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2015 Musical Obits
Compiled by George Graham



Jan. 1 Jeff Golub, 59, guitarist, progressive supranuclear palsy.

Jan. 2 Little Jimmy Dickens, 94 country music singer ("May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose"), cardiac arrest.

Jan. 8 André Crouch, 72, Gospel singer, heart attack

Jan, 8 Curtis Lee, 75, vocalist ("Pretty Little Angel Eyes"), cancer

Jan. 8 Cynthia Layne, 51, jazz singer, cancer

Jan. 12 Clifford Adams, 62, trombonist with Kool & the Gang, liver cancer

Jan. 15 Kim Fowley, 75, record producer, band manager (The Runaways), impresario and musician, bladder cancer.

Jan. 18 Dallas Taylor, 66, drummer with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, kidney disease

Jan. 19 Ward Swingle, 87, musician, founder of The Swingle Singers

Jan. 20 Edgar Froese, 70, German musician (Tangerine Dream), pulmonary embolism

Jan. 25 Demis Roussos, Greek-born pop singer, undisclosed illness

Jan. 29 Rod McKuen, 81, poet, singer and songwriter ("Jean", "Seasons in the Sun"), respiratory arrest

Jan. 29 Danny McCulloch, 69, English bassist (The Animals), heart failure

Jan. 31 Don Covay, 76, R&B singer and songwriter ("Chain of Fools")

Feb. 12 Sam Andrew, 73, guitarist (Big Brother and the Holding Company), complication after open heart surgery

Feb. 12 Steve Strange, 55, vocalist for 80s band Visage, heart attack

Feb. 14 Keith Copeland, 68, jazz drummer

Feb. 16 Leslie Gore, 68, 60s pop singer ("It's My Party"), cancer

Feb. 21 Clark Terry, 94, jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist, bandleader

Feb. 22 Erik Amundsen, 78, Norwegian jazz musician

Feb. 22 Chris Rainbow, 68, Scottish rock musician (The Alan Parsons Project)

Feb. 24 Robert Belfour, 74, blues musician

Feb. 27 Leonard Nimoy, 83, actor, recorded two albums, pulmonary disease

Mar. 1 Orrin Keepnews, 91, jazz record producer, executive and writer

Mar. 8 Lew Soloff, 71, jazz trumpeter (Blood, Sweat & Tears), heart attack

Mar. 9 Wayne Kemp, 73, country music singer and songwriter

Mar. 11 Jimmy Greenspoon, 67, Three Dog Night keyboard man, melanoma

Mar. 13 Daevid Allen, 77, Australian musician (Soft Machine, Gong)

Mar. 15 Mike Poscaro, 59, Toto drummer, ALS

Mar. 16 Andy Fraser, 62, British musician (John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Free) and songwriter ("All Right Now", "Every Kinda People")

Mat. 18 Samuel Charters, 85, music historian and musician, myelodysplastic syndrome

Mar. 19 Michael Brown, 65, musician (The Left Banke) and songwriter ("Walk Away Renée")

Mar. 20 Paul Jeffrey, 81, jazz saxophonist

Mar. 20 A.J. Pero, 55, Twisted Sister drummer, heart attack

Mar. 21 Jørgen Ingmann, 89, Danish musician ("Apache"), 1963 Eurovision Song Contest winner

Mar. 26 John Renbourn, 70, British guitarist (Pentangle), heart attack

Mr. 27 Rick Chamberlain, 63, trombonist, COTA festival organizer, cancer

Mar. 31 Billy Butler, 69, soul singer

Mar. 31 Ralph Sharon, 91, English-born American pianist and bandleader (Tony Bennett)

Apr. 1 Dave Ball, 65, British musician (Procol Harum), colorectal cancer

Apr. 1 Cynthia Lennon, 75, John's first wife, cancer

Apr. 7 Stan Freberg, 88, Audio satirist, comedian, natural causes

Apr. 9 Tut Taylor, 91, bluegrass musician (The Great Dobro Sessions)

Apr. 14 Percy Sledge, 73, R&B Singer "When as Moan Loves a Woman")m natural causes

Apr. 17 Eric Doney, 62, Poconos pianist, composer, music director, cancer

Apr. 24 Frankie Lee, 73, blues singer-songwriter

Apr. 28 Jack Ely, 71, co-founder of Kingsmen ("Louie Louie")

Apr. 30 Ben E. King, R&B singer ("Stand By Me"), coronary problems

May 2 Guy Carawan, 87, folk singer and civil rights activist

May 6 Jerome Cooper, 68, jazz drummer, multiple myeloma

May 6 Erroll Brown, 71, Lead vocalist of band Hot Chocolate, liver cancer

May 9 Johnny Gimble, 88, American country music fiddler

May 14 B.B. King, 89, Hall of Fame blues guitarist, singer and songwriter ("The Thrill Is Gone"), complications from diabetes

May 19 Bruce Lundvall, 79, record executive (Blue Note Records), complications of Parkinson's disease

May 20 Bob Belden, 58, jazz musician, arranger, heart attack

May 21 Louis Johnson, 60, R&B bassist of Brothers Johnson

May 24 Marcus Belgrave, 78, jazz trumpeter, heart failure

May 26 Art Thieme, 73, folk musician

May 26 Rocky Frisco, 77, pianist (JJ Cale Band)

May 28 Ray Kennedy, 58, jazz pianist, multiple sclerosis

Jun. 1 Jean Ritchie, 92, Appalachian folk singer and song collector

Jun. 6 Ronnie Gilbert, 88, singer-songwriter (The Weavers) and actress (Running on Empty)

