Music History Events: Deaths
June 3, 2011 Andrew Gold, who penned what would famously become the theme song to The Golden Girls, dies of heart failure at age 59.
June 2, 2011 Jazz pianist/composer Ray Bryant (of The Ray Bryant Combo) dies at age 79.
May 27, 2011 Gil Scott-Heron, a spoken-word performer who dubbed himself a "bluesologist," dies at age 62. Although he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive several years earlier, his cause of death is not released.
May 22, 2011 Joseph Brooks, who wrote the title hit to the 1977 film You Light Up My Life, commits suicide at age 73 while awaiting a rape trial. He was accused of committing a series of rapes by luring aspiring actresses to his apartment under the guise of conducting movie auditions.
May 15, 2011 Jazz vocalist Bob Flanigan (of The Four Freshmen) dies at age 84 of congestive heart failure.
May 13, 2011 Jack Richardson (producer of Guess Who, Bob Seger) dies at age 81.
May 12, 2011 Jamaican drummer Lloyd Knibb (of The Skatalites) dies of liver cancer at age 80.
May 10, 2011 Norma Zimmer, The Lawrence Welk Show's longtime "Champagne Lady," dies at age 87.
May 7, 2011 '60s pop singer John Walker (of The Walker Brothers) dies of liver disease at age 67.
May 3, 2011 Marvin Gaye's organist Odell Brown dies at age 71.
April 26, 2011 Folk singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow dies at age 60 after being in a coma for three months due to a cerebral hemorrhage.
April 23, 2011 Tom King (founder of the rock band The Outsiders) dies at age 68 of congestive heart failure.
April 22, 2011 Bluegrass singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens, known for her pro-union anthems and feminist songs, dies at age 75 from complications of pneumonia.
April 20, 2011 Indie rocker Gerard Smith (of TV on the Radio) dies at age 36 of lung cancer.
April 15, 2011 Kent Morrill, keyboardist and vocalist for the Fabulous Wailers, dies.
April 11, 2011 Chicago blues musician Lacy Gibson dies at age 74 of a heart attack.
April 5, 2011 Folk musician Gil Robbins (of the folk band The Highwaymen) dies of prostate cancer two days after his 80th birthday in Baja California, Mexico.
March 21, 2011 Blues musician Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins dies at age 97.
March 21, 2011 Singer Loleatta Holloway, whose track "Love Sensation" was sampled on Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's "Good Vibrations" and several other songs, dies of heart failure at age 64.
March 19, 2011 Archie "Aashid" Himons, formerly known as Little Archie, dies of complications from diabetes and vascular disease at age 68.
March 18, 2011 Rock bassist Jet Harris (of The Shadows) dies of cancer at age 71.
March 17, 2011 Ferlin Husky dies of congestive heart failure at age 85.
March 14, 2011 Electric blues musician Big Jack Johnson dies at age 70.
March 14, 2011 Atlanta Rhythm Section lead singer Ronnie Hammond dies of heart failure at age 60.
March 12, 2011 Joe Morello of The Dave Brubeck Quintet dies at age 82.
March 8, 2011 Alice in Chains bass player Mike Starr dies of a prescription drug overdose at age 44. Starr was the last person to see the group's lead singer, Layne Staley, before he died in 2002.
March 8, 2011 St. Clair Lee (of The Hues Corporation) dies at age 66.
March 4, 2011 Johnny Preston ("Running Bear") dies of heart failure at age 71.
February 27, 2011 Blues musician Eddie Kirkland dies at age 87.
February 26, 2011 Mark Tulin (bassist for The Electric Prunes) dies of a heart attack at age 62 while helping at an underwater cleanup event in Avalon, California.
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