Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

February 21, 2013 Cleotha Staples of The Staple Singers dies at age 78.

February 17, 2013 Country singer Mindy McCready dies of a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37.

February 16, 2013 Guitarist Stanley "Goober Grin" Knight (of Black Oak Arkansas) dies of cancer at age 64.

February 11, 2013 Rick Huxley (bassist for The Dave Clark Five) dies at age 72 after a long struggle with emphysema.

February 4, 2013 Reg Presley (lead singer The Troggs) dies of lung cancer, coupled with a series of strokes, at age 71.

February 4, 2013 R&B singer Darlene McCrea (of The Cookies) dies.

February 4, 2013 Jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd (of The Blackbyrds) dies at age 80.

January 30, 2013 Patty Andrews (lead singer of The Andrews Sisters) dies at age 94. She was the youngest and last surviving member of the group of singing sisters.

January 29, 2013 Kenneth Hodges (bass guitarist for Spanky & Our Gang) dies of pneumonia at age 76.

January 26, 2013 Funk guitarist Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (of The Ohio Players) dies at age 69.

January 20, 2013 Bob Engemann (of The Lettermen) dies of complications from heart bypass surgery at age 77.

January 19, 2013 Steve Knight (keyboardist for Mountain) dies of complications from Parkinson's disease in New York, at age 77.

January 11, 2013 Jimmy O'Neill, a DJ who hosted the TV show Shindig!, dies at age 73.

January 7, 2013 Seattle hip-hop artist Freddy E dies at age 22 of an apparent suicide.

January 7, 2013 R&B singer Sam Pace (of The Esquires) dies at age 68.

January 4, 2013 Sammy Johns, who wrote and recorded "Chevy Van," dies at age 66.

December 26, 2012 R&B singer Fontella Bass, known for the 1965 hit "Rescue Me," dies of complications from a heart attack at age 72.

December 21, 2012 Lee Dorman (bassist for Iron Butterfly) dies in Laguna Niguel, California, at age 70.

December 11, 2012 Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar dies during surgery for a heart valve replacement in San Diego, California, at age 92. He was survived by two daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. His son, musician Shubhendra Shankar, died in 1992.

December 5, 2012 Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dies one day before his 92nd birthday.

November 9, 2012 Soul singer Major Harris (of The Delfonics) dies of congestive heart and lung failure at age 65.

November 8, 2012 Tragedy strikes at a Linkin Park concert in Cape Town, South Africa, when high winds cause scaffolding to collapse. This sends an advertisement tower plummeting into the crowd of fans in the parking lot after the show, killing one and injuring 19 more.

October 14, 2012 B. B. Cunningham Jr., aged 70, finishes one of the most unusual lives in music history when he dies of a gunshot wound inflicted while working as a security guard at an apartment complex in Memphis, Tennessee. We mainly know Cunningham through his work with the band Hombres, who had a #12 Billboard-charting hit in 1967 with "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)." Cunningham was lead singer of Hombres and not to be confused with his brother Bill Cunningham, who was a member of The Box Tops. Cunningham rounded off his music career with work as a studio engineer, even returning to Memphis to launch his own studio. How he ended up as a 70-year-old security guard is anybody's guess.

September 11, 2012 Johnny Perez (drummer, songwriter for the Sir Douglas Quintet) dies at age 69 of complications from cirrhosis of the liver.

September 5, 2012 Joe South, whose songs include "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" (Lynn Anderson) and "Hush" (Deep Purple), dies of heart failure at 72.

September 1, 2012 Lyricist Hal David dies of a stroke in Los Angeles, California, at age 91. Known for collaborations with Burt Bacharach, including "What the World Needs Now is Love" (1965) and "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (1969).

August 31, 2012 Entertainer Max Bygraves dies after a battle with Alzheimer's disease in Hope Island, Queensland, Australia, at age 89.

August 18, 2012 Pop singer-songwriter Scott McKenzie dies at age 73 in Los Angeles, California, after a two-year struggle with Guillain-Barre syndrome.

August 6, 2012 Composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch dies from complications after a kidney transplant at age 68 in Los Angeles, California. He wrote the music for "The Way We Were."

August 4, 2012 Electric blues guitarist Johnnie Bassett dies of cancer at age 76.