a Phil Brodie Band Info Page
"Births & Deaths"
These birthdates and death dates are unique to this site,
I have been working on them for over 6 years now.
PLEASE give credit or link if copied
PAGES UPDATED DAILY
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JUNE: Charts ~ JUNE: On This Day ~ JUNE: Quiz
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JUNE
SADLY DEPARTED + TRIBUTES
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RESPECT - OBITUARIES
2010 .. 2009 .. 2008 .. 2007 .. 2006 .. 2005 .. 2004 .. REQUESTS
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MORE BIRTHDATES & PASSINGS
January . February . March . April . May . June . July
August . September . October . November . December
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JUNE BIRTHDAYS

June 1st
1988: Nami Tamaki (Japanese pop singer).
1981: Brandi Carlile (American singer and songwriter).
1974: Alanis Morissette (Canadian singer; songwriter).
1972: Dre/Krazy Drayz/Andre Weston (UShip-hop, rapper; Das EFX).
1971: Mario Cimarro (Cuban actor and singer).
1971: Roldán González (Cuban singer).
1969: René Liu (Taiwanese actress and singer).
1969: Damon Minchella (English bassist; Ocean Colour Scene/supergroup The Players).
1968: Jason Donovan (Australian singer; actor).
1967: Roger Sanchez/Funk Junkeez/S-Men (American DJ, producer).
1963: Mike Joyce (UK drummer, Smiths/Love Exchange/Adult Net/freelance).
1962: Jan De Haas (Belgian vibraphonist).
1960: Simon Gallup (UK bassist, keyboards; The Cure).
1959: Alan Wilder (UK vocals,keyboards, composer, arranger, record producer; Depeche Mode/Recoil).
1958: Barry Adamson (UK bassist; Visage, Magazine, The Bad Seeds, Pan Sonic).
1955: Ralph Morse (UK actor, singer and writer of historical dramas).
1953: Ronnie Dunn (US guitarist, country singer-songwriter; Brooks & Dunn).
1952: John Ellis (UK guitarist; Vibrators/The Stranglers).
1950: Graham Russell (UK guitarist, vocals;Air Supply).
1950: 'Charlene' Marilynn D'Angelo (US singer).
1950: Tom Robinson (UK singer, songwriter, broadcaster; Cafe Society/own band).
1950: Wayne Nelson (American singer, bassist; Little River Band).
1947: Ronnie Wood (UK guitarist; Rolling Stones/Jeff Beck Group/The Creation/Faces).
1945: Frederica von Stade (American mezzo-soprano).
1945: Linda Scott (American singer).
1934: Pat Boone (US Singer).
1924: Hal McKusick (US jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist).
1921: Nelson Riddle (US trombone player, orchestra leader)*06.Oct.1985.

June 2nd
1987: Darin Zanyar (Swedish pop singer).
1985: Ana Cristina (Cuban American singer,composer, actress).
1983: Brooke White (American singer).
1983: Leela James (American singer-songwriter).
1981: Tucker Rountree (American guitarist and composer).
1980: Orish Grinstead (Irish American R&B singer; 702)*20.April.2008.
1980: Fabrizio Moreti (drummer; The Strokes).
1976: Tim Rice-Oxley (UK piano, bass,backing vocals; Keane).
1970: Louis Freese/B-Real (US rapper; Cypress Hill).
1970: Dominic Greensmith (drums; Reef/Kubb).
1966: Pedro Guerra (Spanish songwriter, singer).
1965: Jeremy Cunningham (UK bassist, Levellers).
1962: Ian Shaw (Welsh jazz singer, record producer, former comedian).
1962: Thor Eldon Jonsson (Icelandic guitar; The Sugarcubes).
1961: Dez Cadena (US singer, guitarist; Black Flag/Misfits/Osaka Popstar/others).
1960: Tony Hadley (UK vocals, synthesizer; Spandau Ballet/solo/freelance).
1959: Lydia Lunch/Lydia Koch (American singer).
1955: Michael Steele/Susan Thomas (US bassist, vocals, songwriter; Bangles).
1952: Pete Farndon (bass player, Pretenders)*14.April.1983
1949: Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. (US singer, songwriter, composer).
1947: Antone 'Chubby' Tavares (US lead singer; Tavares).
1947: Mark Elder (British opera and symphony conductor).
1946: Song Dae Kwan (Korean singer).
1944: Marvin Hamlisch (US pianist, composer).
1943: Ilaiyaraaja (Indian composer).
1941: Irène Schweizer (Swiss jazz pianist).
1941: Charlie Watts (UK drums, Rolling Stones).
1941: William Guest (US singer; Gladys Knight and the Pips).
1937: Jimmy Jones (African American singer/songwriter).
1937: Pierre Favre (Swiss jazz percussionist, drummer).
1936: Otis Williams (US singer, NOT of the Temptations; Otis Williams & His Charms).
1934: Johnny Carter (US doo-wop/R&B singer; The Flamingos/The Dells)*21.Aug.2009.
1932: Sammy Turner (American singer).
1924: Maurice Kinn (launched The New Musical Express in 1953)*03.Aug.2000.
1921: Marty Napoleon (US jazz pianist; Louis Armstrong's All Stars/sessionist).
1913: Walter Andreas Schwarz (German singer, author)*01.April.1992
1904: Valaida Snow (US trumpeter, vocalist)*May 30, 1956.
1902: Rosa Rio (American organist; silent movies/theatres/radio/TV)*13.May.2010.

June 3rd
1987: Lalaine/Lalaine Ann Vergara-Paras (US actress, singer, spokesperson).
1982: Dihan Slabbert (South African singer, composer; Hi-5 / solo).
1978: Lyfe Jennings/Chester Jennings (US R&B singer, song-writer, multi-musician).
1976: Yuri Ruley (US drummer; MxPx).
1974: Kelly Jones (Welsh vocalist, guitar; Stereophonics).
1971: Ariel Hernandez (US vocalist in the trio No Mercy).
1971: Gabriel Hernandez (US vocalist in the trio No Mercy).
1970: Peter Tägtgren (Swedish singer, guitar, drums, multi-muso, producer; Abyss/Hypocrisy/Pain).
1970: Esther Hart (Dutch singer; Song for Europe contestant).
1969: Takako Minekawa (Japanese singer, multi-musician; Fancy Face Groovy Name/solo).
1969: Hiroyuki Takami (Japanese singer; AXS).
1968: Jamie O'Neal/Jamie Murphy (American/Australian singer).
1965: Mike Gordon (US bass player, vocalist, multi-muso; Phish/Grappa Boom/solo band).
1965: Jeff Blumenkrantz (US musical theatre composer-lyricist, actor).
1968: Saffron/Samantha Sprackling (Nigerian vocalist; Republica/freelance).
1964: Kerry King (US thrash metal guitarist, songwriter; Slayer/freelance).
1962: David Cole (vocals, rapper, mixer, producer; C+C Music Factory)*24.Jan.1995.
1956: Danny Wilde (singer, songwriter; The Rembrandts).
1954: Dan Hill (Canadian singer, songwriter, guitar).
1952: Billy Powell (US keyboardist; Vision/Lynyrd Skynyrd)*28.Jan.2009.
1950: Deniece Williams (US singer).
1950: Suzi Quatro (US bassist, singer).
1950: Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums; Curved Air/Kiki Dee's band).
1948: Carlos Franzetti (Argentinian pianist).
1947: Dave Alexander (US bass player; Stooges)*10.Feb.1975.
1947: Mickey Finn (UK percussion; T Rex/Tyrannosaurus Rex)*11.Jan.2003.
1946: Eddie Holman (US singer).
1946: Michael Clarke/Michael James Dick (US drummer; Byrds/Firefall/Byrds Celebration)*19.Dec.1993.
1944: Jack Wilkins (US jazz guitarist).
1942: Curtis Mayfield (US singer, songwriter; Impressions)*26.Dec.1999.
1939: Ian Hunter/Ian Hunter Patterson (UK vocals, guitar, keyboards; Apex Group/Mott the Hoople/solo).
1935: Theodore "Ted" Curson (US jazz trumpeter).
1930: Dakota Staton/Aliyah Rabia (American jazz singer)*10.April.2007.
1927: Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (US saxophonist)*03.July.2007
1924: Jimmy Rogers (US blues guitarist; Muddy Waters/Howlin' Wolf/solo band)*19.Dec.1997
1923: Phil Nimmons (Canadian arranger, bandleader, clarinetist, composer).
1904: Jan Peerce (US operatic tenor and father of film director Larry Peerce)*15.Dec.1984.
1888: Red Brown/Tom Brown (New Orleans dixieland jazz trombonist)*25.March.1958.

June 4th
1992: Dino Jelusic (Croatian singer-songwriter, keyboard).
1987: Mollie King (UK singer, actress; The Saturdays).
1986: Micky/Park Yoochun (South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter; TVXQ).
1984: Rainie Yang (Taiwanese singer and actress).
1982: MC Jin/Jin Au-Yeung (Chinesse-American rapper).
1980: Alicja Janosz (Polish singer).
1974: Stefan Lessard (US bassist, Dave Matthews Band).
1972: Domenica "Nikka" Costa (American singer).
1971: Shoji Meguro (Japanese composer).
1970: Richie Hawtin (UK-Canadian electronic musician, international-touring DJ).
1970: David Pybus (UK bassist; Darkened/Dreambreed).
1968: Al B. Sure/Albert Joseph Brown III (US R&B singer).
1966: Cecilia Bartoli (Italian mezzo-soprano).
1964: Eva Fampas (Greek guitarist).
1964: Chris Kavanagh (UK drums; Sigue Sigu Sputnik, Big Audio Dynamite).
1962: Winard Harper (US drummer, Winard Harper Quintet, sessionist).
1962: John P. Kee (US Gospel singer; NLCC).
1961: El DeBarge/Eldra Patrick DeBarge (US R&B, soul falsetto singer; Debarge/solo).
1960: Fred Thelonious Baker (UK bassist; In Cahoots/Pip Pyle's Bash).
1958: Selwyn 'Bumbo' Brown (UK vocalist, keyboards; Steel Pulse).
1957: Steve Grimes (UK rhythm guitarist, The Farm).
1956: Gerry Ryan (Irish disc jockey and radio-television presenter)*30.April.2010.
1953: Paul Samson/Paul Sanson (UK guitarist; Samson)*09.Aug.2002.
1953: Jimmy McCulloch (Scottish guitarist; Stone the Crows/Wings/Thunderclap Newman)*27.Sept.1979.
1950: Dagmar Krause (German singer; solo/Slapp Happy/Henry Cow/Art Bears).
1948: Paquito D'River (Cuban Grammy-winning jazz & classical saxophonist, clarinetist).
1945: Gordon Trueman Riviere Waller (Scottish singer, songwriter, guitar; Peter & Gordon/solo)*17.July.2007.
1945: Anthony Braxton (US composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist).
1944: Roger Ball (US keyboardist, saxophone; Average White Band).
1944: Michelle Phillips (US singer; Mamas & The Papas).
1940: Cliff Bennett (UK singer; Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers).
1937: Freddy Fender/Baldemar Huerta (US singer,guitar;Los Super7/TexasTornados)*14.Oct.2006.
1930: Morgana King/Maria Grazia Morgana Messina DeBerardinis (US jazz singer).
1929: Andor Kovacs (Hungarian guitarist).
1920: Britt Woodman (US jazz trombonist; Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus)*13.Oct.2000.
1932: Oliver Nelson (US arranger, composer, jazz saxophonist)*28.Oct.1975.
1932: Pete Jolly/Peter Ceragioli Jr (US jazz keyboardist, accordionist, pianist)*11.Nov.2004
1917: Robert Merrill (American operatic baritone )*23.Oct.2004.
1894: Madame Bolduc/Mary Rose-Anna Travers (French Canadian singer)*20.Feb.1941

June 5th
1981: Sebastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitar, vocals; Simple Plan).
1974: P-Nut/Aaron Charles Wills (bassist, violin, vocals; 311).
1973: Dominic Brian Chad (lead guitarist, piano, backing vocals; Mansun/sessionist).
1971: Mark Wahlberg aka Marky Mark (singer, actor; New Kids on the Block).
1970: Claus Norreen (keyboards; Danish-Norwegian pop group Aqua).
1969: Brian McKnight (US singer).
1966: Gary Newby (guitar, Railway Children).
1965: Stefan Schönfeldt (Swedish guitarist; Wannadies).
1964: Karl Sanders (US guitarist, vocalist, founding member; Nile).
1964: Maggie Dunne (UK bassist, keyboards; We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It = Fuzzbox).
1957: John Fumo (US flugelhornist, trumpeter; sessionist/freelance).
1956: Richard Butler (vocals, Psychedelic Furs).
1956: Kenny G/Kenneth Gorelick [soprano saxophone, multi-reed player, Solo/Session/Guest).
1955: Polo Montañez (Cuban singer and songwriter)*26.Nov.2002.
1955: Erica Lindsay (US saxophone player, composer).
1954: Pete Erskine (drummer, percussion; Stan Kenton Orchestra/Weather Report/freelance).
1952: Michael 'Nicko' McBrain (drums;Iron Maiden/7x70).
1949: Jerry Gonzalez (US latino jazz percussionist, trumpeter).
1948: Frank Esler-Smith (keyboards, Air Supply)??
1947: Tom Evans (UK bassist, guitar, vocals; Badfinger)*19.Nov.1983.
1947: Laurie Anderson (US singer, violin; solo/freelance).
1946: Freddie Stone/Frederick Stewart (guitar, vocals; Sly & The Family Stone).
1937: Floyd Butler (US vocalist; Fifth Dimension/Friends Of Distinction)*29.April.1990.
1935: Misha Mengelberg (Ukranian classical and jazz pianist; ICP Orchestra/other projects).
1932: Pete Jolly/Peter Ceragioli Jr (US jazz keyboards, accordionist, pianist)*11.Nov.2004.
1925: Bill Hayes (actor, singer; solo/Broadway star).
1922: Gordoan 'Specs' Powell (US jazz drummer, Ed Sullivan Band/freelance)*15.Sept.2007.
1876: Tony Jackson (US ragtime jazz pianist)*20.Apr.1921.

June 6th
1980: Peter Mosely (vocals, bass, piano; Yellowcard).
1977: Camu Tao/Tero Smith (American rapper and producer)*25.May.2008.
1974: Uncle Kracker/Matthew Shafer (US rock, country, rap-rock singer).
1970: James Shaffer (guitar;Korn).
1965: David White (guitarist, vocalist; Brother Beyond).
1964: Jay Bentley (bassist; Bad Religion).
1961: Tom Araya (Chilian vocals, bass; Slayer).
1961: Dee C. Lee/Diane Catherine Sealey (singer, backing singer; Wham!/Style Council).
1960: Steve Vai (guitarist; Frank Zappa/David Lee Roth/Whitesnake/solo/freelance).
1959: Robert Hodgens (guitar, vocals;Bluebells).
1955: Michael Wallace (keyboards; Third World)?
1949: Paul Lovens (German drummer, percussionist; sessionist/freelance).
1944: Monty Alexander (Jamaican pianist; sessionist/freelance).
1944: Peter Albin (bassist; Big Brother & the Holding Company).
1944: Edgar Froese (keyboards, guitar; Tangerine Dream).
1943: Joe Stampley (US truck-song and country singer).
1942: Howie Kane/Howie Kirschenbaum [singer; Jay and the Americans)?
1939: Gary "U.S." Bonds (US rhythm n blues, rock n roll singer).
1939: Richard "Popcorn" Wylie (US pianist, producer, band director, songwriter)*04 or 05.Sept.2008.
1936: Levi Stubbs/Levi Stubbles (US lead vocals; Four Tops)*17.Oct.2008.
1936: Raful Neal (blues singer, guitar, harmonica, composer)*Sept.01.2004
1930: S.P. Leary (Texan Blues drummer; Muddy Waters/Howling Wolf/many more)*26.Jan.1998.
1927: Leonard Walter "Lennie" Bush (English jazz double-bassist)*15.June.2004.

June 7th
1985: Charlie Simpson (UK guitarist, vocals; Busted).
1974: T-Low/Terry Brown (R & B artist; Next)?
1969: Liam "Skin" Tyson (guitarist, Cast)?
1967: Dave Navarro (guitar; Camp Freddy/Panic Channel/Red Hot Chili Peppers/Jane's Addiction).
1966: Eric Kretz (drums, Stone Temple Pilots/Talkshow/Spiralarms).
1964: Ecstacy/John Fletcher (member of the hip-hop group Whodini)?
1958: Prince/Prince Rogers Nelson (US singer, guitarist, songwriter).
1957: Paddy McAloon (guitar, vocals; Prefab Sprout).
1953: Gentleman Jeff Graboski/Spink (drummer; Little Hans/OHO)*18.Sept.1987.
1952: Royce Campbell (US jazz guitarist, composer, record producer).
1947: Melanie Martin (US flautist, saxophonist).
1946: Micky Jones (UK singer, guitarist; Bystanders/Man/many projects)*10.March.2010.
1944: Clarence White/Clarence LeBlanc (US vocalist, guitar; Byrds/Kentucky Colonels)*14.July.1973.
1940: Tom Jones (Welsh singer).
1932: Harold "Tina" Floyd Brooks (US tenor saxophonist)*13.Aug.1974.
1930: Walter Alfaiate (Brazilian samba composer, vocalist)*27.Feb.2010
1928: Charles Strouse (US composer).
1917: Dean Martin (US actor, singer)*Dec.25.1995.

June 8th
1985: Jamie Shaw (UK vocals, One True Voice)?
1981: Alex Band (US singer;The Calling/solo).
1978: Brian Redman (US bass player, singer;Trial/3 Inches of Blood/Dirty Knockers)*27.Sept.2009.
1977: Kayne West (US rapper, producer).
1971: Jef Streatfield (guitar; Wildhearts)?
1970: David King (drummer, composer; The Bad Plus/Happy Apple).
1970: Nichole 'Nicci' Gilbert (singer, Brownstone).
1966: Doris Pearson (singer, 5 Star).
1965: Robert 'Rob' Pilatus (Afro-German model, stripper, singer; Milli Vanilli)*02.April.1998.
1965: Neil Mitchell (keyboards; Wet Wet Wet).
1962: Nick Rhodes (keyboards; Duran Duran).
1960: Mick Hucknall (singer, songwriter; Simply Red/solo).
1953: Bonnie Tyler (Welsh singer).
1953: Jeff Rich (drummer; Climax Blues Band/Status Quo).
1947: Mick Box (lead guitar; Uriah Heep/guest).
1947: Joan La Barbara (US vocalist, organ, composer)
1944: Boz Scaggs (US singer, slide guitar, guitar).
1942: Chuck Negron (vocals; Three Dog Knight).
1941: Clarence "Fuzzy" Haskins (vocals, guitar; Funkadelic).
1941: Alf Robertson (Swedish singer and composer)*24.Dec.2008.
1940: Nancy Sinatra (US singer, Frank's daughter).
1940: Stanley Robertson (Scottish folk singer and storyteller)*02.Aug.2009.
1940: Sherman Garnes (US bassman; Frankie Lymon And Teenagers)*26.Feb.1977.

June 9th
1970: Ed Simons (UK vocals, keyboards; Chemical Brothers).
1978: Matthew Bellamy (UK guitar, vocals, keyboards; Muse).
1967: Dean Felber (bassist; Hootie & The Blowfish).
1967: Dean Dinning (bassist, Toad The Wet Sprocket)?
1964: Wayman Tisdale (US jazz bass guitarist, professional basketball player)*15.May.2009.
1962: Eddie Lundon (guitar, China Crisis).
1954: Peter Byrne (singer, songwriter, guitar; Naked Eyes/solo)?
1953: Errol Kennedy (drummer; Imagination)?
1951: Terry Uttley (UK bassist, vocals; Smokie).
1950: Trevor Bolder (UK bass; Wishbone Ash/Spiders From Mars/ Uriah Heep).
1949: George Bunnell (bass, rhythm guitar, song writer; Strawberry Alarm Clock)?
1949: Francis Monkman (keyboards, synthesizer; Curved Air).
1946: Stuart Edwards (guitarist; Edison Lighthouse)?
1941: Jon Lord (UK keyboards, piano; Deep Purple).
1941: Billy Hatton (UK bassist; Fourmost).
1934: Jackie Wilson (US soul singer)*21.Jan.1984.
1930: Barbara/Monique Andrée Serf (popular French female singer)*25.Nov.1997.
1929: Johnny Ace (American R&B singer, pianist)*25.Dec.1954.
1915: Les Paul/Lester Polfus (US guitarist, inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, other things)*13.Aug.2009.
1891: Cole Porter (singer, composer)*15.Oct.1964.

June 10th
1983: Josh Ramsay (Canadian singer; Marianas Trench)
1977: Dan-e-o/Daniel Faraldo (Canadian rapper)
1977: Takako Matsu (Japanese singer, actress)
1977: Nergal/Adam Darski (Polish guitarist, singer; Behemoth)
1973: Faith Evans (US female singer).
1973: Flesh-N-Bone/Stanley Howse (US rapper; Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
1973: LeMisha Grinstead (US singer, female band 702)
1971: Erik Rutan (US singer, guitarist, record producer; Morbid Angel/Hate Eternal)
1971: Jo-Jo/Joel Henry Hailey (US R&B/soul singer, songwriter, duo K-Ci & JoJo).
1970: Mike Doughty (US singer-songwriter; Soul Coughing)
1969: Dan Lavery (US bassist; Tonic)?
1967: DJ Doctor Nice/Human Beat Box/Darren Robinson (US Rapper; Fat Boys)*09.Dec.1995.
1967: Emma Anderson (UK guitar; Lush/Sing-Sing).
1965: Joey Santiago (Filipino-American guitarist; Pixies)
1964: James Joseph "Jimmy" Chamberlin (US drummer, Smashing Pumpkins)
1962: Wong Ka-Kui (Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist; Beyond)*30.June.1993.
1961: Gary Thomas (US jazz saxophonist, flautist)
1961: Maxi Priest/Max Alfred Elliott (R&B,reggae singer)
1961: Mark Shaw/Mark Robert Tiplady (UK vocals, Then Jerico).
1961: Kim Deal (US bass guitar, vocals; Pixies)
1961: Kelley Deal (US guitarist; The Breeders)
1958: Janis Grodums (Latvian bass guitarist, singer; Livi)*15.June.2010.
1944: Rick Price (UK singer, songwriters, Move/ Wizzard/ELO)
1944: David Goloshchokin (Russian composer, multi-instrumentalist)
1941: Shirley Owens (US vocalist, The Shirelles)
1941: Mickey Jones (US drummer, actor; The First Edition)
1940: John Stevens (UK drummer; Spontaneous Music Ensemble aka SME)*13.Sept.1994.
1931: João Gilberto (Brazilian singer, guitarist)
1930: Guy Pedersen (French bass player)
1925: Nat Hentoff (US historian, novelist, jazz critic, columnist)
1922: Judy Garland (US singer, actress)*22.June.1969.
1918: Patachou/Henriette Ragon (French singer)
1913: Tikhon Khrennikov (Russian composer)*14.Aug.2007.
1910: Robert Still (English composer)*13.Jan.1971.
1910: Howlin Wolf/Chester Arthur Burnett (US blues singer, guitarist, harmonica)*10.Jan.1976.
1907: Dicky Wells (US jazz trombonist)*12.Nov.1985.
1905: William T. Lewis (US jazz clarinetist, bandleader)*13.Jan.1971.
1898: Andy Blakeney (US jazz trumpeter)*12.Feb.1992
1894: Punch Miller/Ernest Miller (US dixieland trumpeter)*02.Dec.1971.
1886: Chink Martin/Chink Abraham (US jazz tubist)*07.Jan.1981.

June 11th.
1987: TiA/Chiaki Hamahime (Japanese R&B singer).
1970: Chris Rice (US singer/songwriter).
1969: Steven Drozd (US multi-instrumentalist, drummer; The Flaming Lips).
1965: Joey Santiago (US guitarist, The Pixies).
1961: Kelley Deal (guitar; The Breeders).
1961: Kim Deal (vocals, bassist; The Breeders).
1961: Rob B/Robert Birch (UK rap artist, singer; Stereo MC's).
1960: The Head/Nick Hallam (singer, rapper, DJ, producer; Stereo MC's/Gee Street Records).
1957: Jamaaladeen Tacuma/Rudy McDaniel (US free jazz bassist; Ornette Coleman/leader/freelance).
1955: Linda Williams (Dutch singer; 1981 Eurovision Song Contest) not French singer Linda Williams.
1952: Donnie Van Zandt (US founder and front man of 38 Special).
1950: Graham Russell (UK guitarist, vocalist; Air Supply).
1950: Lynsey De Paul/Lynsey Rubin (UK singer, Ivor Novello song-writing award winner).
1949: Frank Beard (US drummer; ZZ Top).
1948: Skip Alan/Alan Skipper (UK drums; Pretty Things/Sunshine).
1947: Richard Palmer -James (UK guitarist, lyricist, balalaika, vocals; Supertramp/Tetrad/ King Crimson/own).
1947: Glenn Leonard (US tenor-secondary lead singer; Temptations/Temptations Experience).
1940: Joey Dee/Joseph DiNicola (US singer; Starlighters/Cymande).
1939: Bernard Purdie (US session drummer).
1936: Jud Strunk/Justin Strunk Jr (US singer, banjo player, song-writer, comedian)*05.Oct.1981.
1934: Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson (US tenor and lead vocals; The Spaniels)*16.Jan.2007.
1931: Audrey Schuh (American soprano).
1929: Lennie Niehaus (US jazz sax player, arranger, composer).
1926: Carlisle Floyd (American composer).
1920: Hazel Scott (West Indian-born jazz and classical pianist, singer)*02.Oct.1981.
1910: Carmine Coppola (American multi-award winning composer, director and songwriter)*26.April.1991.

June 12th
1992: Allie DiMeco (US singer, multi-musician, actress; The Naked Brothers Band)
1985: Chris Young (US country singer, songwriter)
1982: Ben Blackwell (US drummer, roadie, writer; White Stripes/The Dirtbombs).
1979: Robyn/ Robyn Carlsson (Swedish singer).
1977: Kenny Wayne Shepherd (US guitarist; American Blues musician).
1972: Bounty Killer/Rodney Basil Price (Jamaican deejay)
1969: Bardi Martin (bassist, Candlebox).
1969: Giorgio Occhipinti (Italian multi-instrumentalist)
1969: Zsolt Daczi (Hungarian guitarist; Omen/Bikini/others)*06.Aug.2007.
1969: Giorgio Occhipinti (Italian multi-instrumentalist).
1968: Bobby Sheehan (US bassist, Blues Traveler)*20.Aug.1999.
1965: Rob Collins (English keyboardist; The Charlatans)*22.July.1996.
1965: Filip Topol (Czech singer, songwriter, pianist)
1962: DJ Drew "Grandmaster Dee" Carter (US rapper; Whodini)
1962: Paul Clark (UK musician; The Bolshoi)
1961: Kira Roessler (US musician; Black Flag)
1960: Michael Hausman (US percussionist, artist manager; 'Til Tuesday)
1959: John Linnell (US accordion, saxophone, clarinet, keyboards; They Might Be Giants).
1957: Geri Allen (US jazz pianist).
1954: Jesper Lundgaard (Danish bass player)
1953: Johnny 'Rocky' Burnette (US singer).
1951: Brad Delp (US guitar, keyboard, vocals, Boston/Beatlejuice)*09.March.2007.
1951: Bun E. Carlos/Brad Carlson (drums, Cheap Trick).
1948: Barry Bailey (US guitarist; Atlanta Rhythm Section).
1944: Harold Cowart (bassist, trumpet; Playboy Band, sessionist)?
1943: Reg Presley/Reginald Maurice Ball (singer songwriter; The Troggs).
1942: Len Barry/Leonard Borisoff (US singer, songwriter; The Dovells/solo)
1941: Roy Harper (UK folk singer, keyboards, guitar, bass, songwriter).
1941: Chick Corea/Armando Corea (US jazz pianist, keyboardist,composer).
1939: Kent Carter (US cellist, composer).
1932: Mimi Coertse (South African soprano)
1928: Vic Damone (US singer).
1928: Richard M. Sherman (US songwriter)
1915: Eddie Williams (US bass player; Johnny Moore's Three Blazers/own band)*18.Feb.1995.
1915: Ruben "Zeke" Zarchy (American jazz trumpet legend)*12.April.2009.
1913: Gene Hall (US music educator, saxophonist, arranger)*04.March.1993.
1914: Bill Kenny (US lead singer; Ink Spots)*25.March.1978.
1903: Emmett Hardy (US jazz cornet player, banjo)*16.June.1925.
1899: Gene Kardos (US bandleader)*27.Aug.1980.

