummer Mike Zelenko seemed destined for rock stardom.~By Jae-Ha Kim Sadly, Ellison committed suicide on June 20, 1996, suffocating himself in his garage with carbon monoxide fumes from his moped. — Steve Huey

Tom Evans: Age 36
BadFinger
Joey Molland and Tom Evans reformed the group, changing the subsidiary members frequently over the next few years. Commercial success proved elusive and in November 1983, history repeated itself in the most bizarre scenario possible when Tom Evans committed suicide [by hanging] at his Surrey home. Like Pete Ham he had been suffering from depression and financial worries. The Badfinger story is uniquely tragic and among its greater ironies is the now morbid chorus of the song with which Pete Ham and Tom Evans are best associated: ‘I can't live, I can't live anymore’ (Without You). To read more Link to:

Andre Dede Fortin: Age 38
Les Colocs
(Born: 1962; died: 11 May 2000)
Quebec singer Dede Fortin's death ruled a suicide
MONTREAL - A Montreal coroner has confirmed that Quebec singer Andre Dede Fortin died from a self-inflicted wound. Fortin, 38, was found in his Montreal home Wednesday with stab wounds to his chest. Fortin, known as Dede to his friends and fans, was a songwriter and the lead singer of the group Les Colocs. He was expected at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Friends worried after he didn't show up and went to his apartment to look for him. Finding the door locked and no answer from inside, they went in through an open window and discovered Fortin's body. Les Colocs won the Felix, Quebec's equivalent to the Juno awards, for rock album of the year in 1998. Fortin's writing helped the group earn its reputation as one of the most original voices in Quebecois song through the 1990s. The singer-songwriter was born in St-Thomas Didyme, Que. He grew up in a family of 11 children. Late Wednesday, the official Internet site of Les Colocs carried a black page with a picture of Fortin and the message: "Dede has decided to leave, May 10, 2000."
--Les Annees 1992-1995 (Enhanced)~Amazon

Danny Gatton: Age 49
(Born: Sep 4 , 1945 in Washington, D.C., Died: Oct 20, 1994 in Newburg, MD)
Danny Gatton is Washington D.C.'s musical legend, described in the Washington Post Magazine as"The Greatest Guitarist You've Never Heard." Danny is well-known to the likes of Chet Atkins, Les Paul, and Buddy Emmons. He was once on the cover of Guitar Player magazine as part of a feature called "Unknown Greats." ~by Brian Alpert Danny died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There have been many rumors, "theories", etc as to why Danny took his own life. I can speak very loudly for the Gatton family in saying that these are all rumors and/or theories. The truth is simply that no-one, not even Danny's immediate family, knows why he did what he did. ~Steve G.

Pete Ham: Age 27
Badfinger
(b. 27 April 1947, d. 23 April 1975; vocals).
Worse was to follow the next year when Pete Ham took his own life [by hanging], after a long period of personal and professional worries. To read more Link to:

Donny Hathaway: Age 33
(b. 1 October 1945, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 13 January 1979).
Originally schooled in the gospel tradition, this versatile artist majored in musical theory before performing in a cocktail jazz trio. Hathaway was then employed as a producer with Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label while a duet with June Conquest, I Thank You Baby, became his first hit, in 1969. The following year he was signed by Atlantic for whom he recorded several imaginative singles, including The Ghetto (1970) and Love Love Love (1973). His crafted compositions were recorded by such acts as Aretha Franklin and Jerry Butler, but Hathaway is best remembered for his cool duets with Roberta Flack. Their complementary voices were honed to perfection on Where Is The Love (1972) and The Closer I Get To You (1978), both of which reached the US Top 5. Why this gifted musician should take his own life remains unexplained, but on 13 January 1979, Hathaway threw himself from the 15th floor of New York's Essex House hotel.
"A note from a Fuller Up visitor with this to offer:
On your "FULLER UP Dead Musician Directory" web site, in the SUICIDES section, for DONNY HATHAWAY, it is claimed that he threw hiumself out of a 15th floor New York City hotel window for unexplained reasons. The reason was not "unexplained". He was with Roberta Flack in that hotel room (actually, I was told by Roberta Flack's son that it was the Plaza Hotel, rather than the Essex House), with whom he has co-performed various hit songs with over the years, and (having heard this from Roberta Flack's son, whom I met at Temple University in Philadelphia . . . perhaps in 1986 or 1987, if I recall accurately), Donny Hathaway was in love with Roberta Flack and wished she could be his but she was already married to someone else. Distraught over not being able to have her as his own, he threw himself out the window (with Roberta Flack in the room at the time). And this story was reported as well in the media at the time of his death. When I'd met Roberta Flack's son and learned that he was her son, I asked him if it was true about what I had read (which is that Donny Hathaway had killed himself over his mother). He said this is true and told me the story, saying his mother was right there when it happened.

Just thought you'd like to know, to add this as a correction to Donny Hathaway's death info on your web site."

Thanks!

