Music History Events: Deaths
November 8, 1999 Jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie dies of liver cancer at age 58.
October 27, 1999 Frank De Vol - known for his '40s arrangements, namely "Nature Boy," and compositions of TV themes for The Brady Bunch and My Three Sons - dies of congestive heart failure in Lafayette, California, at age 88.
October 26, 1999 Country singer Hoyt Axton, who wrote the Three Dog Night hit "Joy to the World," dies of a heart attack at age 61.
October 26, 1999 German singer Rex Gildo dies at age 63, three days after jumping from the window of his apartment.
October 17, 1999 Steel guitarist Tommy Durden, who co-wrote Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," dies at age 79.
October 16, 1999 Pop singer Ella Mae Morse dies of respiratory problems in Bullhead City, Arizona, at age 75. Known for '40s hits like "Shoo-Shoo Baby" and "Blacksmith Blues."
October 15, 1999 Folk singer/songwriter Terry Gilkyson (of The Easy Riders) dies from complications of an aneurysm in Austin, Texas, at age 83. Known for the 1957 hit "Marianne."
October 12, 1999 Frank Frost, Delta blues harmonica player, dies of a cardiac arrest in Helena, Arkansas, at age 63.
October 9, 1999 Jazz vibraphonist Milt "Bags" Jackson dies in Teaneck, New Jersey, at age 76. Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie discovered him in 1946 when he hired him for his sextet.
October 6, 1999 Portuguese singer/actress Amalia Rodrigues dies in Lisbon, Portugal, at age 79.
October 4, 1999 Jazz trumpeter Art Farmer dies of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York, at age 71.
September 17, 1999 Traditional pop singer Frankie Vaughan dies of heart failure in Oxford, England, at age 71.
July 29, 1999 Anita Carter (of The Carter Family) dies at age 66 after years of drug treatment for rheumatoid arthritis irreparably damages her liver, kidneys, and pancreas.
July 27, 1999 Jazz trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison (of Count Basie's orchestra) dies in Columbus, Ohio, at age 83.
July 11, 1999 Singer Helen Forrest dies of heart failure at 82.
July 1, 1999 Guy Mitchell, '50s pop singer and TV host, dies of complications from cancer surgery at age 72.
June 17, 1999 Suffering from depression, Screaming Lord Sutch commits suicide at age 58. The singer, who also founded the UK political party Official Monster Raving Loony Party, worked with several artists, including Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck.
June 2, 1999 Junior Braithwaite (of Bob Marley's Wailers) is gunned down in front of a fellow musician's home in Kingston, Jamaica. Junior, age 47, is the third Wailer to be murdered, following Peter Tosh and Carlton Barrett's 1987 deaths.
May 18, 1999 Jamaican record producer Augustus Pablo, known for his influential 1976 album King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, dies at age 44 of a collapsed lung.
May 8, 1999 Jazz singer Leon Thomas dies of heart failure at age 62.
April 30, 1999 Darrell Sweet (drummer for Nazareth) dies of a heart attack at age 51 while on tour promoting the band's Boogaloo album.
April 27, 1999 Jazz trumpeter Al Hirt dies at age 76 of liver failure.
April 26, 1999 English post-punk rocker Adrian Borland (The Sound, The Outsiders) commits suicide at age 41 by throwing himself under a train at London's Wimbledon Station.
April 25, 1999 Funk percussionist Larry Troutman (of Zapp), age 54, fatally shoots his brother and bandmate Roger Troutman, age 47, outside a recording studio in Dayton, Ohio, before turning the gun on himself. With no known witnesses, the motive for the murder-suicide is unclear, but family members suggest conflict over finances.
April 16, 1999 Skip Spence of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape dies of lung cancer two days before his 53rd birthday.
April 14, 1999 Anthony Newley - British actor and singer-songwriter - dies at age 67 of renal cancer. In addition to his numerous Top 40 hits on the UK chart in the early-'60s, Newley, along with his songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse, earned an Academy Award nomination for the film score to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
April 12, 1999 Country singer Boxcar Willie dies of leukemia at age 67 in Branson, Missouri.
April 1, 1999 "Shake, Rattle And Roll" composer Jesse Stone, aka Charles Calhoun, dies at age 97 in Alamonte Springs, Florida.
March 29, 1999 Jazz singer Joe Williams dies at age 80.
March 28, 1999 Rapper Freaky Tah (of Lost Boyz) is fatally shot by Kelvin Jones, a member of the fledgling New York-based rap group The Hellraisers. Freaky Tah, real name Raymond Rogers, is just 27 years old.
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