June 13th
1989: Lisa Gabrielle Tucker (US singer, musical theatre, TV actress).
1985: Raz/Raz-B/De'Mario Monte Thornton (US multi-genre singer; B2K/solo).
1980: Sarah Connor/Sarah Terenzi née Lewe (German singer).
1978: Jason Michael Carroll (Country music singer-songwriter).
1976: Kym Ryder/Kym Marsh (UK vocals, TV actress; Hear'Say).
1976: Jason "J" Brown (UK vocalist; Five).
1974: Selma Björnsdóttir (Icelandic singer).
1973: Mattias Hellberg (Swedish musician; The Hellacopters)
1973: Ville Laihiala (Finnish musician; Sentenced, Poisonblack)
1973: Kasia Kowalska (Polish pop rock singer)
1972: Natalie MacMaster (Canadian fiddle player, singer).
1970: Rivers Cuomo/Peter Kitts (guitar, singer, songwriter; Avant Garde/Weezer/solo).
1969: Soren Rasted (multi-musician; Aqua/Lazyboy).
1968: David Gray (UK singer, songwriter).
1968: Denise 'Deniece' Pearson (UK vocals; 5 Star).
1965: Lukas Ligeti (Austrian composer, drummer).
1963: Paul De Lisle (US bassist; Smash Mouth).
1957: Rolf Brendel (German drummer, songwriter; Nena).
1955: Mike Ruggelo (US freelance drummer; Drifters/Martha Reeves/Coasters/Chiffons/many more).
1951: Howard Leese (guitar, keyboards, synthesizer; Heart)?
1949: Dennis Locorriere (US lead singer, guitar; Dr. Hook).
1941: Esther Ofarim (Israelian singer).
1940: Bobby Freeman (African-American soul singer).
1929: Alan Civil (English French horn player)*19.March.1989.
1918: Wild Bill Moore (US R&B saxophone player/Motown/sessionist/freelance)*08.Aug.1983.
1899: Carlos Chávez (Mexican composer)*02.Aug.1978.

June 14th
1988: Kevin Michael McHale (US singer; NLT - Not Like Them).
1984: Siobhan Donaghy (UK vocalist; The Sugababes/solo).
1982: Lang Lang (Chinese pianist).
1975: Bob Nanna (US drummer, singer; Braid/Hey Mercedes/The City on Film).
1974: Joshua Radin (US songwriter)
1973: Ceca Raznatovic (Serbian singer).
1972: Shaun Keaveny (British radio DJ).
1971: Billie Myers (UK female singer).
1969: MC Ren/Lorenzo Jerald Patterson (US rapper, hop-hop producer; NWA).
1963: Chris DeGarmo (US lead, rhythm guitarist; Queensryche).
1961: Boy George/George Alan O'Dowd (UK singer; Culture Club/ solo).
1960: Gary Husband (UK jazz and rock drummer, pianist, composer; session musician).
1959: Marcus Miller (US jazz bassist, clarinetist, bandleader).
1958: Nick Van Eede (UK lead singer; Cutting Crew).
1957: Maxi Jazz/Maxwell Fraser (British rapper; Faithless/solo).
1956: King Diamond/Kim Bendix Petersen (Danish singer; King Diamond, Mercyful Fate).
1956: Gianna Nannini (Italian singer).
1949: Jim Lea (UK bassist, piano, violin, guitar; Slade).
1949: Alan White (UK drummer; Plastic Ono Band/Yes/ not the OASIS drummer).
1947: Darius Brubeck (US jazz keyboardist, educator, son of Dave Brubeck).
1947: Barry Melton (US guitarist; Country Joe and the Fish).
1946: Janusz Stefanski (Polish drummer)
1945: Rod Argent (US keyboards, vocals; The Zombies/Argent).
1945: Tiit Paulus (Estonian guitarist)
1943: Harold Wheeler (US composer).
1943: Spooner Oldham/Dewey Oldham (US songwriter, organ, keyboards; session musician).
1942: Peter Lemer (UK keyboardist; freelance/sessionist/own band)
1937: Burton Greene (US free jazz pianist)
1936: Renaldo "Obie" Benson (US vocals; The Four Tops)*01.July.2005.
1931: Junior Walker/Autry DeWalt Mixon (US saxophonist, singer; Jr. Walker & the All Stars)*23.Nov.1995.
1929: Cy Coleman (US composer, songwriter, jazz pianist)*18.Nov.2004.
1927: Pedro "Cuban Pete" Aguilar (Puerto Rican dancer)*13.Jan.2009.
1918: John Simmons (US bass player)*19.Sept.1979.
1910: Rudolf Kempe (German conductor)*12.May.1976.
1909: Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (US singer, actor, songwriter, musician)*14.April.1995.
1907: Sid Phillips/Isador Simon Philips (UK clarinetist)*23.May.1973.
1905: Nappy Lamare/Joseph Hilton Lamare (US banjoist, jazz guitarist)*08.May.1988.

June 15th
1985: Nadine Coyle (singer; Girls Aloud).
1981: Billy Martin (guitarist, keyboards; Good Charlotte).
1976: Dryden Mitchell (lead singer; Alien Ant Farm).
1969: Ice Cube/O'Shea Jackson (rapper, actor).
1966: Michael Britt (guitar; Lonestar).
1963: Scott Rockenfield (drummer; Queensryche/Slave To The System).
1956: David Hinds (rhythm guitar, vocalist; Steel Pulse).
1951: Steve Walsh (singer, song-writer; Streets/Kansas).
1949: Russell Hitchcock (Australian lead vocalist; Air Supply).
1946: Demis Roussos (Greek singer).
1946: Noddy Holder/Neville John Holder (UK guitar, vocals; Slade).
1943: Johnny Hallyday/Jean-Philippe Smet (French rock 'n' roll singer).
1943: Muff Winwood (UK bassist, songwriter, producer; Spencer Davis Group).
1941: Harry Nilsson (US singer; songwriter)*15.Jan.1994.
1934: Mikel Laboa (Spanish Basque singer, songwriter )*01.Dec.2008.
1933: Joe Thomas (US flautist, tenor saxophonist)
1933: Waylon Jennings (US country singer)*13.Feb.2002.
1933: Sergio Endrigo (Popular Italian singer)*07.Sept.2005.
1929: Nigel Pickering (rhythm guitar, vocals; Spanky And Our Gang).
1921: Erroll Garner (US jazz pianist and composer)*02.Jan.1977.
1910: David Rose (British-born US songwriter, composer, arranger, orchestra leader)*23.Aug.1990.

June 16th
1994: Aarya Ambekar (Marathi singer)
1994: Destinee Rae Monroe (US singer; Clique Girlz)
1991: Joe McElderry (UK singer; X Factor Winner '09)
1988: Keshia Chante (Canadian singer)
1987: Diana Nicole DeGarmo (US singer, Broadway actress).
1984: Dominique Eade (UK jazz singer).
1982: Matt Costa (US singer, songwriter)
1981: Ben Kweller (US singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist; The Bens/solo).
1980: Joey Yung (Hong Kong singer)
1978: Jasmine Leong (Chinese Malaysian singer)
1972: Kiko Loureiro (Brazilian guitarist; Angra/Silent Moon/Blezqi Zatzas/guest).
1971: 2pac/Makaveli/Tupac Amaru Shakur (American hip hop artist, poet, actor)*13.Sept.1996.
1968: Patrick Waite (UK-Jamacian bassist, vocals; Musical Youth)*18.Feb.1993.
1965: Javon Jackson/Anthony Jackson (US jazz tenor saxophonist;Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers/others)
1964: Martin Streek (Canadian radio DJ; CFNY-FM /Edge 102)*06.July.2009.
1962: Anthony Wong Yiu Ming (Hong Kong composer, producer)
1962: Olu-Femi Kuti (Nigerian Afrobeat & jazz saxophonist, vocals, trumpet, keyboards)
1958: Jóhannes Helgason (Icelandic guitarist; Þeyr aka Theyr)
1954: Doane Ethredge Perry (US drummer; Jethro Tull/Lou Reed/Todd Rundgren/others).
1954: Gerry Roberts (Irish guitarist; Boomtown Rats).
1954: Sergey Anatol'yevich Kuryokhin (Russian pianist)*09.July.1996.
1953: Ian Mosley (UK drummer; Marillion/solo/guest).
1952: Jerry Hadley (US operatic tenor)*18.July.2007.
1952: Gino Vanelli (Italian-Canadian singer/songwriter).
1951: Charlie Dominici (US singer, keyboards; Dominici/Dream Theater)
1950: James Smith (US vocals; Stylistics).
1949: Peppy Castro/Emil Thielhelm (vocals, guitar, Blues Magoos/Balance).
1948: Fredy Studer (Swiss percussionist)
1947: Tom "Bones" Malone (US jazz tromboneist, multi-reed player)
1946: Ian Matthews McDonald (UK guitar, singer, songwriter, Matthews Southern Comfort).
1946: Tom Harrell (US post-bop jazz trumpeter, composer)
1945: John Dawson IV (US guitarist, singer, songwriter; New Riders of the Purple Sage)*21.July.2009.
1942: John Rostill (UK bass guitarist, composer; Tom Jones band/Shadows)*26.Nov.1973.
1942: Eddie Levert (US vocals; The O'Jays).
1941: Lamont Dozier (US singer, producer, songwriter; Motown/Holland-Dozier-Holland).
1939: Lou Gare (UK tenor saxophonist; AMM)
1939: Billy Crash Craddock (US country singer)
1938: Al Dailey (US jazz pianist)*26.June.1984.
1926: Clarence Shaw (US session trumpeter; Charles Mingus)*17.Aug.1973.
1924: Eli "Lucky" Thompson (US tenor saxophonist)*30.July.2005.
1919: Alfred Viola (US jazz guitarist; Frank Sinatra/others)*21.Feb.2007.
1903: Huldreich Georg Früh (Swiss composer)*25.April.1945.
1899: Helen Traubel (US soprano)*28.July.1972.

June 17th
1983: Lee Ryan (singer, Blue/solo).
1983: Kazunari Ninomiya (Japanese singer, actor).
1980: Kimeru (Japanese singer).
1977: Roger Manganelli (US bassist, vocalist, guiyar, drums; Less Than Jake/Rehasher/Greenhorn).
1973: Krayzie Bone/Anthony Henderson (US rapper; Bone Thugs-N-Harmony/solo)
1971: Paulina Rubio Dosamantes (Mexican singer).
1970: Sasha Sokol (Mexican singer, actress).
1969: Kevin Thornton (vocalist, Color Me Badd).
1967: Eric Stefani (US keyboardist, songwriter, animator; No Doubt).
1965: Richard Hynd (Scottish drummer; Texas/Slide).Some sources give May 17th
1962: Michael Monroe/Matti Fagerholm(Finnish singer;Hanoi Rocks/Demolition23/Damien Thorne).
1958: Jello Biafra/Eric Reed Boucher (US spoken word, singer, Dead Kennedys/Lard/solo).
1957: Philip Chevron/Philip Ryan (Irish guitar; Pogues/The Radiators).
1957: Martin Dillon (US musician, operatic tenor, professor of music)*21.Aug.2005
1949: Eric Campbell-Lewis/Eric McCreadle (US bassist, vocalist; Middle Of The Road).
1949: Snakefinger/Philip Lithman (UK multi-musician, Chilli Willi/The Residents/Vestal Virgins)*01.July.1987
1947: George S. Clinton (US award winning composer, arranger, session musician).
1947: Paul Young (UK singer, Sad Cafe/ Mike & The Mechanics)*15.July.2000
1947: Greg Rolie (US singer, keyboardist; Santana/Journey/Greg Rolie Band).
1947: Rev. Timothy Wright (US gospel singer; Timothy Wright Concert Choir)*24.April.2009.
1944: Chris Spedding (UK guitarist;Greedy Bastards/Wombles/Nucleus/BatteredOrnaments/sessions).
1942: Norman Kuhlke (UK drummer; Swinging Blue Jeans).
1943: Barry Manilow/Barry Alan Pincus (US singer, songwriter, pianist).
1930: Cliff Gallup (US guitarist; Gene Vincent And The Blue Caps/solo)*09.Oct.1988.
1924: Alan Rich (American music critic)*23.April.2010.
1916: Terry Gilkyson (US singer, lyricist, composer)*15.Oct.1999
1915: David "Stringbean" Akeman (US bluegrass banjo player, comedy musician)*10.Nov.1973.

June 18th
1989: Renee Olstead (US singer, actress)
1988: Jack Barakat (US singer, guitar player; All Time Low)
1985: GoldieLocks/Sarah Louise Akwisombe (UK rapper, singer, producer)
1982: Vadim Pruzhanov (UK keyboardist; Dragonforce)
1981: Ella Chen/Chen Chia-Hwa (Taiwanese mandopop singer; S.H.E)
1980: Ivana Wong (Hong Kong singer, songwriter)
1975: Jemma Griffiths (Welsh singer-songwriter)
1973: Gary Stringer (UK lead vocalist; Reef).
1973: Ray Lamontagne (US singer-songwriter, musician)
1971: Alex Vanderpool/Nathan Morris (US vocals; Boyz II Men).
1969: Pål Pot Pamparius/Pål Bøttger Kjærnes (Norwegian keyboards, percussion, guitar; Turbonegro)
1969: Sice/Simon Rowbottom (UK vocalist, guitarist, Boo Radleys).
1963: Dizzy Reed/Darren Arthur Reed (US keyboardist, percussion; Guns N' Roses/Hookers & Blow).
1962: Jeff Mills (UK techno DJ, producer)
1961: Alison Moyet (UK singer; Yazoo or Yaz in US/solo).
1956: Oliver Schroer (Canadian fiddler, composer, and music producer)*03.July.2008.
1956: Tom Bailey (UK vocalist, keyboards; Thompson Twins).
1953: Jerome Smith (US guitarist; KC and the Sunshine Band).
1952: Ricky Gazda (US trumpet; Johnny and the Asbury Jukes).
1950: Jackie Leven (Scottish folk music singer and songwriter)
1949: Lincoln Thompson (Jamaican singer, songwriter)*23.Jan.1999.
1948: Éva Marton (Hungarian operatic soprano)
1944: Sandy Posey (US popular music singer)
1943: Raffaella Carrà (Italian presenter, singer)
1942: Carl Radle (US bassist; Derek and the Dominoes/Colours/others)*30.May.1980.
1942: Hans Vonk (Dutch conductor)*29.Aug.2004.
1942: Richard Perry (US producer, own label, Planet Records).
1942: Paul McCartney (UK bass,multi-musician,singer,writer,producer; Beatles/Wings/solo).
1942: Hans Vonk (Dutch conductor)*..2004
1938: Don "Sugarcane" Harris (US guitarist, pianist, duo Don & Dewey)*01.Dec.1999.
1924: Mat Mathews/Mathieu Schwartz (Dutch jazz accordionist)*12.Feb.2009.
1922: Claude Helffer (French pianist)*27.Oct.2004.
1913: Sammy Cahn (US award winning lyricist, songwriter and musician)*15.Jan.1993.
1910: Ray McKinley (US jazz drummer, singer, bandleader; Dorsey Brothers/Glenn Miller)*07.May.1995
1903: Jeanette MacDonald (American singer and actress)*14.Jan.1965.

June 19th
1992: Mariah Stanley (US singer)
1973: Yuko Nakazawa (Japanese singer)
1972: Dennis Lyxzén (Swedish lead singer; Refused)
1970: Antonis Remos (Greek singer)
1970: Brian "Head" Welch (US guitar; Korn).
1967: Darren Barrett (Canadian-Jamaican trumpet player)
1965: Frank Bello (US bassist; Anthrax).
1964: Brian Vander Ark (US lead singer, guitar; The Verve Pipe).
1963: Simon Wright (UK drummer; AC-DC/Rhino Bucket/freelance).
1962: Paula Abdul (US dancer, choreographer, singer, TV personality).
1960: Luke Morley (UK guitarist; Thunder/The Union).
1959: Dennis Fuller (Jamacian singer; London Boys)*21.Jan.1959.
1959: Mark DeBarge (US vocalist; DeBarge)
1956: Doug Stone/Douglas Jackson Brooks (US singer)
1953: Larry Dunn (US keyboardist, musical director; Earth, Wind, & Fire)
1950: Ann Wilson (US lead singer, flute; Heart/solo).
1950: Paul Nieman (UK trombonist; international session musician)
1948: Nick Drake (UK singer, songwriter)*25.Nov.1974.
1947: Paula Koivuniemi (Finnish singer)
1945: Robert Palmer (US music critic, reedist)*20.Nov.1997.
1944: Chico Buarque de Hollanda (Brazilian singer, guitarist, composer, dramatist, writer, poet).
1944: Robin Box (lead guitarist; White Plains)?
1942: Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane (US vocalist; Spanky And Our Gang).
1939: Al Wilson (US singer, drummer, guitar)*21.April.2008.
1938: Don "Sugarcane" Harris (US violinist, guitar; Don & Dewey/John Mayall/Zappa)*30.Nov or 01.Dec}1999
1937: Chuck Berghofer (US jazz bassist; Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra/others)
1936: Tommy DeVito (US lead guitarist, vocals, Four Seasons).
1936: Marisa Galvany (US soprano)
1936: Shirley Goodman (US singer)*05.July.2005.
1928: Lloyd Morales (US jazz drummer)
1926: Anneliese Rothenberger (German opera singer)*24.May.2010.
1925: Charlie Drake (UK actor, writer, singer)*23.Dec.2006.
1917: Dave Lambert (jazz singer, drums; Lambert, Hendricks & Ross)*03.Oct.1966.
1914: Lester Flatt (US American musician)*11.May.1979.
1909: Joe Thomas (US tenor saxophonist)*03.Aug.1986.
1907: Bruno Laako (American alto saxophonist)*????

June 20th
1979: Charlotte Hatherley (guitar, vocals; Ash/solo).
1973: Chino Moreno (vocals, back-up guitar; Deftones/Team Sleep).
1971: Twiggy Ramirez/Jeordie White (bass; Marilyn Manson/9" Nails/Goon Moon/guest).
1967: Murphy Karges (bassist; Sugar Ray).
1966: Stone Gossard (guitar, producer; Pearl Jam/Brad/Temple of the Dog/freelance).
1960: John Taylor (bassist, Duran Duran/Power Station/Neurotic Outsiders/solo).
1960: Chris Gibson (vocals; Gibson Brothers)?
1958: Kelly Johnson (lead guitar, singer, songwriter; Girlschool)*15.July.2007.
1958: Simon Underwood (bassist; Pigbag)?
1954: Michael Anthony Sobolewski (US bassist, Van Halen/Sammy Hagar).
1949: Alan Longmuir (bassist; Bay City Rollers).
1949: Lionel Richie (vocals, keyboards, songwriter, Commodores/solo).
1945: Anne Murray (Canadian singer, songwriter).
1942: Brian Wilson (vocals, piano, producer, composer, arranger; Beach Boys/solo).
1938: Mickie Most/Michael Peter Hayes (English singer, record produce)*May 30th 2003.
1937: Jerry Keller (US singer).
1936: Billy Guy/Frank William Phillips (baritone singer; Coasters)*5.Nov.2002.
1931: Arne Nordheim (Norwegian contemporary classical composer)*05.June.2010.
1924: Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins (guitarist, singer, and record producer)*30 June 2001.
1907: Jimmy Driftwood/James Corbitt Morris (US folk songwriter, singer, musician)*12.July.1998.

June 21st
1981: Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards, bass;Killers).
1976: Mike Einziger (guitar; Incubus/Time Lapse Consortium).
1968: Sonique/Sonia Clarke (singer, DJ).
1967: Tim Simenon (Record producer).
1959: Kathy Mattea (country music & bluegrass singer, guitar).
1959: Marcella Detroit (vocals, harmonica, guitar; Shakespear's Sister).
1957: Mark Brzezicki (drums; Ultravox/Procol Harum/Big Country).
1954: Augustus Pablo/Horace Swaby (Jamaican reggae record producer, keyboardist)*18.May1999.
1951: Nils Lofgren (guitar, multi-musician, vocals; E Street Band/solo).
1951: Alan Silson (lead guitar, vocals; Smokie/Mickey Finn's T. Rex)?
1950: Joey Kramer (drums, Aerosmith).
1950: John Paul Young (singer: Easybeats/Musicals/solo).
1949: Greg Munford (lead vocals, Strawberry Alarm Clock)?
1947: Joey Molland (guitar, vocals; Masterminds/Fruit Eating Bears/Merseybeats/Badfinger).
1944: Ray Davies (lead vocals, guitar, songwriter; Ravens/The Kinks/solo).
1944: Miguel Vicens (guitar; Los Bravos).
1944: Jon Hiseman (drums; Colosseum/sessionist).
1936: Dave Godin (music critic, founder of labels Soul City & Deep Soul)*15.Oct.2004.
1932: O.C. Smith/Ocie Lee Smith (singer; Sy Oliver/Count Basie/solo)*23.Nov.2001.
1932: Lalo Schifrin (Argentine pianist, composer, arranger, film soundtracks).
1929: Alexandre Lagoya (Greek-Italian classical guitarist)*24.Aug.1999.
1900: Dewey Jackson (US jazz musician, cornet, trumpet)*1994.

June 22nd
1990: Kei Inoo (Japanese actor, singer).
1985: Scott MacIntyre (US singer).
1981: Chris Urbanowicz (US guitarist; Editors).
1978: Tim Driesen (Belgian actor, singer-songwriter).
1977: Mike Alexander (UK bassist; Evile)*05.Oct.2009.
1976: Gordon Moakes (UK multi-musician; Bloc Party).
1970: Steven Page (Canadian guitar, vocals, songwriter; Barenaked Ladies/The Vanity Project).
1966: Schooly D/Jesse B. Weaver Jr (American rapper).
1964: Tommy Cunningham (Scottish drummer; Wet Wet Wet/Sleeping Giants).
1964: Mike Edwards (UK vocals, keyboard, guitars; Jesus Jones).
1963: Anne-Marie Ruddock (UK vocals, Amazulu/Amazulu II).
1962: Bobby Gillespie (Scottish drummer, vocals; Primal Scream/Jesus and Mary Chain/others).
1962: Stephen Vaughan (UK bassist; PJ Harvey Trio/session musician).
1961: Jimmy Somerville (Scottish singer; Bronski Beat/Communards/solo).
1959: Alan Anton/Alan Alizojvodic (Canadian bassist; Cowboy Junkies).
1959: Nicola Sirkis (French singer, lyricist; Indochine).
1958: Ruby Turner (UK singer).
1957: Gary Beers (Australian bassist; INXS).
1956: Derek Forbes (Scottish bassist; Simple Minds).
1955: Green Gartside/Paul Julian Strohmeyer (Welsh singer, songwriter; Scritti Politti/freelance).
1953: Cyndi Lauper (US singer; actress).
1949: Alan Osmond (US singer; leader of The Osmonds).
1948: Todd Rundgren (US multi-musician, singer, producer; New Cars/Utopia/solo).
1947: Howard Kaylan/Howard Kaplan (US singer; Turtles/Mothers of Invention/Flo & Eddie).
1946: Eliades Ochoa (Cuban guitarist; Buena Vista Social Club).
1944: Peter Asher (UK guitarist, singer, record producer; Peter & Gordon).
1939: Bobby Harrison (UK drummer, percussion, singer; Procol Harum/Freedom/Snafu).
1936: Hermeto Pascoal (Brazilian multi-musician, composer; many bands).
1936: Kris Kristofferson/Kris Carson (US singer, songwriter, actor).
1933: Libor Pešek (Czech conductor).
1910: Sir Peter Pears (UK tenor singer; partner ofBenjamin Britten)*03.April.1986.
1907: Ernest 'Doc' Paulin (American jazz trumpet player; the Paulin Brass Band)*20.Nov.2007.
1762: Francesco Manfredini (Italian Baroque composer, violinist, church musician)*06.Oct.1762

June 23rd
1988: Isabella Leong Lok-Sze (Hong Kong singer, actress, model)
1984: Duffy/Aimée Ann Duffy (Welsh singer)
1981: Anthony Costa (UK singer; Blue).
1980: Jessica Taylor (UK singer, Liberty X).
1980: Andy Orr (Irish singer; Six)
1978: Memphis Bleek/Malik Thuston Cox (US rapper)
1978: Frédéric Leclercq (French bassist; DragonForce)
1977: Jason Mraz (US singer, songwriter)
1976: Joe Becker (US guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist).
1975: KT Tunstall/Kate Victoria Tunstall (Scottish singer, songwriter)
1973: Marie N/Marija Naumova (Latvian singer)
1970: Martin Deschamps (Canadian singer)
1970: Guillaume Yann Tiersen (French piano, accordion, violin, multi-musician)
1966: Chico DeBarge/Jonathan Arthur DeBarge (US singer; DeBarge)
1966: Richie Ren (Taiwanese singer)
1966: Mark Chadwick (UK guitar, vocals, songwriter; Levellers).
1966: James MacPherson (US drummer, percussionist; The Breeders/Amps/Guided by Voices).
1965: Bonehead/Paul Arthurs (UK guitar; Oasis/freelance).
UPDATING
1963: Steve Shelley (drums, record producer; Crucifucks/Sonic Youth).
1962: Richard Coles (UK multi-musician, clarenet, Curate; Bronski Beat/Communards).
1957: Lee John/John Leslie McGregor, (songwriter, singer; Fizz/Imagination).
1947: Jimmy Castor (US singer, saxophonist, percussionist; Jimmy Castor Bunch).
1940: Adam Faith/Terence Nelhams-Wright (UK singer and actor)*08.March.2003.
1940: Stu Sutcliffe (original bassist with The Beatles)*10.April.1962.
1929: June Carter (US country singer, multi-musician, wife of Johnny Cash)*15.May.2003.
1927: Kenneth McKellar (Scottish tenor, solo artist)*09.April.2010.
1925: Sahib Shihab/Edmond Gregory (American jazz saxophonist)*24.Oct.1989.
1923: George Russell (American jazz composer)*27.July.2009.