Steven Leventhal
Libby Holman:
(Born... Died: Jun 18, 1971)
Cause of death: Suicide (carbon monoxide poisoning). "I always have to break a song over my back. I just can't sing a song; it has to be part of my marrow and bones and everything," Libby Holman explained in a 1966 interview. A musical and sexual revolutionary, Libby Holman succeeded at two different musical careers spanning the prohibition era of the 1920s, the second World War, and the advent of the political and social ferment of the 1960s. Strong, daring, "dark" and impetuous, this feisty Jewish woman led a rich public life touching a dizzying array of people, from Montgomery Clift, to Alice B. Toklas, to close friends Jane and Paul Bowles. From a deep sense of personal commitment to racial justice, she later made contributions to the civil rights movement as both an artist and a wealthy benefactor, helping to finance Martin Luther King Jr.'s visit to India to meet Mahatma Ghandi. Known as the "Statue of Libby," she carried one of the smokiest torches of American music-hall society in the twenties and thirties and was the inventor of the strapless evening dress. Murder, millionaires, death and suicide were morbid recurrent themes in Libby Holman's life, reaching tabloid proportions. Scandal, however, was not only the operative mode of Holman's personal life; she also produced scandal on the stage, combining race, sound, and sexuality to create an aural form of "passing" which, I will argue, sought to destabilize culturally fixated notions of black and white. ~ http://www.echonyc.com/~women/Issue18/scheper.html
--- In July 1932, Zachary Smith Reynolds, the younger son of North Carolina tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds Sr., was killed by a gunshot to the head. His wife, Broadway torch singer Libby Holman, and his close friend Ab Walker were charged with murder, though they said he committed suicide. The charges were later dropped at the request of the family, reportedly to prevent unpleasant details of Smith Reynolds' life from becoming public. ~ http://www.buckhead.org/gardenhills/mcduffie.html

Douglas Hopkins: Age 32
Gin Blossoms
b. 1961 d. 5 Dec 1993, Tempe, AZ
After struggling for years against depression and alcoholism, chief songwriter Hopkins' behaviour had became so unstable that it was necessary to eject him from the band. His departure came in April 1992, soon after recording sessions for the album were completed. A bitter wrangle ensued, with the band reportedly forcing him to sign over half his publishing royalties in return for a one-off payment of $15,000 owed to him. As Hey Jealousy and Found Out About You, two excellent songs he had written for the Gin Blossoms, became major hits, his personal problems increased. On December 3, 1993 he left a detox unit in Phoenix, Arizona, and shot himself. He had been replaced in the band by Scott Johnson, but of more concern was how the Gin Blossoms would replace him as a songwriter. Although both Wilson and Valenzuela had written songs on the group's debut album, critics were in no doubt as to who the author of the more compelling tracks was.

Michael Hutchence: Age 37
INXS
(b. 22 January 1960, Australia, d. November 20?, 1997, Sydney, Australia).
Hutchence hanged himself in Ritz-Carlton Hotel room with his leather belt. The body was discovered around noon by a hotel employee. INXS had been rehearsing for their 20th anniversary tour. All those close to the singer report that he had been in high spirits in the days prior to his suicide, although he had been linked with a notorious reputation of cocaine and opium use. He was also planning to marry his girlfriend, Paula Yates, the mother of his 18 month old daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. To read more Link to: Michael Hutchence Memorial Site or The Final Days of Michael Hutchence

Phyllis Hyman: Age 45
Singer
(b: July 6, 1941 in Philadelphia, PA, d:June 30, 1995 in New York, NY)
Phyllis Hyman began her career as a silky-voiced, jazz-influenced singer, and gradually moved into slick, heavily produced Urban Contemporary ballads and light dance numbers. Norman Connors made her his featured vocalist in the mid-'70s, and she was highlighted on a cover of The Stylistics' "Betcha By Golly Wow," which appeared on Connors' You Are My Starship LP. Hyman also sang with Pharaoh Sanders and the Fatback Band while cutting two singles as a lead artist. Hyman got her lone Top 10 hit in 1981 with "Can't We Fall In Love Again," but her albums did consistently well through the '80s. She also sang on fusion and light jazz dates by Joe Sample, Ronnie Foster, and Grover Washington, Jr., a more conven-tional jazz session for McCoy Tyner, and a pop date with The Four Tops. Tragically, Hyman took her own life on June 30, 1995; Forever with You was issued posthumously. -- Ron Wynn, All-Music Guide ...Phyllis was diagnosed as being "bi-polar", a medical term for someone who suffers from the dis-ease of manic-depression. As she got older, her dis-ease became more and more difficult for her to manage. She elected not to use pharmaceutical medication. She elected to self medicate. Her self medication distorted her dis-ease more and more, until she felt helpless about ever being able to recover from it.~ PH WWW.Pages

J.J. Johnson: Age 77
Born: Jan. 22, 1924.
Died: February 3, 2001
James Louis "J.J." Johnson, an Indianapolis native who gained worldwide fame as one of the greatest trombonists and arrangers in jazz history, died February 3, 2001. He was 77. Considered as much a revelation on slide trombone as Charlie Parker was on the saxophone, Johnson also was a top arranger and composer and was a perennial winner of Down Beat magazine reader's poll as best trombonist...According to a report from the Marion County Sheriff's Department, Johnson, who had been ill in recent months, committed suicide at his Northside home on Sunday morning. ~Kevin O'Neal at (317) 327-7928 or via e-mail at kevin.oneal@starnews.com

Johannes Kerkorrel: Age 42
Born: Ralph John Rabie: 1960. Died 12 November 2002
Cape Town - South African music icon Johannes Kerkorrel is dead. He hanged himself. Provincial police spokesperson William Reid confirmed that "Ralph John Rabie, aged 42, was found hanging from a tree in the Kleinmond area, about 3km outside Kleinmond at around 12:40 on Tuesday". According to friends close to the Rabie family (who wished not to be named) this was exactly the way a former lover of the music icon took his life some years ago.
Cape Town - "I hope you can forgive me, Mom, I really do not have the strength to carry on. I pray that the Lord will forgive me and that you will be able to understand and accept as time goes by." This was the last wish of Ralph Rabie, better known as Johannes Kerkorrel, expressed in a letter written to his mother before he committed suicide in a forested area, 5km outside Kleimond, on Tuesday. He told her there was no other way. Rabie wrote the letter on Saturday, three days before his death. He also left letters for his partner and the police. To his partner Demetrios Demetriou he wrote: "I do not have any other option. I am in such a deep state of depression that I see no future for myself." In a letter to the police, Kerkorrel admitted that he could no longer pay his bills and that he had no work for the next two months. ~Jacob Rooi

Philip Taylor Kramer: Age 42
Iron Butterfly
Born: 1952, Died: February 12, 1995
Kramer, born in 1952, joined the second coming of Iron Butterfly in 1974. He played on its album Sun and Steel. The bassist disappeared without a trace in 1995. Four years later hikers in LA found his remains in a car at the bottom of a 200 foot ravine. Kramer was also working on guidance systems for the MX missile for the US government. Prior to his discovery, many theories abounded regarding his sudden and unexplained disappearance.

