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Popular DeathsList of Famous Dead People: Category - Music
Asheton was the guitarist and co-songwriter with Iggy Pop for the band The Stooges. He held that role for their first two albums, and later appeared as the bassist for their third, Raw Power. Separate from The Stooges, Ashetom also played roles in other bands such as The New Order, Destroy All Monsters, New Race, and [...]
Kitt was an actress, singer and cabaret star. She is probably best known for her 1953 Christmas song “Santa Baby”. In the 1960s she replaced Julie Newmar in the role of Catwoman for the third and final season of the Batman TV series.
She was an African-American songwriter, guitarist, actress, singer, and most notable a civil rights activist. She is often referred to as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”. Her style of music was mainly American folk music, jazz, blues and spiritual songs. It’s been noted that her style influenced Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan. Dylan [...]
Laboa was a singer songwriter from Pasaia, Basque Country, Spain.
Higuchi was the drummer for Japanese heavy metal band, Loudness. From an early age Higuchi was considered an enormous talent. During his high school years he played in a total of seven bands, but wasn’t satisfied with this. He wanted to focus all of his time and love of music on one band. Higuchi formed the band [...]
Lee was a drummer who recorded and toured with both Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Along with the famous twosome he also played with The Cult, Echo &The Bunnymen, and the reincarnation of Thin Lizzy. Lee was known for his John Bonham-esque drum set, which included an oversized bass drum (26” in diameter), and his 14” x [...]
MacLean was the former bassist for the multi-platinum selling band Platinum Blonde. MacLean joined the group in 1985, shortly before the release of their second album, Alien Shores. The album went quintuple platinum; some of the hits were “Crying Over You”, “Situation Critical”, “Somebody Somewhere”, and “Hungry Eyes”.
Breed was a Flint, Michigan-based rapper who is best known for “Aint No Future in Yo Frontin”, and “Gotta Get Mine” which also featured 2Pac. His biggest selling album was 1994’s Funkafied, which peaked at #106 on the Billboard Hot 200. Breed never fully broke into the mainstream, although he did sustain a very long career, which [...]
Mitchell was the drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He was praised for his work on songs such as “Voodoo Child”, “Third Stone from the Sun”, “Fire”, and “Manic Depression”. Mitchell came from a jazz background and was influenced by some of the greats; Elvin Jones, Joe Morello, and Max Roach. His stint with the legendary trio [...]
Goodspeed was a former contest on the hugely popular show American Idol. She auditioned for season five in 2005, and was closely followed by the producers. Even though she had no singing ability, she gained semi-stardom through Youtube. Goodspeed claimed that her audition videos had been seen over a million times. Goodspeed didn’t hide the fact that [...]
Miriam Makeba was a Grammy-winning singer from South Africa, who was often known by the nickname Mama Afrika. She was married to a Black Panther leader, and was vocally anti-apartheid. She even had her citizenship revoked for 30 years because of that. She had a wide discography spanning from 1960 to her last recording in 2006.
Stevie Ray Vaughan is considered by many to be one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived. He played a brand of blues-rock that is often imitated, and Vaughan’s songs still get heavy radio airplay to this day. He battled drug and alcohol problems, but as many rock stars would meet their demise from these, [...]
Moore was a comedian, musician, actor, and producer. He is commonly remembered for his role of Dolemite the pimp in the film Dolemite, and it’s sequel The Human Tornando. Moore released numerous comedy albums during the 60’s & 70’s. He developed a style that was said to be much more rude and crude than Redd Foxx [...]
Warwick was a soul singer who is best known for her string of hits during the 1960s which include “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”. Warwick is also a two-time Grammy nominee for “She Didn’t Know” and “Foolish Fool”. Following in the footsteps of her older sister (Dionne) she changed her name from Warrick to Warwick.
Stubbs was a baritone singer who is best known for being the lead vocalist of the Motown R&B supergroup The Four Tops. The Four Tops began as a small “supper-club” act but eventually signed with Motown Records in 1963. By the end of the 1960’s The Four Tops had over a dozen hits to their name some [...]