June 24th
1970: Glenn Medeiros (born in Hawaii, singer, songwriter).
1967: Jeff Cease (guitar; Black Crowes/Shake Your Money Maker).
1961: Curt Smith (UK vocals, bass; Tears For Fears/Graduate).
1959: Andy McCluskey (UK lead singer, songwriter; O.M.D.)
1957: Terence 'Astro' Wilson (toasting, rhyming, percusion, trumpet; UB40).
1949: John Illsley (bass; Dire Straits).
1948: Patrick Moraz (Swiss keyboardist; Mainhorse/Moody Blues).
1947: Michael Fleetwood (drummer; Fleetwood Mac) ((date from Rock n Roll H of F Inductee records))
1945: Colin Blunstone (UK singer, guitar; Zombies/solo).
1944: Arthur Brown (UK singer; The Crazy World of Arthur Brown).
1944: John 'Charlie' Whitney (guitar; Family/Streetwalkers).
1944: Chris Wood (UK saxophonist, flute; Traffic/sessionist)*12.July.1983.
1944: Jeff Beck (UK guitarist; Upp/Yardbirds/Honeydrippers/Beck/Bogert & Appice/solo).
1939: Paul 'Oz' Bach (bass, vocals, Spanky And Our Gang)*21.Sept.1998.
1904: Phil 'Wonga' Harris (singer, drums, jazz musician, bandleader)*11.Aug.1995.
1901: Marcel Mule (saxophone; Garde Republicaine/Quatuor de Saxophones de Paris)*19 Dec.2001.
1900: Captain John Handy (American jazz alto saxophonist)*12.Jan.1971
1900: Gene Austin (American singer, songwriter)*24.Jan.1972.

June 25th.
1987: Lil' Wil/Wilbert Martin (American rapper).
1986: Aya Matsuura (Japanese singer).
1986: Betty Curse/Megan Burns (British actress, singer).
1982: Rain/Jeong Ji-Hoon (Korean singer, dancer, model, actor, CEO and designer).
1975: Chenoa/María Laura Corradini Falomir (Spanish singer).
1974: Jim LaMarca (US bass guitarist; Chimaira)
1974: Mario Calire (US drummer; The Wallflowers/Ozomatli).
1972: Mike Kroeger (Canadian bassist; Nickelback).
1970: Roope Latvala (Finnish guitarist; Children of Bodom/Sinergy/Stone/Dementia).
1969: Zim Zum/Timothy Michael Linton (US guitarist; Marilyn Manson/solo/Pop Culture Suicides).
1968: Candyman/Candell Manson (Los Angeles rapper; Tone-Loc/solo).
1963: George Michael/Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (UK singer, songwriter; Wham!/solo).
1954: David Paich (US singer, songwriter, keyboardist; Toto/sessionist).
1952: Tim Finn (New Zealand singer, songwriter, multi-musician; Finn Brs/ALT/Split Enz/Crowded House).
1946: Ian McDonald (UK sax player, multi-musician; King Crimson/Foreigner/sessionist).
1946: Allen Lanier (guitar, keyboards; Blue Oyster Cult).
1945: Carly Simon (US singer, guitarist, songwriter).
1944: Robert Charlebois (Canadian singer, composer, musician, author, actor).
1940: Clint Warwick/Albert Clinton Eccles (UK bassist; Moody Blues)*15.May.2004.
1939: Harold Melvin (US soul singer, pianist; Blue Notes)*24.March.1997.
1935: Eddie Floyd (US soul singer, songwriter).
1930: Mary Beth Peil (US opera singer, actress).
1928: Bill Russo (US jazz composer, arranger, musician)*11.Jan.2003.

June 26th
1986: Casey Desmond (US award winning vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist).
1981: Damien Sargue (French singer).
1980: Sinik/Thomas Idir (French singer and rapper).
1979: Ryan Tedder (US singer, guitarist, songwriter, record producer).
1978: Alexandra Canto (French singer; L5's).
1975: KJ-52/Jonah Sorrentino (US hip hop artist; Sons of Intellect/solo).
1974: Nicole Saba (Lebanese singer).
1973: Gretchen Wilson (US country singer).
1969: Colin Greenwood (bass guitar, keyboards, synthesisers; Radiohead).
1968: Randall Padilla (American speed guitarist; planning 25.5 notes per second record).
1967: Mark Decloedt (drums; EMF).
1963: Harriet Wheeler (singer; Sundays).
1961: Terri Nunn (American singer; actress; Berlin/solo).
1959: Stef Burns (guitar/vocals; Huey Lewis and the News)?
1957: Patty Smyth (vocalist and leader of the band Scandal/solo).
1956: Chris Isaak (singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor).
1955: Mick Jones (singer, guitarist, Spooky Tooth/ Foreigner/The Clash).
1943: Georgie Fame/Clive Powell (singer/songwriter/keyboard; Animals/solo/Rhythm Kings).
1940: Billy Davis Jr. (vocals, actor; Fifth Dimension).
1928: Don Lanphere (saxophone;Woody Herman/Charlie Parker/freelance)*09.Oct.2003
1916: Giuseppe Taddei (Italian operatic baritone singer)*02.June.2010.
1907: Tom "Colonel" Parker (Dutch entertainment impresario; manager of Elvis Presley)*21.Jan.1997.

June 27th
1990: Aselin Debison (Canadian singer)
1986: Drake Bell (US actor, guitar, singer, composer).
1983: Alsou Ralifovna Abramova (Russian singer)
1983: Evan Taubenfeld (US singer-songwriter, guitarist; Avril Lavigne/others)
1980: Jennifer Goodridge (US keyboard player; Seaspin/Your Enemies Friends)
1979: Benjamin Speed (Australian musician and film composer).
1979: John Warne (US bassist; Relient K/Ace Troubleshooter).
1978: Stefan Arason (Icelandic composer).
1977: Sabine Dünser (German lead singer; gothic metal band Elis)*08.July.2006.
1976: Leigh Nash (US singer, composer; Sixpence None The Richer).
1974: Christian Kane (US actor, singer)
1973: Abbath Doom Occulta/Olve Eikemo (Norwegian guitarist, multi-musician, songwriter; Immortal)
1972: Dawud Wharnsby (Canadian poet, singer-songwriter)
1972: Tony McCarroll (UK drummer; Oasis/Raika)
1971: DJ Screw/Robert Earl Davis Jr (US hip-hop musician, music mixer; Screwed Up Click)*16.Nov.2000.
1970: Vitamin C/Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick (US singer).
1970: Laurence Colbert (UK drummer; Ride)?
1962: Michael Ball (UK singer).
1961: Margo Timmins (Canadian vocalist; Cowboy Junkies).
1959: Loretta "Lorrie" Morgan (US country music singer).
1958: Lisa Germano (US singer, songwriter, multi-musician).
1958: Brian Helicopter/Gareth Holder (UK bass guitarist; The Shapes/HellsBelles/Rogue Male)
1958: Magnus Lindberg (Finnish composer)
1958: Jeffrey Lee Pierce (US singer, songwriter, guitarist; The Gun Club)*31.March.1996.
1951: Gilson Lavis (UK drummer; Squeeze).
1948: Camile Baudoin (US guitarist; The Radiators)
1942: Frank Mills (Canadian pianist, composer)
1942: Bruce Johnston (US vocalist, bass, The Beach Boys).
1939: Rahul Dev Burman (Indian composer, actor)*04.Jan.1994.
1935: Byron Lee (Jamaican musician and record producer)*04.Nov.2008.
1934: Ersel Hickey (rockabilly singer; Bluebirds over the Mountain)*12.July.2004.

June 28th
1991: Seohyun/Seo Joo-hyun (Korean singer, dancer)
1986: Kellie Dawn Pickler (US country singer, songwriter).
1984: Imran Khan (Pakistani-Dutch Musician, singer, composer)
1983: Maui Taylor (Filipino model, singer)
1981: Capt'n Spin-kick/Michael Crafter (Australian singer-songwriter; Confession)
1979: Felicia Day (US actress, writer, director, violinist, singer)
1979: Ha Ji-won (South Korean actress, singer)
1977: Harun Tekin (Turkish singer, piano, guitar; Mor ve Ötesi)
1977: Mark Stoermer (US bass guitarist; Killers).
1975: Jon Nödtveidt (Swedish lead guitarist, singer; Dissection)*13.Aug.2006.
1974: Siphiwo Ntshebe (South African opera singer)*25.May.2010.
1971: Ray Slijngaard (Dutch vocalist; 2 Unlimited/VIP Allstars)
1968: Chayanne/Elmer Figueroa Arce (Puerto Rican singer)
1965: Saul Daveis (UK guitarist, violinist; James)?
1963: Charlie Clouser (US multi-musician; Nine Inch Nails/Burning Retna/others).
1963: Beverley Craven (UK singer, songwriter).
1963: Andy Cousin (UK bassist; All About Eve/The Mission/The Lucy Nation)
1959: Clint Boon (UK keyboardist, Farfisa organ; Inspiral Carpets/The Clint Boon Experience).
1958: Félix Gray (French singer, songwriter)
1955: Thomas Hampson (US baritone)
1950: David Lanz (US musical composer)
1945: David Knights (UK original bassist; Procol Harum/Ruby).
1942: David Miner (US guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer; The Great Society)
1912: Sergiu Celibidache (Romanian conductor)*14.Aug.1996.
1903: Adrian Rollini (US multi musicain, California Ramblers/Goodman/own)*15.May.1956

June 29th
1987: Ana Free (Portuguese singer, songwriter).
1984: Derek Lee Rock/Derek Lee Smith (US drummer; Mêlée/Suburban Legends)
1983: Aundrea Fimbres (US singer)
1981: Nino Ksipolitas (Swedish born, Greek singer)
1980: Katherine Jenkins (Welsh mezzo soprano)
1979: Richard "Abz" Breen (UK vocals, singer, songwriter, 5ive aka Five).
1979: Baris Akarsu (Turkish rock singer, actor)*04.July.2007.
1978: Nicole Scherzinger (singer, Eden's Crush/Pussycat Dolls).
1978: Sam Farrar (US bass guitar player; Phantom Planet).
1976: Bret McKenzie (New Zealand singer; guitarist, comedian, actor; Flight of the Conchords )
1972: Nawal Al Zoghbi (Lebanese singer)
1971: Matthew Good (Canadian singer, guitarist; Matthew Good Band/solo)
1970: Emily Skinner (US actress, singer)
1968: Richard Battersby (UK drummer; The Wildhearts).
1967: Murray Foster (Canadian bassist; Moxy Früvous)
1967: Melora Hardin (US actress, singer)
1965: Tripp Eisen (US guitarist; Static-X/Dope/Murderdolls/Ace Frehley)
1964: Stedman Pearson (UK singer; Five Star).
1963: Anne-Sophie Mutter (German violinist)
1961: Greg Hetson (US punk-rock guitarist; Redd Kross/Circle Jerks/Bad Religion)
1960: Evelyn "Champagne" King (R&B and disco singer).
1957: María Conchita Alonso (Cuban-Venezuelan singer, actress)
1957: Robert Forster (Australian singer, guitarist; The Go-Betweens/solo)
1953: Colin Hay (Scottish-Australian lead singer, guitar; Men At Work).
1948: Ian Paice (UK drummer, Deep Purple/Whitesnake).
1943: Roger Spear (saxophone, Jew's harp, musical toys; Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band).
1948: Derv Gordon (lead vocals; The Equals).
1948: Lincoln Gordon (US guitar; The Equals).
1943: Little Eva/Eva Narcissus Boyd (US singer)*10.April.2003.
UPDATING
1925: Hale Smith (US composer, editor)
1924: Flo Sandons/Mammola Sandon (Italian singer)*..2006
1923: Chou Wen-chung (Chinese-American composer)
1922: Tony Osborne (86) British musician, band leader, arranger, sessionist)*01.March.2009.

June 30th
1985: Rafal Blechacz (Polish classical pianist)
1984: Fantasia Barrino (US singer; American Idol winner).
1983: Anton Gordon (vocals, member of uk TV's created boy band, One True Voice)?
1983: Cheryl Cole née Tweedy (UK vocals; Girls Aloud).
1983: Brendon James (British drummer; Thirteen Senses)
1983: Patrick Wolf/Patrick Denis Apps (UK singer-songwriter, ukulele, piano, viola)
1982: Andy Knowles (UK drummer, keyboards; Skuta/Franz Ferdinand)
1981: Edward "DreadEd" Campbell (UK lead singer; FatalFear-Fatal Fear Korea).
1979: Matisyahu/Matthew Paul Miller (US Hasidic Jewish reggae singer).
1969: Tom Drummond (bassist; Better Than Ezra)?
1968: Philip Anselmo (US singer; Viking Crown/Down/Necrophagia/Pantera)
1967: Peter 'Cammy' Camell (guitar; La's)?
1963: Yngwie Malmsteen/Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck (Swedish guitarist, composer, multi-musician)
1962: Julianne Regan (UK vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard; All About Eve/Mice).
1960: Murray Cook (Australian singer; The Wiggles)
1959: Brendan Perry (UK singer, multi-musician; Dead Can Dance)
1958: Esa-Pekka Salonen (Finnish conductor and composer
1958: Rick Frank (US jazz drummer)
1956: Philip Adrian Wright (visual effects, synthesizers; Human League)?
1953: Hal Lindes (guitarist, composer; Dire Straits).
1951: Stanley Clarke (jazz bass player).
1946: Billy Brown (vocals, The Moments)?
1944: Glenn Shorrock (Australian singer, harmonica, guitar; Twilights/Axiom/Little River Band).
1940: Mark Spoelstra (US folk singer)*25.Feb.2007.
1938: Apostolos Nikolaidis (Greek singer)*22.April.1999.
UPDATING
1943: Florence Ballard (US vocalist; Supremes/solo)*22.Feb.1976.
1939: Tony Hatch (UK composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger, producer).
1936: Dave Van Ronk (US singer, guitarist; nicknamed Mayor of MacDougal Street)*10.Feb.2002
1917: Lena Horne (US jazz singer)*09.May.2010.

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OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH

June 1
1948: Sonny Boy Williamson I/ John Lee Williamson (34) US blues singer & harmonica player; easily the most important harmonica player of the pre-war era, he almost single-handedly made the humble mouth organ a worthy lead instrument for blues bands, leading the way for the amazing innovations of Little Walter and a platoon of others to follow. He recorded prolifically both as a bandleader and a sideman over the entire course of his career, mainly for the Bluebird record label, with many early sessions taking place at the Leland Hotel in Aurora, Illinois; most later sessions were recorded in Chicago. His final recording session took place in December 1947, backing Big Joe Williams. (killed in a mugging on Chicago's South Side, as he walked home from his final performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. and Giles Ave., a tavern just a block and a half away from his home at 3226 S. Giles) b. March 31st 1914.
1966: Papa Jack/George Vital Laine (93) American drummer, band leader; the most busy and perhaps the most important band leader in New Orleans in the years from the Spanish-American War to World War I and many of the New Orleans musicians who first spread jazz around the USA in the 1910s and 1920s got their start in Papa Jack's bands, his musicians included individuals from most of New Orleans' many ethnic groups... African American, English, French, German, Italian, Jewish, Latin American, Scottish etc. He started leading bands before the Jim Crow codes went into effect in New Orleans. Even after segregation laws started demanding "whites" and "coloured" be kept separate, Papa Jack continued to hire light and medium light skinned African-American musicians, claiming that they were "Cuban" or "Mexican" if any segregationist tried to start trouble. Hence some musicians who played with black bands like those of Buddy Bolden and Joe "King" Oliver also played with Papa Jack. This made for a wide cross-fertilization of musical ideas in his bands.(?) b. Sept 21st 1873
1984: Nate Nelson (52) US tenor and lead vocalist with the Flamingos from 1954 till 1960 having many hits such as "I'll Be Home", thier first national hit in 1955, reaching No.5 in the billboard chart and later covered by Pat Boone, "Would I Be Crying", "Mio Amore", "Your Other Love", "Nobody Loves Me Like You" and "I Was Such a Fool". He and Terry Johnson split to form the Modern Flamingos in 1961, also went on to record as The Starglows before joining The Platters with the Buck Ram line-up in the mid 60s (heart attack) b. April 10th 1932.
1991: David Ruffin (50) US singer with The Temptations; at the age of 15, he went to Hot Springs, Arkansas with the jazz musician Phineas Newborn, Sr. They played at the Fifty Grand Ballroom and Casino. He continued to sing at talent shows, worked with horses at a jockey club, and eventually became a member of the The Dixie Nightingales. He also sang with the Soul Stirrers briefly after the departure of Johnnie Taylor. He met and came under the guardianship of Eddie Bush and Dorothy Helen who took David to Detroit, Michigan and introduced him to Gwen Gordy Fuqua, Berry Gordy's sister, and Billy Davis. At Motown he started as a background singer, joining The Tempations in 1963. In Nov '64, songwriter/ producer Smokey Robinson wrote a single especially for him to sing lead on. That song, "My Girl", became the group's first #1 single and its signature song, and elevated David to the role of lead singer and front man. In the late 60's tensions grew and he was sacked from the the group, but continued with Motown as a solo artist. His first solo single "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)" reached the US pop & R&B Top Ten. His final Top Ten hit was 1975's "Walk Away From Love". After being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 with the other Temptations, David, Kendrick, and Dennis Edwards began touring and recording as "Ruffin /Kendrick/ Edwards: Former Leads of The Temptations". Sadly he project was cut short, when David Ruffin died. Known for his unique raspy and anguished tenor vocals, David was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine in November 2008 (drug overdose) b. Jan 18th 1941.
2006: Rocio Jurado (61) Spanish actress, singer nicknamed "La más grande";debuted on the big screen in 1962 with Los guerrilleros. She also played a main role in 1966's Proceso a una Estrella and 1971's Una Chica Casi Decente. While temporarily living in Argentina, she participated in a successful musical called La Zapatera Prodigiosa. After teaming with composer Manuel Alejandro, Rocío became a major and beloved figure on the Latin music scene, acclaimed throughout South America and Spain after releasing Muera el Amor and Señora & other hits. (diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and treated for liver failure 2 months before she sadly died from heart failure) b. Sept 18th 1944.
2007: Tony Ulysses Thompson (31) American R&B/soul singer and vocalist; born in Waco, but raised in Oklahoma City. He started singing solos in the local church choir at the age of eight. He joined up with the R&B group Hi-Five in 1990. The band's self-titled debut album went multi-platinum and created several hits, including "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)," "I Can't Wait Another Minute," and "Just Another Girlfriend". He went solo in 1995 debuting with Sexsational, before forming his own record label, N'Depth and later reformed Hi-Five in 2005.(drug over-dose; he died of a freon aka huffing overdose, confirmed through autopsy results).b. Sept 2nd 1975.

June 2
1937: Louis Vierne (66) French organist, composer; born nearly blind due to congenital cataracts but at an early age was discovered to have an unusual gift for music. He considered one of the greatest musical improvisers of his generation. Most of his works were never written down. His few improvisations that were preserved on early phonograph recordings sound like finished compositions. He took his successful music and concerts worldwide (suffered a stroke while giving his 1750th organ recital at Notre-Dame de Paris. He had thus fulfilled his often stated lifelong dream - to die at the console of the great organ of Notre-Dame) b. Oct 8th 1870.
1984: Georgios Kasassoglou (75) Greek musician, music education pioneer; he composed in many genres from hymns to ballet music. For years he committed himself tirelessly, with much willpower, courage and conviction, to the introduction of instrumental music in the liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church. He dedicated himself to the propagation of music schools, which barely existed at the time. He applied himself to the creation of the mixed chorus in Nea Smyrni, a district of Athens where he had lived since 1960 (?) b. December 1st 1908.
1987: Andres Segovia (94) Spanish classical guitarist; he is considered to be the father of the modern classical guitar movement by most modern music scholars. Segovia claimed that he "rescued the guitar from the hands of flamenco gypsies," and built up a classical repertoire to give the guitar a place in orchestrial concert halls (heart attack) b. Feb 21st 1893.
1987: Sammy Kaye (77) American reeds player, band leader of one of the so-called "Sweet" bands, whose tag line "Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye" became one of the most famous of the Big Band Era, backing the likes of Nat King Cole & Perry Como, he made a large number of records for Vocalion Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, and the American Decca label. In the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie he is mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Kids": "Why can't they dance like we did?/What's wrong with Sammy Kaye?". Sammy was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992 and for his contribution to the recording industry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sammy and his orchestra are featured in Iceland, a 1942 film about the US Marines in Iceland during WW2. (?) b. March 13th 1910.
1990: Steve "Stiv" Bators (40) American punk singer, guitarist; Dead Boys, Lords of the New Church. He co-starred in the John Waters film 'Polyester' and made a guest appearence as "Dick Slammer," the lead singer of "The Blender Children" in the 1988 film Tapeheads. (died in his sleep of a concussion after being struck to the ground by a taxi in Paris, France). b. Oct 22nd 1949.
1996: Pilar Lorengar/Lorenza Pilar García Seta () Spanish soprano born in the El Gancho district of Zaragoza, she is best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register as well as a distinctive vibrato. Pilar made her professional debut in 1950 in Oran, Algeria, playing the role of Maruxa. In 1951 she made her Spanish debut in the principal role in the Zarzuela El canastillo de fresas. Her international opera career started in 1955 at the Festival international d'Art Lyrique in Aix-en-Provence, where she played Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. She went on to play in London, Glyndebourne and Buenos Aires. In 1958 she signed a contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a relationship that would last for thirty years. In 1963 she was distinguished with the title of Kammersänger from the Senate of Berlin. In 1994, she was awarded the "Order of Merit" of the State of Berlin.(cancer) b. January 16th 1928.
1999: Franklin Delano Alexander "Junior" Braithwaite (46) Jamaican singer; one of the founders of, and the first lead singer of The Wailers, he was with the band for eight months and sung lead on such songs as, "Habits," "Straight and Narrow Way," "Don't Ever Leave Me," and "It Hurts To Be Alone". He left the band in 1964 and moved to the United States with hopes of pursuing a medical career. (gun shot; murdered in the home of a fellow musician in Kingston, leaving only Bunny Wailer and Beverley Kelso as surviving members of the original Wailers) b. April 4th 1949
2006: Vince Welnick (55) American keyboardist, best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He also became involved in solo efforts, formed and played in the band Missing Man Formation, and is a is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (possible suicide) b. February 21st 1951.
2007: Haneken/Kentaro Haneda (58) Japanese pianist, composer and arranger of popular anime and movies and video game music. He was best known as composer of Wizardry music which was ported to NES and SNES console by Ascii at early 1990, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross series, Barefoot Gen, Ys Symphony, Symphony Sorcerian and Genso Suikoden Ongaku-shu. He also taught as a professor at the Tokyo College of Music. (liver cancer). b. January 12th 1949
2008: Bo Diddley/Ellas Otha Bates (79) American rock and roll and blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist; a key figure in the transition from blues to rock 'n' roll, he introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound and he was also known for his characteristic rectangular cigar box guitar. Born in McComb, Mississippi, but moved to Chicargo in 1934, where he became an active member of his local Ebenezer Baptist Church, studying the trombone and the violin, becoming proficient enough for the musical director to invite him to join the orchestra playing violin, in which he performed until the age of 18. In his late teens, inspired musically by John Lee Hooker, he became interested in the guitar, playing on street corners with friends, including Jerome Green in a band called The Hipsters, later... READ MORE (heart failure) b. December 30th 1928.
2009: Palghat R. Raghu (81) Burmese-born Indian musician and percussionist; he was inducted into mridangam lessons very early in his life. He has toured extensively in Europe, USA, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. In addition to his brilliance in carnatic music, he has performed with such renowned artists such as Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Flute Hariprasad Chaurasia, Santoor Shivkumar Sharma alongside the Tabla Wizard Alla Rakha in numerous concerts in India and abroad. He has also been involved in East-West fusion music. He has been visiting professor of music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, San Diego State University and University of Berkeley. He regularly conducts advanced mridangam classes for the benefit of his students and upcoming mridangam artists (cardiac arrest) b. January 9th 1928.
2010: Giuseppe Taddei (93) Italian operatic baritone born in Genoa; he began his career at the age of 18 performing in a Wagner opera directed by Italian composer Arturo Toscanini, and sang in opera houses throughout the world past his 70s. His American debut took place at the San Francisco Opera in 1957, followed by his appearance with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1959. Giuseppe sang regularly at the Royal Opera House in London from 1960 to 1967. His acclaimed debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York came at the age of 69. A Verdi and Mozart specialist, he played both Leporello and Don Giovanni in Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' and Iago in Verdi's 'Otello' and also sang with opera legends Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti (he sadly passed away in his own house in Rome) b. June 26th 1916

June 3
1875: Georges Bizet (36) French composer of piano and opera, famous for his dramatic music and for the opera Carmen (The reception of Carmen left him acutely depressed; he fell victim to another attack of quinsy and soon after suffered two heart attacks from which he died) b. Oct 25th 1838.
1899: Johann Strauss II /Jr (73) Vienna's greatest composer of light music, a self-taught musician who established a musical dynasty in Vienna. The son of the famous “Waltz King,” he became the leading composer of late 19th-century Viennese operetta. He wrote only one ballet score, Cinderella, which was discovered after his death. (died from pneumonia in Vienna) b. Oct 25th 1899.
1975: Ozzie Nelson (69) American 40's & 50's radio and TV show presenter, entertainer and bandleader. He also originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons. He graduated from Rutgers University, where he played football despite his slight build, was a member of Cap and Skull, and entered law school. In college, he played saxophone in a small band and coached football to earn money, but faced with the Depression, he turned to music as a full-time career. He formed and led the Ozzie Nelson Band, from 1930 through the 1940s Nelson's band recorded prolifically, enjoying success with songs such as "Over Somebody Else's Shoulder" "Wave the Stick Blues", "Subway", "Jersey Jive", "Swingin' on the Golden Gate", and "Central Avenue Shuffle" and his number one hit with "And Then Some". He developed and produced his own radio series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The show went on the air in 1944, with the sons played by actors until 1949, and in 1952 it moved to television. The show starred the whole family, and America watched Ozzie and his wife Harriet, raise their 2 boys David and Ricky. Among the films Ozzie was involved with was "Love and Kisses",which he wrote, produced, and directed; it starred Ricky Nelson and Ricky's wife Kristin. In 1973, he published his autobiography, "Ozzie", and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the television industry, and an additional star with his wife for their contribution to radio (cancer). b. March 20th 1906.
1998: Poul Bundgaard (75) Danish actor, singer; Poul is probably best known for his role as the henpecked Kjeld in the Olsen Banden films. In addition to having appeared in a large number of Danish films, he starred in a number of operettas in the late 1940s until the 1950s, and worked at the Royal Danish Theatre as a singer between 1958 and 1973; however, he focused mostly on acting later on in his career (He died during the shooting of Olsen Bandens "sidste stik") b. October 27th 1922.
2006: Johnny Grande (76) US pianist and accordionist; original member of Bill Haley's backing band, The Comets. He was involved in the classic 1954 recording of "Rock Around the Clock". He also appeared with the band in most of their motion picture appearances, including Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock. He left the group in late 1962 or early 1963, following a tour of Germany. In 1987, he reunited with other members of the 1954-55 Comets and continued to tour the world and record until the spring of 2006 when ill health forced him to retire (He died in his sleep in Clarksville, Tennessee of cancer-related causes) b. January 14th 1930.
2009: Sam Butera (81) American saxophonist; born in New Orleans, he started his career in Ray McKinley's orchestra directly after high school and was named one of America's top upcoming jazzmen by Look magazine when he was only eighteen years old, and, by his early twenties, he had landed positions in the orchestras of Tommy Dorsey, Joe Reichman, and Paul Gayten. In 1956 he formed his own band The Witnesses and remained their bandleader for the next twenty years. During that time, he performed with Louis Prima and/or Keely Smith on such Prima-associated classics as "Old Black Magic," "Dig That Crazy Chick," "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody," "(Come on a) My House," and "I Want to Be Like You" (from Disney's The Jungle Book). He also played a part in the movie the Rat Race starring Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis. He played a scam artist along with Joe Bushkin who fleeced Curtis out of his instruments. The music can be heard on the LP and the CD released by Dot as a soundtrack of The Rat Race (Alzheimer's disease) b. August 17th 1927.
2009: Koko Taylor/Cora Walton (80) American blues singer, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues.". She left her home in Memphis for Chicago in 1952 and began singing in the blues clubs where she was spotted by Willie Dixon, this led to her first recording contract. In 1965 "Wang Dang Doodle" was a major hit reaching number four on the R&B charts. Heavy touring in the late 1960s and early 1970s improved her fan base, and she signed with Alligator Records in 1975. She recorded nine albums for Alligator, 8 of which were Grammy-nominated, and dominated the female blues singer ranks, winning twenty five W. C. Handy Awards. The 1990s saw Koko in films such as Blues Brothers 2000. Over the years she influenced musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi. In the years prior to her death, she performed over 70 concerts a year (complications from gastrointestinal surgery) b. September 28th 1928.
2010: Pance Pondaag (59) Indonesian pop singer and songwriter, born in Makassar he was one of Indonesia’s most famous pop musicians in the 1970s and 80s and also known for his sentimental lyrics sung by beautiful singers such as Meriam Bellina (complications from a stroke) b. February 18th 1951.