Jun. 8 Paul Bacon, 91, book and album cover designer and jazz musician

Jun. 9 James Last, 86, German composer and big band leader

Jun. 11 Ornette Coleman, 85, saxophonist and free jazz pioneer

Jun. 13 Buddy Boudreaux, 97, jazz saxophonist and band leader

Jun. 11 Jim Ed Brown, 81, country singer (The Browns), lung cancer

Jun. 15 Mighty Sam McClain, 72, soul and blues singer, stroke

Jun. 19 Phil Austin, 74, American comedian, writer, and musician (Firesign Theatre)

Jun. 19 Harold Battiste, 83, jazz and R&B composer, arranger and musician (Sam Cooke, Sonny & Cher, Dr. John)

Jun. 21 Gunther Schuller, 89, composer, conductor, historian and jazz musician, leukemia

Jun. 22 James Horner, 62, film composer ("Titanic")

Jun. 27 Chris Squire, 67, English bass guitarist (Yes), acute erythroid leukemia

Jun. 29 Bruce Rowland, 74, British rock drummer (Fairport Convention)

Jun. 30 Eddy Louiss, 74, French jazz organist

Jul. 19 Van Alexander, 100, big band leader, songwriter-arranger ("A-Tisket, A-Tasket"), film and television composer (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Donna Reed Show), heart failure

Jul. 15 Howard Rumsey, 97, jazz double bassist, bandleader and nightclub owner (The Lighthouse)

Jul. 17 John Taylor, 72, British jazz pianist, heart attack

Jul. 21 Theodore Bikel, 91, Austrian-born American actor (The Defiant Ones, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof), folk singer and composer

Jul. 21 Buddy Emmons, 78, steel guitarist

Jul. 22 Eddie Hardin, 66, British rock musician (Spencer Davis Group) and singer-songwriter, heart attack

Jul. 26 Vic Firth, 85, musician and percussion mallet manufacturer, pancreatic cancer

Jul. 30 Lynn Anderson, 67, country singer ("Rose Garden"), heart attack

Aug. 1 Cilla Black, 72, British singer ("Anyone Who Had a Heart", "You're My World", "Step Inside Love") stroke following a fall

Aug. 10 David Shelley, 57, blues rock musician, cancer

Aug. 13 Harold Ousley, 86, jazz saxophonist

Aug. 30 Hugo Rasmussen, 74, Danish jazz musician

Sep. 5 Dennis Greene, 66, singer (Sha Na Na), actor, movie studio executive and law professor, esophageal cancer

Sep. 9 Guillermo Rubalcaba, 88, Cuban pianist, bandleader and composer (Buena Vista Social Club)

Sep. 13 Gary Richrath, 65, guitarist and songwriter (REO Speedwagon)

Sep. 16 Peggy Jones, 75, guitarist (Bo Diddley)

Sep. 21 Ray Warleigh, 76, Australian-born British saxophonist and flautist, cancer

Sep. 27 Wilton Felder, 75, saxophonist (The Crusaders) and session bassist (Motown)

Sep. 28 Frankie Ford, 76, Soul singer, had 1959 hit "Sea Cruise"

Sep. 29 Phil Woods, 83, jazz alto sax great, emphysema

Oct. 6 Billy Joe Royal, 73, pop and country singer ("Down in the Boondocks")

Oct. 8 Jim Diamond, 64, Scottish singer-songwriter ("I Should Have Known Better")

Oct. 9 Larry Rosen, 75, jazz producer, brain cancer

Oct. 11 Smokin' Joe Kubek, 58, blues guitarist, heart attack

Oct. 16 John Jennings, 61, musician and Nashville-based music producer, kidney cancer

Oct. 20 Cory Wells, 74, singer (Three Dog Night), complications from multiple myeloma

Oct. 22 Mark Murphy, 83, jazz vocalist, complications from pneumonia.

Oct. 23 Leon Bibb, 93, folk singer

Oct. 26 David Rodriguez, 63, singer-songwriter

Oct. 28 Michael Burgess, 70, Canadian singer & actor, sand as Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables"

Nov. 10 Allen Toussaint, 77, New Orleans musician, producer, songwriter ("Working in the Coal Mine", "Southern Nights") and arranger, heart attack

Nov. 2 Tommy Overstreet, 78, country singer

Nov. 7 Eddie Hoh, 71, rock drummer (The Mamas & the Papas, The Monkees, Donovan)

Nov. 9 Andy White, 85, British session drummer, played on Beatles "Love Me Do"

Nov. 15 P. F. Sloan, 70, singer/songwriter ("Secret Agent Man", "Eve of Destruction", "A Must to Avoid"), pancreatic cancer

Nov. 17 Al Aarons, 83, jazz trumpeter (Count Basie Orchestra)

Nov. 23 Cynthia Robinson, 69, trumpeter, member of Sly &the Family Stone

Nov. 26 Ronnie Bright, 77, bass singer (The Cadillacs, The Coasters, The Valentines)

Dec. 3 Scott Weiland, 48, musician (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, The Wondergirls), accidental drug and alcohol overdose

Dec. 9 Rusty Jones, 73, jazz drummer

Dec. 14 Joe Carr, 63, bluegrass musician, stroke

Dec. 19 Peter Broggs, 61, Jamaican reggae musician

Dec. 24 William Guest, 74, R&B singer (Gladys Knight & the Pips), heart failure

Dec. 27 Stevie Wright, 68, Lead vocalist of 1960s Australian band The Easybeats, pneumonia

Dec. 28 “Lemmy” (Ian Kilmister), 70, rock musician, vocalist (Motorhead, Hawkwind), cancer

Dec. 31 Natalie Cole, 65, jazz and pop singer, congestive heart failure


Other 2015 Year-End Material

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This page last updated January 24, 2016