a Phil Brodie Band Info Page
"Births & Deaths"
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MARCH: Charts ~ MARCH: On This Day ~ MARCH: Quiz
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RESPECT - OBITUARIES
2009 .. 2008 .. 2007 .. 2006 .. 2005 .. 2004 .. REQUESTS
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MARCH
SADLY DEPARTED
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MORE BIRTHDATES & PASSINGS
January . February . March . April . May . June . July
August . September . October . November . December
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MARCH BIRTHDAYS

Born ~ March 1st
1973: Ryan Peake [guitar; Nickelback].
1969: Dafydd Leuan [drums; Super Furry Animals].
1963: Christina Bergmark [keyboards, Wannadies].
1963: Rob Affuso [drummer; Skid Row].
1962: Peter Stephenson [member of the electronic band Shamen].
1958: Nik Kershaw [UK singer, producer, guitar].
1957: Jon Carroll [organ/piano; Starland Vocal Band].
1955: Jimmy Fortune [tenor vocals/guitar; The Statler Brothers/solo].
1946: Tony Ashton [vocals, keyboards; Ashton Gardner & Dyke]*28.May.2001.
1944: Roger Daltrey [vocals; Who/solo]
1944: Mike D'Abo [singer, songwriter; Manfred Mann/solo].
1943: Jerry Fisher [vocals; Blood, Sweat & Tears/Jerry Fisher & the Music Company].
1934: James Edward Brown (US Country singer].
1932: Oliver Sain (multi-musician, band leader, studio owner)*28.Oct.2003.
1928: Willie Mitchell [US trumpet player; Al Green/Elvis/freelance].
1927: Harry Belafonte [singer, actor, humanitarian].
1921: Kenny Baker [UK Composer/Trumpet; Ted Heath/freelance/own]*07 Dec.1999.
1917: Dinah Shore [US singer/actress]*24.Feb.1994.
1914: Barrett Deems [drums; Dukes Of Dixieland/freelance]*15.Sep.1998.
1911: Kay Finegan/Vivian Blessing (US big band singer;Benny Goodman/Glenn Miller/others)*22.April.2006.
1904: Glenn Miller (American jazz musician; big band leader)*15.Dec.1944 presumably.
1826: John Thomas (Welsh harpist, composer; harpist to Queen Victoria)*19.March.1913.
1810: Frederic Francois Chopin [composer, pianist]*17.Oct.1849.

March 2nd
1989: Will Makar [US singer; American Idol].
1978: Claudio Sanchez [US singer, guitarist; Coheed and Cambria].
1977: Chris Martin [guitar, vocals; Coldplay].
1967: Dennis Seaton [lead vocals, percussion; Musical Youth].
1965: Martin Gilks (UK drummer, manager; Wonder Stuff)*03.April.2006.
1962: Jon Bon Jovi/John Bongiovi [singer, guitar; Bon Jovi].
1956: Mark Evans [bass; AC-DC/Finch/Contraband/Heaven/freelance].
1955: Dale Bozzio [singer; Missing Persons].
1955: Jay Wesley Osmond [singer; The Osmonds].
1950: Karen Carpenter [US singer, drummer; The Carpenters]*4.Feb.1983
1948: Rory Gallagher [guitar, slide guitar, vocals, harmonica; Taste/solo]*14.June.1995.
1943: Tony Meehan (UK drummer; Vipers/Drifters/Cliff Richard & The Shadows/sessionist)*28.Nov.2005.
1942: Lou Reed [singer, guitarist; The Primitives/Velvet Underground/solo].
1934: Dottie Rambo (American singer, songwriter, and musician)*11.May.2008.
1930: John Cullum [US actor, singer].
1917: Desi Arnaz/Ricky Ricardo [Cuban singer/musician/actor]*02.Dec.1986.

March 3rd
1977: Ronan Keating [Irish singer; Boyzone/solo].
1975: Albert Fields [US singer; New Mickey Mouse Club/The Party/solo].
1969: John "JB" Bigham [vocals, guitar, slide guitar, keyboards; Fishbone].
1966: Timo Tolkki [Finnish guitarist, songwriter; Stratovarius]
1966: Tone-Loc/Antony Smith [US hip hop artist, actor].
1955: Chris Hughes [UK drummer, record producer; Adam & the Ants].
1950: Re Styles/Shirley Marie MacLeod [vocals, guitar; Tubes]
1953: Ricky Helton Wilson [original guitarist with the B-52's]*12.10.1985
1953: Robyn Hitchcock [UK vocals, guitar, bass; Soft Boys/solo/freelance].
1947: Derek "Blue" Weaver [keyboards; Mott the Hoople/Amen Corner/ Strawbs].
1947: Jennifer Warnes [US singer, keyboards].
1947: David Mount [drummer; Mud/Les Gray's Mud]*02.Dec.2006
1944: Jance Garfat [bass, Dr. Hook]*06.Nov.2006
1943: Chris Stainton (UK keyboardist, bassist; Johnny Tempest/Joe Cocker/Eric Clapton/Freelance).
1942: Mike Pender/Michael John Prendergast [vocals, guitar; The Searchers].
1933: Paul Clayton [folk singer, dulcimer; solo/freelance]*30.March.1967