June 4
1939: Tommy Ladnier (39) American jazz trumpeter. born in Louisiana he moved to New Orleans in his youth. He was influenced by early New Orleans trumpet/cornet players Bunk Johnson and Joe "King" Oliver. About 1919 he moved to Chicago, where he started making records in 1924. In 1926 he moved to New York City to join the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. Two years later Tommy toured Europe with Sam Wooding's band, then returned to the States to rejoin Fletcher Henderson, and then played in Noble Sissle's Orchestra, with whom he again toured Europe. In the 1930s he co-led a band with Sidney Bechet called The New Orleans Feetwarmers, with whom Tommy made some of his best recordings (Tommy died so young, of a heart attack in New York City) b. May 28th 1900
1992: Harold 'Geezil' Minerve (70) Cuban freelance alto saxophonist and flautist; he toured with Ray Charles and was the musical director for Arthur Prysock. He raised in Florida and began playing music at age 12, playing with Ida Cox early in his career. He worked with Buddy Johnson from 1949-1957, with Mercer Ellington in 1960, Ray Charles 1962-64, and then Arthur Prysock. In 1971 he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra, filling Johnny Hodges's spot after Hodges's death. He remained with the Ellington Orchestra until 1974, then returned to play with Mercer Ellington. (?). b. Jan 3rd 1922.
1994: Derek 'Lek' Leckenby (51) English guitarist, most famous for his work with Herman's Hermits. He played on many of the band's early hits and composed songs with band. He wnt on to be sort after session player (cancer) b. May 14th 1994.
1997: Johnny "Hammond" Smith (53) American organist, in Louisville, KY, and a renowned player of the Hammond B-3 organ, thus earning "Hammond" as a nickname. His career took off as he was serving as accompanist to singer Nancy Wilson. One of his last accomplishments also included Nancy Wilson. He wrote the song "Quiet Fire" for her "Nancy Now" release in 1989. In 1959, he began recording as a leader for Prestige, an association that would last through 1970 and produce highlights like That Good Feelin', Talk That Talk, Black Coffee, Open House, Ebb Tide, and Soul Talk, among others. His bands featured singers such as Etta Jones and Houston Person. As time passed, Smith's style got progressively funkier, and in 1971, he shortened his name to Johnny Hammond. In the late 70s Johnny largely retired from jazz, settling in Southern California and investing in real estate. He began recording sporadically again in the '90s. (cancer) b. December 16th 1933.
1997: Ronnie Lane (53) English singer, songwriter, bassist and co-founder of Small Faces and Faces, born in the East End of London. He quit school at 16 to a band with Kenney Jones called "The Outcasts". Ronnie played lead guitar, but it was quickly decided that he should switch to bass guitar. He bought his bass guitar from a shop were Steve Marriott who was working. Steve introduced him to Motown and Stax. Ronnie and Steve set out to put together a band, and recruited friends Kenny Jone and Jimmy Winston, who switched from guitar to the organ, Steve was chosen to be the vocalist and in 1965 Small Faces was born (by 1966 Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan as the band's keyboardist). With memorable hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing", "Tin Soldier", and their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, they later evolved into one of the UK's most successful psychedelic acts before disbanding in 1969. After which Ronnie, Ian and Kenney were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from The Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed Faces. Ronnie left Faces in 1973 to form his own band, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance. The same year they recorded the hit singles "How Come" and "The Poacher", then the album "Anymore For Anymore", showcasing his own blend of UK rock, folk, and country music. In 1977 while recording the album Rough Mix, a collaboration between himself and The Who guitarist Pete Townsend Ronnie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Nonetheless, he toured, wrote, and recorded, with Eric Clapton, and many others, and managed to release yet another album, See Me, which features several songs written by Lane and Clapton. Glen Johns organised concerts at the Royal Albert Hall to help fund the Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, a London-based organization. The concerts featured Ronnie, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Kenney Jones, Andy Fairweather-Low, and more. With the addition of Joe Cocker and Paul Rodgers, they all toured the U.S. It was during this time that Rodgers and Page started the band, The Firm. Ronnie and his Family moved to Texas in 1984, where the climate was more beneficial to his health, and continued playing, writing, and recording. He formed an American version of Slim Chance. For close to a decade Ronnie enjoyed his rock status in the Austin area and even toured Japan. His health continued to decline, and his last performance was in 1992 at a Ronnie Wood gig. Also in the band that night was Ian McLagan. (Ronnie sadly died of pneumonia) b. April 1st 1946.
2001: John Hartford (63) American folk singer, guitar, fiddle, and banjo player, songwriter and double Emmy Award Winner; Born in New York City but brought up in in St. Louis, Missouri. By age 13, he was an accomplished old-time fiddler and banjo player, and he soon learned to play guitar and mandolin as well. He formed his first bluegrass band while still in high school at John Burroughs School. In 1965, he moved to Nashville, the center of the country music industry and in 1966, he signed with RCA Victor, and produced his first album, Looks at Life, in the same year. In 1967, Hartford's second album Earthwords & Music spawned his first major hit, "Gentle On My Mind". At the 1968 Grammies, the song netted four awards, two of which went to John, and it became one of the most widely recorded country songs of all time. He also had extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore, his love for the river influenced his music throughtout his career. John's Grammy-winning Mark Twang features him playing solo, reminiscent of his live solo performances playing the fiddle, guitar, banjo, and amplified plywood for tapping his feet. At the same time, he developed a stage show, which toured in various forms from the mid 1970s until shortly before his death (Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) b. December 30th 1937.
2004: Steve Lacy/Steven Norman Lackritz (59) Jazzman, soprano saxophonist; from New York New York, was a jazz soprano saxophonist. In 1992, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, nicknamed the "genius grant" (cancer) b. July 23rd 1934.
2006: Peter Greenwell (76) UK composer and pianist known for his work with Noel Coward who later developed a tribute show described by Alan Jay Lerner as "the best Noel Coward since Noel Coward.
2006: Raul Indipwo (72) Portuguese singer, member of Duo Ouro Negro band (cancer). b. ???
2006: Richard Kapp (69) American conductor; Richard Kapp founded the chamber orchestra Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York in 1968 and has been their Artistic Director since then. The orchestra became a fixture on the New York-area musical scene until it suspended concerts in 2004, when he became ill. (cancer) b. October 9th 1936.
2007: Freddie Scott (74) American singer; began his career as a songwriter for Colpix Records, along with Carole King and Gerry Goffin, famous for his chart-topping hit "Hey, Girl" (heart attack) b. April 24th 1933.
2008: Bill Finegan (91) American jazz arranger and bandleader; one of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra's best-known originals. Following this he found work in advertising, writing music for commercials. In the 1970s he arranged for the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Mel Lewis's orchestra. In the 1980s he taught jazz at the University of Bridgeport (pneumonia) b. April 3rd 1917.
2009: Jean Sagadeev (42) Russian rock singer, bassist, guitarist; a founder member and leader of the russian monster of rock and heavy metal band E.S.T /Electro-convulsive therapy. They made their debut at the “Festival of Hope” Moscow Rock Laboratory in 1988 and won first place at many all-union competitions, they quickly acquired the status of “cult” group and have become the “monsters of rock USSR.” After their second German tour E.S.T. released their first album - "Electro Shock Therapy", recieving positive comments in U.K. and Europe. E.S.T. toured intensively in Russia and abroad - Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland and USA, performing along side world rockers including Sepultura, Faith no More, Nazareth, Uriah Heep, Motorhead, among others. In 1991, the band participated in the famous concert at Tushinskaya airport in Moscow, with the monster bands AC/DC and Metallica. In 2007, Jean received from the Secretary-General of the charity movement VI Maslov medal “For the sake of life on Earth” with the wording “For the noble thoughts and deeds” (suspected, but suspitious suicide by hanging, awaiting an autopsy) b. July 8th 1967.

June 5
1990: Jim Hodder (42) drummer, Steely Dan (drowned in his swimming pool)
1990: Richard Sohl (37) keyboard player, the Patti Smith group ()
1993: Conway Twitty (59) US country singer, guitarist; in Friars Point, Mississippi and moved to Helena, Arkansas at 10 years of age, where he put together his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers. Two years later, he had his own local radio show every Saturday morning. After his call up he had his first hit in 1958 "It's Only Make Believe" which was the first of nine Top 40 hits, reaching No.1 and selling eight million copies, as well as being an international hit. He is thought of as a country music singer, but he also enjoyed success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. Until 2006, he held the record for the most #1 singles of any country act, with 40 #1 Billboard country hits. (George Strait broke the record in 2006 with the single "Give It Away"). Over his long and highly successful career Conway has been honoured with 6 awards from the Academy of Country Music, 4 from the Country Music Association and 2 Grammy awards, He has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (died in Cox South Hospital from an abdominal aortic aneurysm) b. September 1st 1933.
1999: Mel Torme (73) Jazz singer with a light, high-tenor voice, songwriter (stroke)
1999: Ernie Wilkins (76) jazz & bop tenor sax player, alto sax; while in Denmark he formed the "Almost Big Band" so he could write for a band of his own formation. The idea was partly inspired by his wife Jenny, noted American ex-patriates like Kenny Drew and Ed Thigpen joined the band.()
2002: Dee Dee Ramone (49) American bass guitarist; The Ramones (drug overdose)
2004: Iona Brown OBE (63) British violinist and conductor born in Salisbury; from 1963 to 1966, Iona was a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra. In 1964, she joined the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, working her way up through the ranks to become a soloist and director in 1974. She formally left the Academy in 1980, but continued to work with them for the remainder of her life. In 1981, she was appointed artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. She served as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1987 to 1992. From 1985 to 1989, she was guest director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. As her health declined and she suffered from arthritis, she shifted her focus from the violin to conducting, and ended her violin career in 1998. In the last years until her death, she was chief conductor of the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra Denmark. (sadly died of cancer) b. January 7th 1941.
2006: Elizabeth Fretwell (85) Australian prima donna opera singer best known for her performances with the Sadler's Wells company ().
2009: Jeff Hanson (31) American singer-songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist; from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. he started learning guitar at four years old and by the age of 13 formed the indie rock band M.I.J. In 2000, the band released the album "Radio Goodnight" before Jeff started his solo carreer. With his soft falsetto voice, he rose to underground fame in 2003 when he was signed to Kill Rock Stars, the label that launched Sleater-Kinney and Elliott Smith. He released three records for the label, including last year's "Madam Owl" and an eponymous 2005 album that earned a 7.8 rating out of 10 from trendsetting music blog PitchforkMedia.com. He has toured overseas including Japan and more recently toured the West Coast and Scandinavia this spring.. 2009, with fellow songwriter Chris Koza (found dead in his St. Paul apartment that he had recently moved into. Tragically the cause was a possible fall or other household accident) b. 1978
2010: Arne Nordheim (78) Norwegian contemporary classical composer, born in Larvik. He was educated at Oslo's Music Conservatory and he frequently received guidance in composition by the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe. Arne also studied electronic music with Gaudeamus in Bilthoven, The Netherlands. His musical output is focused around themes of 'solitude, death, love, and landscape' (Aksnes); these themes are evident in his song cycle Aftonland (Evening Land, 1959), a setting of poems by the Swedish poet Pär Lagerkvist, which brought him national recognition. The 1961 Canzona per orchestra was his international breakthrough. Inspired by Giovanni Gabrieli's canzone, the work showcases Nordheim's historical leanings, as well as his occupation with space as a parameter of music. His later compositions include The Tempest; Klokkesong; Magma; the Violin Concerto; and Fonos for trombone and orchestra. On August 18th 2006, Arne received the honorary doctors degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music (?) b. June 20th 1931.

June 6
1922: Lillian Russell/Helen Louise Leonard (60) American actress and singer born in Iowa but raised in Chicago. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century. At the age of 18, Lillian moved to New York with her mother, where she quickly began to perform professionally, singing for Tony Pastor and playing roles in comic opera, including Gilbert and Sullivan works. She married composer Edward Solomon in 1884 and created roles in several of his operas in London, but in 1886 he was arrested for bigamy. In 1885, Lillian returned to New York and continued to star in operetta and musical theatre. For many years, she was the foremost singer of operettas in America, performing continuously through the end of the nineteenth century. In 1899, she joined the Weber and Fields's Music Hall, where she starred for five years. After 1904, she began to have vocal difficulties and switched to acting roles. She later returned to her singing but this time in vaudeville, finally retiring from performing around 1919. In her later years, Lillian wrote a newspaper column, advocated women's suffrage and was a popular lecturer (She suffered which were thought to be minor injuries on her return trip from an immigration fact finding mission in Europe for President Warren Harding, but her injuries led to complications, and she sadly died after ten days of illness. Her findings were instrumental in a 1924 immigration reform law. Lillian was buried with full military honors) b. December 4th 1861.
1966: Claudette Orbison/Claudette Frady (25) Roy Orbison's first wife (killed when a truck pulled out of a side road and collided with the motorbike that she and Roy were riding on) b. Sept 1941
1968: George Wettling (60) American Jazz drummer; worked with the big bands of Artie Shaw, Bunny Berigan, Red Norvo, Paul Whiteman, and even Harpo Marx: but he was at his best for his work in small 'hot' bands led by Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier, and himself (?) b. November 28th 1907
1986: Dick Rowe (?) UK record producer for Decca; He was one of the most important producers and record executives in the '50s and early '60s, the man who signed The Rolling Stones, Them (Van Morrison), The Moody Blues, The Animals, The Zombies, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, The Tornados, Tom Jones, and The Small Faces, among others. But probably more famous for being the man who would not sign the Beatles, thinking they had no future. As a producer he had many chart hits including The Stargazer -"Broken Wings", Lita Roza - "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", Jimmy Young - "Unchained Melody", Them - "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Gloria"; The Bachelors - "My Charmaine" and "Marta", Dickie Valentine - "Christmas Alphabet", Billy Fury - "Halfway to Paradise"and "Jealousy", Al Hibbler - "Unchained Melody to mention just a few (diabetes) b. ??
1991: Stan Getz/Stanley Gayetzky (64) American jazz saxophone player born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1941, he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra of New York City.
In 1943 at the age 15, he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band. Getz also played along with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Stan was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949. In the mid to late 1950s working from Scandinavia, Stan played cool jazz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. His first two quintets including Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. A 1953 line-up of the Dizzy Gillespie/Stan Getz Sextet featured Gillespie, Getz, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach. He continued playing with many greats. In the mid-1980s he worked regularly in the San Francisco Bay area and taught at Stanford University where he was artist-in-residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop until 1988 when he worked with Huey Lewis and the News on their Small World album. Towards the end of his life he played with a group including the pianist Kenny Barron. Stan was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986 (died of liver cancer) b. February 2nd 1927.
1996: William Palmer (84) San Francisco filmmaker, inventor, and audio recording pioneer; working with Bing Crosby, ABC, and Ampex just after World War II, he was the essential catalyst that began the era of high-quality audio magnetic tape recording in America, when William and his colleague, John T. Mullin, perfected an American version of the German "Magnetophon" high-fidelity audio tape recorder in 1946. Using the Mullin-Palmer tape machines in 1946, Merv Griffin in San Francisco was the first U.S. performer to master a commercial disc on tape, "Songs by Merv Griffin", with Lyle Bardo and his Orchestra. In the early 1950s, before the successful introduction of the VTR, William invented a unique system for recording the TV image on 16mm film, a modified "kinescope" process, the Palmer Television Film Recorder, which eliminated the "kine" shutter bar problem was used around the world even after video tape. The 3-2 pull-down system used a "blending" shutter device that eliminated the characteristic "shutter bar" that plagued kine recordings. During the pre-videotape era, Palmer also recorded television shows on film (kinescopes) for San Francisco Bay Area TV stations, including the award-winning series, "The Standard Hour", broadcast on ABC's KGO-TV in 1951 (?) b 1911.
2001: Professor Douglas Gordon Lilburn (85) A prolific and influential New Zealand composer, described as "the elder statesman of New Zealand music" and the "grandfather of New Zealand music". He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Otago in 1969 and was presented with the Citation for Services to New Zealand Music by the Composers' Association of New Zealand in 1978. In 1988 he was awarded the Order of New Zealand. His prizes and scholarships included: the Percy Grainger Competition, 1936, for his tone poem Fores; the Cobbett Prize, Royal College of Music, 1939 for Phantasy for String Quarte; the Foli Scholarship and Hubert Parry Prize, Royal College of Music, 1939; three out of four of the prizes in the New Zealand National Centennial Music Celebrations Competitions, 1940; and the Philip Neill Memorial Prize in 1944. He was founder of Waiteata Press Music Editions in 1967 and founder of the Lilburn Trust of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, 1984.(died peacefully at his home in Wellington) b. November 2nd 1915.
2002: Robbin Crosby (42) US guitarist with Ratt; he also later worked as a producer for metal band Lillian Axe (heroin overdose).
2003: Dave Rowberry (62) English keyboardist, pianist and organ player; born in Mapperley, Notts, he entered the Newcastle blues and jazz music scene in the early 1960s, while at University there. He joined The Mike Cotton Jazzmen in 1962, before replacing Alan Price in the UK rock-blues band The Animals. He played many of the group's big hits, including "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life", "Don't Bring Me Down", "Inside-Looking Out", and "See See Rider". From the 90's he worked as free-lance musician in the London jazz scene and was a member of Shut Up Frank, with Noel Redding, Dave Clarke and Mick Avory of The Kinks. They toured extensively and recorded several albums, which are still available on Mouse Records (an ulcer haemorrhage) b. July 4th 1940.
2006: Billy Preston (59) American soul singer, keyboardist from Houston, Texas, but raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his successful, Grammy-winning career as a solo artist, Billy collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Richie Sambora, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Beatles' Get Back sessions in 1969. He made his last public appearance in late 2005 at the Los Angeles press junket for the re-release of the Concert for Bangladesh movie. He was in good spirits and talked to many in the press. Afterwards he played a three song set of "Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity", featuring Dhani Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums for the final song only (Although he received a kidney transplant in 2002, his health continued to deteriorate. He died of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. He had been in a coma since November 21st 2005) b. September 2nd 1946.
2006: Hilton Ruiz (54) Puerto Rican-American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player. He began playing piano at the age of eight, and gigged with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Newman when he was young. Later, he was Roland Kirk's main pianist from 1974 to 1977 and was featured on such records as The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color and The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man. Ruiz also recorded several solo albums between the 1980s and 2000s. (He tragically died from injuries 18 days after a fall; he was found unconscious on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Police concluded that he stumbled and fell, not been attacked) b. May 29th 1952.
2010: Dana Key (56) American Christian rock guitarist, singer, producer and the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of the famous Francis Scott Key, author of The Star-Spangled Banner. Dana was co-founder of the Christian rock group DeGarmo & Key along with old school friend and keyboardist Eddie DeGarmo. They toured the world, headlining and opening with other major Christian Rock bands including Servant, Petra, Joe English, Amy Grant, Resurrection Band, Jesse Dixon, Mylon LeFevre and Broken Heart, and dc Talk and recorded over 16 albums. Dana also released two solo albums, "The Journey: Walking with Jesus" and "Part of the Mystery", Following his retirement, he served as the head of Ardent Records, and hosted a TV show, featuring new, younger, Christian bands and he had also been serving as the pastor of a small church in Cordova, Tennessee, The Love of Christ Church (passed away due to ruptured blood clot) b. December 30th 1953.
2010: Marvin Isley (56) American bassist, he grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1972. Marvin became the youngest member of the soulful Isley Brothers R&B group. The original group formed in 1954 with the three eldest brothers Isley, O'Kelly Jr., Rudolph and Ronald, which recorded several singles, including "Shout," "This Old Heart of Mine" and the Grammy winning "It's Your Thing". In the late-1960s, Marvin formed a trio with older brother Ernie and brother-in-law Chris Jasper. By 1973, Marvin's group had joined the older half of the Isleys as its instrumentalists, when the Isley Brothers group officially expanded to six performers. The fuller group enjoyed massive radio airplay with hits, including "That Lady," "The Heat is On," "Go For Your Guns" .. READ MORE .. (sadly died from complications with diabetes) b. August 18th 1953.

June 7
1964: Meade "Lux" Lewis (58) American pianist and composer noted for his work in the Boogie Woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues" has been recorded in various contexts, often ii big band arrangements. He became the leading boogie-woogie pianists of the day, his trio performed extended engagements at Café Society, toured regularly, and inspired the formation of Blue Note Records in 1939. Their success led to a decade long boogie woogie craze with big band swing treatments by Tommy Dorsey, Will Bradley and others, as well as influencing numerous country boogie and early rock 'n' roll songs (Car accident) b. September 4th 1905.
1976: Bobby Hackett (60) US jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet and guitar with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and many others. He made his name as a follower of the legendary cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. Benny Goodman hired him to recreate Bix's famous "I'm Coming Virginia" solo at his 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. Although he admired and played like Bix, he not like the "new Bix" tag, Bobby idolised Louis Armstrong, his dream come true in 1947 with his inclusion in Louis Armstrong's Town Hall Jazz Concert. He was invited into Glenn Miller's band as a guitarist in 1941, despite having some temporary lip problems at that time, he still played the occasional, beautiful short solo on the cornet and trumpet, he can be heard playing a famous one with the Glenn Miller Orchestra on "A String of Pearls." During the 1950s, he made a series of albums of ballads with a full string orchestra, exhibiting a gorgeous, dreamy, vibrato-free sound (heart attack) b. January 31st 1915.
1998: Wally Gold (70) US songwriter, composer, saxophonist and producer, having a successful partnership with Aaron Schroeder. Born in Brooklyn he started as a saxophonist in dance orchestras, and a member of the US Navy Band during World War II, after which he sang in a quartet, the Four Esquires, before becoming a songwriter. In 1960 he and his partner, Aaron Schroeder, wrote many hits including ''It's Now or Never,'' which Elvis Presley took to No.1, "It's Now or Never", "In Your Arms", "Lucky Devil", "Twixt Twelve and Twenty", "Time and the River", "Because They're Young", "Utopia", "Hither and Thither and Yon", "She Can't Find Her Keys", "Half Heaven - Half Heartache", "It's My Party", and "Fools Hall of Fame", "Look Homeward Angel", "Good Luck Charm", and "Sweet Bird of Youth". Later Wally worked as a record produce in various companies. While working in the 1970s as a producer and agent for Don Kirshner's label, distributed by Columbia Records, he discovered and signed the progressive rock band Kansas. (complications of crohn's disease) b. May 15th 1928.
2006: Quorthon/Tomas Börje Forsberg (38) Swedish bassist, songwriter and leader of the pioneering Swedish black metal band Bathory. He composed the music and wrote the lyrics on all of Bathory's albums. His fans considered him the father of both the black metal and viking metal genres, the latter having a more evolved and operatic style. He formed Bathory in 1983 when he was only 17 years old, recording 12 albums between 1984 and 2003, the last being Nordland II. Quorthon also recorded 2 solo albums "Album" released in 1994, and "Purity of Essence" in 1997. These albums were more rock oriented than Bathory's black / Viking metal style (died in his apartment from heart failure, some put this date as June 3rd) b. February 17th 1966.
2006: Carl Dengler (91) American bandleader, percussionist, member of The Buster Brown Boys (?)
2009: Kenny Rankin (69) American singer-songwriter; raised in New York, he developed a large following during the 70s with a steady flow of albums, debuting with Mind-Dusters in 1967, three of his thirteen albums broke into the Billboard Album Chart. TV host Johnny Carson was so impressed with Kenny's voice and music, he appeared on The Tonight Show more than twenty times. His unique reworking classic songs such as The Beatles' "Blackbird," which he recorded for his Silver Morning album, so impressed Paul McCartney that he asked Kenny to perform his interpretation of the song when McCartney and John Lennon were inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. As a songwriter himself, Kenny's compositions have been performed by artists such as Mel Tormé and Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Stephen Bishop and Leon Russell (lung cancer) b. February 10th 1940.
2010: Stuart Cable (40) Welsh rock drummer and broadcaster; born in Cwmaman near Aberdare, he is maybe best known as the original drummer for the band Stereophonics. He along with childhood friends Kelly and Richard Jones began playing in a series of outfits in their early teens, playing classic rock and soul covers. They began writing and performing music in working men's clubs together in 1992 as a teenage covers band known as Tragic Love Company ... READ MORE ... (tragically, Stuart was found dead at his home in Llwydcoed. South Wales Police have ruled out any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, however, a post mortem is yet to be conducted to officially determine the exact cause of death) b. May 19th 1970.

