Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

February 19, 2009 Kelly Groucutt of Electric Light Orchestra dies of a heart attack at age 63.

February 14, 2009 Jazz drummer Louie Bellson dies at age 84 of Parkinson's disease and complications from a broken hip.

February 11, 2009 Estelle Bennett (of The Ronettes) dies of colon cancer at age 67.

February 7, 2009 Jazz singer Blossom Dearie dies in her sleep at age 84.

February 5, 2009 R&B/blues singer-songwriter Piney Brown dies at age 87.

February 4, 2009 Lux Interior (of The Cramps), real name: Erick Lee Purkhiser, dies of aortic dissection at age 62.

January 31, 2009 Dewey Martin (drummer for Buffalo Springfield) dies at age 68. The cause of death is unknown, but he had been suffering from health problems for the last few years.

January 28, 2009 Billy Powell (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Vision keyboardist) dies of a heart attack in his Orange Park, Florida home.

January 20, 2009 David "Fathead" Newman, a jazz and R&B saxophonist who played alongside Ray Charles, dies at age 75 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

January 6, 2009 Ron Asheton (guitarist for The Stooges) is found dead of an apparent heart attack in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at age 60.

January 5, 2009 Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor dies of complications from heart disease in Islandia, New York, at age 74.

December 29, 2008 Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard dies at age 70 of complications from a heart attack he suffered the month before.

December 27, 2008 Delaney Bramlett (of the '70s blues-rock duo Delaney & Bonnie) dies from complications of gall bladder surgery at age 69.

December 25, 2008 Bluesman Robert Ward dies from a culmination of health issues, including two strokes, in Dry Branch, Georgia, at age 70.

December 25, 2008 Eartha Kitt dies of colon cancer in Weston, Connecticut, at age 81.

December 7, 2008 Classics IV frontman Dennis Yost dies of respiratory failure at age 65, two years after suffering a traumatic brain injury from a fall.

December 2, 2008 Odetta Holmes, known by the mononym Odetta, dies of heart disease at age 77. The blues singer was often called "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement."

November 22, 2008 Songwriter Alan Gordon (The Turtles' "Happy Together," Three Dog Night's "Celebrate") dies of cancer at age 64.

November 12, 2008 John Ronald "Mitch" Mitchell (drummer for Jimi Hendrix) dies after years of alcohol-related health problems in Portland, Oregon, at age 61.

November 9, 2008 "Pata Pata" singer Miriam Makeba dies of a heart attack at age 76 after performing at a concert in Castel Volturno, Italy.

November 7, 2008 Rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds dies of liver cancer at age 75.

November 1, 2008 Def Jam executive Shakir Stewart dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 34.

November 1, 2008 Yma Sumac, a Peruvian soprano who rose to fame in the '50s, dies of colon cancer at age 86. The spotlight shone on her again when her song "Ataypura" was featured in the 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski.

November 1, 2008 R&B singer Nathaniel Mayer, whose first hit was 1962's "Village Of Love," dies at age 64 in Detroit, Michigan, after suffering a series of strokes.

November 1, 2008 Jimmy Carl Black (drummer, vocalist for Mothers Of Invention) dies of lung cancer at age 70.

October 24, 2008 Pianist/keyboardist Merl Saunders dies of infections caused by a stroke in San Francisco, California, at age 74.

October 18, 2008 R&B/soul singer Dee Dee Warwick dies after a long struggle with ill health in Essex County, New Jersey, at age 63. Known for the '60s hits "I Want to Be with You" and "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me."

October 17, 2008 The Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs dies at age 72.

September 20, 2008 R&B singer Nappy Brown dies of a combination of ailments in Charlotte, North Carolina, at age 78. Known for the '50s hits "Don't Be Angry" and "Night Time Is the Right Time."

September 16, 2008 Motown songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield dies from diabetic complications in Los Angeles, California, at age 68. Co-wrote the hits "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," among many others.