Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

January 14, 1676 Italian composer Francesco Cavalli dies at age 73.

November 28, 1632 Composer Jean-Baptiste Lully is born in Florence, Italy.

December 3, 1585 Choral composer Thomas Tallis dies.

February 2, 1525 Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is born in the town of Palestrina near Rome.

August 8, 2022 Olivia Newton-John dies at 73 after a long battle with breast cancer.

June 6, 2022 Jim Seals of the duo Seals & Crofts ("Summer Breeze") dies at 79.

May 26, 2022 Andy Fletcher, a founding member of Depeche Mode, dies at 60. He played keyboards in the band and also served at times as peacemaker and business manager.

May 26, 2022 Alan White, the drummer for Yes since 1972, dies at 72.

May 17, 2022 The Greek composer Vangelis, known for "Chariots Of Fire," dies at 79 from heart failure.

April 30, 2022 Country music star Naomi Judd dies by suicide at 76, one day before she's inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame with The Judds, the duo she formed with her daughter Wynonna.

March 25, 2022 Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, 50, dies in Bogotá, Colombia, while on tour with the band.

February 19, 2022 Gary Brooker, the lead singer, piano player, and songwriter for Procol Harum, dies of cancer at 76.

January 20, 2022 Meat Loaf dies at 74. His 1977 album Bat Out Of Hell is one of the best-selling albums of all time; its 1993 sequel, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, contains the #1 hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."

January 13, 2022 Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes dies of cancer at 78. The group was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007 by Keith Richards, who said they "could sing their way right through a wall of sound," referring to the dense production in hits like "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You."

August 29, 2021 Lee "Scratch" Perry, a transgressive reggae musician who produced albums for Bob Marley, The Clash, and many others, dies at 85.

August 21, 2021 Don Everly of The Everly Brothers dies of a heart attack at 84.

July 27, 2021 Dusty Hill of ZZ Top dies at 72, ending a 51-year run where the band's lineup was always Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard.

July 26, 2021 Joey Jordison, the original drummer in Slipknot dies at 46. The cause of death is not made public.

July 16, 2021 Biz Markie, the "clown prince of hip-hop," dies at 57. He's best known for his 1989 hit "Just a Friend."

May 29, 2021 B.J. Thomas dies of lung cancer at 78. His most popular song is "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," a #1 US hit in 1970 used in the movie Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.

May 4, 2021 Nick Kamen, known for the 1986 hit "Each Time You Break My Heart," dies of bone marrow cancer at his London home. He was 59.

April 9, 2021 Hardcore rapper DMX dies at age 50 a week after suffering a massive heart attack. His first five albums all went to #1 in America.

February 9, 2021 The acclaimed jazz pianist Chick Corea dies of cancer at 79.

January 16, 2021 Renowned producer Phil Spector, 81, dies after getting coronavirus in prison, where he was serving time for killing the actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

January 3, 2021 Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers dies at 78.

December 22, 2020 Mountain guitarist Leslie West dies at 75 after suffering a heart attack.

December 12, 2020 Country star Charley Pride dies at 86 after contracting coronavirus.

November 23, 2020 Country singer-songwriter Hal Ketchum dies at 67 from complications of dementia.

October 23, 2020 Country music star Jerry Jeff Walker dies from throat cancer at 78. He leaves behind a proud artistic legacy headed by his oft-covered song "Mr. Bojangles."

October 6, 2020 Van Halen leader Eddie Van Halen, widely hailed as one of the greatest guitarists who ever lived, dies of throat cancer at 65.