June 8
1980: Ernst Busch (80) German singer and actor born in Kiel; he first rose to prominence as an interpreter of political songs, particularly those of Kurt Tucholsky, in the Berlin cabaret scene of the 1920s. He starred in the original 1928 production of Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera, as well as the subsequent 1931 film by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. He also appeared in the movie Kuhle Wampe. He also made a memorable and haunting recording of Peat Bog Soldiers. (?) b. January 22nd 1900.
1987: Yogi Horton (33) American session drummer; a highly in-demand, colourful and energetic drummer for hundreds of sessions with dozens of artists and bands, such as Diana Ross, Odyssey, Grover Washington Jr., John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, The B-52s, The Rolling Stones, as well as being the long time touring and recording drummer for the late R&B singer Luther Vandross and the singer songwriters Ashford & Simpson. Also, he was a member of the Alessi Brothers band for three years in the mid-’80s, touring and recording with Barnaby Bye bandmates and twins Billy & Bobby Alessi (jumped from a 17th floor hotel window) b. ??
1993: Root Boy Slim/Foster MacKenzie 111 (48) American singer-songwriter; he attended Yale University, where he formed a band named Prince La La and the Midnight Creepers with classmate and fraternity brother Greenlee. Band members wore ermine capes, silver lamay hot pants and boasted that they were never invited for return engagements. One day he took a lot of LSD and went to the White House and climbed the fence. He was apprehended by the Secret Service as he ran up the lawn toward the White House. He was the first intruder since the War of 1812 to get completely over the fence.The large dose of LSD he had consumed caused a psychotic break that led to schizophrenia, with the result that he would be medicated for the rest of his life. Foster found further fame as Root Boy Slim with his band the Sex Change Band when in 1978 music producer Gary Katz signed the band to Warner Bros. Records, which resulted the band's eponymous debut album."Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes.". They released 6 albums the last being Root 6 in 1990 (died in his sleep at his home in Orlando) b. July 9th 1945.
2000: Abe Lincoln (93) Jazz trombonist; in 1921, a 14-year-old Abe performed for the public throughout southern Pennsylvania with a newly formed six-piece jazz band led by his big brother Bud Lincoln. When he was 16, with his father's permission, he was hired by bandleader Ace Brigode and soon found himself working in New York City. In 1925 he joined James B. Dimick's Million Dollar Sunny Brook Orchestra, before joining the California Ramblers (who never played on the west coast). He joined Ozzie Nelson's orchestra in 1934, and traveled with them to Los Angeles, where he spent many years in Hollywood studio ensembles backing entertainers like Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Judy Garland, Hoagy Carmichael, Fred Astaire, Johnny Mercer, Frankie Laine, Jo Stafford, and Ella Mae Morse. His trombone was also audible in several Woody Woodpecker cartoon soundtracks. Abe was one of three "president" jazzmen, along with trumpeter, Thomas Jefferson and trombonist, George Washington, he performed in many Dixieland settings during the late '40s and throughout the '50s. In 1956 he helped put across some of the most authentic Dixieland recordings ever released under the name of Pete Fountain. He continued to freelanced throughout the '60s 70s and '80s, playing with among others.. Wingy Manone, Rampart Street Paraders, Red Nichols, Bob Scobey, Wild Bill Davison, Pete Fountain and Matty Matlock (died in Van Nuys, CA) b. March 29th 1907.
2008: Šaban Bajramovic (72) Serbian Romani musician, singer-songwriter and composer; at 19 he ran away from the army out of love for a girl. As a deserter, he was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison on the island Goli otok, where he joined the orchestra which played the jazz Louis Armstrong, Sinatra, John Coltrane and Spanish and Mexican pieces. Once free again, he made his first record in 1964. He went on to make around 20 albums, some 50 singles and composed 650 pieces. In 2008, it was revealed that Saban was living impoverished in Niš with serious health complications and was no longer able to walk. The government of Serbia intervened to provide him with some funds.(heart attack) b. April 16th 1936.
2010: Porfi Jiménez (82) Dominican-born Venezuelan trumpet player, arranger, composer and bandleader. After moving to Caracas in 1954, he started to play with orchestras led by Rafael Minaya, Pedro José Belisario and Chucho Sanoja, as well as for the Billo's Caracas Boys. Porfi enjoyed huge success in the mid 1980s with albums combining salsa, cumbia, and his native Dominican merengue. Some of his most popular songs include La negra Celina, Se hunde el barco, Dolores and Culu Cucú, which reached No.1 on the Colombian, Dominican and Venezuelan charts. Beside this, he conducted a 17-piece Jazz orchestra to promote the big band tradition by featuring his own repertoire and selected works of Thad Jones, Chico O'Farrill, among others. In January 2007 Porfi was honored in New York City by the United Nations Orchestra, created by Dizzy Gillespie (?) b. February 16th 1928.
2010: Tony Cennamo (76) American disc jockey born in Brooklyn, New York; Tony was a jazz disc jockey on Boston University's WBUR for 25 years, he had a morning show in the 1970s and 1980s he began his show with Oliver Nelson's Stolen Moments. In 1986 he represented the city of Boston in an exchange program with Melbourne, Australia to lecture about jazz history and appear on radio programs. Tony helped a lot of Boston Jazz musicians, always ready to offer them support and airplay (sadly passed away a after long illness) b. September 30th 1933.
2010: Crispian St. Peters/Robin Peter Smith (71) British pop singer, best known for his 1966 hit, "The Pied Piper". Born in Swanley, Kent, Crispian gave his first live performance in 1956, as a member of The Hard Travellers. Through the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was a member of The Country Gentlemen, Beat Formula Three, and Peter & The Wolves. In 1964, it was as a member of Peter & The Wolves, he made his first commercial recording. He signed to Decca Records in 1965, recording "No No No" and "At This Moment", and he appearanced in the TV shows Scene At 6.30 and Ready Steady Go!. In 1966, he finally yielded a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart, with "You Were On My Mind". He scored a major hit with "The Pied Piper" during the summer of 1966, when his single went to No.4 in the US and No.5 in the UK (passed away after a long illness) b. April 5th 1939.

June 9
1991: Claudio Arrau León (88) Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning from the baroque to 20th century composers, especially Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms and Debussy. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. In his honor The Robert Schumann Society established the Arrau Medal in 1991. (Claudio died in Mürzzuschlag, Austria in the midst of a tight European concert tour, he was working on a recording of the complete works of Bach for keyboard, and had Haydn, Mendelssohn, Reger, Busoni and Boulez's 3rd Sonata in preparation) b. February 6th 1903.
1992: Clarence Horatio "Big" Miller (69) US big voiced singer and occasional jazz trombonist; one of the last old time 'blues shouters', men with voices so powerful they could sing over an entire big band without using a microphone. In the days before the wide spread use of microphones and audio amplifiers, only those performers who could be clearly heard by theatre-goers sitting in the back row of seats had any chance of employment. He recorded for Savoy Records early in his career, with The Five Pennies as backing musicians. His jazz activities included work with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. After performing with John Hendricks's revue, The Evolution of the Blues, he signed with Columbia Records. In the 1970s Clarence toured with Big Joe Turner, then moved to Canada, settling in Edmonton, Alberta, where he lived for the rest of his life. He played a major role in the growth of the Edmonton Jazz Society and worked with local musician Tommy Banks. He was the subject of a documentary released by the National Film Board of Canada in 1987 (?) b. December 18th 1922.
2000: Bernard Flood (92) American jazz trumpeter, following his graduate of Atlanta's famed Tuskegee Institute in the '20s, Bernard became associated with a series of bandleadersincluding Bob Neal, Fess Williams, Teddy Hill, Luis Russell, Chick Webb and Charlie Johnson. In 1939 he became part of Louis Armstrong's big-band project, dropping out for the spring of 1941 with James Reynolds before rejoining Louis Armstrong. In 1946 he worked with both Luis Russell and Duke Ellington, as well as starting up his own combo. He also collaborated with Happy Caldwell in both the late '40s and early '50s. He retired from fulltime music in the early 70s and sadly became a sufferer from diabetes and lost both of his legs due to the effects of the disease (?) b. December 16th 1907.
2006: Delbert Lavern "Vern" Williams (76) American bluegrass mandolin player and singer; born in Arkansas he began playing music with his family at an early age. He moved to California in 1952 with the Marine Corps, where he continued to play music, first with his younger brother John Jr., then with Ray Park beginning in 1959, and lastly beginning in 1974 with his own “Vern Williams Band” who also backed up country-bluegrass legend Rose Maddox. Over his 40 year career he has inspired and influenced countless top quality coast musicians and is generally accepted as the father of bluegrass music on the West Coast of the United States (?) b. December 9th 1930.

June 10
1982: Addie "Micki" Harris/Addie Harris McPherson (42) American singer and founder member of The Shirelles, which originally formed in 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey by Shirley Owens Alston Reeves, Doris Coley Kenner Jackson, Addie "Micki" Harris McPherson and Beverly Lee. All students at Passaic High School, they ccalled themselves 'The Poquellos'. Florence Greenberg, who ran a small record label was impressed enough to become the group's manager, and changed their name to The Shirelles by combining frequent lead singer Shirley's first name with doo-woppers the Chantels. They went on to have many hits including "Dedicated to the One I Love", "Welcome Home Baby", "Baby It's You", "Mama Said", "Foolish Little Girl", "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "Sha La La" and "Soldier Boy". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked them #76 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" made No.125 and "Tonight's the Night" No. 401 in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (heart attack, after show in Atlanta) b. January 22th 1940.
1992: Nat Pierce (66) American jazz pianist; he led his own band which featured Charlie Mariano from 1949-1951, before becoming pianist and arranger for the Woody Herman band from 1951-1955. He moved to New York City freelancing with the likes of Quincy Jones, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Pee Wee Russell, Emmett Berry and Ruby Braff, to name a few. Nat also also arranged the music for The Sound of Jazz, a 1954 CBS television special hosted by John Crosby (complications from an abdominal infection) b. July 16th 1925.
1996: Alan Blakley (54) UK drummer, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and founding member of the Tremeloes with fourteen UK and two U.S. Top 20 hit singles to their name. The band first got together in 1958, when they were all in their teens. In the original line-up Alan on drums, with Brian Poole as vocals and guitarist, Alan Howard playing saxophone and Graham Scott on guitar. But Alan very soon took over on guitar to leave Brian as front man - singer. By 1961, a few line-up changes and Alan now on keyboards, they had turned professional. As Brian Poole and the Tremeloes they first charted with a version of "Twist and Shout" in 1963, quickly followed by their chart topping "Do You Love Me" making them the first south of England group to top the chart in the beat boom era. In 1964 they made tours of South Africa and Australia, followed by a film A Touch of Blarney. When Brian Poole left the band for a solo career in 1966, Alan took over the leadership and the hits kept coming with among others "Even the Bad Times Are Good"; "(Call Me) Number One"; "Me And My Life";
" Hello World "; "Suddenly You Love Me"; "Helule Helule"; "My Little Lady"; "Silence is Golden" and "Here Comes My Baby" the latter two also entered the Top Twenty of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, in addition both tracks sold a million copies globally, each earning gold disc status, as did "Even the Bad Times Are Good". Alan wrote or co-wrote many of the Tremeloes songs and after their decline, he produced records for other acts, including The Rubettes, Bilbo and Mungo Jerry. In 1983 the original quartet reformed and made a cover version of the Europop hit "Words" (cancer) b. April 1st 1942.
2004: Ray Charles/Ray Charles Robinson (73) US jazz singer, pianist, composer; In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Ray number ten on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and also voted him number two on their November 2008 list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time (liver disease) b. September 23rd 1930 .. read more
2004: Graeme Kelling (47) Scottish guitarist; he developed his guitar technique with various other bands including Tune Cookies and before successfully auditioning for Deacon Blue, named after a Steely Dan song of the 1970s. The band was formed in Glasgow in 1985 their debut album Raintown was released 1987, their best-selling albums included Raintown, Homesick, and When the World Knows Your Name, which topped the charts in 1989. they had a succession of chart-topping hits including "Dignity", "Fergus Sings the Blues" and "Real Gone Kid". The band grew to be one of Scotland's best-known acts of the 1980s, but split in 1994. Graeme went on to write theme music for television, before Deacon Blue reformed in 1999 (pancreatic cancer) b. April 4th 1957.
2006: Ruddy Thomas (54) Jamaican singer, songwriter, producer, studio engineer; he had his greatest successes as a singer in the late 1970s and early 1980s with hits including "Every Day Is a Holiday", "Let's Make a Baby" and "Loving Pauper" which was the number one song of the year on the 1978 RJR Top 100. In 1983, he recorded the duet "(You Know How to Make Me) Feel So Good" with Susan Cadogan, which topped the reggae charts and was followed in 1984 by another duet with Cadogan, "Only Heaven Can Wait". Ruddy also recorded duets with J.C. Lodge - "Time For Love", Marcia Aitken - "The Closer I Get To You", Pam Hall - "You Can't Hide" and with Cynthia Schloss - "Don't Want To Lose You", "How Can I Let You Get Away", and "There Is A Fire". He provided backing vocals on several albums, including Peter Tosh's No Nuclear War. He was also part of the horn section on Cornell Campbell's 1982 album What's Happening To Me. He was recording engineer on many releases by the likes of Boris Gardiner, Leroy Smart, Sugar Minott, The Wailing Souls, Beres Hammond, Dennis Brown, Frankie Paul, and Dean Fraser (collapsed and died of a heart attack while performing on stage at the Popular Song Street Blocker in Port Antonio) b. July 12th 1951.
2009: Barry Beckett (66) American record producer, session musician, keyboardist; he started his career as a session musician working with Atlantic Record artists such as Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Percy Sledge, and others artists at Rick Hall's FAME Studios until 1969 when Barry along with fellow session musicians, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson formed their own session backing band, The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers. They opened their busy Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in the Alabama town of Muscle Shoals. In the 1970s, Stax Records also began bringing artists down to Alabama. Other artists who recorded with the Swampers include John Prine, Julian Lennon, Rod Stewart, Elkie Brooks, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnnie Taylor, The Staple Singers, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, Glenn Frey, Delbert McClinton, J.J. Cale, Alice in Chains, Joe Tex, Bobby Blue Bland, Eddie Floyd, Clarence Carter, Little Milton, Sawyer Brown, Tony Joe White, Oak Ridge Boys and many more. In 1973 they toured backing Traffic and can be heard on Traffic's live album On The Road. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1995 for a "Lifework Award for Non-Performing Achievement" and into the Musician's Hall Of Fame in 2008. In 1982 he left The Swampers to work as a music director for Warner Brothers before working independently. Barry has produced top albums for the likes of Graham Brown, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Dire Straits, Joe Cocker, John Prine, McGuinn-Hillman, Etta James, Eddy Raven, Delbert McClinton, The Staple Singers, Phoebe Snow, Hank Williams, T. Lorrie Morgan, Frankie Miller, Jerry Jeff Walker, Alabama Jr., Neal McCoy, Confederate Railroad, Phish, Tammy Graham, Sonia Dada, Ilse DeLange and so many others (died after long illness) b. February 4th 1943.

June 11
1982: Al Rinker (74) American pianist, vocalist, composer; he began performing as a partner with Bing Crosby in 1925 and the two singers formed the Rhythm Boys, later singer/songwriter/pianist Harry Barris joined them. The three worked with Paul Whiteman's Big Band in L.A. until Bing Crosby dissolved the group to go solo. The Rhythm Boys were filmed for the Paul Whiteman movie The King of Jazz in 1930, singing Mississippi Mud; So the Bluebirds and the Blackbirds Got Together; I'm a Fisherman; Bench in the Park and Happy Feet. After the breakup, they reunited only once, to appear together on the "Paul Whiteman Presents" radio broadcast on July 4, 1943. In 1952, a song for which Al wrote the lyrics, You Can't Do Wrong Doin' Right, appeared in the film Push-Button Kitty and in the television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. He also wrote the song Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat, for the Disney cartoon children's movie The AristoCats in 1970 (?) b.

June 12
1957: Jimmy Dorsey (53) American reed player, born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, specializing in alto saxophone and clarinet, and one of the top bandleaders of the swing era. In the early and late periods of his career, he co-led bands with his younger brother Tommy. Jimmy had 11 No.1 hits with his orchestra in the 1930s and the 1940s: "Is It True What They Say About Dixie?", "Change Partners", "The Breeze and I", "Amapola", "My Sister and I", "Maria Elena", "Green Eyes", "Blue Champagne", "Tangerine", "Besame Mucho", and "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby. In 1935, he had two more number ones as part of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: "Lullaby of Broadway" and "Chasing Shadows". His biggest hit was "Amapola", which was number one for ten weeks in 1941 on the Billboard pop singles chart. On August 17, 1936, Bing Crosby recorded "Pennies from Heaven" with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, a recording that went number one for ten weeks and became one of the top records of 1936. Jimmy appeared in a number of Hollywood motion pictures, including That Girl From Paris, Shall We Dance, The Fleet's In, Lost in a Harem with Abbot and Costello , I Dood It, and the bio-pic with his brother Tommy, The Fabulous Dorseys in 1947. In 1938, Jimmy and His Orchestra also appeared in a movie short performing many of his hits including "It's the Dreamer in Me", "I Love You in Technicolor", and "Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps". In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey commemorative postage stamp and in 2008, the Recording Academy added the recording of "Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)", Decca 18460B, by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra from 1942 to the Grammy Hall of Fame. (throat cancer) b. February 29th 1904.
1963: Bob Scobey (46) American dixieland trumpeter, bandleader; began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. In 1938 he worked as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949 he wanted to create his own sound, setting up the Bob Scobey's Frisco Band (cancer).
1989: Lou Monte/Louis Scaglione (72) Italian-American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records, born in in Manhattan, New York. Before WW2, he played the guitar and started singing as a child, and began his professional career as a singer, comedian, and musician playing clubs in and around the New Jersey. After the war and his time in the army Lou caught the attention of Radio Station WAAT in Newark, New Jersey where he was given his own radio show and soon the radio station rewarded him by convincing their TV outlet to give him a try as well. Lou's first big hit came in 1954, with the release of his version of "Darktown Strutters' Ball". In 1962, he released his first million-seller, "Pepino the Italian Mouse", which was awarded a gold disc. Other of his many songs included "Shaddap You Face", "The Sheik of Napoli", "Mrs. Brown’s Donkey", “Pepino U Soriciello” (The Italian Mouse), "Babalucci", “Dominick The Donkey”,“Italian Cowboy Song”, “Italian Jingle Bells”, and ”Lazy Mary (C’Era Luna, Mezza Mare)” () b. April 2nd 1917.
1995: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (75) Italian classical pianist; born in Brescia, Italy, he began music lessons at the age of three, initially with the violin, but quickly switched to the piano. At ten he entered the Milan Conservatory and in 1938, at age eighteen, he began his international career by entering the Ysaÿe International Festival in Brussels, Belgium. A year later he earned first prize in the Geneva International Competition where he was acclaimed as "a new Liszt". His recording highlights include the live performances in London of Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, Chopin's Sonata No. 2 and Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9 and Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26. As well as his playing of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, Gaspard de la nuit, set standards for those works and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.4. As a composer, Arturo wrote 19 Folksongs a cappella for the SAT men's chorus from Trent, Italy. As a teacher, his pupils included such world-class artists as Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini and Ivan Moravec (He died in Lugano, Switzerland after a long illness) b. January 5th 1920.
2008: Danny Davis/George Nowlan (83) American country musician; band leader, vocalist producer and founder and leader of the Nashville Brass. By the age of 14 he was trumpet soloist with the Massachusetts All-State Symphony Orchestra and was granted admittance to the New England Conservatory of Music. He left the conservatory after only six weeks when he was offered a job as a trumpeter with the band of legendary drummer, Gene Krupa in 1940. In the 1940s and into the 1950s he worked in several big bands including the band's of Bobby Byrne, Sammy Kaye, Freddy Martin, Vincent Lopez and Art Mooney, he was First Trumpet on Art Mooney's "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover". In the late 50's Danny worked in New York City for the MGM label, producing records for artists such as Connie Francis, Hermans Hermits, Nina Simone, Frank Yankovic and many more. At this time he also put together a session group called "Danny Davis & the Titans" releasing an instrumental album "Today's Teen Beat", followed by the album, "Let's Do the Twist for Adults". In the mid-sixties Davis moved to the RCA label, and transfered to the Nashville office where he was assigned to produce sessions for Waylon Jennings, Dottie West, Floyd Cramer, Hank Locklin and the likes. It was here where he formed Nashville Brass In October of 1968 the first album "The Nashville Brass Play The Nashville Sound" was released, followed by "The Nashville Brass featuring Danny Davis Play More Nashville Sounds" in 1969. Beginning in 1969 and continuing for the next five years Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass dominated the Country Music Association Awards Best Instrumental Group category. Over the years The group garnered eleven more Grammy nominations and received many other awards from recording industry publications and associations. Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass gave their final public performance on July 23, 2005 at the Colonnade in Ringgold, GA. Danny was eighty years old at the time. The group performed two shows and received standing ovations for each (cardiac arrest) b. April 29th 1925
2010: Fuat Mansurov (81) Russian conductor, he studied in a Kazakh school and later graduated from Kazakh University in Alma-Ata. Fuat worked 37 years in Moscow Bolshoi Theatre and had many operatic and ballet premiers. He had a total of 40 performances in his wide-ranging repertoire as a conductor, including classics of the 20th century - Sergei Prokofiev's "Semyon Kotko", Rodion Shedrin's "Dead Souls", Aram Khachaturian's "Spartak", Valeri Gavrilin's "Anuta" and Boris Asafiev's "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai", as well as 19-century foreign masterpieces, like Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", Gounod's "Faust", Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride". (?) b. January 1st 1928.

June 13
1917: Teresa Carreño (63) Venezuelan conductor and pianist ()
1972: Clyde McPhatter (39) American lead singer and founder of The Drifters in 1953, who later went on to a solo career. He formed a gospel group in 1945 after his family moved from Durham, North Carolina USA to New Jersey. They soon relocated to New York City, where Clyde joined the gospel group Mount Lebanon Singers. In 1950, he joined Billy Ward & the Dominoes, and was present for the recording of "Sixty Minute Man". After recording several more songs, including "Have Mercy Baby", he left the group in 1953. He formed the Difters and signed to Atlantic Records releasing "Money Honey", "Such a Night", "Honey Love", "White Christmas" and "Whatcha Gonna Do". He went on to a solo career releasing hits including "Lover Please", "Treasure of Love" his first solo #1 on the R&B charts, "I Told Myself a Lie", "Think Me a Kiss", "Ta Ta". "I Never Knew" and "Lover Please". In the late 1960s, Clyde spent some time living in England where he was backed by UK band "ICE" (died of complications of heart, liver, and kidney disease in Teaneck, New Jersey) b. November 15th 1932.
1979: Demetrio Stratos/Efstratios Demetriou (34) Italian lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, music researcher, and co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion band AreA – International POPular Group. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, of Greek parents, he studied piano and accordion at the "National Conservatoire". In 1957 he was sent to Nicosia, Cyprus, and, at 17, moved to Milan, Italy, to attend the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty, where he formed his first musical group. In 1967, Demetrio joined the Italian beat band I Ribelli, and in 1972, founded Area. Demetrio recorded many records, and toured festivals in Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Cuba, U.S. with Area, as well as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. He worked together with musicians, singers, writers, poets, directors, men of learning such as Mogol, Lucio Battisti, Gianni Sassi, Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, John Cage, Tran Quang Hai, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Grete Sultan, Paul Zukofsky, Nanni Balestrini, Claude Royet-Journoud, and Antonio Porta (In April '79 Demetrio was diagnosed with a severe case of aplastic anemia. He sadly died in New York City Memorial Hospital two months later, while waiting for a bone marrow transplant) b. April 22nd 1945.
1986: Benny Goodman (77) American clarinetist, conductor, bandleader born in Chicago; he was the first celebrated bandleader of the Swing Era, dubbed "The King of Swing," his popular emergence marking the beginning of the era. He was an accomplished clarinetist whose distinctive playing gave an identity both to his big band and to the smaller units he led simultaneously. At 16, he joined one of Chicago's top bands, the Ben Pollack Orchestra, with which he made his first recordings in 1926. He became a successful session musician during the late 1920s and early 1930s. A notable March 21st 1928 session found Benny alongside Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Joe Venuti in the All-Star Orchestra, directed by Nat Shilkret. Also in 1928, Benny and Glenn Miller wrote the instrumental "Room 1411", which was released as a Brunswick 78. He also recorded musical soundtracks for movie shorts. Benny and his band's future was boosted and totally secured after their concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on the evening of January 16th 1938. Benny Goodman's band appeared as a specialty act in major musical features, including The Big Broadcast of '37, Hollywood Hotel, '38; Syncopation, '42; The Powers Girl, '42; Stage Door Canteen, '43; The Gang's All Here, 1943; Sweet and Lowdown, '44 and A Song Is Born in '48. Benny was also responsible for a significant step in racial integration in America, he broke with tradition by hiring Teddy Wilson to play with him and drummer Gene Krupa in the Benny Goodman Trio. In 1936, he added Lionel Hampton on vibes to form the Benny Goodman Quartet; in 1939 he added pioneering jazz guitarist Charlie Christian to his band and small ensembles, who played with him until his death from TB less than three years later. This integration in music happened ten years before Jackie Robinson became the first black American to enter Major League Baseball. After winning many polls over the years, Benny was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1957. He's a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the radio division and was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986. Despite increasing health problems, he continued to play until his death (heart attack) b. May 30th 1909.
2001: Makanda Ken McIntyre/Kenneth McIntyre (69) US jazz saxophonist, multi-musician and composer, born in Boston, Massachusetts; in addition to his primary instrument, alto saxophone, he also played flute, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and many other woodwind instruments, as well as double bass, drum set, and piano. Over the course of his career, Ken performed or recorded with: Nat Adderley, Jaki Byard, Ron Carter, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, Daoud A. Haroon, Richard Harper, David Murray, Cecil Taylor and Reggie Workman, among others, and was a member of the innovative group Beaver Harris and the 360 Degree Ensemble. He recorded thirteen albums, one of which was released posthumously, composed well over 400 compositions, and wrote about 200 arrangements, reflecting different aspects of his Caribbean and African American roots, including blues, straight-ahead jazz, avant-garde, and calypso (heart attack) b. September 7th 1931.
2005: David Diamond (89) US composer of classical music. (heart failure).
2010: Jimmy Dean (81) American country music singer, actor, TV host and businessman; born in Plainview, Texas, he was the host of the popular Washington D.C. radio program Town and Country Time on WARL, and with his Texas Wildcats became popular in the Mid-Atlantic region. Jimmy became a national television personality in the 1960s, rising to fame from his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad John" which won him the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. His mid-60s ABC-TV's The Jimmy Dean Show, was one of the few to regularly present country music entertainers to a mainstream audience, including Roger Miller, George Jones, Charlie Rich, Buck Owens and some, like Joe Maphis, who seldom received network exposure. His acting career included a supporting role in the 1971 James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever. In 1969, he founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company with his brother Don. The company did well, in part because of Dean's own extemporized, humor-themed commercials. Its success led to its acquisition in 1984 by Consolidated Foods, later renamed the Sara Lee Corporation. Jimmy was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, but sadly, he died before being formally inducted. (natural causes) b. August 10th 1928.

