Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

March 17, 2006 Professor X (founder of the hip-hop group X Clan) dies of complications from spinal meningitis at age 49.

March 6, 2006 New Orleans soul singer King Floyd dies from complications of stroke and diabetes at age 61.

March 6, 2006 Renown African musician Ali Farka Toure dies of bone cancer at age 66.

February 18, 2006 Bill Cowsill of The Cowsills dies at age 58.

February 17, 2006 Ray Barretto, whose 1968 album Acid became a Latin jazz classic, dies at age 76.

February 15, 2006 Anna Marly, composer of "Chant des Partisans," dies at age 88.

February 14, 2006 English pop singer Lynden David Hall dies at age 40 of complications from a stem cell treatment he received to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma.

February 10, 2006 James "Jay Dilla" Yancey dies of a heart attack at age 32, just three days after the release of his final album, Donuts.

January 19, 2006 Wilson Pickett dies of a heart attack at age 64.

December 28, 2005 Barry Cowsill (of The Cowsills) is found under a wharf in the Mississippi River. Cowsill, living in New Orleans, survived Hurricane Katrina but drowned in the flooding following the storm.

December 20, 2005 Tejano pop singer René Herrera (of René & René) dies of cancer at age 70.

December 9, 2005 Mike Botts (drummer for Bread) dies of colon cancer the day after his 61st birthday in Burbank, California.

November 20, 2005 Blues rocker Chris Whitley dies of lung cancer in Houston, Texas, at age 45.

November 5, 2005 Link Wray (of Link Wray & His Ray Men) dies of heart failure at age 76 at his home in Copenhagen, Denmark.

November 1, 2005 Skitch Henderson, original bandleader for The Tonight Show (hosted by Steve Allen) and founder of The New York Pops orchestra, dies at age 87.

October 31, 2005 En route to the next stop on their Never Sleep Again tour, the van carrying Bayside skids on a patch of ice and flips over on a highway in Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing 31-year-old drummer John "Beatz" Holohan. Most of the other band members sustain minor injuries, except for bassist Nick Ghanbarian who breaks his back when he's thrown from the vehicle.

October 20, 2005 Jazz singer/pianist Shirley Horn dies of complications from diabetes at age 71.

October 4, 2005 Michael Gibbins (drummer for Badfinger) dies in his sleep in Florida, at age 56.

August 24, 2005 Hal Kalin (of the Kalin Twins) dies after a car accident in Charles County, Maryland, at age 71.

August 21, 2005 Electronic music pioneer Robert Moog, who invented the Moog synthesizer, dies of a brain tumor in Asheville, North Carolina, at age 71.

August 16, 2005 Country/Bluegrass fiddler Vassar Clements (of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys) dies of lung cancer in Jamestown, New York, at age 77.

August 13, 2005 Francine Barker (the original Peaches of Peaches & Herb) dies after a long illness in Hyattsville, Maryland, at age 58.

August 6, 2005 Carlo Little (The Rolling Stones' original drummer) dies of lung cancer at age 66 in Cleadon, Tyne and Wear, England.

August 4, 2005 James "Little Milton" Campbell, known for blues hits such as 1969's "Grits Ain't Groceries," dies of complications following a stroke at age 70.

July 22, 2005 Eugene Record (lead singer of Chi-Lites) dies of cancer at age 64.

July 21, 2005 Blues singer Long John Baldry, a huge influence on Elton John, dies of a chest infection at age 64. Baldry had a #1 UK hit with "Let The Heartaches Begin."

July 14, 2005 Joe Harnell, a pianist and composer who worked as an accompanist and arranger for Peggy Lee and others, dies of heart failure at age 80.

July 5, 2005 Shirley Goodman (of Shirley & Lee, Shirley & Company) dies at age 69.

July 4, 2005 Rockabilly entertainer "Big" Al Downing dies of leukemia at age 65.

July 1, 2005 Luther Vandross dies at age 54 after suffering a stroke two years earlier that left him in a wheelchair.