Music History Events: Deaths
December 4, 1976 Tommy Bolin, age 25, dies from a drug overdose in a Miami hotel room, after opening for Jeff Beck at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami. Hours before the guitarist's death, Bolin responded to a news reporter's well wishes by saying, "I've been taking care of myself my whole life. Don't worry about me. I'm going to be around for a long time."
October 23, 1976 Leonard Lee (of Shirley & Lee) dies of a heart attack at age 40.
August 29, 1976 Bluesman Jimmy Reed dies of respiratory failure in Oakland, California, at age 50. Known for hits like "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby" (1956) and "Bright Lights, Big City" (1961).
May 14, 1976 Keith Relf (lead vocalist for The Yardbirds) dies at age 33 after being electrocuted while playing an improperly grounded guitar in his basement.
March 26, 1976 Blues singer Duster Bennett dies in a car accident at age 29 after falling asleep at the wheel.
March 25, 1976 Jackson Browne's first wife, Phyllis, dies by suicide less than a year after they were married. She suffered from depression that got particularly acute after giving birth to their son in 1973.
March 19, 1976 Paul Kossoff (guitarist for Free), age 25, dies of a pulmonary embolism during a flight from Los Angeles to New York.
February 22, 1976 Shortly after emerging from poverty and alcoholism to make a musical comeback, Florence Ballard (of The Supremes) dies at age 32 of a cardiac arrest caused by a blood clot.
January 25, 1976 New Orleans R&B singer Chris Kenner, struggling with alcoholism, dies of a heart attack at age 46.
October 1, 1975 Al Jackson Jr. (drummer for Booker T. & The MG's) is killed at age 39 when he finds intruders in his Memphis, Tennessee, home. His estranged wife, Barbara Jackson, is thought to be involved, being that she shot her husband in the chest just months earlier.
August 9, 1975 Composer/pianist Dmitry Shostakovich dies of lung cancer at age 68 in Moscow, Russia.
August 8, 1975 Jazz alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley dies of a stroke at age 46 in Gary, Indiana.
June 29, 1975 Folk singer Tim Buckley dies of a drug overdose at age 28. His son is the singer Jeff Buckley.
June 16, 1975 R&B record executive Don Robey dies of a heart attack at age 71. As founder of Peacock Records and eventual owner of Duke Records, Robey was instrumental in the careers of several R&B artists throughout the '50s and '60s, including Big Mama Thornton, Johnny Ace, Johnny Otis, and Junior Parker.
June 3, 1975 Ozzie Nelson, who starred with his real-life family, including son Rick Nelson, in the long-running radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, dies of liver cancer at age 69.
May 23, 1975 Jackie "Moms" Mabley, vaudeville star and standup comedian who appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, dies of heart failure at age 81. At age 75, she became the oldest living person to have a Top 40 hit with her 1969 cover of Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John."
May 13, 1975 Country singer-songwriter Bob Wills, known for the hit "Faded Love" (popularly covered by Patsy Cline in 1963), dies of pneumonia in Fort Worth, Texas, at age 70.
April 28, 1975 Rock 'n Roll DJ Tom Donahue, who also formed the San Francisco-based Autumn Records, dies of a heart attack at age 46. In 1996, Donahue becomes just one of three disc jockeys to ever be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
April 12, 1975 Josephine Baker dies at 68 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Paris, France. Baker, who was born and raised in America, became one of the most popular entertainers in France after moving there in the 1920s.
March 16, 1975 T-Bone Walker, born Aaron Thibeaux Walker, dies of bronchial pneumonia after a series of strokes at age 64.
February 10, 1975 Dave Alexander (bassist for The Stooges) dies of pulmonary edema at age 27 after being admitted to an Ann Arbor hospital for alcohol-related pancreatitis.
February 4, 1975 Louis Jordan dies of a heart attack at age 66.
January 16, 1975 Jazz musician Paul Beaver (of Beaver and Krause) dies at age 49.
November 25, 1974 Nick Drake dies after overdosing on the antidepressant Tryptasol. Just 26 years old, the British musician released three albums in his lifetime.
November 8, 1974 R&B singer-songwriter Ivory Joe Hunter dies of lung cancer at age 60. Chart-topping hits include "Pretty Mama Blues" (1947), "I Almost Lost My Mind" (1949), "I Need You So" (1950), and "Since I Met You Baby" (1956).
October 13, 1974 Renowned television host Ed Sullivan dies of esophageal cancer in New York City, at age 73. One of the biggest events in music history unfolded on his program, The Ed Sullivan Show, when a new group from Liverpool called The Beatles made their live US debut.
September 23, 1974 Robbie McIntosh, drummer for The Average White Band, dies of an accidental heroin overdose at age 24.
September 21, 1974 Walter Brennan, an Academy Award-winning actor and occasional country singer ("Old Rivers"), dies of emphysema at age 80.
May 24, 1974 Duke Ellington dies of lung cancer at age 75.
May 8, 1974 British R&B musician Graham Bond dies in an apparent suicide at age 36 when he's hit by a train at Finsbury Park station in London, England.
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