Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

August 16, 2018 Aretha Franklin dies after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at age 76.More

January 15, 2018 Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan dies in London at 46 years old.More

October 2, 2017 Tom Petty, 66, goes into cardiac arrest at his Malibu home. He is taken to UCLA medical center, but cannot be revived. Later that night, after his friends and family gather, he is taken off life support.More

July 20, 2017 Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, 41, is found dead, a suicide by hanging. Bennington was close friends with Chris Cornell, who died in similar fashion two months earlier.

May 27, 2017 Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band dies at age 69 after a battle with liver cancer.

May 17, 2017 After performing with Soundgarden in Detroit, Chris Cornell is found dead from an apparent suicide at the age of 52.More

March 18, 2017 Rock originator Chuck Berry dies at age 90.

December 25, 2016 George Michael dies of heart failure aged just 53 in bed at his riverside home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. He is found by his boyfriend, Australian hair stylist Fadi Fawaz.More

November 7, 2016 Leonard Cohen, ordained Rinzai Buddhist monk and songwriter extraordinaire, dies at age 82 after a life of music that saw him inducted into the Juno/Canadian, Canadian Folk Music, Canadian Songwriters, Songwriter, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

June 11, 2016 22-year-old Christina Grimmie, known for placing third on Season 6 of The Voice, is killed when gunman Kevin James Loibl opens fire at a meet-and-greet at The Plaza Live theater in Orlando, Florida. The singer's brother, Marcus Grimmie, tackles Loibl, who fatally shoots himself during the scuffle.

April 21, 2016 Prince dies at age 57 after overdosing on fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid.More

April 6, 2016 On his 79th birthday, Merle Haggard dies at his ranch in Northern California. Haggard placed 71 songs in the Top 10 of the Country chart during his lifetime.

February 15, 2016 Prince protégé Vanity dies at age 57 after years of health problems.More

January 28, 2016 Two founding members of Jefferson Airplane, lead singer Signe Anderson and guitarist Paul Kantner, die on the same day, both at 74. Anderson left the group in 1966 after recording their first album - she was replaced by Grace Slick.

January 18, 2016 Glenn Frey dies at age 67. Years in the fast lane took a toll on Frey, who suffered from a host of ailments. Frey founded the Eagles, and along with Don Henley, led the group throughout their career. He had a successful solo career while the group was on hiatus, reaching #2 with "The Heat Is On" in 1985.

January 10, 2016 David Bowie dies at age 69 after an 18-month battle with liver cancer.More

December 31, 2015 Natalie Cole dies of heart failure at age 65. The singer (daughter of Nat King Cole) battled health problems for much of her life; drug use led to hepatitis C, and in 2009 she had a kidney transplant.More

December 28, 2015 Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister dies of cancer. He got the diagnosis two days after turning 70, and died two days later.

December 3, 2015 Scott Weiland dies at age 48 when he suffers cardiac arrest on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, where his band The Wildabouts are scheduled to perform.More

November 13, 2015 The blues-rock band Eagles of Death Metal are in the midst of performing their song "Kiss the Devil" at a sold-out show at Le Bataclan in Paris, France, when the venue is attacked by terrorists armed with automatic rifles, grenades and explosive suicide vests - one of many attacks throughout the city.More

May 14, 2015 B.B. King dies at age 89. Bonnie Raitt says, "Without a doubt, B.B. King has influenced more rock and blues musicians than anyone else in history."

February 27, 2015 Leonard Nimoy dies at age 83. The actor, best known for playing Spock on Star Trek, also made a musical impact: His albums Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space and Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy both charted in the US (#83 and #97, respectively), and his voice was sampled in the Information Society hit "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)."

June 19, 2014 Lyricist Gerry Goffin, author of over 100 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, many with former wife and songwriting partner Carole King, dies at age 75.

October 27, 2013 Lou Reed (frontman for The Velvet Underground) dies of liver disease in Southampton, New York, at age 71.

July 13, 2013 Glee star Cory Monteith is found dead in a Vancouver hotel room after accidentally ingesting a toxic combination of heroin and alcohol. The 31-year-old actor played Finn Hudson on the popular FOX musical series.

April 26, 2013 Country singer George Jones dies at age 81 from hypoxic respiratory failure, just a couple weeks after his final concert in Knoxville, Tennessee.

April 18, 2013 Storm Thorgerson, a visionary designer who did classic artwork for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, dies of cancer at age 69.

May 17, 2012 Donna Summer dies of lung cancer at her home in Naples, Florida, at age 73.

May 4, 2012 Adam Yauch (aka MCA of the Beastie Boys) dies of cancer at age 47 in New York City.

April 19, 2012 Levon Helm (drummer, lead vocalist of The Band) dies of cancer at age 71. Also an actor, he was known for his role as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter.