H
huski
Guest
Alphabetical order.
A
Aaliyah Dana Haughton, 22 years old (plane crash): American R&B and pop singer and actress. Really, really beauty.
Albert Ayler, 34 years old (suicide): A great american avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer. The "music from the soul".
B
Bon Scott, 34 years old (alcohol abuse): Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980.
C
Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley, 22 years old (plane crash): American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll.
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner, 34 years old (pneumonia): American singer, songwriter, guitarist and genre innovator.
Charles "Charlie" Parker, 34 years old (heroin overdose): An icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer.
Christopher George Latore Wallace III "The Notorious B.I.G.", 25 years old (homicide): Hip hop master, because of his success and influence on music, he has become a cultural icon.
Clifford Lee Burton, 24 years old (bus accident): As a bassist he was known for his unique style, which made heavy use of distortion and effects.
"King" Curtis Ousley, 37 years old (homicide): American tenor, alto, and soprano saxophonist and session musician who played rhythm and blues, soul, Rock and roll, and soul jazz. He was also a Musical Director and Record Producer. He is best known for his distinctive sax riffs and solos on such hits as The Coasters' "Yakety Yak", and his own "Memphis Soul Stew".
D
"Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott, 38 years old (homicide): Founding member of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, Dimebag frequently appeared in guitar magazines and in readers' polls, where he was often included in the top ten metal guitarist spots.
David "Dave" "Stage" Williams, 30 years old (cardiomyopathy): Was the lead singer for the band Drowning Pool. Despite the hardcore, grungy attitude that he was known for during concerts, Dave Williams was highly known for his positive, friendly attitude.
DeShaun Dupree "Proof" Holton, 32 years old (homicide): Rapper and member of the hip hop groups D12, 5 Elementz, Promatic, and Goon Sqwad. He was the best friend of hip hop superstar Eminem, who put a tattoo on his arm to commemorate him after his untimely death.
E
Elvis Aaron Presley, 42 years old (cardiac arrhythmia): The rock 'n' roll.
Eric Allan Dolphy, 36 years old (diabetes): One of several groundbreaking jazz alto players to rise to prominence in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists.
Eric Lynn "Eazy-E" Wright, 35 years old (AIDS): He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the gangsta rap subgenre and initially rose to fame as the founder and member of the group N.W.A.
F
Farrokh "Freddie Mercury" Bulsara, 45 years old (AIDS): Amazing voice, one of the greatest singer in the history of music. Four-octave vocal range wasn't a problem for him.
Franz Peter Schubert, 31 years old (typhoid fever): Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies (including the famous "Unfinished Symphony"), liturgical music, operas, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his original melodic and harmonic writing. Interest in Schubert's work increased dramatically in the decades following his death. Composers like Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn discovered, collected, and championed his works in the 19th century, as did musicologist Sir George Grove. Franz Schubert is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.
H
Howard Duane Allman, 24 years old (motorcycle accident): American, lead guitarist of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band, and session musician. Allman is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in the band he helped co-found, as well as his slide guitar and improvisational skills.
I
Ian Kevin Curtis, 24 years old (suicide): Vocalist and lyricist, as well as occasional guitarist and keyboardist, of the band Joy Division
Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole, 38 years old (obesity): Somewhere over the rainbow…
J
James Dewitt "J Dilla" Yancey, 32 years old (cardiac arrest): Better known by his stage name J Dilla or Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan.
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison, 27 years old (heroin overdose): American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and film director. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history.
James Lee Jamerson, 45 years old (cirrhosis): American bassist. He was the uncredited bass guitarist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s, and he has become regarded as one of the most influential bass guitar players in modern music history.
James Marshall Hendrix, 28 years old (medicine/alcohol abuse): The greatest guitarist of all time.
Janis Lyn Joplin, 27 years old (heroin overdose): She was wonderful...
Jeffrey Lee Pierce, 38 years old (brain hemorrhage): American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was one of the founding members of the 1980s punk band The Gun Club. He also released several solo albums and was a founding member of The Red Lights before forming The Gun Club.
Jeffrey Scott Buckley, 30 years old (drug overdose): Great american singer-songwriter and guitarist. Buckley gained popularity in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan's East Village, such as Sin-é, and he gradually focused more on his own material.