James Lawrence, Age 26
Hope of the States
Died 15 January, 2004
Musician found hanged at studio
The guitarist of rock band Hope of the States has been found hanging at a recording studio.
Police were called to the Real World Studios - owned by singer Peter Gabriel - at Box, near Bath, at 0430 GMT on Thursday after the body of James Lawrence, 26, was discovered. The six-piece band, from Chichester, had been recording their debut album. Wiltshire Police say the death is not being treated as suspicious. Hope of the States reached number 26 in the singles chart with Enemies Friends in October 2003, earning them an appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops programme. A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "I can confirm that we were called to the Real World studios in Box shortly after 4am today where the body of James Lawrence was found by other members of the band hanging from the rafters. "He was taken down and efforts made to revive him but to no avail." He confirmed Mr Lawrence's body was found in one of the studios. The six-piece had recently signed a deal with Sony and were putting the finishing touches to their debut album, which they had recorded in Russia and Ireland, at Real World. They were due to play at the Astoria in London next month as part of the NME Awards series of gigs. Real World is one of the music industry's most popular studios, with Kylie Minogue and Stereophonics among recent visitors. A spokesman for the complex said Mr Lawrence's family were too upset to comment. ~Story from BBC NEWS:
HOPE OF THE STATES are in the studio for the first time since the death of guitarist JIMMI LAWRENCE. The band had almost completed work on their debut album when they found the body of Lawrence hanged in Real World studios near Bath last month. A spokesperson for the group confirmed to NME.COM the band are back working on the record, but said no more details were available at present. Hope Of The States were due to release their anticipated debut album in late spring after months spent recording in Russia and then Ireland. The finishing touches were being put on the album at Real World when the guitarist died of an apparent suicide. The Chichester six-piece, who signed to Sony imprint Seeker following an intense bidding war, have been working with Sigur Ros producer Ken Thomas. ~http://www.nme.com/news/107408.htm "We have lost our friend in a tragic and heartbreaking way. His sense of humour, sensitivity, talent, intelligence and above all genuinely caring nature will be sadly missed. Our last days with Jimmi were the happiest we have ever shared together. He was immensely proud and happy with his work on the record and could not wait for others to hear it. We are devastated that he will never hear it with us, never play guitar, have a drink, a laugh or a conversation with us again. We are all forever grateful for the many messages of support and condolences we have received not just from friends and family but from people who had fleetingly met Jimmi or heard him play. The depth of feeling shown by you all means so much, not only to the band and his friends, but also to Jimmi's family. ~ http://www.nme.com/news/107264.htm

Jon Lee: Age 33
Feeder
Died: January 7, 2002
Miami - Jon Lee, the drummer for the Welsh rock band Feeder, which had a hit in England last year with the single "Buck Rogers," killed himself in his home, officials said. He was 33. Lee, who was from Newport, Wales, hanged himself in his Miami home on Monday, said Veronica Lamar of the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office. Fellow band members Grant Nicholas and Taka Hirose gave a short statement on the band's official Web site: "We will miss you more than melody - friends always." Feeder formed in 1992, but the trio of Lee on drums, Nicholas on vocals and guitar, and Japanese-born Hirose on bass came together in London in 1995. The group's biggest hit single was the 2001 single "Buck Rogers," which reached No. 5 on the British charts. Feeder released its first full- length album, "Polythene," in England in 1997; it was released in the United States in early 1998. The second album was followed by "Yesterday Went Too Soon" in 1999. The band released its third album, "Echo Park," last year, which debuted at No. 5 in Britain and sold more than 100,000 copies. Lee was married to a Brazilian model, Tatiana Englehart, and had a son, Cameron.

Oupa Mafokate "Makhendlas": Age 27
(Died: 7 November 1998)
South African musician dies ~November 2, 1998, http://news.bbc.co.uk
Music fans in South Africa are mourning the death of a young musician, Oupa Mafokate, who apparently shot himself in the head. Mafokate -- known as Makhendlas -- was a rising star of kwaito -- a rap-derived music seen as a symbol of black empowerment. His manager said he may have been upset about an incident at a concert on Saturday when he wounded a backstage intruder." ///// Makhendlas - township slang for “fun lover” - is reported to have committed suicide in the aftermath of a fatal brawl. The young star was billed as the top attraction at Saturday night’s concert in Tonga, Nelspruit. But before he could perform, he got involved in a deadly fracas with a nuisance fan who had reportedly been harassing him and his musical crew before their Mpumalanga show. At some point Makhendlas’s emotions replaced his brains and he whipped out his gun and pumped three bullets into the troublesome man. ~http://www.mg.co.za/mg/art/music/9811/981105-makhendlas.html

Richard Manuel: Age 42
The Band
(b. 3 April 1943, Stratford, Canada, d. 7 March 1986; piano/drums/vocals).
A tour ended in tragedy when, on 7 March 1986, Richard Manuel hanged himself in a motel room. His death inspired Fallen Angel on Robertson's outstanding ‘comeback’ album, but despite the presence of Hudson and Danko elsewhere on the record, the guitarist refused to join his colleagues when they regrouped again in 1991. Their first studio album in 17 years was released in 1993.
NEW = An as yet unsubstantiated rumor claims that "Manuel apparently had been threatening suicide for quite some time. Robertson's exit from The Band left them all down, Manuel was depressed the worst. He was also living with a woman for some time. His 'suicide attempts' were viewed by all as cries for help, nothing more. This went on for a long period of time. He would threaten to hang himself, only to be stopped right before he did so by his loving girlfriend. Unbeknownst to him, his live-in girlfriend was having an affair. As the story goes, the final time he threatened suicide, she simply didn't stop him, but rather watched him do it, then left (I have no idea whether she was seen leaving). When she returned, it was as though she discovered the body. There was suspicion but no charges were ever filed."