June 14
1989: Pete De Freitas (27) Spanish drummer with Echo & The Bunnymen (motorcycle accident)
1994: Henry Mancini (70) Composer and conductor; was not the first composer to introduce jazz elements into film and television scoring, but he was the first to become wildly successful with the public, particularly with the slinky, playful theme for the Pink Panther movies and the brassy, big band sound of the TV series Peter Gunn.(cancer)
1995: Rory Gallagher (48) Irish rock/blues guitar virtuoso, singer, born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, and raised in the city of Cork. Rory also played the mandolin, the accordion, the harmonica, the resonator guitar, piano and saxophone. He recorded solo albums throughout the 1970's and 1980's, after being part of the band Taste during the late 1960s. Rory's albums have sold in excess of 30 million copies worldwide. Many modern day musicians, including The Edge, Slash, Johnny Marr, Davy Knowles, Glenn Tipton, Vivian Campbell, Joe Bonamassa, and Brian May of Queen, cite Gallagher as an inspiration in their formative musical years (sadly died in London from chest infection following a liver transplant) b. March 2nd 1948
2003: Volker Kriegel (59) German jazz guitarist, born in Darmstadt, Germany; Volker taught himself the guitar and by his late teens had formed a trio that won an award at a 1963 amateur jazz festival. In 1973 he founded Spectrum, a quartet that included Eberhard Weber, among others. In 1975 Kriegel spent a month teaching for the Goethe Institute, an organization which he has worked for at various times throughout his career and was a founding member of the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble. In 1976 Spectrum broke up, and Kriegel started another band called the Mild Maniac Orchestra which stayed together in to the 1980s. He is perhaps most noteworthy for his many collaborations with the American vibraphonist Dave Pike. (?) b. December 24th 1943.
2008: Jamelão/José Bispo Clementino dos Santos (95) Brazilian samba singer, born Rio's São Cristóvão district; began as a tamborine player, later became a crooner in the samba-canção style, also was the official singer at samba school Mangueira's carnaval parades and has toured Europe as a solo performer. Jamelão's recording career spanned nearly two-dozen LPs and close to 70 years, during which time he scored a series of samba classics including "Mora No Assunto," "Matriz ou Filial," "Exaltação à Mangueira," "Seu Deputado," and "Fechei a Porta." Critics frequently cite his recordings with Severino Araújo's Orquestra Tabajara as the apex of his studio career as well as a pivotal turning point in the maturation of the modern samba sound. (multiple organ failure) b. May 12th 1913.
2008: Esbjörn Svensson (44) Swedish jazz pianist and founder of the jazz band Esbjörn Svensson Trio, also known as E.S.T., born in Skultuna, Sweden. His band E.S.T. was the first European jazz combo to make the front page of the American jazz magazine Down Beat in May of 2006. They got their international breakthrough with their 1999 album From Gagarin’s Point Of View, their first album to be released outside Scandinavia. With the release of their albums Good Morning Susie Soho in 2000 and Strange Place For Snow in 2002, the trio drew the attention of US audiences. In 2002, they went on a 9-month tour through Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Their subsequent albums, Seven Days Of Falling , Viaticum , and Tuesday Wonderland, were equally well received by critics and fans and resulted in several music industry award nominations as well as making the jazz and pop charts (died in a tragic scuba diving accident) b. April 16th 1964
2009: Ivan Della Mea (68) Italian singer–songwriter, composer and author; born in Lucca, then moved to Milan, he was one of the most active authors in the field of the new social and civil song, taking inspiration from the daily arguments. He began to write songs in 1959, and between 1962 and 1963 he participated with Gianni Bosio to form the New Italian Canzoniere. In 1985 he became president of the Milan Circle Arcs and in the 1996 director of the Institute De Martino, in Tuscany. He then went back to recording more albums (died after a long illness) b. October 16th 1940.
2009: Bob Bogle (75) American guitarist and founding member of the instrumental rock band, The Ventures. He was a self-taught guitar player, his use of the tremolo arm was particularly notable and his playing in their 1960 cover of "Walk, Don't Run" influenced a generation of guitarists including John Fogerty, Steve Miller, Joe Walsh and Stevie Ray Vaughan. After leaving school at 15 he worked as a bricklayer in California. In 1958, while working on different construction sites he met up with fellow mason worker Don Wilson in Seattle, the two formed a band called The Versatones. The duo played small clubs, beer bars, and private parties throughout the Pacific Northwest. They recruited Nokie Edwards as bass player, Skip Moore on drums and changed their name to the Ventures. The band enjoyed their greatest popularity and success in the US and Japan in the 1960s, but they have continued to perform and record up to the present recording in all 38 albums. With over 110 million albums sold worldwide, the group remains the best selling instrumental rock group of all time. Bob with The Ventures was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10th 2008 (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) b. January 16 1934.

June 15
1982: Art Pepper (56) American alto saxophonist; born in Gardena, California, he began his career with Benny Carter and Stan Kenton between 1946 and 1952. By the '50s Art was recognized as one of the leading alto saxophonists in jazz, finishing second only to Charlie Parker as Best Alto Sax Player in the Down Beat magazine Readers Poll of 1952. He is associated with the musical movement known as West Coast jazz, as contrasted with the East Coast hot jazz associated with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Art was a member of Buddy Rich's Big Band from 1968 to 1969, and in 1977 and 1978 made two well received tours of Japan. He had become a heroin addict in the 1940s, and his career was interrupted by drug-related prison sentences in 1954–56, 1960-61, 1961-64 and 1964-65. Luckily, his drug abuse did not affect the quality of his recordings, which maintained a high level of musicianship throughout his career until his death. Art's most famous albums are Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section, Art Pepper + Eleven - Modern Jazz Classics, Gettin' Together, and Smack Up. The Aladdin Recordings (three volumes), The Early Show, The Late Show, The Complete Surf Ride, and The Way It Was!, which features a session recorded with Warne Marsh. His autobiography, Straight Life, transcribed by his third wife Laurie Pepper, is a unique exploration into the jazz music world, as well as drug and criminal subcultures of mid-20th century California. The documentary film Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor, available on DVD, devotes much space to music from one of his late groups featuring pianist Milcho Leviev (brain hemorrhage) b. September 1st 1925.
1990: Jim Hodder (42) American drummer; born in Boston, US, he joined Steely Dan in 1972 when he worked on their debut album "Can't Buy a Thrill" and follow up album "Countdown to Ecstasy" in 1773. In 1972 Jim also sang the lead vocal on the song "Midnight Cruiser" and the vocals on the song "Dallas" which appeared only on a 7" record. These first few years were their very heavy touring days. Jim worked on part of Steely Dan's 3rd album "Pretzel Logic" before leaving the band in 1974. He went on to be an in-demand session player for musicians such as Sammy Hagar and David Soul. (he drowned in his swimming pool) b. September 17th 1947.
1994: Manos Hadjidakis (68) Academy Award-winning Greek composer; born in Xanthi, Greece; he received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song 'Never on Sunday' from the film of the same name in 1960. His very first work was the tune for the song Paper Moon from Tennessee Williams' 'A Streetcar Named Desire' staged by Karolos Koun's Art Theatre of Athens. His first piano piece, "For a Small White Seashell" came out in 1947 and in 1948 he shook the musical establishment by delivering his legendary lecture on rembetika, the urban folk songs that flourished in Greek cities, mainly Piraeus, after the Asia Minor refugee influx in 1922 and until then had heavy underworld and cannabis use connections and were consequently looked down upon. In 1949 he co-founded the Greek Dance Theatre Company with the choreographer Rallou Manou after which he started his career writing immensely popular "pop" songs and movie soundtracks alongside more serious works. He is also credited with the introduction of bouzouki music into mainstream culture (heart disease and diabetes) b. October 23rd 1925.
1996: Ella Fitzgerald (78) US jazz singer; some say "The First Lady of Song", she was blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution; one could always understand the words she sang (Complications from diabetes)
2004: Leonard Walter "Lennie" Bush (77) English jazz double-bassist, he started on the violin before changing to bass at 16, and by 17 he was playing professionally in a variety show called The Rolling Stones and Dawn. He played with Nat Gonella in the middle of the 1940s, but turned to bebop in the later 40s. Lennie was one of the founding members of London's Club Eleven, and played there in a band with Ronnie Scott, Hank Shaw, Tommy Pollard, and Tony Crombie. He later studied with James Merrett at the Guildhall School of Music, and he was much sought after by overseas musicians, participating in many European tours of Zoot Sims, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Roy Eldridge. He became a member of Jack Parnell's ATV Orchestra in 1957, and also recorded with Anita O'Day, Stephane Grappelli, and Eddie Vinson. He went into semi-retirement in the 1990s, but still played occasionally up until his death (?) b. June 6th 1927.
2006: Betty Curtis (70) Italian singer, winner of Sanremo Music Festival in 1961 with Luciano Tajoli.
2007: Richard Bell (61) Canadian musician pianist and keyboard player born in Toronto. Richard was well known as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band. In the late 1960s, while touring with Ronnie Hawkins, he was approached by Joplin's manager Albert Grossman and invited to join her new ensemble. His playing can be heard on her posthumously-released album Pearl and many bootleg recordings from her 1970 tour, including performances from the Festival Express "train tour" of Canada. After which he moved to Woodstock, New York, where he worked as a session musician. Among those he worked with were Judy Collins, John Sebastian., Paul Butterfield, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Bruce Cockburn, Cowboy Junkies, Bob Dylan, Michael Kaeshammer, Bonnie Raitt and Joe Walsh. In 1991, Richard joined the reconstituted line-up of The Band as a keyboardist and in later years before his passing performed as keyboard player with Canadian roots-rock performers such as Colin Linden, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and Kathleen Edwards (died after a long brave battle with multiple myeloma) b. March 5th 1946
2010: Busi Mhlongo (62) Sth African virtuoso singer, dancer and composer, born in Inanda, Natal. Drawing on various South African styles such as mbaqanga, maskanda, marabi and traditional Zulu, fused with contemporary elements from jazz, funk, rock, gospel, rap, opera, reggae and West African music she produced a fresh and exciting sound. In 2000, Busi scooped three awards at the FNB South African Music Awards for best female artist, best adult contemporary album (Africa), and best African pop album. Busi has since also scored a Kora award and Melt has released a compilation called Indiza. (Sadly lost her battle with cancer) b. October 28th 1947.
2010: Janis Grodums (52) Latvian bass guitarist, singer, songwriter; Janas was a founder member of the rock band Livi, formed in 1976 by himself, Kigelis, Pavitols, Ingrida and drummer Andris Kruminš. Their early years were spent in small-time gigs, playing sad songs written by Pavitols and sung by his wife, Ingrida. In 1980 the line up changed, 17-year old singer Rodrigo Fomins and drummer Vilnis Krievinš joined up, Kigelis immediately started writing new songs, and Livi suddenly became popular, appearing in many music festivals and slowly starting to record their first album, the self-titled Livi, which was released in 1983. Going from strength to strength, under different line up changes, Janis, with Livi recorded their best-selling album Bailes par zingem (Fear about Songs) in 1997. The album remained in fans memories for “Piedod man” – a hard-rockers confession written by Janis. They carried on recording until 2005. (?) b. June 10th 1958.

June 16
1925: Emmett Louis Hardy (22) American jazz cornet player and one of the best regarded New Orleans musicians of his generation. Emmett was born in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna, Louisiana, he was a child prodigy, described as already playing marvelously in his early teens. Some New Orleans musicians remembered as a musical highlight of their lives a 1919 cutting contest where after long and intense struggle Hardy succeeded in outplaying Louis Armstrong. He was in the original incarnation of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings aka NORK under the direction of Bee Palmer. Sadly Emmett did not appear on any of the Rhythm Kings recording sessions, never making any commercial recordings before his very early death, but he and some of his musician friends made some home recordings on wax phonograph cylinders for their own amusement. As Hardy's tuberculosis worsened and his death seemed inevitable, the friends decided to preserve the cylinders as a memento of Emmett's playing. When advancing tuberculosis started to make his breathing difficult, he taught himself banjo so he could continue playing music (tuberculosis) b. June 12th 1903.
1939: William Henry "Chick" Webb (34) American jazz and swing drummer and band leader of the Chick Webb Band; he used custom-made pedals, goose-neck cymbal holders, a 28-inch bass drum and a wide variety of other percussion instruments and perched high upon a platform he created thundering solos of a complexity and energy that paved the way for the likes of Buddy Rich, who studied Chick intensely. Born in Baltimore, he suffered from tuberculosis of the spine from childhood. At the age of 17 he moved to New York City and by 1926, he was leading his own band in Harlem. He alternated between band tours and residencies at New York City clubs through the late 1920s. In 1931, his band became the house band at the Savoy Ballroom, and became one of the best-regarded bandleaders and drummers of the new "Swing" style. (Chick sadly died after a major operation in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore) b. February 10th 1905.
1982: James Honeyman-Scott (25) Guitarist, Pretenders (died of a cocaine & heroin overdose)
1987: Jackie Gleason (71) American comedian, actor and musician. As well as his fame as a comedian and actor, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Jackie enjoyed a secondary music career, lending his name to a series of best-selling "mood music" albums with jazz overtones for Capitol Records. He felt there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals and his first album, Music for Lover's Only still holds the record for the album staying the longest in the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first ten albums all sold over one million copies (he died from the affects of colon and liver cancer, and thrombosed hemorrhoids) February 26th 1916.
1994: Kristen Pfaff (26) American bassist, born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She spent a short time in Europe and briefly attended Boston College before finishing at the University of Minnesota. She studied classical piano and cello. While living in Minneapolis, she taught herself to play bass guitar. She, guitarist/vocalist Joachim Breuer and drummer Matt Entsminger formed the band Janitor Joe. While Janitor Joe were on tour in California Kristen was scouted by Eric Erlandson and Courtney Love of Hole, who were at the time looking for a new bassist. In 1993, she moved to Seattle, Washington, to work with the other members of Hole on Live Through This, the major-label follow-up to Pretty On The Inside. October 20th 1994, Janet Pfaff, Kristen's mother, accepted induction on her daughter's behalf into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame.(Tragically Kristaen was found dead in her bathtub due to a heroin overdose) b. May 26th 1967
1997: John Wolters (52) American drummer born in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, Wolters was part of pop-country rock band Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show from 1973, when Jay David left the band, until 1985, when the band split up. While he was with them, among their many hits, they had a UK No.1/US No.6 hit with "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" and a UK No.4/US No.5 hit with "Sexy Eyes". (sadly died of liver cancer in San Francisco, California) b. April 28th 1945.
1999: Screaming Lord Sutch/ David Sutch (58) UK singer, politician; UK's first long-haired pop star, boasting hair over 18 inches long and the self-styled lord was Britain's longest-serving political leader, standing in nearly 40 elections. His most famous party was the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. During the 1960s, Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, dressing as Jack the Ripper, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Alice Cooper. Accompanied by his band, The Savages, he started by coming out of a black coffin. Other props included knives and daggers, skulls and "bodies". He booked themed tours, such as 'Sutch and the Roman Empire', where he and the band members would be dressed up as Roman soldiers. Despite self-confessed lack of vocal talent, he released horror-themed singles during the early to mid-'60s, the most popular "Jack the Ripper", covered live and on record by garage rock bands including the White Stripes, The Black Lips and The Horrors. His album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends was named in a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time, a status it also held in Colin Larkin's book The Top 1000 Albums of All Time, despite the fact that Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Noel Redding and Nicky Hopkins performed on it and helped write it. (David suffered from bipolar disorder and ended up committing suicide by hanging himself) b. November 10th 1940.
2007: Donna King Conkling (88) American singer; member of The King Sisters; born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, the all King children originally were part of the "Drigg's Family of Entertainers". In the early 1930s sisters Louise, Maxine and Alyce formed a vocal trio and went to San Francisco to audition for radio station KGO. While the three oldest King Sisters were performing in San Francisco, two of their younger sisters, Yvonne and Donna, aged 14 and 15, formed their own vocal trio with a friend. The 2 trios joined together, but by the mid 30s there were four King Sisters Donna, Yvonne, Alyce and Luise. They worked with bandleaders Horace Heidt, Artie Shaw and Charlie Barnet and at the peak of their success, they also appeared in a number of Hollywood features in the 1940s. During World War II, they appeared regularly on Kay Kyser's radio series. In 1965, they began hosting their own ABC television network show, The King Family Show, which featured family members such as Alyce's husband, actor Robert Clarke, and her sons, Ric de Azevedo, Lex de Azevedo, and Cam Clarke as well as other talent. The show ran until 1969 (?) b. September 3rd 1918.
2008: Margaret Kitchin (94) British pianist, born in Switzerland she was strongly associated with contemporary music, she gave many premieres of works by composers such as Michael Tippett, Thea Musgrave and Peter Racine Fricker. Her first commercial recording came when, in 1958, responding to an invitation from a then unknown promoter, Richard Itter, she recorded Tippett's Fantasy Sonata (his first) coupled with Iain Hamilton's Sonata Op 13. It was issued in 1960. Her concert career developed, focusing on the serial and avant-garde repertoire, and she became the pianist the BBC often asked to do difficult modern works, usually learned for just one performance. Margaret forged many important musical partnerships. She toured extensively with the horn player Barry Tuckwell, they premièred at the Zagreb Festival of Contemporary Music and also worked extensively with the violinist Maria Lidka (?) b. March 23rd 1914.
2009: Charlie Mariano (85) American jazz alto saxophonist; born in Massachusetts and later relaceted to Germany. Over his long career he has led many of his own bands as well as playing in other bands including the bands of Charles Mingus, Stan Kenton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Eberhard Weber, the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, Embryo and played with numerous other notable musicians. He also played the nadaswaram, a traditional oboe from South India (cancer) b. November 12th 1923.
2010: Bill Dixon (84) American trumpet player, flugelhorn, and pianist, often using electronic delay and reverberation as part of his trumpet playing. Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Bill started playing trumpet in high school and after his military service he studied at the Hartnette Conservatory in New York City before gigging in New York. From 1961-3 he played with saxophonist Archie Shepp leading small groups and later arranged for the New York Contemporary Five in 1963 and the following year presented a series of concerts, the October Revolution In Jazz. As an educator Bill taught at Bennington College from '68, founding the Black Music Division there in 1973 and in the published '80s a book titled L’Opéra:a Collection of Letters, Writings, Musical Scores, Drawings, and Photographs (1967-1986), vol. I. As a sideman he appears on Cecil Taylor’s Conquistador and his own albums including Archie Shepp-Bill Dixon Quartet- '62, Intents and Purposes- '66-7 and Song of Sisyphus - 1988 and more recently the album Bill Dixon With The Exploding Star Orchestra on the Thrill Jockey label two years ago (sadly, died at his home, after battling a two-year illness) b. October 5th 1925.
2010: Garry Shider (56) American singer and guitarist whose work with the funk groups Parliament-Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band earned him a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Born in Plainfield, N.J, he began his musical career as a gospel singer and guitarist. He met George Clinton in the late 1960s at a Plainfield barbershop where the Parliaments, then primarily a soul vocal group, practiced harmonies. At the age of 17 Garry moved to Toronto, Canada, where he formed a funk band, United Soul, and also produced a single by the band under the name U.S. Soul in 1971
Back in America, Garry joined the band in 1972, contributing to albums such as "America Eats Its Young" in 1972, "Cosmic Slop" in 1973 and "One Nation Under a Groove" 1978. He was known for appearing in a diaper, making him instantly recognizable on stage and earning him the nickname "Diaper Man". He performed during a final tour in April after having been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in March. (sadly Garry died of complications from brain and lung cancer) b. July 24th 1953.

June 17
1984: Klavdiya Shulzhenko (78) Soviet jazz & pop singer; the most popular female singer of the Soviet Union before the rise of Alla Pugachova's star in the 1970s & became the first female pop singer to be named People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. She started singing with jazz and pop bands in the late 1920s and rose to fame in the late 1930s with her version of Sebastian Yradier's La Paloma. In 1939, she was awarded at the first all-Soviet competition of pop singers. During World War II, she performed about a thousand concerts for Soviet soldiers in besieged Leningrad and elsewhere, with songs such as "The Blue Headscarf" and "Lets Smoke". On April 10th 1976, Klavdiya performed to enraptured audience in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in what would become her most famous concert. She, as traditional classical singer, was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. In 1999 Russia issued a postage stamp in her honor (?) b. March 24th 1906.
1986: Kate Smith (79) American singerborn in Greenville, Virginia, Kate best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". She had a radio, TV and recording career spanning 5 decades, reaching its height in the 1940s. Kate began making records in 1926; among her biggest hits were "River, Stay 'Way From My Door", "Woodpecker Song", "White Cliffs of Dover", "Rose O'Day", "I Don't Want to Walk Without You", "There Goes That Song Again", "Seems Like Old Times", and "Now Is the Hour". Her theme song "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain", the lyrics of which she helped write. She started on radio in 1931 and also appeared in films, starring in The Big Broadcast of 1932 and This Is the Army in 1943; from 1951 to 1954, she also hosted an afternoon television programme. In 1982, Kate was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan and was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999 (diabetes) b. May 1st 1907.
2005: Karl Mueller (42) US bassist and founding member of the rock-grunge band Soul Asylum; The band formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Karl, Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner and Pat Morley, Pat was replaced by Grant Young in 1984. The band recorded three albums with Twin/Tone Records and two with A&M Records to little commercial success. However, in 1992, they released the double-platinum album Grave Dancers Union, featuring their Grammy Award-winning single "Runaway Train". The band played the Bill Clinton inauguration early the next year. They also scored a platinum record with the album Let Your Dim Light Shine three years later in 1995, but it was the last hit album of the band's career. Sadly Karl was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 (throat cancer) b. July 27th 1963.
2009: José Calvário (58) Portuguese maestro and orchestrator who conducted many festivals and concerts in Portugal. In the Eurovision Song Contest he was the composer, lyricist and conductor of five Portuguese entries: "A festa da vida" in 1972, "E depois do adeus" in 1974, "Portugal no coração" in 1977, "Penso em ti, eu sei" in 1985, "Voltarei" in 1988. Over his long career he made a great contribution to Portuguese Music (complications from heart attack) b.??
2009: Eon/Ian Loveday (55) British rave pioneer, with his music links being the early Detroit techno and modern dance sound, is maybe known to most for his 1990 acid techno song "Spice" and his “Fear the Mind Killer”. He began his recording career in 1987 while dj'ing as Ian B, when he started to produce his own music. His songs came to us first, thanks to the London pirate radio stations in the late '80s when Colin Faver played his first track 'Cuban Jakkin' by Rio Rhythm Band on the then pirate radio station Kiss FM. His debut as Eon was in 1988 with 'Light, Color, Sound', his first release on Vinyl Solution. Later he recorded on labels such as BAAD, XL Recordings and Kitsuni Records. His 1992 album Void Dweller, was highly influential on the progressing techno rave scene. The album contains 11 tracks with samples from David Lynch's Dune and themes from the horror movie Basket Case. Over his career, he has released 3 other albums... Sum of Parts in 2002, Device in 2006 and his last album Brain Filter was releasd in 2007. In '93 he teamed up with fellow british acid pioneer Peter 'Baby' Ford producing many classic tracks including 'Dead Eye', which was featured on Richie Hawtin's 'Decks. Eon, has also worked with producers like J Knight Marcus and Mark Moore, performed live at Fabric and on Radio One and most recently, he had been working on some new projects with old friend Baby Ford (complications from pneumonia) b. ??

June 18
1992: Peter Allen/Peter Richard Woolnough (48) Australian singer-songwriter and entertainer born in Tenterfield, New South Wales. His songs such as "You and Me, We Wanted It All", "Don't Cry Out Loud", "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love", "Quiet Please There's a Lady on Stage", "I Go to Rio", "Someone's Waiting for You","I Don't Go Shopping", "I Honestly Love You" were made popular by many recording artists, including Frank Sinatra, Dusty Springfield, Patti LaBelle, Melissa Manchester, Olivia Newton-John, Elkie Brooks, and one, "Arthur's Theme", won the Academy Award. As well as recording around 10 albums of his own, he enjoyed a cabaret and concert career, including appearing at Radio City Music Hall riding a camel. Peter began his performing career with Chris Bell as one of the "Allen Brothers", who were a popular cabaret and television act in the early 1960s in Australia. He gave his last performance in Sydney on 26 January 1992 (AIDS-related throat cancer) b. February 10th 1944.
2006: Gica Petrescu (91) Romanian singer; after graduating from the "Gheorghe Sincai" high school in Buchares at the age of 18, the made his debut in a student band. His professional debut came in 1937 performing on the radio. Between 1937-1939 he carried on singing with the "Radu Ghinda" and "Dinu Serbanescu" orchestras at the Sinaia Casino, before he started to tour and make major records. Allegidly he holds a record for the number of composed and performed songs of over 1,500, in a varied discography, many of which became national hits and were covered again and again by other Romanian artists, with songs such as "Bucuresti, mai Bucuresti ", "Lalele, lalele" and "Uite-asa as vrea sa mor " On 5 May 2003, Ion Iliescu, then-president of Romania, awarded Gica the Knight's Order of the Star of Romania as he celebrated his 88th anniversary (he was due to receive the national award "Premiile muzicale Radio România Actualitati". The award was ceremony was canceled, as he died that very morning) b. April 2nd 1915
2007: Bill Barber (87) US jazz tuba player; born in Hornell, New York near Rochester, he started playing tuba in high school and studied at the Juilliard School of Music. After graduating, he travelled to Kansas City, Missouri where he played with the Kansas City Philharmonic and various ballet and theatre orchestras, before he joined the US Army in 1942, where he played in the army band for three years. He then started playing jazz, joining Claude Thornhill's big band in 1947, making him one of the first tuba players to play in a modern jazz style, playing solos and participating in intricate ensemble pieces. After which he became a founding member of Miles Davis' nonet in 1949 in what became known as the Birth of the Cool recording sessions. He then worked in theatre pit orchestras before joining up with Davis and Gil Evans in 1957 to record albums such as Sketches of Spain, Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess.Bill also played on John Coltrane's only big band album Africa/Brass. In 1992, he recorded and toured with a nonet led by Gerry Mulligan reworking material from Birth of the Cool. From 1998-2004 he was part of the The Seatbelts New York Musicians that played the music of the Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop (heart failure) b. May 21st 1920.
2007: Hank Medress (68) American singer and record producer; after leaving Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School, in 1955 he joined the doo-wop group the Linc-Tones, which also included Neil Sedaka. After Sedaka left, the group reformed with additional singers calling themselves The Tokens. The Tokens achieved a No. 1 chart hit in 1961 with their arrangement of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", other hits included "Tonight I Fell In Love", "Portrait of My Love" and they released 15 albums. Hank and the Tokens also were producers on hits for the Chiffons, such as He's So Fine, many of the hits for The Happenings, Randy & The Rainbows, plus hits for Tony Orlando & Dawn including "Knock Three Times" and "Tie A Yellow Ribbon". In 1998, The Tokens made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for performing The Star-Spangled Banner at all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums in the United States and Canada. Hank has also worked with David Johansen, Rick Springfield, Dan Hill, and Richard Simmons. He was president of EMI Music Publishing Canada, from 1990 to 1992. After which he returned to New York, and became a partner in Bottom Line Records. In more recent years, Hank had worked as a consultant for SoundExchange, an agency that collects royalties from digital broadcasters, like satellite and Internet radio. With The Tokens, Hank was inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004 (lung cancer) b. November 19th 1938.
2007: Boule Noire/George Thurston (55) Canadian singer, author, composer and radio show host; born in Bedford, Quebec and later moved to Saint-Jerome, where in 1965 he formed his first band Les Zinconnus. In 1969, he joined the 25th Regiment band until the early 1970s. Around this time he worked with several other Quebec artists including Robert Charlebois, Claude Dubois, Tony Roman, Nanette Workman and Michel Pagliaro. He played the piano, bass and guitar and would later be a composer for the group Toulouse. 1976 sees George as a solo artist which he remained for the next 30 years and his 1978 album Aimer d'Amour was certified triple platinum, the title song would later gain success in the early 1990s when 800,000 copies were sold in Europe. He became a radio show host for Montreal's Rythme FM radio station in 2000 (George died of colorectal cancer in Montreal. He learned of his cancer in early 2006. He bravely finished recording his last album "Last Call" after extensive chemotherapy operations) b. December 29th 1951.
2010: Kalmen Opperman (90) American clarinetist, He was a noted performer, teacher, conductor, composer, and writer of numerous clarinet studies. He was also a mouthpiece and barrel maker which he made only for his students, they are now highly sought after items for their quality workmanship and sound. For many years he was a performer in Broadway shows during what many call Broadway's "Golden Age". Kalmen wrote over 10 highly acclaimed study books for the clarinet including his multi-volume Daily Studies and Velocity Studies. As well as leading the Kalmen Opperman Clarinet Choir, he was a private clarinet teacher in his New York studio, and has also taught at such schools as Boston University, Hartt School of Music, and Indiana University (heart failure) b. December 8th 1919.