John Anthony "Johnny Thunders" Genzale, 39 years old (drug/alcohol abuse): Italian American rock and roll/punk rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Though he disapproved of the term "punk rock", Thunders is widely recognized as a foundational influence on the genre, particularly for his penetrating guitar sound.
John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III, 36 years old (homicide): One of the most skilled and influential bass players of all time.
John Henry "Bonzo" Bonham, 32 years old (alcohol abuse): He was renowned for his power, fast right foot, distinctive sound and "feel" for the groove. Bonham is described by the Encyclopædia Britannica as "the perfect model for all hard rock drummers that have followed him".
John Simon "Sid Vicious" Ritchie, 22 years old (heroin overdose): English punk, who played bass guitar for the Sex Pistols.
John William Coltrane, 40 years old (liver cancer): Masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz. Post scriptum, Coltrane > Davis ; )
John Winston Ono Lennon, 40 years old (homicide): English rock musician, singer, writer, songwriter, artist, actor and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. He wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history.
Jon Lee, 33 years old (suicide): was the original drummer for the successful British rock band Feeder.
K
Keith John Moon, 32 years old (clomethiazole overdose): Was the drummer of the rock group The Who. He gained notoriety for exuberant drumming and his destructive lifestyle.
Kurt Donald Cobain, 27 years old (suicide): Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana.
L
Layne Thomas Staley, 35 years old (heroin/cocaine overdose): Lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains and the supergroups Class of '99 and Mad Season. He struggled throughout his career as a musician with severe drug addiction, which eventually led to his death in April 2002.
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones, 27 years old (accident): Founding member and guitarist of the English rock group The Rolling Stones. Jones was known for his use of multiple instruments, fashionable mod image, recreational drug excesses and his death at age 27.
Lisa Nicole Lopes, 30 years old (motorcycle accident): Better known by her stage name Left Eye, was a Grammy Award-winning American rapper, singer-songwriter, teen idol, and member of the popular R&B group TLC.
M
Marc Bolan, 29 years old (car accident): English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T.Rex in the early 1970s helped cultivate the glam rock era, though he preferred to call his music Cosmic Rock, and made him one of the most recognisable stars in British music of all time.
Marvin Pentz Gay, 45 years old (brain tumor): One of the greatest singers and artists of all time, he was a singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and instrumentalist.
Michael Kelland John Hutchence, 37 years old (suicide): Australian singer-songwriter, most famous for his work with rock band INXS.
O
Otis Ray Redding Jr., 26 years old (plane crash): American soul singer. Redding's name is synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying.
P
Philip Parris Lynott, 37 years old (heart failure): Great irish singer, bassist, instrumentalist, and songwriter, who first came to prominence as the frontman of Thin Lizzy.
R
Randall William "Randy" Rhoads, 25 years old (plane crash): Despite his short career, he is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style.
Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley, 36 years old (cancer): The most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, credited for helping spread Jamaican music to the worldwide audience.
Robert Leroy Johnson, 27 years old (poisoning): Is among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend. Considered by some to be the "Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll", his vocal phrasing, original songs, and guitar style have influenced a broad range of musicians, including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Jack White and Eric Clapton, who called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived".
Russell Tyrone "ODB" Jones, 32 years old (cocaine overdose): American rapper who went by the stage name Ol' Dirty ~censored~ (often shortened to ODB): He was one of the founding members of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan.
S
Salvatore Antonio "Rino" Gaetano, 31 years old (car accident): Superb and disrespectful Italian singer-songwriter very popular during the 1970s.
Sam Cooke, 33 years old (homicide): American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.
Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan, 36 years old (helicopter crash): Legendary blues-rock guitarist. He's the MAN and everyone should listen to all his music.
T
Tammi Terrell, 24 years old (tumor): Was a Grammy Award-nominated American soul singer, most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye.
Theodore "Fats" Navarro, 27 years old (tuberculosis): Pioneer of the jazz bepop, one of the first modern jazz trumpet improvisers.
Tupac Amaru "2pac" Shakur, 25 years old (homicide): Maybe the greatest rapper of all time. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social and racial equality, as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and conflicts with the law.
W
Winston Hubert McIntosh "Peter Tosh", 42 years old (homicide): was a reggae musician who was a core member of The Wailers who then went on to have a successful solo career as well as being a trailblazer for the Rastafari movement.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 35 years old (?): Prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. His more than 600 compositions include works widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music, and he is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.