Susannah McCorkle: Age 55
(b: 1 January 1946 Berkeley, CA ;d: 19 May 2001, New York)
Susannah McCorkle, the sultry voiced pop-jazz singer who brought a rare literary refinement to popular standards, was found dead outside her apartment at 41 West 86th Street early yesterday morning. She was 55. She had apparently jumped to her death, the police said. She had left a suicide note, but the police would not reveal its contents. In her apartment, the singer had left a will, along with detailed instructions about disposition of her estate. With a smoky, often kittenish pop- jazz voice and phrasing that lingered stealthily behind the beat, Ms. McCorkle was a direct stylistic descendant of Billie Holiday, who was her primary influence. A student of lyrics and a prolific writer herself, she liked to find new ways of interpreting familiar standards. Her pensive, slowed-up rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business," for instance, found an underlying sadness in Irving Berlin's razzle-dazzle anthem. She also had special and continuing love for Brazilian pop, to which she devoted an album, "Sabia" (Concord Jazz), whose lyrics included her own translations from Portuguese. Many of her later albums included at least one standard composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. ~By STEPHEN HOLDEN..More..

Steve MacDonald: Age 31
Gorguts
Drummer Commits Suicide - Oct. 21, 2002
Steve MacDonald, drummer for the long-running Canadian death metal act GORGUTS, reportedly hanged himself a couple of days ago after battling depression for the last few years. An official statement from the rest of the group is expected by the end of the week.

Joe Meek: Age 35
(b. 1929, d. 3 Feb 1967)
No one made weirder space recordings or more heartfelt death discs than Joe Meek, so it's no surprise that his own demise was dramatic and more than a little spaced out. On February 3, 1967--eight years to the day that Meek's idol Buddy Holly perished in an airplane crash--a crazed Joe took his shotgun and opened fire on his landlady. After sending her lifeless body spiraling down a flight of stairs (without last month's rent), he turned the weapon around and, blasting his own face off, he became the only rock 'n' roll suicide ever to take a hostage. Prior to his untidy demise, Meek was a hotly contested suspect in another grisly murder, this one involving a dismembered youth found in several suitcases left strewn about the British countryside. ~From Earth Reinherits Joe Meek by Serene Dominic

Phil Ochs: Age 35
(b. 19 December 1940, El Paso, Texas, d. 7 April 1976).
A superior singer/songwriter, particularly adept at the topical song, He was attacked during a tour of Africa and an attempted strangulation permanently impaired his singing voice. Beset by a chronic songwriting block, Phil sought solace in alcohol and although a rally/concert in aid of Chile, AN EVENING WITH SALVADOR ALLENDE, succeeded through his considerable entreaties, he later succumbed to schizophrenia. Phil Ochs’ was found hanged at his sister's home on 7 April 1976. To read more Link to: Phil Ochs: A Bio-Bibliography Phil as Elvis at Carnegie Hall

Brian O'Hara: Age 58
Fourmost
(b. Liverpool, Mar. 12, 1942, d. June 27,1999)
Brian O'Hara, former singer and guitarist with the Fourmost, a 1960s Liverpool group that shared a manager with the Beatles and had hits with songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, was found hanging at his home...He was 58. Liverpool police found O'Hara in the Wavertree area of the northern English port city. The group had half a dozen hit singles from 1963-65, including ``Hello Little Girl'' and ``I'm In Love'' by Lennon and McCartney.

Jason Raize, Age 28
Broadway singer
Died February 3, 2004
Jason Raize in Broadway's 'Lion King' Dies February 10, 2004, 3:18 PM EST
NEW YORK -- Jason Raize, who played the older Simba in the original
Broadway company of "The Lion King," has died at 28. Raize died Feb. 3 in Yass, Australia, southwest of Sydney, according to Chris Boneau, a spokesman for the Disney musical. The cause was suicide, Boneau said. Raize was chosen for the role of Simba, who changes from a callow young lion to the aware adult played by Raize, after a series of grueling auditions for "Lion King" director Julie Taymor and choreographer Garth Fagan. The musical, based on Disney's successful animated film, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre in November 1997 and is still running in New York and around the world. Raize played the part for nearly three years. The competition for the role of Simba was fierce because the musical required "triple-threat work -- singing, dancing and acting -- that you don't get to such an extent in other shows," Raize recalled in a 1997 interview with The Associated Press. "It was more the sense of who can take the challenge and not be daunted by the task." Asked to compare the stage and film versions, Raize said he took a look at the film "to see the gaps that Julie has filled in. She has done a terrific job of creating a richer, even more rewarding work." In 2003, Raize was the voice of an Ice Age boy in the Disney animated movie "Brother Bear." Raize, from Oneonta, N.Y., worked there while in high school at the Orpheus Theater, a semiprofessional troupe. Raize performed in a variety of shows including a "Jesus Christ Superstar" tour with Ted Neeley and later a "King and I" tour starring Hayley Mills. Raize is survived by his father and stepmother, Robert and Monet Rothenberg, of Oneonta, N.Y.; and his mother, Sarah MacArthur of Wrentham, Mass. ~Copyright (c) 2004, The Associated Press

Danny Rapp: Age 41
Danny & The Juniors
(b. 10 May 1941, d. 4 April 1983).
Formed in 1955 as the Juvenairs, their song Do The Bop came to the attention of Dick Clark who suggested it be changed to At The Hop. In 1976 a re-issue of their classic At The Hop returned them to the UK Top 40. After a few quiet years, leader Rapp was found dead in Arizona in 1983—he had apparently committed suicide by gunshot.

