Music History Events: Deaths
August 11, 2011 Warrant lead singer Jani Lane dies at age 47 after a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.
August 3, 2010 Bobby Hebb ("Sunny") dies at 72.
December 28, 2009 Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan (drummer and co-lead vocalist for Avenged Sevenfold) dies from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and alcohol at age 28. The coroner also notes cardiomegaly (an enlarged heart) which may have contributed to his death.
December 25, 2009 Tony "T-Bone" Bellamy (frontman for Redbone) dies of liver failure in Las Vegas, Nevada, at age 63.
December 25, 2009 Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt dies from an overdose of muscle relaxants at age 45.
December 23, 2009 Andre Kyles aka DJ Omega Supreme (of Organized Konfusion) dies of cancer.
December 20, 2009 James Gurley (guitarist for Big Brother & the Holding Company) dies of a heart attack in Palm Desert, California, at age 69.
December 13, 2009 Big band singer Yvonne King (of The King Sisters) dies in Santa Barbara, California, at age 89.
December 2, 2009 Scottish singer-songwriter Eric Woolfson (of The Alan Parsons Project) dies of kidney cancer at age 64.
December 1, 2009 Bluegrass musician Jack Cooke (of the Clinch Mountain Boys) dies of a massive heart attack at age 72.
November 27, 2009 Pop singer Al Alberts (of The Four Aces) dies of complications from renal failure at age 87.
November 27, 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes (of the Almanac Singers) dies of a stroke at age 88.
October 13, 2009 Jazz crooner Al Martino, also known for his role as Johnny Fontane in The Godfather, dies in Springfield, Pennsylvania, at age 82.
October 12, 2009 Blue Cheer singer/bassist Dickie Peterson dies from liver cancer at the age of 63, in Erkelenz, Germany.
October 10, 2009 Pop singer Stephen Gately (of Boyzone), age 33, dies of a congenital heart defect in Majorca, Spain.
October 7, 2009 Film and TV composer Vic Mizzy, who wrote the theme songs to Green Acres and The Addams Family, dies in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, at age 93.
September 21, 2009 Sam Carr, blues drummer of the Jelly Roll Kings, dies of congestive heart failure at age 83.
September 19, 2009 Arthur Ferrante, half of the piano-playing duo Ferrante and Teicher, dies at age 88.
September 19, 2009 Roc Raida (of X-Ecutioners) dies of a heart attack at age 37, weeks after sustaining a Krav Maga-related injury.
September 16, 2009 Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul and Mary) dies of leukemia in Danbury, Connecticut, at age 72.
September 11, 2009 Punk musician Jim Carroll dies of heart attack in Manhattan, New York City, at age 60.
August 28, 2009 Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein dies of what is ruled as an accidental overdose at age 36 in his New York City apartment. This comes nearly a year after AM and his friend Travis Barker survived a fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of four others.
August 26, 2009 Hit songwriter Ellie Greenwich dies from a heart attack at age 68 after a bout of pneumonia.
August 21, 2009 Doo-wop/R&B singer Johnny Carter (of The Dells and The Flamingos) dies of lung cancer in Harvey, Illinois, at age 75.
August 20, 2009 Keyboardist/bassist Larry Knechtel (of Bread) dies of a heart attack in Yakima, Washington, at age 69.
August 15, 2009 Rock musician Jim Dickinson (frontman for Mud Boy and the Neutrons) dies after triple-bypass heart surgery in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 67.
August 13, 2009 Allen Shellenberger (drummer for Lit) dies of cancer at age 39 in Artesia, California.
August 12, 2009 Les Paul, a popular electric guitarist whose inventions and techniques were key to the development of the instrument, dies of complications from pneumonia at age 94.
August 7, 2009 Folk singer/musician Mike Seeger (of New Lost City Ramblers) dies of cancer eight days before his 76th birthday in Lexington, Virginia.
August 2, 2009 Rockabilly musician Billy Lee Riley dies of colon cancer at age 75. Known for the 1957 hit "Red Hot."
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