Pick a Day

Music History Events: Died Young

December 25, 2009 Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt dies from an overdose of muscle relaxants at age 45.

December 23, 2009 Andre Kyles aka DJ Omega Supreme (of Organized Konfusion) dies of cancer.

October 10, 2009 Pop singer Stephen Gately (of Boyzone), age 33, dies of a congenital heart defect in Majorca, Spain.

September 19, 2009 Roc Raida (of X-Ecutioners) dies of a heart attack at age 37, weeks after sustaining a Krav Maga-related injury.

August 28, 2009 Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein dies of what is ruled as an accidental overdose at age 36 in his New York City apartment. This comes nearly a year after AM and his friend Travis Barker survived a fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of four others.

August 13, 2009 Allen Shellenberger (drummer for Lit) dies of cancer at age 39 in Artesia, California.

November 1, 2008 Def Jam executive Shakir Stewart dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 34.

March 30, 2008 Sean Levert (of LeVert) dies at age 39.

March 16, 2008 Daniel MacMaster (lead singer of Bonham) dies of a staph infection at age 39.

March 2, 2008 Canadian blues rocker Jeff Healey dies of cancer at age 41 in Toronto, Canada.

December 4, 2007 Pimp C (real name Charles Lamont Butler) is found dead in a West Hollywood, California, hotel room. The 33-year-old rapper had ingested promethazine and codeine, drugs used in the "purple drank" referred to in many rap songs.

June 1, 2007 Tony Thompson (lead singer of Hi-Five) dies at age 31 after accidentally inhaling a toxic amount of freon.

January 23, 2007 David "Disco D" Shayman, a hip-hop record producer and composer who rose to prominence with 50 Cent's "Ski Mask Way," commits suicide at age 26.

November 25, 2006 Mexican banda music singer Valentin Elizalde is gunned down in his car after a concert performance, presumably by a gang of drug traffickers, at age 27. Elizalde often sang narcocorridos, "drug ballads" that have been compared to gangster rap.

November 10, 2006 R&B singer-songwriter Gerald Levert, age 40, dies of acute intoxication after taking various prescription painkillers combined with Xanax and antihistamines. The death is ruled accidental.

May 18, 2006 Andy Capps (drummer for Built To Spill) is found dead at age 37 in his Idaho home. No cause of death is given.

May 1, 2006 Rapper Big Hawk (of Screwed Up Click) dies at age 36 when he's shot by an unidentified assailant outside of a friend's house in Houston, Texas.

April 11, 2006 Eminem's good friend and D12 bandmate DeShaun "Proof" Holton is shot and killed at age 32 in an altercation at a sketchy nightclub in Detroit.

February 14, 2006 English pop singer Lynden David Hall dies at age 40 of complications from a stem cell treatment he received to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma.

February 10, 2006 James "Jay Dilla" Yancey dies of a heart attack at age 32, just three days after the release of his final album, Donuts.

October 31, 2005 En route to the next stop on their Never Sleep Again tour, the van carrying Bayside skids on a patch of ice and flips over on a highway in Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing 31-year-old drummer John "Beatz" Holohan. Most of the other band members sustain minor injuries, except for bassist Nick Ghanbarian who breaks his back when he's thrown from the vehicle.

November 13, 2004 Ol' Dirty Bastard (of Wu-Tang Clan), real name Russell Tyrone Jones, dies of a drug overdose at age 35.

October 21, 2003 Elliott Smith, known for his song "Miss Misery" (featured in Good Will Hunting, where it earned an Oscar nomination) dies of self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest at age 34 in Los Angeles, California. Smith battled depression and addiction most of his life.

September 25, 2003 Indie rocker Matthew Jay dies at age 24 from an unexplained fall from a London apartment building.

October 30, 2002 Jason Mizell aka Jam Master Jay (of Run-DMC), age 37, is shot and killed at a recording studio in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. Although authorities suspect convicted drug dealer Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a friend of Murder Inc. founders Irv and Chris Gotti, of the crime along with accomplice Randy "Stretch" Walker, they are not convicted and the murder remains unsolved.

November 24, 2001 Melanie Thornton, the lead singer for La Bouche, dies in a plane crash (Crossair Flight 3597) near Zurich, Switzerland, at 34.

November 16, 2000 Joseph "Joe C." Calleja (Kid Rock's hype man), plagued by a host of medical issues, dies at age 26.

November 16, 2000 29-year-old rapper DJ Screw (real name: Robert Earl Davis, Jr.) is found dead in a Houston recording studio. The coroner finds large amounts of codeine and other prescription drugs in his system.

April 27, 2000 Vicki Sue Robinson, who had a disco hit with "Turn The Beat Around," dies of cancer at age 45.

March 20, 2000 Gene "Eugene" Andrusco (of Adam Again, Lost Dogs, The Swirling Eddies) dies of a brain aneurysm at age 30.