Frank Rosolino:Age 52
(BORN: August 20, 1926, Detroit, MI; DIED: November 26, 1978, LA, CA)
The horrible way that Frank Rosolino's life ended (killing himself after shooting his two sons) has largely overshadowed his earlier musical accomplishments. One of the top trombonists of the 1950s, Rosolino's fluid and often-humorous style put him near the top of his field for awhile. He was a guitarist when he was ten but switched to trombone as a teenager. After serving in the military, Rosolino played with the big bands of Bob Chester, Glen Gray, Gene Krupa (1948-49), Tony Pastor, Herbie Fields and Georgie Auld. However all of those experiences were just preludes to his high profile association with Stan Kenton (1952-54) which gave him fame. Rosolino recorded frequently in Los Angeles as a member of the Lighthouse All-Stars (1954-60), a freelancer and as a studio musician. His song "Blue Daniel" became a jazz standard and Rosolino was a popular attraction as a brilliant trombonist and a comical singer. He was with Supersax for a period in the 1970s. Rosolino's shocking ending was a surprise to even his closest associates. ~ Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide alternate take: Frank Rosalino, (trombone): kills his wife and daughters, then himself.

Del Shannon: Age 55
(born: Charles Westover, 30 Dec. 1934, Coopersville, Michigan; died: 8 Feb. 1990, LA, CA).
From the plethora of clean, American, post doo-wop male vocalists to find enormous success in the early '60s, only a small handful retained musical credibility. Shannon was undoubtedly from this pedigree... Ultimately however, he was branded to rock ‘n’ roll revival tours which finally took their toll on 8 February 1990, when a severely depressed Shannon pointed a .22 calibre rifle to his head and pulled the trigger, ending the misery echoed in his catalogue of hits.
A Fuller Up: First Hand Account:
I was working the desk at the Medical Examiner's when Deputy Roger Hom from the Sheriff's Info Bureau called to verify that we had received a "call" on one "Charles Weedon Westover". I immediately recognized the name and said, "you mean Del Shannon" to which he replied "that's why we are checking, a patrol unit is already o the scene". About the time I hung up the phone, Investigator Gary Kellerman walked by and handed me a standard call sheet and indicated he would call later with directions as it was in far north L.A. County. When Gary did call, he asked me if I knew who it was (why everyone asks me is anyone's guess). I said I did and headed out. When I arrived at the scene some 30-45 min later and entered the house, Mr. Shannon was found, deceased for sometime, in a wooden rocking chair. He was minus his hairpiece. Yep, that wavy hair that used to hang down in front was a rug. Both eyes were black and blue from the trauma that close contact gun shot wounds will cause and he was slumped slightly sideways, wearing only a bathrobe. He had been dead for several hours. I observed several ceremonial record awards and a lot of obviously expensive musical instruments. Gary and I removed Shannon from the chair, laid him on a sheet of plastic and wrapped him further for transport to the Coroners Office. Along with him was the .22 rifle that had been used. I had vehicle 603 0r 892 as they were the few that had AM/FM radios. After awhile the local station played a few of his songs and the hair on my neck was straight up and stayed there a long time. I brought Shannon in, weighed, measured and fingerprinted him for processing subsequent to his post mortem exam later in the morning. I looked at him the next day, after he had be "done" and observed that the bullet had left several scars inside the skull as it will when it bounced around the inside of his head. His remains were claimed almost 2 weeks later; and he was cremated by The Neptune Society on Burbank Blvd. I understand his cremains were buried in a business partner’s back yard, location unknown. ~ Bob Kline # 233760
Los Angeles Coroner-Medical Examiners Office
Investigations/Processing/Transportation 1987-1990.

