Music History Events: Deaths
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."
September 5, 1971 While Wishbone Ash are on stage at an outdoor concert in Austin, Texas, hot dog vender Francisco Carrasco is shot dead. The tragedy inspires the song "Rock 'N' Roll Widow."
June 16, 1970 Blues guitar pioneer Lonnie Johnson dies of a stroke at 76.
August 10, 1969 Maurine Dallas Watkins - author of the book Chicago - dies from lung cancer at age 72.
June 22, 1969 After a long battle with drug and alcohol abuse, Judy Garland dies of an overdose at age 47.
June 2, 1969 Jazz bassist Albert Stinson dies from a drug overdose at 24.
September 16, 1968 The composer Michael Carr, co-writer of "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)," dies in London at age 67.
December 10, 1967 Keyboardist Ronnie Caldwell dies in a Wisconsin plane crash along with three of his Bar-Kays bandmates and Otis Redding, one week before his 19th birthday.
December 10, 1967 Drummer Carl Cunningham dies in a Wisconsin plane crash along with three of his Bar-Kays bandmates and Otis Redding. He was 18 years old.
February 5, 1967 Chilean composer Violeta Parra commits suicide at age 49.
October 26, 1966 Songwriter J.M. Robinson (Jessie Mae Robinson) dies at her Los Angeles home aged just 48.
February 9, 1966 Sophie Tucker dies of lung cancer and kidney failure at age 79.
January 18, 1966 Lyricist Fred Wise dies aged 50 in New York, the city of his birth.
May 24, 1965 Sonny Boy Williamson, a blues musician known for writing songs like "Bring It On Home" and "Help Me," dies. His age is uncertain, possibly 52.
May 19, 1964 Lawrence Wright dies in London. His death goes unreported by Melody Maker, the newspaper he founded in 1926.
February 9, 1963 Hattie Carroll, a 51-year-old bartender in Baltimore, is killed after a disgruntled patron hits her with a cane. Bob Dylan writes a song about it called "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll," which appears on his The Times They Are A-Changin' album.
October 8, 1962 The South African musician Solomon Linda, who wrote and recorded the original version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," dies at age 53.
December 24, 1960 Beryl Ingham Formby, wife and manager of George Formby, dies of leukemia at age 59.
January 8, 1960 Harry Gifford dies at his London home, aged 82. He co-wrote "When I'm Cleaning Windows" with Fred Cliffe & George Formby.
February 12, 1959 Composer George Antheil dies of a heart attack at 58.
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