Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

September 8, 1989 Rapper Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five dies at age 28 from a crack cocaine addiction.

July 25, 1989 Steve Rubell, one of the owners of Studio 54, dies of AIDS-related causes at age 45.

February 1, 1989 Paul Robi (of The Platters) dies of cancer at age 57 in Los Angeles, California.

December 16, 1988 Disco sensation Sylvester (Sylvester James Jr.) dies of AIDS at 41.

June 25, 1988 Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak dies of a drug overdose at age 26.

April 22, 1988 Barbara "Sandi" Robison passes away from toxic shock poisoning after initially falling ill her during an April 6, 1988 performance in Butte, Montana.

March 7, 1988 The drag queen Divine (Glenn Milstead) dies of a heart attack at age 42.More

February 24, 1988 American bluesman Memphis Slim dies in Paris.

July 10, 1987 John Hammond, who signed both Bob Dylan (in 1961) and Bruce Springsteen (in 1972) to Columbia Records, dies at 76 after suffering from a number of strokes.

June 25, 1987 Songwriter Boudleaux Bryant dies of cancer at age 67 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He co-wrote many hit songs with his wife Felice Bryant, including The Everly Brothers' "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love."

July 3, 1986 Bono's 26-year-old personal assistant Greg Carroll is killed in a motorcycle act while running an errand in Dublin. U2's next album, The Joshua Tree, is dedicated to Carroll, who inspired the song "One Tree Hill."

April 10, 1986 Linda Creed, the "Lyric Queen of Philadelphia" who wrote hits for The Spinners, The Stylistics, and Whitney Houston, dies of cancer at 37. In 1992, she's inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

April 6, 1986 Composer John Longmire dies at his Guernsey home at age 85.

October 5, 1985 Brian Keenan, drummer of the Chambers Brothers, dies from a heart attack at 42 years old in Winsted, Connecticut.

August 28, 1984 The Egyptian poet Abdul Rahim Mansour dies.

April 15, 1984 British comedian Tommy Cooper suffers a heart attack and dies on stage during a live performance on the show Live From Her Majesty's.

December 3, 1983 Songwriter Irving Taylor dies in Los Angeles. He co-wrote "Everybody Loves Somebody," which later became a hit for Dean Martin.

July 2, 1982 Harmonica player DeFord Bailey dies at age 82. A cast member at the Grand Ole Opry throughout the 1930s, he was the first African American inducted into the institution. In 2005, he entered the Country Music Hall of Fame.

April 17, 1982 "The seventh Commodore," long-time manager and dear friend Benny Ashburn, dies from a heart attack. Only a short time later Lionel Richie officially announces his departure from the group to pursue his solo career.

September 27, 1981 Gracie Fields dies on the island of Capri aged 81.

February 21, 1981 The Australian composer Ron Grainer, best known for writing the "Doctor Who Theme," dies at age 58.

November 23, 1979 Having retreated from the public eye after the commercial failures of her first two albums, folk singer Judee Sill dies of a drug overdose at age 35.

March 21, 1978 Carole King's third husband, Rick Evers, dies of a drug overdose after working on Carole's album Welcome Home, which was released two months later. Evers had co-writing credits on three songs from the album and appears on the cover with King.

December 20, 1976 Ned Washington, who co-wrote "When You Wish Upon A Star," dies at 75.

August 24, 1976 British composer Michael Head dies at 76.

February 6, 1976 Just hours after finishing the soundtrack for It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, longtime Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi dies suddenly of a heart attack (or a possible aortic aneurysm) at age 47. At the jazz pianist's funeral, Charlie Brown music is played over the church's sound system.

December 8, 1975 Gary Thain, bassist for Uriah Heep, dies of respiratory failure after a heroin overdose in Norwood Green, London, at age 27.

July 19, 1975 Country singer Lefty Frizzell dies at age 47 after years of alcohol abuse.

April 25, 1975 Israeli singer Mike Brant, 28, commits suicide by leaping from an apartment window in Paris.

September 15, 1973 The protest singer Victor Jara is brutally murdered in Chile under orders by the country's new dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The incident inspires Calexico's 2008 track "Victor Jara's Hands."