Elliott Smith: Age 34
(Steven Paul (Elliott) Smith. B: August 6, 1969, Omaha, Nebraska - Died: October 21, 2003)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Elliott Smith, a singer-songwriter whose dark, introspective songs won him critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination, has apparently committed suicide, his publicist and coroner's officials said Wednesday. He was 34. Smith's body was found by his live-in girlfriend Tuesday, Los Angeles County Coroner Records Supervisor Marsha Grigsby told AP Radio. He sustained a single stab wound to the chest that appeared to be self-inflicted, she said. His New York-based publicist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed his death. Smith released five solo albums that received widespread acclaim from rock critics and garnered modest commercial success. ``Miss Misery,'' recorded for Gus Van Sant's ``Good Will Hunting,'' was nominated for an Oscar in 1998. Smith's songs often were compared with those of Alex Chilton, Nick Drake and the Beatles, his favorite band. Lyrically, they addressed dark subject matter such as drug addiction, troubled relationships and loneliness -- though Smith tried to distance himself from the label of confessional songwriter. ``I don't feel like my songs are particularly fragile or revealing,'' he said in a 1998 interview in the Los Angeles Times. ``It's not like a diary, and they're not intended to be any sort of superintimate confessional singer-songwriterish thing.'' However, Smith had recently spoken in interviews about his struggles with alcoholism. ``When I lived in New York I was really a bad alcoholic for a few years,'' he told Under the Radar magazine in an interview published in June 2003. In an effort to quit drinking, Smith said he had undergone treatment which administers an intravenous solution meant to clear the bloodstream of toxins. Smith was born Steven Paul Smith in Nebraska; his mother was a singer and his father was a psychiatrist. He spent most of his childhood with his mother in the suburbs of Dallas and then moved to Portland, Ore., while in high school to live with his father. He studied piano and guitar as a youth and began composing songs when he was 13. He began calling himself Elliott in middle school, he later explained to a reporter, because Steve sounded too ``jockish.'' A graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., he later joined a Portland punk band called Heatmiser. On the side, he recorded several solo albums -- "Roman Candle'' (1994), "Elliott Smith'' (1995) and ``Either/Or'' (1997), all on independent labels -- that won him a devoted underground following. In 1997, he moved to New York, where Van Sant approached him with an offer to use several of his songs on the soundtrack to "Good Will Hunting.'' The movie was a hit, bringing Smith's music to a mainstream audience. Smith subsequently signed with DreamWorks Records and recorded two albums; "XO'' (1998) and "Figure 8'' (2000) continued his critical winning streak, and took him to the middle reaches of Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. "I don't really have any goals as a songwriter,'' he once said, "other than to show what it's like to be a person -- just like everybody else who's ever played music does.'' ~Associated Press writer Justin Glanville in New York contributed to this report.
Tests on Musician Elliott Smith's Death Inconclusive
Tests on Musician's Death Inconclusive ~ By Associated Press
December 30, 2003, 11:30 PM EST
LOS ANGELES -- Tests to determine whether an Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter was murdered or committed suicide were inconclusive, a coroner's spokesman said Tuesday. Elliott Smith, 34, died in a hospital on Oct. 21 after his live-in girlfriend found him in their apartment with a stab wound to the chest. Initial reports indicated the reclusive Smith had stabbed himself, said coroner's spokesman David Campbell. But an investigation into his death and an examination of his body were unable to determine if the wound was self-inflicted or if Smith was the victim of an attack. "The coroner's examination determined either scenario was possible," Campbell said. The Los Angeles Police Department continues to investigate Smith's death, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman. Smith, who earned a 1998 Academy Award nomination for his song "Miss Misery" from the film "Good Will Hunting," performed it at that year's awards show. The song lost to "My Heart Will Go On" from the film "Titanic." Campbell said tests showed no illegal drugs in Smith's body at the time of his death. Friends said Smith had become reclusive in recent years, and the singer-songwriter himself said he never sought fame and had at one time struggled with alcoholism. Smith was a favorite of rock music critics who admired his often dark, seemingly confessional songs, but he enjoyed only modest commercial success.

Gary Stewart: Age 58
(Born: May 28, 1945, Letcher County, Kentucky; Died: December 16, 2003, Fort Pierce, Florida)
One of country music's greatest honky-tonk singers was found dead Tuesday in Florida. Gary Stewart's death was an apparent suicide, according to authorities. He was 58 years old. Stewart was found in his home in Fort Pierce, Florida. Police are investigating the cause of death, although an initial police report said it appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said his wife of 43 years died last month. Throughout the 1970s, Stewart was a country hitmaker, both as a songwriter and as an artist with a compelling vibrato voice and a high-energy live show. He was born May 28, 1945, in Letcher County, Kentucky. After his coal miner father was maimed in a mining accident, the family moved to Fort Pierce, which became Stewart's base for life. As a teenager he played both rock and country in bars and was discovered and encouraged by Mel Tillis. Stewart headed for Nashville, where he recorded for the Cory and Kapp labels and wrote songs for the likes of Jim Ed Brown. After a return to Florida, where he honed his fusion of honky-tonk and Southern rock, he went back to Nashville and recorded a cover version of "Ramblin' Man," the song by his idols the Allman Brothers. It charted only to #63 but his follow-up, the rowdy "Drinkin' Thing," became a top-10 hit, and he was on his way. Stewart's peak came with his acclaimed 1975 RCA album, Out of Hand, which climbed to #6 on the Billboard country albums chart. That album also yielded the #1 hit "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)." His work continued to be acclaimed throughout the '70s, particularly the 1976 album Steppin' Out and 1977's Your Place or Mine. Cactus and a Rose (1980) also featured Southern rockers Bonnie Bramlett, Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts. But Stewart never established a firm audience — he was often labeled as too country for rock audiences and too rock for the country listeners. He also lived his private life on a grand honky-tonk scale, and his heavy drugging and drinking were no secret. For a time, he and songwriter Dean Dillon teamed up to record and perform as rowdy good old boys, but those records did not match his earlier work, either in quality or in sales. Stewart faded away in Florida, quit recording, went back to playing the bars, and little more was heard from him. Then he popped up clean and sober in late 1988 on the California label HighTone. He had a new album, Brand New, that was released on HighTone in early 1989. Three singles from the album charted briefly, but those were to be his last appearances on the charts. He released two more HighTone albums, Battleground in 1990 and I'm a Texan in 1993. Stewart had canceled his last scheduled concert date — November 29 at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth — after his wife died. ~ This report is provided by MTV News

Mel Street: Age 45
(b. King Malachi Street, 21 October 1933, near Grundy, West Virginia, d. 12 October 1978).
Street began performing on local radio in the '50s and then he moved to Niagara Falls and New York, making his living on building sites. He later wrote and recorded the song, The High Line Man, about working on radio station masts. He returned to West Virginia, played clubs and honky tonks, and he recorded his song, Borrowed Angel, for a small label in 1970. Two years later it was reissued and became a US country hit. Street became an alcoholic and, beset by personal problems, he shot himself on his 45th birthday in Hendersonville, Tennessee. His US single at the time was Just Hangin' On. George Jones sang Amazing Grace at his funeral.
Screaming Lord Sutch: Age 58
(b. David Edward Sutch 10 Nov 1940, d. 16 June 1999, UK)
Hanged himself. Born... West Hampstead, England. - Was the leader of The Savages (They did, "Till The Following Night" and "She's Fallen In Love With A Monster Man") - Worked with Keith Moon, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Charlie Watts & Nicky Hopkins - Holds the record for running for public office in the UK (Lost all 40 elections) - Founder of The Monster Raving Loony Party.