Bradley Anne Stewart (aka Gidget Gein) was best known as the second bass player for controversial musical act Marilyn Manson (called Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids when Gein joined). His stage name - Gidget Gein, was derived from television character Gidget, and serial killer Ed Gein. This was the same concept used by all [...]
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American songwriter, electric guitarist, and record producer. He played with the band the Mothers of Invention before going on to a solo career that earned him cult status. He eventually got into filmmaking as well.
Brown was a blues singer who was heavily influenced by gospel music. He had a very distinctive sound, as he used a wide vibrato, melisma, and extra syllables when he sang. Some of his hits included “Don’t Be Angry, and “Night Time Is the Right Time”.
Whitfield was a producer and songwriter, and well known for his work with Berry Gordy’s Motown label. Whitfield is often credited with being one of the creators of the “Motown Sound”, as well as one of the key figures in the sub-genre of psychedelic soul. Some of his songwriting and production highlights included… * 1963: “Pride & Joy” [...]
Wright was a self-taught keyboardist and pianist, but will forever be remembered for his long career with Pink Floyd. His multilayered, often called richly textured, sound was a vital ingredient in the distinctive sound that was Pink Floyd. Though he was not known for his songwriting ability like his band mates Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and [...]
Wooley was a character actor and singer songwriter. He is best known for this 1958 novelty hit “Purple People Eater”. Wooley appeared in numerous shows from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, most notably of which was the western High Noon. He also appeared in The Outlaw Josey Wales and Giant. He co-starred with Pete Nolan in [...]
Rawls was a jazz, soul, and blues singer and is known for his “silky” voice. Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had “the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game”. Rawls released more than 70 albums over his career, and sold more than 40 million records. Some of his Billboard Top 50 hit singles included: * [...]
Nowell was the lead singer and guitarist for the popular ska punk band Sublime. Nowell, bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh founded sublime in 1988; they met while attending Cal State Long Beach. They eventually became one of the most famous bands in Southern California, and were the number one band on campus. They often [...]
Roy Kelton Orbison was a singer/songwriter and guitarist. Some of his most popular songs include: “Only the Lonely”, “Ooby Dooby”, “In Dreams”, “Oh, Pretty Woman”, and “You Got It”. He was considered a pioneer of rock and roll music, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In ‘89 after his [...]
Stephen Maynard Clark was one of the guitar players, and founding members of the rock band Def Leppard. He was featured on the groups earlier more hard rock-oriented albums “On Through the Night”, “High and Dry”, and “Pyromania”, as well as the softer edged “Hysteria” that propelled the band to the height of its success. He [...]
Reed was a country music singer and actor. He received the Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1972 for his song “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot. He also recorded the theme song for the first Smokey and the Bandit movie and played “Snowman”, Cletus Snow. He is probably commonly known as Coach Red Beaulieu in the comedy [...]
Janis Joplin was a singer/songwriter from Texas who sang for the band Big Brother and the Holding Company before going on the solo route. Her biggest hits were “Piece of My Heart” (with Big Brother and the Holding Company) and “Me and Bobby McGee” (a cover of a Kris Kristofferson song).
Andre Young was not so much famous himself, as he had a famous father (pictured). His dad being Andre Young Sr. (aka: Dr. Dre), who is a rap artists and producer who was once in the group World Class Wrecking Crew, then moved on to the notroious N.W.A., which he co-founded with the late Eazy-E, [...]
James Joseph Croce was from Philadelphia, and played in a lot of bands, including one with his wife before finding his true success. Unfortunately his greatest success, of 4 hits didn’t come until after he had died. Before his demise, his biggest hit was Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.
Moore was a saxophonist, and a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band. Moore is credited for arranging most of the songs that Dave Matthews wrote for the band. He studied tenor saxophone at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. After college he became an accomplished jazz musician in Charlottesville, Virginia (playing with artists like Dawn [...]