A
Aaliyah Dana Haughton, 22 years old (plane crash): American R&B and pop singer and actress. Really, really beauty.
Albert Ayler, 34 years old (suicide): A great american avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer. The "music from the soul".
B
Bon Scott, 34 years old (alcohol abuse): Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980.
C
Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley, 22 years old (plane crash): American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll.
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner, 34 years old (pneumonia): American singer, songwriter, guitarist and genre innovator.
Charles "Charlie" Parker, 34 years old (heroin overdose): An icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer.
Christopher George Latore Wallace III "The Notorious B.I.G.", 25 years old (homicide): Hip hop master, because of his success and influence on music, he has become a cultural icon.
Clifford Lee Burton, 24 years old (bus accident): As a bassist he was known for his unique style, which made heavy use of distortion and effects.
"King" Curtis Ousley, 37 years old (homicide): American tenor, alto, and soprano saxophonist and session musician who played rhythm and blues, soul, Rock and roll, and soul jazz. He was also a Musical Director and Record Producer. He is best known for his distinctive sax riffs and solos on such hits as The Coasters' "Yakety Yak", and his own "Memphis Soul Stew".
D
"Dimebag" Darrell Lance Abbott, 38 years old (homicide): Founding member of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, Dimebag frequently appeared in guitar magazines and in readers' polls, where he was often included in the top ten metal guitarist spots.
David "Dave" "Stage" Williams, 30 years old (cardiomyopathy): Was the lead singer for the band Drowning Pool. Despite the hardcore, grungy attitude that he was known for during concerts, Dave Williams was highly known for his positive, friendly attitude.
DeShaun Dupree "Proof" Holton, 32 years old (homicide): Rapper and member of the hip hop groups D12, 5 Elementz, Promatic, and Goon Sqwad. He was the best friend of hip hop superstar Eminem, who put a tattoo on his arm to commemorate him after his untimely death.
E
Elvis Aaron Presley, 42 years old (cardiac arrhythmia): The rock 'n' roll.
Eric Allan Dolphy, 36 years old (diabetes): One of several groundbreaking jazz alto players to rise to prominence in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists.
Eric Lynn "Eazy-E" Wright, 35 years old (AIDS): He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the gangsta rap subgenre and initially rose to fame as the founder and member of the group N.W.A.
F
Farrokh "Freddie Mercury" Bulsara, 45 years old (AIDS): Amazing voice, one of the greatest singer in the history of music. Four-octave vocal range wasn't a problem for him.
Franz Peter Schubert, 31 years old (typhoid fever): Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies (including the famous "Unfinished Symphony"), liturgical music, operas, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his original melodic and harmonic writing. Interest in Schubert's work increased dramatically in the decades following his death. Composers like Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn discovered, collected, and championed his works in the 19th century, as did musicologist Sir George Grove. Franz Schubert is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.
H
Howard Duane Allman, 24 years old (motorcycle accident): American, lead guitarist of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band, and session musician. Allman is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in the band he helped co-found, as well as his slide guitar and improvisational skills.
I
Ian Kevin Curtis, 24 years old (suicide): Vocalist and lyricist, as well as occasional guitarist and keyboardist, of the band Joy Division
Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole, 38 years old (obesity): Somewhere over the rainbow…
J
James Dewitt "J Dilla" Yancey, 32 years old (cardiac arrest): Better known by his stage name J Dilla or Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan.
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison, 27 years old (heroin overdose): American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and film director. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history.
James Lee Jamerson, 45 years old (cirrhosis): American bassist. He was the uncredited bass guitarist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s, and he has become regarded as one of the most influential bass guitar players in modern music history.
James Marshall Hendrix, 28 years old (medicine/alcohol abuse): The greatest guitarist of all time.
Janis Lyn Joplin, 27 years old (heroin overdose): She was wonderful...
Jeffrey Lee Pierce, 38 years old (brain hemorrhage): American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was one of the founding members of the 1980s punk band The Gun Club. He also released several solo albums and was a founding member of The Red Lights before forming The Gun Club.
Jeffrey Scott Buckley, 30 years old (drug overdose): Great american singer-songwriter and guitarist. Buckley gained popularity in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan's East Village, such as Sin-é, and he gradually focused more on his own material.