June 19
1997: Bobby Helms (63) US pop and country singer; born in Bloomington, Indiana, he began performing as a duo with his brother, Freddie. In 1956, Bobby made his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed with Decca Records. His first single in 1957 titled "Fräulein" went to number one on the country music chart and made it into the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His recording of "My Special Angel," also reached No.1 on the country charts and entered the Top 10 on Billboard's pop music chart, peaking at No.7. His 1957 "Jingle Bell Rock" was a big hit. it re-emerged in the charts four out of the next five years and became a Christmas classic still played to this day. He continued touring and recording for the next three decades. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (emphysema and asthma) b. August 15th 1933
2006: Duane Roland (53) US guitarist; he was a founding member of the rock band Molly Hatchet, formed in Florida in 1971. They took thier name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients. They recorded and released their first album, "Molly Hatchet" in 1978, followed by "Flirtin' with Disaster" in 1979. They toured behind the record building a larger fan base. He recorded seven albums with the band and is is credited with co-writing some of the band's biggest hits, including "Bloody Reunion" and "Boogie No More". After leaving the band in 1990, he played with the Southern Rock Allstars and finally Gator Country for the last year of his life. Gator Country, included many of the founding members of Molly Hatchet (natural causes) b. December 3rd 1953.
2007: El Fary/José Luis Cantero Rada (69) Spanish singer, actor; as a boy he would play truant from school, preferring to spend time partying with Gypsies imitating his idol, the traditional "copla" singer Rafael Farina. It was from Farina that José adopted his stage name of "El Fary". He was in his early 30's when he got his big break... he was called to stand in for Pepe Blanco at a show in Pozoblanco, Córdoba, Andalusia and soon after legendary Antonio Molina hired him for a two-month tour. By the end of the '70s he was recording poppier songs such as Gypsy rumbas that found a home in the Spanish hit parade. In 1980, he first appeared on television, in José María Iñigo's show Fiesta, from then on, he was known across Spain. It was in the 1980s that El Fary released what would generally be considered his most famous song, "El Toro Guapo". The 90s see El Fary get his break in the acting world, when he starred in the show "Menudo es mi padre" as a taxi driver and later in the '90s with the releas of the filmTorrente - The Dumb Arm of the Law, which featured a new song recorded especially by El Fary himself called Apatrullando la ciudad ("Patrolling The City"). Both the song and the film were hits, and spawned two sequels. With the release of the third Torrente film in 2005 - Torrente 3 - The Protector, a unique piece of El Fary-related spin-off merchandising was produced: the Carrofary - a small rubber replica of the singer designed to be hung from a car's rear view mirror (lung cancer) b. August 20th 1937.

June 20
1940: Jehan Ariste Alain (29) French organist and composer born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Paris. Between 1927 and 1939, he attended the Paris Conservatoire and his Suite pour orgue was awarded a first prize in composition in the competition of Les Amis de l'Orgue in 1936. In that same year, he was appointed titular organist of Saint-Nicolas in Maisons-Laffite. Throughout his short life he never ceased to compose for the piano, the organ, chamber music, orchestral music and voices for soloists and choirs, his catalog comprises more than 140 works. His Litanies are in organists' repertory the world over. (he died in action in the defence of Saumur) b. February 3rd 1911.
1965: Ira Louvin/Ira Lonnie Loudermilk (41) American country singer, songwriter, and mandolinist born in Section, Alabama. He played with his brother Charlie Louvin, as the Louvin Brothers. They were heavily influenced by the Delmore Brothers and Monroe Brothers. Ira played mandolin with Charlie Monroe, guitar player of the Monroe Brothers in the early 1940s. The Louvin Brothers' songs were heavily influenced by their Baptist faith and warned against sin, although Ira was notorious for his drinking and short temper. The brothers helped popularize close harmony, a genre of country music with hits such as "The Get Acquainted Waltz", "Cash on the Barrelhead" and "When I Stop Dreaming". They joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1955 and stayed there until breaking up in 1963. and in 2001, the Louvin brothers were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ira is also remembered for the cover he designed for their 1960 album, Satan Is Real, featuring the brothers standing in a rock quarry in front of a 12-foot tall rendition of the Devil as several hidden tires soaked in kerosene burn behind them as fire and brimstone. (Tragically, he died when a drunken driver struck his car in Williamsburg, Missouri) b. April 21st 1924.
1973: Bruce Tate (36) American vocalist, baritone singer with The Penguins. Brought up in Los Angeles, he attended Jefferson High. Bruce, along with his school friend Curtis Williams, plus Dexter Tisby and Cleveland Duncan, they formed the doo-wop vocal group in late 1953, having a midtempo performance style, a cross between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. In May of 1954, they released their debut single "No There Ain't No News Today". Later they recorded a track "I Ain't Gonna Cry" which was featured on the album "The Best Vocal Groups In Rock & Roll". Dootone Records released The Penguins' single "Hey Senorita" in late 1954 as the intended A-side, but a radio DJ flipped the record over to the B-side: "Earth Angel" worked its way up to No.1 on the Billboard charts. They moved to Mercury Records recording tracks such as "Don't Do It", "It Only Happens With You", "Walkin' Down Broadway" and "Be Mine Or Be A Fool". After which, not liking the new found fame, and cracking up under the pressures, Bruce left the group. The Penguins were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004 (?) b. January 27th 1937
1983: Sadik Hakim/Argonne Thornton (64) American jazz pianist, composer, sessionist, born in Duluth, Minnesota and was taught piano by his grandfather. In 1944 he moved to New York City and was hired by Ben Webster and also he was on part of Charlie Parker's famous "Ko Ko" session, as well as gigging regularly with Lester Young. Sadik worked with Louis Metcalf's International Band in Canada, before working with James Moody and George Holmes Tate in New York through the 50s. He returned to Montreal from 1966 to 1976, leading bands and recording with Charlie Biddle. He led recording dates from 1976–1980 and cut an album with Sonny Stitt in 1978. Sadik played "'Round Midnight" at Thelonious Monk's funeral in 1982 (?) b. July 15th 1919.
1991: Malcolm Frager (57) American pianist born in St. Louis, Missouri, known mainly for his deep interest in Beethoven and Mozart and as a champion of the two Weber Piano Concertos. At the age of 14, he persuaded his family to send him to New York City, where he studied with the pianist and teacher Carl Friedberg. His career was set firmly in motion by two competition victories in successive years: the Leventritt in New York in 1959 and the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels in 1960. In 1969 he relocated to Lenox, Mass., near to the Tanglewood Festival. He remained a busy member of the world concert circuit, often spending as much as nine months of the year on the road. In 1987 Malcolm received the Golden Mozart Pin from the International Mozart Foundation in Salzburg. (He died in Pittsfield, Massachusetts after a lengthy illness) b. January 15th 1935.
1992: Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE (77) English conductor. After accompanying positions and conducting various orchestras and studio work for the BBC, Charles spent a decade as conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. His best-known musical directorship was of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning in 1963, with which he made most of his recordings. From 1967 until his death, he was associate conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and in the 1970s he was one of the regular conductors of the Last Night of the Proms. He also served as president of the National Youth Orchestra from 1977, and, during the last decade of his life, as guest conductor for orchestras around the world. (heart problems) b. March 20th 1915
1996: James 'Jim' Ellison (32) America frontman and guitarist; as a teenager Jim was inspired enough by the likes of David Bowie, the Who, and Sweet to seriously take up the guitar. Then while attending Chicago's Columbia Art College he formed the powerpop band Material Issue. He tirelessly promoted his band, booked tours, and secured a major-label deal in 1990. In early 1991, Material Issue broke onto the national scene with their debut album International Pop Overthrow (IPO) which sold over 300,000 copies, producing hit singles "Diane" and "Valerie Loves Me", which peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. 1992 saw the follow-up to IPO with Destination Universe which included the searing power pop gem "What Girls Want" in addition to the richly emotional ballads "Next Big Thing" and "Everything". Material Issue continued to tour heavily across the country in support of both albums. 1994 saw the release of Freak City Soundtrack which featured the hit "Kim The Waitress" (He committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning) b. April 18th 1964.
1997: Lawrence Payton (59) American songwriter, tenor vocalist and record producer for the popular Motown quartet, The Four Tops. He created the smooth, sharp jazz/pop hamonies for the group. His son Roquel Payton now sings with the Four Tops (liver cancer) b. March 2nd 1938.
2006: Claydes "Charles" Smith (57) American guitarist, vocalist; born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was introduced to jazz guitar by his father. In the early 1960s he got together with some New Jersey jazz musicians, including Ronald Bell aka Khalis Bayyan, Robert "Kool" Bell, George Brown, Dennis Thomas and Robert "Spike" Mickens, and they soon became known as Kool & the Gang. Other members would include lead singer James "JT" Taylor. They were one of the major groups of the 1970s, blending jazz, funk, R&B, and pop and enjoyed a return to stardom during the 1980s. Charles wrote the hits "Joanna" and "Take My Heart," and was a co-writer of others, including "Celebration," "Hollywood Swinging," and "Jungle Boogie." (Illness forced him to stop touring with the group in January 2006. He passed away due to an unknown prolonged illness) b. September 6th 1948.
2010: El Pery (21) Honduran reggaeton musician (tragically shot) b.????.
2010:Bobby Meide (59) American drummer with the Flamin' Oh's and had been a fixture of the Twin Cities rock scene for over four decades (Died unexpectingly of Korsakoff's syndrome, his medical condition had only been diagnosed in the past few weeks) b.????

June 21
1945: Mike Jackson (56) American acid jazz/jazz-funk composer, pianist (?).
1966: Reg Calvert (?) manager, The Fortunes (shot dead by a business rival William Smedley during a confrontation)
1979: Angus MacLise (34) 1st drummer, Velvet Underground (Died of tuberculosis in Kathmandu)
1980: Bert Kaempfert (56) German producer, arranger, composer, bandleader. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records, and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including "Strangers in the Night" and "Spanish Eyes". (heart seizure while at his home in Mallorca, resting up after a triumphant British tour)
1986: Assi Rahbani (63) Lebanese composer, singer, musician and producer. He formed one half of the Rahbani Brothers with his brother Mansour Rahbani. He started his musical career at the Near East Radio channel. In 1951, Assi composed Nouhad Haddad (later known as Fairuz and Assi's future wife), very first song, "Itab" ("Blame"), when she was one of the singers in the radio station's chorus. By the 1960s, the Rahbani Brothers had become one of the most famous musical figures in the Arab World, and were sought after by many Arab singers. In addition to productions that featured Fairuz, they also wrote and directed hundreds of theatrical and TV productions. In the 1970s, Assi and Fairuz, became an international success, specifically after four months of extensively touring North America. Assi and his brother continued writing musicals and touring Europe and the Persian Gulf nations with Fairuz (he sadly died a few weeks after falling into a coma. Beirut's warring Muslims and Christians declared a cease fire and opened the city's checkpoints for his funeral. Assi had suffered in the 70s from a brain hemorrhage which resulted in 3 operations) b. May 4th 1923.
1993: Ticho Parly/Frederick Christiansen (64) Danish Heldentenor, born in Copenhagen, who sang leading roles in most of the major opera houses of Europe as well as the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, where he debuted in 1966 as Tristan opposite Birgit Nilsson in Tristan und Isolde. As late as 1988, he appeared in Denmark in the eponymous role of Otello. In his later years, Ticho Parly taught voice in Seattle (?) b. July 16th 1928.
1999: Kami/Ukyo Kamimura (26) Japanese drummer; his early influences included many of the British New Wave bands and bands such as Culture Club and Duran Duran. He played in bands while still at school after which Kami decided to go to Tokyo, where he spent a brief stint with a punk band before taking a liking to the visual kei style. As a result, he joined an up and coming musical group called Kneuklid Romance. Performing mainly live shows, Kami soon attracted the attention of Yu~ki, a bassist from a fellow visual kei band, Malice Mizer. Not long after Kami was a full member and playing drums for Malice Mizer. They released their debut album, Memoire, his first inclusion in a publicly released album. In the months before his death, Kami had taken to composing music, writing two complete songs, "Unmei no Deai" and "Mori no naka no tenshi". These would later be released on the memorial album Shinwa. (died in his sleep of a subarachnoid hemorrhage.) b. February 1st 1972.
2000: Alan Hovhaness (89) American composer of Armenian and Scottish ancestry. His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation. The Boston Globe music critic Richard Buell wrote: "Although he has been stereotyped as a self-consciously Armenian composer, his output assimilates the music of many cultures. What may be most American about all of it is the way it turns its materials into a kind of exoticism. The atmosphere is hushed, reverential, mystical, nostalgi". He was among the most prolific of 20th century composers, his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) and 434 opus numbers. However, the true tally is well over 500 surviving works since many opus numbers comprise two or more distinct works () b. March 8th 1911
2001: John Lee Hooker (83) American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter. He performed in a half-spoken style that became his trademark. His guitar playing is closely aligned with piano Boogie Woogie. He would play the walking bass pattern with his thumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with a series of trills, done by rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. (died in his sleep)
2002: Matt Dennis (88) American singer, bandleader, arranger, and writer of music for popular music songs born in Seattle, Washington. In 1933 he joined Horace Heidt's orchestra as a vocalist and pianist, before forming his own band with Dick Haymes as vocalist. He became vocal coach, arranger, and accompanist for Martha Tilton, and worked with a new vocal group, the Stafford Sisters. Jo Stafford, one of the sisters, joined the Tommy Dorsey band in 1940 and persuaded Dorsey to hire Matt as arranger and composer. Dennis wrote prolifically, with fourteen of his songs recorded by the Dorsey band in one year alone, including "Everything Happens to Me," an early hit for Frank Sinatra. (pneumonia) b. February 11th 1914.
2007: Georg Danzer (60) Austrian singer, songwriter (lung cancer).
2010: Frank Sidebottom/Chris Sievey (54) British comedian and musician; after leaving the punk band The Freshies, Chris created the role for which he is be best remembered, Frank Sidebottom. With his over-sized, papier-mache head, as Frank Sidebottom, he styled himself as an aspiring singer-songwriter from Timperley, south Manchester and found fame through a series of TV appearances in the 1980s and remained a popular cult comedy figure. In late 2009 and early 2010 he supported John Cooper Clarke on a UK tour (lung cancer) b. August 25th 1955.
2010: Tam White (67) Scottish singer, guitarist and actor; primarily known as a blues vocalist with a trademark gravel-voiced sound. In the 1960s he recorded with beat groups The Boston Dexters and then The Buzz. In the 1970s Tam was the first artist to sing live on Top Of The Pops, and he provided the vocals for Robbie Coltrane to mime to as Big Jazza McGlone in John Byrne's award-winning television series Tutti Frutti in 1987. As Tam White & The Dexters, his band built up a solid and loyal following for their live appearances, becoming "a fixture" at the Edinburgh Jazz And Blues Festival, and supporting blues artists including BB King, Al Green and Van Morrison. Tam began acting in films and TV in 1990 having roles in Paper Mask, Braveheart, The Negotiator, Cutthroat Island, Orphans, Taggart, Eastenders and River City (He died unexpectedly of a heart attack after a gym session in Edinburgh) b. July 12th 1942.
2010: Larry Jon Wilson (69) American country singer, self taught guitarist and songwriter, with singles such as "Through the Eyes of Little Children" and "I Betcha Heaven's on a Dirt Road". Born in Swainsboro, Georgia, he released his debut album New Beginnings in 1975. Three more albums followed, Let Me Sing My Song to You, Loose Change, and The Sojourner. In the late 1980s he attended the Frank Brown International Songwriter's Festival in Perdido Key, Florida and began touring again in 1989, and by 2003 was still accepting occasional engagements. In 2008, he released a new album, after a thirty year hiatus from recording (stroke) b. October 7th 1940.

June 22
1969: Judy Garland/Frances Ethel Gumm (47) American singer and actress, born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Judy attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, and as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her work in films, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She had a contralto singing range. As Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz in 1939, she won a special Oscar and it gave her a theme song for the rest of her life: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (overdose of sleeping tablets) b. June 10th 1922.
1977: Peter Laughner (24) guitarist, vocals, Rocket From the Tombs/ Pere Ubu (acute pancreatitis, brought on by drug and alcohol)
1987: Fred Astaire/Frederick Austerlitz (88) U.S. dancer and singer of stage and movies; the most celebrated dancer in the history of film, with appearances in 31 movie musicals between 1933 and 1968 (pneumonia)
1988: Jesse Ed Davis (43) Session guitarist, full-blooded Kiowa Indian, one of the most sort after session guitarists of the late 60's and 70's (suspected drug overdose)
1993: Emmett Berry (77) jazzman, trumpet player; freelance ()
1995: Petrovich Derbenyov (64) Russian poet and lyricist regarded as one of the stalwarts of the 20th century Soviet and Russian pop music. Born in Moscow he created more than 2000 poems, hundreds of which have become song lyrics. Among the composers he worked with were Aleksandr Zatsepin, Arno Babajanian, Alexander Flyarkovsky, Maksim Dunayevsky, Vyacheslav Dobrynin. Leonid's songs have been performed by many Russian pop stars, among them Muslim Magomayev - "The Best City on Earth"; Alla Pugacheva - "The Kings Can Do Whatever They Will", "You have to light"; Mikhail Boyarsky - "Everything will be", "Urban flowers", "Fast train"; Lev Leshchenko - "Goodbye", "Native Land"; and Masha Rasputina - "Live, the Country", "Let Me In the Himalayas", "I'll Come Back". He won the annual "Song of the Year" competition in the years of 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973 (sadly died in Moscow after a serious illness) b. April 12th 1931.
1997: Ted Gärdestad (41) Swedish singer and songwriter (death generally considered suicide, by running in front of a train, but could have been to do with his schizophrenia)
1998: Benny Green (70) UK sax player, radio presenter, DJ (cancer).
2007: Billie Beatty (73) gifted and flamboyant lead guitarist; an icon in Washington gospel quartet circles for decades (heart attack)

June 23
1959: Boris Vian (39) French writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. As well as his books published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan, Boris was also an important influence on the French jazz scene. He served as liaison for Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in Paris, wrote for several French jazz-reviews (Le Jazz Hot, Paris Jazz) and published numerous articles dealing with jazz both in the United States and in France. His own music and songs enjoyed popularity during his lifetime, particularly the anti-war song "Le Déserteur." (unexpected cardiac arrest) b. March 23rd 1920
2000: Jerome Richardson (79) American jazz musician, tenor saxophonist, and flute player, who also played alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet and piccolo. Born in Oakland, California, he settled in New York in 1954, where he began a very active session career He worked with bands led by Lucky Millinder and Cootie Williams, and led his own quartet at the famous Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem in 1955. He worked regularly with band leader and arranger Quincy Jones, including a European tour with Harold Arlen’s blues opera Free and Easy in 1959, and was also involved in many of Jones’s more pop-oriented projects. He was a founder member of the great Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, where his soprano saxophone played a leading role in creating the band’s distinctive sound. He played with a number of other notable big bands during his long career, including bands led by Jimmy Lunceford, Gerald Wilson, Gil Evans and Charles Mingus. His standing as a superbly accomplished soloist on a range of reed and wind instruments was complemented by an equally strong reputation as an accompanist of singers, including the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Nancy Wilson, Billy Eckstine, Lena Horne, and most recently the late Teri Thornton. Richardson was a good singer in his own right, especially of ballads. He moved to Los Angeles for a time in the mid-1970s, working mainly in the studios, but returned to New York in the late 1980s, where he worked on Broadway musicals, and performed with artists like trumpeter Art Farmer, saxophonist Clifford Jordan and trombonist Slide Hampton, as well as leading his own group, in which he played mainly alto saxophone, his instrument of choice in recent years. Jerome performed with practically every significant post-war jazz artist, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Milt Jackson, Oliver Nelson, Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as a whole range of blues, soul and pop artists, from B.B. King to The Bee Gees (died in Englewood, New Jersey) b. November 15th 1920
2010: Pete Quaife (66) English bassist and founding member of the British rock band The Kinks; he founded a group known as The Ravens in 1963 with brothers Ray and Dave Davies. Around late 1963 1964, they changed their name to The Kinks, and hired Mick Avory as a drummer. The group scored several major international hits throughout the 1960s. Their early singles, including "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", have been cited as an early influence on the hard rock and heavy metal genres. After leaving The Kinks, Pete founded a new band, the country/rock outfit, Mapleoak, after which in 1980, he retired from the music world he relocated to Belleville, Ontario, Canada to work as a graphic artist (kidney failure) b. December 31st 1943.

June 24
1935: Carlos Gardel (44) Uruguay/Argentinian tango singer, composer, actor; tango's first superstar and still one of its most enduring performers, revered as an icon in the Latin world of music.(an airplane crash in Medellín, Colombia) b. Dec 11th 1887 or 1890.
1916: Jackie Gleason (71) US singer, actor, popular TV host; Throughout the 1950s and '60s, he enjoyed a secondary music career, lending his name to a series of best-selling "mood music" albums with jazz overtones for Capitol Records. He felt there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals. (cancer) b. Feb 26th 1916.
1989: Hibari Misora (52) Award winning Japanese enka singer and actress. She was the first woman in Japan to receive the People's Honour Award, which was awarded posthumously for her notable contributions to the music industry. Hibari recorded 1,200 songs, and sold 68 million records. After she died, consumer demand for her recordings grew significantly, and by 2001 she had sold more than 80 million records. Her swan-song "Kawa no nagare no yo ni" is often performed by numerous artists and orchestras as a tribute to her, including notable renditions by The Three Tenors, Teresa Teng, and Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. In April of 1987, on the way to a performance in Fukuoka, Misora suddenly collapsed. Rushed to hospital, she was diagnosed with avascular necrosis brought on by chronic hepatitis. She was confined to a hospital in Fukuoka, and eventually showed signs of recovery in August. She commenced recording a new song in October, and in April of 1988 performed at a concert at the Tokyo Dome. Despite overwhelming pain in her legs, she performed a total of 39 songs (Hibari sadly died from pneumonia, a bronze statue in her honor was built as a memorial in Yokohama in 2002, and attracts around 300,000 visitors each year) b. May 29th 1937.
2004: Tau Moe (95) Samoan influential pioneer of the Hawaiian steel guitarist; Tau along with is wife Rose formed the core of the Tau Moe Family musical group. They performed for international figures including Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Aristotle Onassis, Mohandas Gandhi and King Farouk. Tau traveled the world from 1928 to 1970, performing throughout Europe and Asia, meeting heads of state and working with legendary musicians including Josephine Baker, Tommy Dorsey and Louis Armstrong. He also helped at least 150 of his Jewish musician friends escape Germany and Austria just before the height of Adolf Hitler's reign by having them impersonate groupies, relatives and stagehands (?) b. August 13th 1908.
2007: Natasja Saad/Little T (32) Danish rapper and reggae singer (car accident).
2008: Dave Carpenter (48) American jazz bassist; appeared on over two hundred recordings and had dozens of television, film theme and soundtracks to his recording credit. He worked with artists such as Allan Holdsworth, Peter Erskine, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Alan Pasqua, Joel Taylor, Mike Stern, Scott Henderson, Mitchel Forman, Eric Marienthal, Jeff Golub, Dave Liebman, Lee Ritenour, Ilona Knopfler, Dianne Reeves, Tom Scott, Sadao Watanabe, Masanori Sasaji, Joe Mazzone, Rita Coolidge, Russ Freeman, Rod Stewart, Johnny Mathis, Barbara Streisand, David Benoit, Boz Scaggs, Skakira and many more. (heart attack) b. November 4th 1959.
2008: Ira Tucker (83) US lead singer with The Dixie Hummingbirds for 70 years from 1938 when he joined at aged 13 until his death. He is the father of singer, Sundray Tucker and Lynda Laurence formerly of The Supremes.(heart failure) b. May 17th 1925.
2010: Fred Anderson (81) American jazz tenor saxophonist; born in Monroe, Louisiana, he taught himself to play sax, before studying music at the Roy Knapp Conservatory in Chicago. He was one of the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and an important member of the musical collective. His partner for many years was the Chicago jazz trumpeter Billy Brimfield. In 1983, Fred took over ownership of the Velvet Lounge in Chicago, which quickly became a centre for the city's jazz and experimental music scenes. The club expanded and relocated in the summer of 2006. He acted as mentor to young musicians who have gone on to prominent careers in music, either by featuring them in his groups or as performers at the Velvet Lounge, including Aaron Getsug, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Harrison Bankhead, David Boykin, Nicole Mitchell, Justin Dillard, Josh Abrams, Fred Jackson, George Lewis, Isaiah Sharkey, and Isaiah Spencer (?) b. March 22nd 1929.
2010: JoJo Billingsley (58) American singer, songwriter and recording artist. In December 1975, she was hired, along with Cassie Gaines and Leslie Hawkins, to be a backup singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ronnie Van Zant dubbed them "The Honkettes". As one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Honkettes, she toured with the band from Japan to England. In 2005, she performed several times as "The Honkettes" in an alternative version of Lynyrd Skynyrd called "The Saturday Night Special Band" that also included Ed King, Artimus Pyle and Leslie Hawkins that helped to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2006, she performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd for only the third time since the 1977 plane crash. The first was at Charlie Daniels' 1979 Volunteer Jam film of which appears in the VH-1 Behind The Music profile of the band, the second at the opening of Freebird The Movie at Atlanta's Fox Theatre in 1995, and singing "Sweet Home Alabama" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at which Lynyrd Skynyrd was honored. (sadly lost her battle with cancer) b. 1952.
2010: Alan Krueck (70) American musicologist; he wrote his doctoral dissertation, The symphonies of Felix Draeseke: a study in consideration of developments in symphonic form in the second half of the nineteenth century for the University of Zurich in 1967. This was the first English-language study of Draeseke's music. In 1993, Alan founded the North American adjunct of the International Draeseke Society, and produced a number of CDs on the society's label. He edited, among other works, the previously unpublished 2nd of Draeseke's sonatas for viola alta and his opera Bertran de Born. Alan also was professor emeritus at California University of Pennsylvania (?) b. November 15th 1939.

