Notable music deaths of 2015
As 2015 comes to an end, there will be the usual roll-calls of the year”s notable deaths. Regular readers will know that this blog has a monthly round-up of recent music deaths; I think it might be the most comprehensive such list on the Internet. The list for December will run next week.
Here are the most notable music deaths of the past year, in my subjective opinion, sorted by category in leagues of five or ten. Here is hoping nobody worthy of inclusion dies before the year is out (seven names that will appear next week are already included here). EDIT: An 8th December death occurred on New Year’s Eve: Natalie Cole’s. I’ve added her name to this round-up.
No music this time; instead we have lots of pictures. The story of many the people listed here were told in the monthly In Memoriams “” revisit them here.
POP
Demis Roussos, 68, Greek/Egyptian singer, on Jan. 25
Steve Strange, 55, Welsh New Wave musician (Visage), on Feb. 12
Lesley Gore, 68, pop singer, on Feb. 16
Cilla Black, 72, English singer and TV presenter, on August 1
Cory Wells, 74, singer with Three Dog Night, on Oct. 20
Billy Joe Royal, 73, pop and country singer, on Oct. 6
Jack Ely, 71, co-founder and original lead singer of The Kingsmen, on April 27
Jackie Trent, 74, English singer-songwriter and actress, on March 21
Trevor “˜Dozy” Ward-Davies, 70, bassist of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, on Jan. 13
Michael Brown, 65, keyboardist of The Left Banke and songwriter, on March 19
ROCK
Lemmy Kilmister, 70, singer of Motörhead, Hawkwind, on Dec. 28
Andy Fraser, 62, bassist of Free and songwriter, on March 16
Scott Weiland, 48, singer of Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, on Dec. 3
Edgar Froese, 70, leader of German electro-rock band Tangerine Dream, on Jan. 20
Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, 61, drummer of Motörhead, on Nov. 11Lew Soloff, 71, jazz trumpeter (Blood, Sweat & Tears 1968-73), on March 8
Stevie Wright, 68, singer of The Easybeats, on Dec. 27
A. J. Pero, 55, drummer of Twisted Sister, on March 20
Bob Burns, 64, drummer of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1966-74), car crash on April 3
Chris Squire, 67, bass guitarist of Yes, on June 28
SOUL/FUNK
Ben E. King, 76, soul legend, on April 30
Percy Sledge, 74, soul legend, on April 14
Allen Toussaint, 77, musician, songwriter, producer and arranger, on Nov. 10
Louis Johnson, 60, legendary bassist; half of Brothers Johnson, on May 21
Natalie Cole, 65, soul singer, on December 31
Errol Brown, 71, singer of Hot Chocolate, on May 6Andraé Crouch, 72, gospel singer, songwriter and producer, on Jan. 8
William Guest, 74, singer with Gladys Knight & the Pips, on Dec. 24
Kenneth “Wally” Kelley, 72, founding member of The Manhattans, on Feb. 17
Don Covay, 76, soul singer and songwriter, on Jan. 30
Charmayne “Maxee” Maxwell, 46, singer with R&B trio Brownstone, in a fall on Feb. 27
COUNTRY
Lynn Anderson, 67, country singer, on July 30
Little Jimmy Dickens, 94, country singer, on Jan. 2 Read more…
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