John Anthony "Johnny Thunders" Genzale, 39 years old (drug/alcohol abuse): Italian American rock and roll/punk rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Though he disapproved of the term "punk rock", Thunders is widely recognized as a foundational influence on the genre, particularly for his penetrating guitar sound.
John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III, 36 years old (homicide): One of the most skilled and influential bass players of all time.
John Henry "Bonzo" Bonham, 32 years old (alcohol abuse): He was renowned for his power, fast right foot, distinctive sound and "feel" for the groove. Bonham is described by the Encyclopædia Britannica as "the perfect model for all hard rock drummers that have followed him".
John Simon "Sid Vicious" Ritchie, 22 years old (heroin overdose): English punk, who played bass guitar for the Sex Pistols.
John William Coltrane, 40 years old (liver cancer): Masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz. Post scriptum, Coltrane > Davis ; )
John Winston Ono Lennon, 40 years old (homicide): English rock musician, singer, writer, songwriter, artist, actor and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. He wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history.
Jon Lee, 33 years old (suicide): was the original drummer for the successful British rock band Feeder.
K
Keith John Moon, 32 years old (clomethiazole overdose): Was the drummer of the rock group The Who. He gained notoriety for exuberant drumming and his destructive lifestyle.
Kurt Donald Cobain, 27 years old (suicide): Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana.
L
Layne Thomas Staley, 35 years old (heroin/cocaine overdose): Lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains and the supergroups Class of '99 and Mad Season. He struggled throughout his career as a musician with severe drug addiction, which eventually led to his death in April 2002.
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones, 27 years old (accident): Founding member and guitarist of the English rock group The Rolling Stones. Jones was known for his use of multiple instruments, fashionable mod image, recreational drug excesses and his death at age 27.
Lisa Nicole Lopes, 30 years old (motorcycle accident): Better known by her stage name Left Eye, was a Grammy Award-winning American rapper, singer-songwriter, teen idol, and member of the popular R&B group TLC.
M
Marc Bolan, 29 years old (car accident): English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T.Rex in the early 1970s helped cultivate the glam rock era, though he preferred to call his music Cosmic Rock, and made him one of the most recognisable stars in British music of all time.
Marvin Pentz Gay, 45 years old (brain tumor): One of the greatest singers and artists of all time, he was a singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and instrumentalist.
Michael Kelland John Hutchence, 37 years old (suicide): Australian singer-songwriter, most famous for his work with rock band INXS.
O
Otis Ray Redding Jr., 26 years old (plane crash): American soul singer. Redding's name is synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying.
P
Philip Parris Lynott, 37 years old (heart failure): Great irish singer, bassist, instrumentalist, and songwriter, who first came to prominence as the frontman of Thin Lizzy.
R
Randall William "Randy" Rhoads, 25 years old (plane crash): Despite his short career, he is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style.
Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley, 36 years old (cancer): The most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, credited for helping spread Jamaican music to the worldwide audience.
Robert Leroy Johnson, 27 years old (poisoning): Is among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend. Considered by some to be the "Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll", his vocal phrasing, original songs, and guitar style have influenced a broad range of musicians, including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Jack White and Eric Clapton, who called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived".
Russell Tyrone "ODB" Jones, 32 years old (cocaine overdose): American rapper who went by the stage name Ol' Dirty ~censored~ (often shortened to ODB): He was one of the founding members of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan.
S
Salvatore Antonio "Rino" Gaetano, 31 years old (car accident): Superb and disrespectful Italian singer-songwriter very popular during the 1970s.
Sam Cooke, 33 years old (homicide): American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.
Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan, 36 years old (helicopter crash): Legendary blues-rock guitarist. He's the MAN and everyone should listen to all his music.
T
Tammi Terrell, 24 years old (tumor): Was a Grammy Award-nominated American soul singer, most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye.
Theodore "Fats" Navarro, 27 years old (tuberculosis): Pioneer of the jazz bepop, one of the first modern jazz trumpet improvisers.
Tupac Amaru "2pac" Shakur, 25 years old (homicide): Maybe the greatest rapper of all time. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social and racial equality, as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and conflicts with the law.
W
Winston Hubert McIntosh "Peter Tosh", 42 years old (homicide): was a reggae musician who was a core member of The Wailers who then went on to have a successful solo career as well as being a trailblazer for the Rastafari movement.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 35 years old (?): Prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. His more than 600 compositions include works widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music, and he is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.
