Music History Events: Deaths
July 23, 2009 Danny "Dirty Dan" McBride (lead guitarist for Sha Na Na) dies in his sleep at age 63.
July 17, 2009 Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon ("A World Without Love") dies of a heart attack at age 64.
July 4, 2009 Allen Klein, an influential music publisher who simultaneously managed The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, dies of respiratory failure at age 77 after years of diabetes-related complications and an Alzheimer's diagnosis.
July 4, 2009 Drake Levin (guitarist for Paul Revere and the Raiders) dies of cancer at age 62.
June 27, 2009 Soul singer Fayette Pinkney (of The Three Degrees) dies at age 61 of acute respiratory failure after a sudden illness.
June 27, 2009 Gale Storm, '50s pop singer and actress who starred in the TV shows My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show, dies at age 87.
June 27, 2009 Canadian blues musician Jackie Washington dies at age 89.
June 25, 2009 Sky Saxon (lead singer of The Seeds) dies at age 71 when an untreated infection leads to heart and renal failure.
June 22, 2009 Blues bassist Nick Holt (of The Teardrops) dies of brain cancer at age 69.
June 18, 2009 Hindustani classical musician Ali Akbar Khan dies at age 87 from renal failure.
June 14, 2009 Bob Bogle (lead guitarist, bassist for The Ventures) dies of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 75.
June 10, 2009 Barry Beckett, record producer and session musician of the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, dies in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at age 66.
June 3, 2009 Blues singer Koko Taylor, known for her popular cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle," dies of surgical complications after a procedure for gastrointestinal bleeding at age 80.
May 24, 2009 Former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett dies in his sleep from an accidental overdose of a prescription painkiller at age 45.
May 6, 2009 Donald "Ean" Evans (longtime bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd) dies of lung cancer at age 48 in Columbus, Mississippi.
April 10, 2009 Blues musician Rocky Hill dies at age 62 of undisclosed medical complications.
April 9, 2009 Philadelphia soul singer Randy Cain (of The Delfonics) dies at age 63.
April 2, 2009 Texas-born guitarist Freddie Everett dies at age 49 after a long battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
March 25, 2009 Dan Seals (of England Dan & John Ford Coley) dies of cancer at age 61.
March 24, 2009 Motown drummer Uriel Jones dies at age 74.
March 22, 2009 Folk music historian Archie Green dies at age 91.
March 20, 2009 Blues guitarist/singer Mel Brown dies of complications from emphysema at age 69.
March 18, 2009 New Orleans singer/pianist Eddie Bo dies of a heart attack at age 78.
March 17, 2009 Chicago blues harmonicist Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport dies of prostate cancer at age 77.
March 14, 2009 French singer-songwriter Alain Bashung dies of lung cancer at age 61.
March 8, 2009 Blues singer/guitarist Willie King dies of a heart attack less than two weeks before his 66th birthday.
March 8, 2009 Country singer/songwriter Hank Locklin dies at age 91.
March 7, 2009 Jimmy Boyd, known for introducing the 1953 Christmas tune "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," dies of cancer at age 70.
March 4, 2009 John Cephas of Cephas & Wiggins dies at age 78.
February 25, 2009 Memphis bluesman Mark Sallings (Mark Sallings and the Famous Unknowns) dies in a car accident in Arkansas at age 56.
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