Jason Thirsk: Age 28
Pennywise
(b. Jason Matthew Thirsk, 25 Dec. 1967; died 29 July 1996)
Jason Matthew Thirsk, the former bassist and co-founder of the California punk band Pennywise died 7/29/96 of a gunshot wound/suicide. Here's something his brother wrote about the great bassist: Jason...was born on Christmas Day 1967. He lived in Hermosa Beach his entire life...In his 8th grade year some of his older friends had him listen to some punk and Oi! records including bands like BLACK FLAG, BAD BRAINS, THE DAMNED, COCKNEY REJECTS ... He started his first band with three of his friends a few months later. They called themselves the JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, or JD's. They were straight ahead three-chord sloppy punk rock with such songs as "Fuck You Teacher" and "Turtle Back Graw." After the JD's, Jason formed the SYNDICATE and then went on to form the really popular local band P.M.A...[who] played mostly punk covers, but Jason soon grew tired of playing other peoples songs. So he quit and in 1988 he teamed up with his friend Fletcher to start a band who was later to be named PENNYWISE. From the start of PENNYWISE Jason wanted to make it a positive band with positive, uplifting lyrics and more melodic music...From 1988 to 1996 Jason...used his music and writing as a form of therapy to help him get over his own problems and addictions...Through 1995 and 1996, his addictions were getting the best of him and eventually they took his life... --Justin Thirsk

Nick Traina: Age 19
Link 80, Knowledge
Died 1997
He was the subject of his mother Danielle Steel's book, His Bright Light. "When Nick Traina died, he was 19 years old, just starting up a new band, and dealing with the ills of manic depression. Best known for his membership in Link 80, Traina had just formed a new band called Knowledge and had recorded a promising new demo. Signed to Asian Man Records at the time, the president of the label was to receive the tapes after Traina's death."~ http://members.tripod.com/kmon666/index-7.html "Now, the bad news = Nick Traina, the insane vocalist on this CD, sadly succumbed to a heroin addiction, and died of suicide. He was manic depressive, and the lyrics show much of it, especially on “Slap”, with 'When I was a child, my castle was my home, now I walk down empty streets, memories and me alone, it's easier to burn a bridge than to cross it, to slip, give in, give up, move on, and try to forget. More has been said in silence than could ever be spoken in words, secret's shared, and promises kept, and feelings that will never be cured.' "~ http://www.punknews.org/reviews.php?op=albumreview&id=2966

Larry Troutman, 54
Zapp
Born: Nov 29, 1951 in Hamilton, OH
Died: Apr 25, 1999 in Dayton, OH
Zapp's Roger and Larry Troutman Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide

Brothers Roger and Larry Troutman, founding members of seminal '80s funk outfit Zapp, were found dead Sunday (April 25) morning near their Dayton, Ohio recording studio in an apparent murder-suicide.

Roger Troutman, 47, was found just outside the studio with several gunshots to his torso, according to the Associated Press. He died while in surgery at the Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center.

Roger's brother Larry was found dead in a car a few blocks away with a single gunshot wound to the head. Investigators believe the wound was self-inflicted, but won't know for a few days whether a handgun found in the vehicle was the same as that responsible for Roger's death.

Roger and Larry Troutman founded Zapp in 1975, along with their brothers Lester and Terry Troutman. The group became an important part of the funk scene in the early '80s with such hit records as "More Bounce to the Ounce," "Dance Floor," and "Doo Wa Ditty."

Roger, lead singer and guitarist for the group, frequently used a vocoder voice- distortion box for his lead vocals. The group's future-funk vibe provided the transition between the sloppy grooves of Parliament in the late '70s and the early electro foundations of hip-hop in the early '80s. Later in the decade, Roger went solo and earned a crossover hit with the record "I Want To Be Your Man." He later rejoined the family group under the moniker Zapp & Roger.

After depleting a finite reserve of James Brown and George Clinton samples, hip-hop artists also took a liking to Zapp. Most recently, Roger Troutman was used by 2Pac and Dr. Dre for their 1996 award-winning collaboration "California Love." ~Jazzbo

E. William Tucker: Age 38
Ministry, Pigface,
(Died: May 14, 1999)
Longtime Ministry sideman and prolific industrial guitarist E. William Tucker killed himself at his apartment in Chicago this past Friday (May 14). He was 38. Initial reports indicate that he had taken pills and afterwards slit his own throat. His body was discovered by his roommate, along with a 10-page suicide note... ~AllStar

Carlos Vega: Age 41
James Taylor
d. April 7, 1998
Besides his drum work with Taylor over the past decade -- which included the studio releases "Never Die Young," "New Moon Shine," and "Hourglass," plus Taylor's "(Live)" album -- Vega had recorded and/or performed with Freddy Hubbard, Boz Scaggs, Lee Ritenour, Vince Gill, Reba McIntire, Olivia Newton-John (including the "Grease" soundtrack), Larry Carlton, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, and Randy Newman, according to sources. Vega was also a member of keyboardist David Garfield's fusion band Karizma...Vega, 41, died at home of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound on the eve of a scheduled April 8 appearance with Taylor on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," according to a published report.

