Pick a Day

Music History Events: Crashes

July 23, 1980 Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux, 32, dies of head injuries sustained in a car accident two days earlier. He had been on the way home from his birthday party at the time of the crash.

April 28, 1980 Tommy Caldwell (original frontman for The Marshall Tucker Band) dies at age 30 when his Jeep overturns during an accident.

March 23, 1980 Reggae musician Jacob Miller (of Inner Circle) dies in a car accident in Jamaica at age 27.

September 18, 1979 Greg Arama (bass player for The Amboy Dukes) dies in a motorcycle accident at age 29.

March 4, 1979 Randy Jackson (of The Jackson 5) is involved in a serious car crash near Los Angeles, breaking both legs and nearly dying when a nurse at the hospital nearby injects him with methadone.

December 27, 1978 Big Star guitarist Chris Bell dies in a car accident at age 27.

June 29, 1978 Peter Frampton gets in a bad car accident in the Bahamas, breaking his arm and suffering internal injuries. On the bright side, he gets to miss the premiere of the film he starred in, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is derided by critics and anyone unfortunate enough to see it.

March 26, 1976 Blues singer Duster Bennett dies in a car accident at age 29 after falling asleep at the wheel.

August 9, 1974 Four members of the jazz-rock group Chase, including leader Bill Chase, are killed in a plane crash near Jackson, Minnesota. The group had a hit with "Get It On" in 1971.

February 10, 1974 Phil Spector is seriously burned in a mysterious car crash while en route from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona, leading to extensive plastic surgery that furthers his reclusiveness.

November 13, 1973 Jerry Lee Lewis's 19-year-old son, Jerry Lee Jr., is killed in a highway accident near Hernando, Mississippi. The elder Lewis had already lost his only other son, Steven Allen, in a 1962 drowning.

December 10, 1972 Roberta Flack and two members of her backup band are injured when her bass player totals her new Citroen near Manhattan.

October 29, 1971 Duane Allman (of The Allman Brothers Band) dies in a motorcycle crash in Macon, Georgia, at age 24.

August 15, 1971 Singer Thomas Wayne dies in a car accident in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 31. Known for the 1959 Rockabilly hit "Tragedy."

May 13, 1971 Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane crashes her Mercedes into a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which forces the cancellation of some recording sessions.

April 14, 1970 Stephen Stills breaks his wrist when he drives into a parked car. He heads to Hawaii to heal, furthering divisions within his band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

January 17, 1970 R&B singer Billy Stewart dies in a car accident in North Carolina at age 32.

October 11, 1969 Muddy Waters is severely injured in a car crash just outside Chicago that leaves three other passengers dead. Waters will remain absent from music for about a year, and will rarely stand up on stage again.

March 4, 1968 An icy car crash sends Temptations members Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams to a Somerset, Pennsylvania, hospital.

December 10, 1967 Bar-Kays saxophonist Phalon Jones, age 19, dies in a Wisconsin plane crash along with three of his bandmates and Otis Redding.

December 10, 1967 Along with three of his Bar-Kays bandmates, 18-year-old guitarist Jimmie King dies in a Wisconsin plane crash that also takes the life of Otis Redding.

November 5, 1967 Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees pulls his girlfriend, Molly Hullis, to safety and assists other passengers when the train he is riding derails at Hither Green in south-east London, killing 49 people.

October 7, 1966 Johnny Kidd dies in a car accident near Lancashire, England, at age 30.

April 30, 1966 Folk singer and novelist Richard Farina dies in a motorcycle accident in Carmel, California, at age 29.

October 23, 1964 J. Frank Wilson of the Cavaliers, who scored a huge teen-tragedy hit three years earlier with "Last Kiss," is badly injured in his own car crash near Lima, Ohio, one that unfortunately takes the life of the song's producer, Sonley Roush.

March 5, 1963 Having ironically just finished a tribute concert for the family of a country music DJ who'd been killed in a car crash, country legend Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins fly back to Nashville, with Cline's manager, Randy Hughes, at the controls. Bad weather postpones the flight an extra day, however, and, anxious to get going, Hughes phones his wife in Nashville, who informs him that the weather is clearing there. Unfortunately, she is actually in the storm's eye, and when the four proceed on, Hughes, who is not rated "on instruments," loses all visibility and attempts to land on a nearby highway. Instead, he skirts some trees, which bring the plane down in a nearby swamp. Cline, her other fellow stars, and Hughes are all killed in the accident.

November 5, 1960 Country singer Johnny Horton, age 35, dies in an automobile accident near Milano, Texas.

April 17, 1960 Gene Vincent is seriously injured in a Wiltshire, England, car crash in which Eddie Cochran dies.

February 6, 1960 R&B singer Jesse Belvin, who co-wrote the Penguins' hit "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)," dies in a car crash at age 27.

November 10, 1958 Lou Rawls, who is fronting a group called the Travelers, is badly injured in a car accident in Marion, Arkansas, that also involves Sam Cooke, who is headlining the tour. The driver, Edward Cunningham, dies in the accident.