June 25
1976: John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer (66) US singer and award winning songwriter born in Savannah, Georgia, U.S. and moved to New York in 1928, when he was 19. As a songwriter, he is best known as a lyricist, but he did also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s, many of the songs he wrote and performed were among the most popular hits of the time. He wrote the lyrics to more than a 1000 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations. His songs included "Goody Goody", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "Jeepers, Creepers!", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "Fools Rush In", "That Old Black Magic", "PS I Love You", "I Remember You", "Tangerine", "This Time the Dream's on Me" and "Hit The Road To Dreamland". Johnny won four Academy Awards for Best Song: "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" for The Harvey Girls; "In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening" for Here Comes The Groom; "Moon River" (1961) (music by Henry Mancini) for Breakfast at Tiffany's and "Days of Wine and Roses" for Days of Wine and Roses. Johnny was also a founder of Capitol Records in 1942, with the financial help of fellow songwriter and movie producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs. On April 6, 1942, Johnny Mercer supervised Capitol's first recording session, recording Martha Tilton singing 'Moon Dreams". On May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks, one with just the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse "Cow Cow Boogie', and one with Johnny "Air–Minded Executive". On June 4, Capitol Records opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On the same day, Wallichs presented the first free record to a Los Angeles disc jockey named Peter Potter. Potter was so pleased Wallichs decided to give free records to other DJs, becoming the first in the business to do so (?) b. November 18th 1909.
1983: Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (67) Argentine composer of classical music, born in Buenos Aires. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers. Alberto studied at the conservatory in Buenos Aires, graduating in 1938. After a visit to the United States in 1945–47, where he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, he returned to Buenos Aires and co-founded the League of Composers. He held a number of teaching posts. He moved back to the United States in 1968 and from 1970 lived in Europe (He passed away in Geneva) b. April 11th 1916.
1985: Connie Curtis "Pee Wee" Crayton (70) US blues guitarist, vocalist; it is thought he was the first blues guitarist to use a Fender Stratocaster, given to him by Leo Fender ().
1987: Boudleaux Bryant (67) one of the greatest songwriters in country music history ()
1988: Hillel Slovak (26) Israeli-American lead guitarist born in Haifa, Israel, his family emigrated to America when Hillel was four settling in Queens, New York, then in 1967 relocated to Southern California. While at Fairfax High School he met future bandmates Jack Irons and Michael "Flea" Balzary. They formed a band called Chain Reaction, then changed the name to Anthym. They next dubbed themselves "Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem", before changing to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Hillel's work was one of the major contributing factors to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' early sound. He was also a huge influence on a young John Frusciante, who would later replace him as guitarist in the band. (Hillel died of a heroin overdose shortly after the band returned from a European tour) b. April 13th 1962.
1998: Lounès Matoub (42) Berber Kabyle singer and mondol player, born in the village of Taourirt Moussa in Kabylie. At 9 years old he built his first guitar from an empty car oil can and composed his first songs as a teenager. He began his singing career under the patronage of the established Kabyle singer Idir. He recorded his first album Ay Izem/The Lion in 1978; it was a huge success. He went on to record 36 albums, as well as writing songs for other artists. He gave his first major concert in April 1980, at the time of the "Berber Spring" protest movement in Kabylie. Lounes was a prominent advocate of the Berber cause and secularism in Algeria throughout his life. He is revered as a hero and martyr in Kabylie and the Berber World but reviled by most of the Arab population in Algeria for his irreligion and blasphemous songs such as "Allahu Akbar" and his militant advocacy of Berber rights, therefore unpopular among both warring parties during Algerian Civil War. (Lounès' car was stopped at a roadblock while he was driving along a mountainous road in eastern Algeria. The car was fired upon by masked gunmen, killing Lounès and wounding his three female passengers. Tens of thousands people attended his funeral and a week of violent riots followed) b. January 24th 1956
2007: Bill Moss (76) American gospel musician with The Celestials (emphysema).
2007: Mahasti/Eftekhar Dadehbala (60) Persian singer who was recognized as the "Persian Diva" and "Banooye Golhaa va Delha." She was the younger sister of another popular Iranian female singer, Hayedeh. Mahasti worked with some of the most famous Iranian composers, including Parviz Yahaghi, Habibollah Badiei, Homayoon Khorram, Asadollah Malek, Anooshiravan Rohani, Jahanbakhsh Pazooki, Hasan Shamaeizadeh, Mohammad Heidari, Jamshid Sheibani, Sadegh Nojooki, and Manoochehr Cheshmazar She emigrated to the UK in 1978, and then relocated to the US where she lived till her death (colon cancer) b. November 16th 1946.
2009: Michael Joseph Jackson (50) American recording artist, entertainer and businessman. Born in Gary, Chicago, Indiana he was the seventh of nine children. His siblings are Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Janet. His father Joseph Jackson, who allegedy physically and emotionally abused Michael as a child, often performed in an R&B band called The Falcons. He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness by his mother. In 1964, he and his brother Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers, a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine, respectively. (cardiac arrest) b. August 29th 1958... read more

June 26
1984: Albert Dailey (45) American jazz pianist born Baltimore, Maryland, where his first professional appearances were with the house band of the Baltimore Royal Theatre, before studying at Morgan State University and the Peabody Conservatory. He backed Damita Jo DuBlanc on tour from 1960 to 1963, and following this briefly put together his own trio in Washington, D.C., playing at the Bohemia Caverns. In 1964 he moved to New York City, where he played with Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes, Sarah Vaughan, Charles Mingus, and Freddie Hubbard. In 1967 he played with Woody Herman at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and played intermittently with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers around this time. In the 1970s he played with Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Elvin Jones, and Archie Shepp. In the 1980s he did concerts at Carnegie Hall and was a member of the Upper Manhattan Jazz Society with Charlie Rouse, Benny Bailey, and Buster Williams. (Sadly died of pneumonia) b. June 16th 1939.
1987: Boudleaux Bryant (67) American international pop & country songwriter; by the late '80s, it was estimated that Boudleaux and Felice's warehouse of 3,000 songs had sold over 300 million copies worldwide. Born in Shellman, Georgia he was trained as a classical violinist and during the 1937–38 season he performed with the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra but had more interest in country fiddling and joined a western music band. In 1945 he met Matilda Genevieve Scaduto while performing in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and their meeting resulted in a marriage, a life long writing partnership and the duo being inducted into the Hall of Fame songwriters. In 1957 the Bryants came to national prominence in both country music and pop music when they wrote a string of hugely successful songs for the Everly Brothers followed by successes for others such as Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly. They wrote for many stars from a variety of musical genres including Tony Bennett, Sonny James, Eddy Arnold, Bob Moore, Charley Pride, Nazareth, Jim Reeves, Leo Sayer, Simon and Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughan, the Grateful Dead, Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan and many others. In 1972 they were inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 1986 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (?) b. February 13th 1920.
1997: Israel "Iz" Ka'ano'i Kamakawiwo'ole (38) Hawai'ian singer songwriter, ukulele player who
became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993 with his medley of "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World", which was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and commercials. In his early teens, he studied at Upward Bound of the University of Hawaii at Hilo and his family moved to Makaha, Hawaii. There, he met Louis "Moon" Kauakahi, Sam Gray, and Jerome Koko. Together with his brother Skippy they formed the Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau. From 1976 throughout the 1980s, they gained in popularity as they toured Hawaii and the continental United States, they released fifteen successful albums. In 1990, Iz released his first solo album Ka'ano'i, which won awards for Contemporary Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year from the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts. Facing Future was released in 1993 by The Mountain Apple Company, which featured his most popular song, the medley "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World". In 1994, Iz was voted favorite entertainer of the year by the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts. Through his ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres, such as jazz and reggae, Iz remains one of the major influences in Hawai'ian music over the last 15 years (died of weight-related respiratory illness) b. May 20th 1959
2006: Johnny Jenkins (67) American left-handed blues guitarist who helped to propel the singing career of Otis Redding and inspired Jimi Hendrix with his guitar playing and stage acrobatics. In the 1960s Johnny led a band called the Pinetoppers, and employed a young Otis Redding as a singer for the Pinetoppers. As Johnny did not have a driver's license, the young Otis also served as his personal driver. During a recording session in 1962 they had 40 minutes of studio time unused. Otis used this time to record a ballad entitled 'These Arms of Mine' with Johnny playing guitar, Otis was born. In 1970 Johnny released the album Ton-Ton Macoute!, in later years this album became a collectors item as the opening track, a cover of Dr. John's 'I Walk on Gilded Splinters', has been sampled by numerous artists from Beck to Oasis. Johnny became disillusioned with the music industry and did nothing of note until 1996 when he was persuaded him to make a comeback, he released the album 'Blessed Blues' recorded with Chuck Leavell. Two further albums followed; 'Handle With Care' and 'All in Good Time' (sadly he died from a stroke) b. March 5th 1939.
2006: Arif Mardin (74) strings, synthesizer, musical producer, arranger; longtime house producer and arranger with Atlantic Records; in his career of more than 40 years, he collected over 40 gold and platinum albums, over 15 Grammy nominations and 12 Grammy Awards.()
2007: Dame Thea King DBE (81) British classical clarinetist; made a special study of lesser known works of the 18th and 19th centuries, especially those of Crusell. A principal clarinetist of the Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra, the Melos Ensemble and the Allegri String Quartet. She was a founder member in 1953 of the Portia Wind Ensemble, an all female group and a member of the Vesuvius and Robles Ensembles.() b. December 26th 1925.
2009: Yosef "Jo" Amar (79) Moroccan-born Israeli singer; a pioneer in the introduction of Moroccan Jewish liturgical music to Israel. In 1956, he emigrated to Israel where he lived on moshav Yad Rambam. He became associated with mizrahi music, mixing the melodies of traditional Sephardic Jewish music with Arabic music and Western music. Yosef moved to New York City in 1970, where he performed music and worked as a cantor. He published an anthology of liturgical music from Morocco and recorded more than 20 albums, including one with the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra (died in Miami, Florida, from undisclosed causes) b. 1930
2010: Shoista Mullojonova (84) Bukharian Jewish Shashmakom singer. She won many awards and titles in her career including the prestigious "People's Artist of the Republic of Tajikistan" and "Merited Artist of the USSR". She had a seven decade career in music, from 1941 until her death. To this day, she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of the USSR and of Tajikistan and her recordings are still preserved in the archives of Tajikistan. Mullojonova was often referred to as the "Queen of Shashmakom Music" and as the "Daughter of Tajikistan" (heart attack) b. September 3rd 1925.
2010: Sergio Vega (40) Mexican banda singer born in Hornos; in 1989, while living in Phoenix, Arizona, he and his brothers formed a group called Los Hermanos Vega, which signed with Joey Records and had several hits such as "Corazón de Oropel" and "El Rayo de Sinaloa". In 1994, after five years with the group he decided to leave, forming another group called Los Reyos del Norte, and signing with Digital Universal. This group had hits such as "Las Parcelas de Mendoza", "El Dólar Doblado", "El Ayudante", "Olor a Hierba", "Eres mi Estrella", and "Ayúdame a Vivir". He later changed his group's name to Sergio Vega y Sus Shakas Del Norte (Murdered while on his way to perform at a village festival concert in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Gunmen travelling in a truck drove alongside his red Cadillac and opened fire on the vehicle) b. September 12th 1969
2010: Benny Powell (80) American jazz trombonist; he played both tenor and bass trombone, and played professionally at age 14, and by 18 he was playing with Lionel Hampton. In 1951 began playing with Count Basie, in whose orchestra he would remain until 1963. Hear Benny's trombone solo in "April in Paris" After leaving Basie, he freelanced in New York City, playing on the Merv Griffin Show among other places. He then moved to California and did extensive work as a session musician, working with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Abdullah Ibrahim, John Carter, and Randy Weston. Later, he worked as an educator, including as part of the Jazzmobile project (?) b. March 1st 1930

June 27
1992: Allan Jones (83) US actor and singer; starred in many musicals, films and broadway productions. Father of singer Jack Jones.(lung cancer)
1992: Charles Tyler (50) Clarinet, Baritone Sax, Alto Sax; busy sessionist, he spent a four-year period teaching and playing with adventurous musicians in Los Angeles, including Arthur Blythe, Bobby Bradford, and David Murray. He moved back to New York in 1973, where he freelanced, doing stints with Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman, and Billy Bang (died while in Toulon, France)
1999: Brian O'Hara (56) Singer, guitarist Fourmost (hung himself)
2002: John Entwistle (57) English bassist, vocals and multi-musician, he was the most influential British bassist in rock music, influencing the likes of Phil Lesh, Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, Cliff Burton, Billy Sheehan, Lemmy Kilmister, Krist Novoselic and so many others. As a young school boy he joined the Middlesex Youth Orchestra, his initial music training was on trumpet, french horn, and piano, all of which would figure into his later rock playing. In the early 1960s, he played in several traditional jazz and dixieland outfits, before forming a duo called the Confederates with schoolmate Pete Townshend, and later joined Roger Daltrey's band the Detours. This band who later later become The Who. John was one of the first to make use of Marshall stacks, (Pete Townshend has said that John started using Marshalls in order to hear himself over Keith Moon's drums!) His full treble, full volume" approach to bass sound was originally supposed to be captured in the bass solo to "My Generation", this solo bass break is important as it is one of the earliest bass solos captured on a rock record. After the hectic years with The Who had slowed down, he had time in the 90s to form "The John Entwistle Band" with longtime friend, drummer Steve Luongo and Godfrey Townsend on lead guitar. By the time of his death, John had a collection of over 200 instruments reflecting the different brands he used over his career (John died in a hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas one day before the scheduled first show of The Who's 2002 US tour. His death was due to a heart attack induced by his cocaine habit which aggrivated a pre-existing heart condition) b. October 9th 1944.
2008: Daihachi Oguchi (84) Japanese master of taiko drumming, helped found top taiko groups all over the world, including San Francisco Taiko Dojo. The former jazz musician, was one of the first to elevate the traditional Japanese folk sounds of taiko to modern music playing in concert halls, festivals and shrines. He led and starred in the performance of drumming and dance at the closing ceremony of the 1998 Nagano Olympics. (died in hospital the day after being hit by a car) b. 1923
2009: Gale Storm/Josephine Owaissa Cottle (87) American actress and singer born in Bloomington, Victoria County, Texas. As well as her acting and TV career, including My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show, for a couple years in the early 50s she was a recording artist. Her first record was "I Hear You Knockin'", the followup was a two-sided hit, with "Memories Are Made of This" backed with "A Teenage Prayer." That was followed by a hit cover of Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." and "Dark Moon" that went to No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100. She had several other hits and headlined in Las Vegas, but then gave up recording because of her husband's concerns with the time she had to devote to that career (Passed away in a convalescent home, near San Francisco in Danville, California) b. April 5th 1922
2010: Rammellzee (49) American pioneer hip hop musician and graffiti artist; before his hip-hop career, he was an established graffiti artist, peppering the A train in Queensbridge, NY in the late 70s with his trademark spiky letters. He was known for his eccentric ways and renaissance ideals and in 1983, NY artist Jean-Michel Basquiat produced and provided artwork for what was to become the only record released on independent label Tartown, "Beat Bop", a collaboration between Rammellzee and K-Rob which was limited to 500 copies and went on to become a holy grail for collectors and influenced the likes of Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill. He was featured in the two landmarks of hip-hop cinema, Henry Chalfant's graffiti doc, Style Wars and Charlie Ahearn's Wild Style, toting a shotgun as he rapped on stage in the latter (Sadly died after long illness) b. 1960.

June 28
1965: Red Nichols/Ernest Loring Nichols (60) American jazz musician, playing the trumpet and horn with Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jack Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell, and the mellophone specialist Dudley Fosdick among many others, and his own band Five Pennies. Born in Ogden, Utah, it is rumored that he appeared on over 4,000 recordings during the 1920s alone. Red's compositions include "Hurricane" with Paul Madeira Mertz, "Five Pennies", "Nervous Charlie", "That's No Bargain", "Get With It", "Overnight Hop", "Hangover" with Miff Mole, "The King Kong", "Trumpet Sobs", "The Parade of the Pennies", "Sugar", "Lowland Blues", and "Meet Miss 8 Beat". The 1959 Hollywood film The Five Pennies, a biography of Red Nichols, starring Danny Kaye as Red Nichols, was loosely based on Red's career. He was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986 (Red tragically died of sudden heart attack while in Las Vegas with his band The Five Pennies) b. May 8th 1905.
1980: Jose Iturbi (84) Spanish conductor, pianist; he appeared as an actor-performer in several filmed musicals of the 1940s ()
1993: G.G.Allin, born Jesus Christ Allin (36) a punk rock singer/bandleader for a number of groups. With over 50 arrests for his violent, scatological stage acts, he was the most spectacular degenerate in rock & roll history, leaving behind the most disgusting legacy in rock history.(died of an alcohol and heroin overdose in a friends apartment, after being chased naked by New York police and loosing them, stemming from violent riots at his outragous gig)
2008: Ronnie Mathews (72) American jazz pianist born in New York; being such an in demand session musician, he is primarily known for his work with other musicians, including Max Roach, Art Blakey, Johnny Griffin, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Jordan and many others. In his twenties, he toured internationally and recorded with Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard and Roy Haynes. He was also a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the late 1950s through the 60's. In the 70s he toured and recorded on two Louis Hayes projects and played with Dexter Gordon and Clark Terry, as well as teaching jazz piano and leading workshops, clinics and master classes at Long Island University in New York City. In the 80's, Ronnie performed as a leader in duo, trio and quartet configurations tourig the world and appearing at many international festivals. He also toured with Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Band. After touring and recording with Clifford Jordan's Big Band in the early 90's, he joined T.S. Monk for eight years of touring and recording. His most recent work was in 2003 (pancreatic cancer) b. Dec 2nd 1935.
2010: Bill Aucoin (66) American band manager of rock band Kiss. Bill originally produced a television show called "Supermarket Sweep", before in 1973 he saw the band Kiss at a showcase gig at New York's Diplomat Hotel. He arranged a meet with record company executive Neil Bogart, who signed the band as the first act on his Casablanca Records label. With Bill's help, Kiss became as famous for the vast array of products bearing their likeness , as they were for their music. By 1978, Kiss was voted the No. 1 band in America in a Gallup poll. After parting with Kiss in the early 1980s, Aucoin managed Billy Squier and Billy Idol (complications from prostate cancer) b. December 29th 1943.

June 29
1969: Frederick Earl "Shorty" Long (29) US soul singer, songwriter, record producer for Motown's Soul Records, his biggest hit was "Here Comes The Judge" in 1968. He played many instruments, including piano, organ, drums, harmonica, trumpet, and he acted as an MC for the Motortown Revue shows and tours (boating accident on the Detroit River in Michigan) b. May 20th 1940.
1969: Clois "Cub" Teagarden (53) American jazz drummer; like his sister, pianist Norma Teagarden, Clois worked frequently with his brother, classic jazz trombonist and vocalist Jack Teagarden. His drums and some vocals can be heard on various early Jack Teagarden LPs, such as "Big T" and "Stars Fell on Alabama". Clois also played with musicians, such as Charles McCamish, Casper Reardon, Clint and Carl Garvin, Hub Lytle, Mark Bennett, Herb Quigley, Art Saint John, Terry Shand, John VanEps, Art Miller, Allan Reuss, Jose Gutierrez, Frankie Trumbauer, Charlie Spivak, Ernie Caceres, and Benny Goodman. He retired from music business in 1948 and went to work for the telephone company in Long Beach, California. (?) b. Dec 16th 1915.
1975: Tim Buckley (28) American experimental vocalist, musician and songwriter born in Washington DC, a singer-songwriter who incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, and avant-garde rock in a career spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s. By the time he had graduated high school he had already written over twenty songs with lyricist Larry Beckett; and many of these made up a large portion of his debut album. "Buzzin' Fly", also written during this period, were later featured his 1969 LP Happy Sad. He often regarded his voice as an instrument, a talent principally showcased on his albums Goodbye and Hello, Lorca, and Starsailor. Tim is also the father of Jeff Buckley who become a well-known musician in his own right (drug overdose) b. February 14th 1947.
1979: Lowell George (34) US singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, born in Hollywood, aged 6 he appeared on the Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, playing his harmonica, performing a duet with his older brother, Hampton. At Hollywood High School he took up the flute in the school marching band and orchestra. He started to play guitar at age 11, continued with the harmonica, and later learned to play the saxophone and sitar. He also played guitar with fellow schoolmate, and future bandmate, Paul Barrere. He formed his first band , The Factory, in 1965,
before joining The Standells, after which in late 1968 to early 1969 he was a member of Frank Zappa's band, the Mothers of Invention and can be heard on both the album Weasels Ripped My Flesh, and playing guitar and singing on several tracks on the first disc of Zappa's "You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Volume 5,". Lowell also joined Peter Tork in his first post-Monkee band "Release". He achieved more fame as frontman in the rock band Little Feat, where he specialized as a slide guitarist. Jackson Browne memorialized him in his 1980 song "Of Missing Persons". (died while on tour of a heart attack in a Motel at Arlington, US) b. April 13th 1945.
1987: Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (92) American musician, singer and songwriter, born in Carrboro, North Carolina, began writing music while toying around with her older brother's banjo at the age of seven. She was left-handed so she played the banjo "backwards". Later, when she transferred her songs to the guitar, a unique style was formed, since on the Banjo the uppermost string is not a bass string, as on the guitar, but a short high pitched string, called a drone string. This required her to adopt a unique style for the guitar, which she first played with all finger down strokes like a banjo. Later this evolved into a unique style of finger picking, and her signature, alternating bass style is known as "Cotten Picking". Regardless, her unmistakably original chords, melodies and finger picking techniques would go on to influence many other musicians. Charles Seeger discovered her in the early 50s when she worked for him as a housekeeper, when Libba was nearing 60. She toured extensively and performed at the Newport Folk Festival on many occasions throughout the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, and performed at Carnegie Hall in 1978 and on the television show, "Austin City Limits," in 1979. Her album, "Elizabeth Cotten Live!" won her a Grammy Award in 1984. Her songs, especially her signature track, "Freight Train", written when she was 11, have been covered by Peter, Paul, and Mary, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Devendra Banhart, Matt Valentine, Laura Veirs, His Name Is Alive and Taj Mahal, to mention just some (Libba died at Crouse-Irving Hospital in Syracuse, New York) b. January 5th 1895.
1998: Horst Jankowski (62) German jazz pianist & band leader; serving as bandleader for singer Caterina Valente. His fame as a composer of easy listening pop peaked in 1965 with his tune Eine Schwarzwaldenfahrt, released in English as "A Walk in the Black Forest" (cancer) b. Jan 30th 1936.
2002: Rosemary Clooney (74) American singer and actress. She was most popular singing pop music in the 1940s and 1950s with songs like "Come On-a My House", "Sway", "This Ole House", and "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (lung cancer) b. May 23rd 1928.
2007: George McCorkle (60) American guitarist; founding member and guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band. He wrote "Fire on the Mountain" which was the band's first top 40 hit in 1975. He quit the band in 1984 and later worked as a songwriter, as well as issuing a solo album American Street in 1999 (cancer) b. 1947
2010: Alf Carretta (93) Britain's oldest pop star; he was lead singer of Islington based pensioner's band The Zimmers, in 2007 he led his group to number 26 in the charts with their cover of The Who's My Generation after it grew out of a campaign to save the Essex Road Bingo Hall from closure in the late 90s. (?) b.????
2010: Queen Jane/Jane Nyambura (45) Kenyan benga singer performing in Kikuyu language; from Murang'a District, she started her musical career in 1984 as back up vocalist for Mbiri Young Stars under the band leader Musaimo.. She formed her own band Queenja Les Les and released her debut album Ndorogonye in 1991. Her other hits include Ndutige Kwiyaba, Muici Wa Itura, Muthuri Teenager and Arume Ni Nyamu. Many of her songs handled social issues (meningitis) b. ????

June 30
1993: Wong Ka-Kui (31) Hong Kong composer, songwriter, guitarist and singer. Wong was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the founder of the Hong Kong rock band Beyond. He composed more than 90 percent of the songs for Beyond and wrote a few award-winning lyrics. He is remembered for his musical talents as well as his unique and powerful voice that is able to convey a number of emotions. His songs are often addressing humanity and social issues such as injustice, war and peace, racism, poverty, family and pursuit of dream (He was participating in the filming of a very popular Japanese game show "Ucchan-nanchan no yarunara yaraneba" in Fuji TV studio on June 24th 1993. The floor was wet and slippery, while playing a game, Wong slipped and fell off the stage, hit the ground head first and fell into coma, from which sadly he did not recover) b. June 10th 1962.
1990: Mtutuzeli "Dudu" Pukwana (51) South African saxophone player, pianist and composer; In 1962, he won first prize at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants. Became a member of the Blue Notes, as mixed-race groups were illegal under apartheid, he and the Blue Notes emigrated to Europe in 1964. (liver failure) b. July 18th 1938.
1995: Phyllis Hyman (45) American singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; known as being a smokey, silky-voiced singer who incorporated many genres into her work, including traditional and contemporary jazz, rhythm and blues, funk, disco, House, big band, urban contemporary, hip hop and torch song ballads. Her first solo Top Ten hit came in 1981 with "Can't We Fall In Love Again", which was a duet with Michael Henderson. Other hits include "Don't Wanna Change the World, "Remember Who You Are", "Living in Confusion" and "When You Get Right Down to It". Her last album, I Refuse to Be Lonely, was a journey into her personal life. Both the title track and the single "I'm Truly Yours" became R&B hits. (suicide) b. July 6th 1949.
1990: Dudu Pukwana (51) South African saxophonist, composer and pianist, born in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He grew up studying piano in his family, but in 1956 he switched to alto sax after meeting tenor sax player Nick Moyake. In 1962, he won first prize at the Johannesburg Jazz Festival with Moyake's Jazz Giants. Chris McGregor then invited him to join the pioneering Blue Notes sextet where he played along with Mongezi Feza, Nikele Moyake, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo. As mixed-race groups were illegal under apartheid, the band and Dudu emigrated to Europe in 1964, playing in France and Zurich, and eventually settling in London. After The Blue Notes split in the late 1960s, he joined McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath big band, which again featured his soloing heavily. He also went on to form two groups with Feza and Moholo, Assagai an afro-rock band who recorded for the Vertigo label. The second was Spear, with whom he recorded the seminal afro-jazz album In The Townships. Both Assagai and Spear, blended kwela rhythms, rocking guitars, and jazz solos. In 1978, Dudu founded Jika Records and formed his own band, Zila, recording 'Zila Sounds', 'Live in Bracknell and Willisau', partly recorded at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, and 'Zila''. In duo with John Stevens, he recorded the free session 'They Shoot to Kill' (liver failure) b. July 18th 1938.
2001: Chet Atkins/Chester Burton Atkins (77) US country guitarist, singer, producer, legendary for his finger-picking style guitaring; inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes and Les Paul. Without him country music may never have crossed over into the pop charts in the '50s and '60s. Also produced records for Perry Como, Elvis Presley, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith, Waylon Jennings, and others. (cancer) b. June 20th 1924.
2007: Will Schaefer (78) US composer nominated for both an Emmy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for his work. He wrote background music for many of popular television shows including The Phil Silvers Show, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flintstones, Flying Nun, Hogan's Heroes, The Jetsons, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and he composed over 700 commercials (cancer) b. Nov 23rd 1928.
2008: Ángel Tavira (83) Mexican composer, musician and violinist of son calentano. He was awarded the Best Actor Award on the 2006 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section for his role in the movie El violín (kidney complications) b. July 3rd 1924

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