Chuck Wagon, Age 24
The Dickies
Died 1981 - He shot himself. He was a multi-instrumentalist.
The Dickies formed after the initial punk explosion of 1977. The band comprised vocalist Leonard Graves Phillips, guitarist Stan Lee, bassist Billy Club, keyboardist Chuck Wagon, and drummer Karlos Kaballero — all of the names were assumed, of course. Two years later, the group released their debut album, The Incredible Shrinking Dickies, on A&M Records. Throughout their career, the Dickies only deviated slightly from the fast and catchy punk of their debut; their earlier records leaned toward the Californian hardcore punk that was popular at the time

Paul Williams: Age 34
The Temptations
(b. 1939, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. 17 August 1973).
Paul Williams left the group in 1971, to be replaced by another former Distant member, Richard Street; Paul Williams shot himself in 1973, after years of depression and drug abuse.

Rozz Williams: 34
Christian Death
Shadow Project
(b.1963, CA, d. 1 April 1998, CA)
CHRISTIAN DEATH's former singer Rozz Williams has committed suicide at the age of 34. Williams who was seemingly enjoying a successful solo career hanged himself in his West Hollywood appartment. His body was discovered by his room mate Ryan Gaumer. Bruce Duff of Williams' label, Triple X Records, said that the singer hadn't seemed depressed in recent days. "I saw him a week ago, I was hanging out in a club with him and he was partying and everything was fine. Most people I know were caught off guard: he didn't leave a note, I don't think there was any real warning, and you can only speculate as to why."

Wendy O. Williams: Age 48
Plasmatics
(b. 1949, d. April 7, 1998, CT, USA)
Formed in 1979 in New York City, the Plasmatics were a theatrical hardcore band which incorporated such violent acts as blowing up Cadillacs and chain sawing guitars in half into its performances. Assembled by and masterminded by former pornography entrepreneur Rod Swenson, the original personnel of the group included vocalist Wendy O. Williams, a former star of sex shows, who wore see-through lingerie, but for the most part, appeared topless with strategically-placed masking tape. After releasing two EPs on the independent Vice Squad label in 1979, the Plasmatics signed with Stiff Records in the USA and the UK, releasing NEW HOPE FOR THE WRETCHED in 1980. Williams recorded solo albums following the Plasmatics’ mid-80s break-up. Wendy shot herself in the woods by her home.

Kevin Wilkinson: Age 41
(Died. 17 July 1999)
Squeeze / Waterboys
The former Squeeze and Waterboys drummer, Kevin Wilkinson, has tragically been found hanged at his home in Wiltshire. The 41 year old musician was found at his home in Baydon, near Swindon, by his wife, Marilyn Fitzgerald, early on Sunday morning just three weeks before he was due to fly to America to play on an eight date 'comeback' tour with '80's pop star, Howard Jones. Wilkinson was also due to appear at London's Embassy Rooms on the 25th August with Jones, on their return from the States. ~ www.bigmouth.co.uk

Alan Wilson: Age 27
Canned Heat
(b. 4 July 1943, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; vocals/harmonica/guitar).
Wilson was an extraordinary harmonica player, with a fat tone and great vibrato. His work on guitar, especially in open tunings (he played on Son House's rediscovery recordings of the mid-'60s, incidentally) gave the band a depth and texture that most other rhythm players could only aspire to. The band members were rocked by the suicide of Wilson, whose body was found in Hite's backyard on 3 September 1970. Hite carried on with various reconstituted versions of the band until his death just before a show in 1981, from a heart seizure. ~AMG

Faron Young: Age 64
(Born: Feb 25, 1932 in Shreveport, LA; Died: Dec 10, 1996)
Originally known as the "Hillbilly Heartthrob" and the "Singing Sheriff," Faron Young had one of the longest-running and most popular careers in country music history. Emerging in the early '50s, Young was one of the most popular honky tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams' death, partially because he was able to smooth out some of the grittiest elements his music. At first, he balanced honky tonk with pop vocal phrasing and flourishes. This combination of grit and polish resulted in a streak of Top 10 hits — including "If You Ain't Lovin'," "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young," "Sweet Dreams" "Alone With You" and "Country Girl" — that ran throughout the '50s. During the '60s, Young gave himself over to country-pop, and while the hits weren't quite as big, they didn't stop coming until the early '80s. Through that time, he was a staple at the Grand Ole Opry and various television shows, including Nashville Now, and he also founded the major country music magazine, Music City News. Most importantly, he continued to seek out new songwriters — including Don Gibson, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson — thereby cultivating a new generation of talent. Faron Young was born and raised outside of Shreveport, Louisiana. While he was growing up on his father's dairy farm, he was given a guitar, and by the time he entered high school, he had begun singing in a country band. Following high school, he briefly attended college, before he left school to join the Louisiana Hayride as a regular performer. While on the Hayride, he met Webb Pierce and in a short time, the pair were touring throughout the south, singing as a duo in various nightclubs and honky tonks. In 1951, he recorded "Have I Waited Too Long" "Tattle Tale Tears" for the independent label Gotham. After hearing the singles, Capitol Records decided to buy Young's contract away from Gotham in 1952. That same year, he was invited to perform regularly on the Grand Ole Opry. Just as his career was taking off, Young was drafted into the Army to serve in the Korean War. Assigned to the Special Service division, he sang for the troops in Asia and appeared on recruitment shows; while on leave, he recorded his debut Capitol, "Goin' Steady." Upon its early 1953 release, it climbed to number two on the country charts and it was followed in the summer by "I Can't Wait (For the Sun to Go Down)," which hit number five. Young was discharged from the Army in November of 1954, releasing "If You Ain't Lovin," his biggest hit to date, shortly after he returned. The single was quickly followed in the spring of 1955 by "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young," which became his first number one hit, and the number two single, "All Right..." During the '90s, Young was stricken with a debilitating emphysema. Depressed by his poor health, he shot himself on December 9, 1996 and passed away the next day. Though he was under-appreciated toward the end of his career, Faron Young was a ground-breaking vocalist during the '50s, and he remains one of the finest honky tonkers of his time. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine