Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

September 3, 1970 Canned Heat frontman Alan Wilson commits suicide at age 27 via barbiturate overdose. A litany of other rock artists soon die at the same age, including Jimi Hendrix two weeks later.

June 10, 1970 Earl Grant, a pop singer known for hits like "Ebb Tide" throughout the '50s and '60s, dies in a car accident in Lordsburg, New Mexico, at age 39.

April 24, 1970 Chicago blues pianist Otis Spann dies at age 40 of liver cancer. His grave will go unmarked for nearly 30 years until blues enthusiasts unite to raise money for a headstone. Unveiled in 1999, it reads: "Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard – He'll play forever in our hearts."

April 21, 1970 Chicago blues guitarist Earl Hooker dies of tuberculosis at age 41.

March 16, 1970 Mary Ann Ganser (of The Shangri-Las) dies of a barbiturates overdose at age 22.

March 16, 1970 Motown singer Tammi Terrell, known for a string of hit duets with Marvin Gaye, dies of a brain tumor at age 24.

January 31, 1970 Slim Harpo, a blues singer who was an influence on The Rolling Stones and many other acts, dies at age 46.

January 24, 1970 Doo-wop singer James "Shep" Sheppard (of Shep & the Limelites, The Heartbeats), age 35, is found dead in his car along the Long Island Expressway, the victim of an apparent robbery.

January 17, 1970 R&B singer Billy Stewart dies in a car accident in North Carolina at age 32.

December 1, 1969 Chicago bluesman Magic Sam, born Samuel Gene Maghett, dies suddenly of a heart attack at age 32. Known for "All Your Love," "Easy Baby" and "Feelin' Good (We're Gonna Boogie)."

November 4, 1969 Ivory "Deek" Watson (tenor singer of the vocal group The Ink Spots) dies of a stroke at age 60.

October 22, 1969 R&B singer/songwriter Tommy Edwards dies in Henrico County, Virginia, at age 47.

October 16, 1969 Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records, dies from a heart attack at age 52.

September 5, 1969 Country blues singer Josh White dies during a surgery to replace heart valves in Manhasset, New York, at age 55. Known for the 1944 hit "One Meat Ball."

July 20, 1969 R&B singer Roy Hamilton, who sang a popular cover of "Unchained Melody" in 1955, dies shortly after suffering a stroke at age 40.

June 29, 1969 Soul singer Shorty Long, known for the 1968 hit "Here Comes The Judge," age 29, drowns along with his friend when their boat capsizes on the Detroit River in Michigan.

June 14, 1969 Blues singer Wynonie Harris, known for ribald tunes like "I Like My Baby's Pudding" (1950), dies of esophageal cancer at age 53.

May 12, 1969 Martin Lamble, drummer for Fairport Convention, dies at age 19 when the band's van crashes on the way home from a gig in Birmingham, England. Bandmate Richard Thompson's girlfriend, Jeannie Franklyn, is also killed.

May 6, 1969 Jamaican ska trombonist Don Drummond (The Skatalites) dies at age 37 at Bellevue Asylum in Kingston, Jamaica, where he was institutionalized after murdering his girlfriend in 1965. The official cause of death is "natural causes," but plenty of theories arise suggesting he was murdered either by gangsters or a music-hating government.

April 20, 1969 Benny Benjamin aka "Papa Zita" (drummer for The Funk Brothers) dies of a stroke at age 43.

November 21, 1968 With girlfriend Yoko Ono about to miscarry their first son, John Ono Lennon II, John Lennon asks for a tape recorder to be brought to the hospital so that he can record the baby's dying heartbeat. Later that day, Yoko miscarries; the baby is buried in a secret location and the recording appears on the duo's album Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With The Lions as a track called "Baby's Heartbeat," followed by "Two Minutes Silence" for his death.

October 30, 1968 Malcolm Hale (lead guitarist for Spanky & Our Gang) dies of pneumonia at age 27.

September 28, 1968 Dewey Phillips, the Memphis DJ who was the first to play an Elvis Presley record on the radio, dies of heart failure at age 42.

September 14, 1968 Roy Orbison loses two of his three sons - Roy Jr. (age 10) and Tony (age 6) - when his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, burns down. Orbison was on tour in Europe at the time.

August 13, 1968 Soul singer Joe Hinton dies of skin cancer at age 38 in Boston, Massachusetts. Known for the popular cover "Funny How Time Flies Slips Away," written by Willie Nelson.

August 5, 1968 Guitarist Luther Perkins, a member of Johnny Cash's backing band, dies two days after being trapped in a house fire in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at age 40.

July 24, 1968 Jimmy Drake, known as Nervous Norvus, dies from cirrhosis of the liver at age 56.

May 26, 1968 Little Willie John, known for '50s and '60s R&B hits like "Need Your Love So Bad" and "Fever," dies of a heart attack at age 30 while serving a sentence for manslaughter at Washington State Penitentiary. He was imprisoned in 1966 as a result of a fatal knifing incident after a performance in Seattle.

May 8, 1968 George Dewey Hay, founder of Nashville's Grande Ole Opry radio program, dies at age 72.

March 5, 1968 Syd Nathan, the record executive who founded King Records and launched James Brown's career, dies of heart disease at age 63.