March 4th
1971: Fergal Lawlor [Irish drummer, percussion; The Cranberries].
1967: Evan Dando [guitar, drums; The Lemonheads].
1966: Patrick Hannan [drummer; The Sundays].
1965: Richard March [UK bassist; Pop Will Eat Itself]
1963: Jason Newsted [bass, Theremin; Metallica].
1962: Jon Durno [UK bassist; Roman Holliday].
1955: Boon Gould [guitar, multi-musician; Level 42/solo].
1954: Ricky Ford (American jazz tenor saxophonist).
1954: St Clair L. Palmer [singer; Sweet Sensation].
1953: Emilio Estefan [cuban singer; Miami Sound Machine/solo].
1951: Pete John Haycock [guitar; Climax Chicago Blues Band].
1951: Chris Rea [UK singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboards].
1950: Billy Gibbons [guitar; ZZ Top].
1942: Ralph Ellis [guitar, keyboard, Swinging Blue Jeans]
1948: Chris Squire [bassist; Yes].
1948: Shakin' Stevens/Michael Barrett [Welsh pop singer].
1947: Jan Garbarek [Norwegian tenor and soprano jazz saxophonist].
1946: Red Stripe/David Gittins [singer; The Flying Pickets/Brian and Stripe].
1944: Mick/Michael Wilson [drummer; Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich].
1944: Bobby Womack [soul singer, guitar].
1936: Eric Allandale (West Indian trombonist, bandleader; The Foundations/own band)*23.Aug.2001.
1934: Barbara McNair (African-American singer and actress)*04.Feb.2007.
1932: Miriam Makeba/Mama Afrika (South African singer, civil rights activist)*10.Nov.2008.
1925: Paul Mauriat [French conductor, arranger]*03.Nov.2006.

March 5th
1972: Luca Turilli [Italian guitarist, composer; Rhapsody of Fire].
1970: John Frusciante [guitar; Red Hot Chili Peppers].
1962: Craig Reid [singer songwriter; Proclaimers].
1962: Charlie Reid [singer songwriter; Proclaimers].
1960: Rico McFarland (US blues guitarist; James Cotton/Lucky Peterson/freelance/solo).
1958: Andy Gibb [UK solo singer; youngest brother of Barry, Robin and Maurice-the Bee Gees]*10.March.1988.
1957: Mark E Smith [singer, lyricist; The Fall].
1956: Teena Marie [US singer].
1952: Alan Clark [keyboard, Dire Straits/freelance].
1951: Elaine Page [UK singer].
1948: Eddy Grant [vocals, guitar, synthesizer reggae/r&b/soul singer; The Equals/solo].
1948: Richard Sidney Hickox CBE (English conductor; choral, orchestral, operatic)*23.Nov.2008
1939: Johnny Jenkins [blues guitarist; the Pinetoppers/solo]*26.June.2006.
1933: Tommy Tucker/Robert Higginbotham (US blues singer, pianist)*22.Jan.1982

March 6th
1980: Ross Mawhinney [British born Italian radio DJ].
1974: Miika Tenkula (Finnish lead guitarist, vocalist, songwriter; Sentenced)*19.Feb.2009
1970: Betty Boo/Alison Moira Clarkson [UK singer, rap artist].
1968: Michael James Romeo [US guitar; Symphony-X]
1964: Madonna Wayne Gacy/Stephen Gregory Bier Jr [keyboards, Marilyn Manson].
1977: Bubba Sparxxx/Warren Anderson Mathis [hip-hop artist, country rap].
1947: Kiki Dee [UK singer].
1946: Murray Head [UK singer, guitarist].
1946: David Gilmour CBE [guitarist, singer, songwriter; Pink Floyd].
1945: Hugh Grundy [drummer; The Zombies/A&R man for Columbia Records].
1944: Mary Wilson [US singer; The Supremes/solo].
1944: Kiri Te Kanawa [New Zealand singer].
1936: Sylvia Robinson [US singer; Mickey & Sylvia].
1905: Bob Wills (American Western swing musician, songwriter, bandleader)*May 13, 1975.
1893: Walter 'Furry'Lewis [Blues guitarist, first to play with a bottleneck]*14.Sept.1981.

March 7th
1985: Thomas Erak [US guitarist, singer; Mukilteo].
1980: Anthony Ocana [Dominican composer & guitarist].
1977: Paul Cattermole [vocals; S Club 7].
1967: Randy Guss [drummer; Toad The Wet Sprocket].
1966: Paul Davis [keyboards; Happy Mondays].
1963: Denyce Graves [American classical, opera singer].
1962: Taylor Dayne [singer, dance actress].
1952: Ernie Isley [guitar, drums, vocals; The Isley Brothers].
1950: Iris Chacon [Puerto Rican singer, dancer].
1946: Peter Wolf [vocals; The J Geils Band/Lights Out/Freeze-Frame]
1946: Matthew Fisher [keyboards, piano, organ; Procol Harum].
1945: Arthur Lee [guitar/vocals; The American Four, Love]*03.Aug.2006.
1944: Townes Van Zandt (US country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, poet)*01.Jan.1997.
1943: Chris White [UK bassist, songwriter; The Zombies/Argent].
1942: Hamilton Bohannon (US percussionist, band leader, record producer; Stevie Wonder/own band).
1931: Christopher "Stubb" Stubblefield (US music promoter, barbecue restaurateur)*27.May.1995.
1927: Philippe Clay/Philippe Mathevet (French mime artist, singer, actor)*13.Dec.2007.
1998: Paddy Clancy (Irish folk singer; The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem)*11.Nov.1998.
1917: Lee Young [jazz drummer; Nat King Cole Trio/Lee Young Band/freelance].
1875: Maurice Ravel [French pianist, composer]*28.Dec.1937.

March 8th
1979: Tom Chaplin [vocals, piano; Keane].
1978: Kameelah 'Meelah' Williams [singer, hip-hop; 702].
1976: Gareth "Gaz" Coombes [vocals/guitar; Supergrass].
1968: Chris Burdett [drums, Anastasia Screamed].
1968: Shawn Mullins [uk singer, guitar].
1964: Peter "Pedro" Gill [drummer, Frankie Goes To Hollywood].
1964: Salt/Cheryl James [singer; Salt-N-Pepa].
1962: Steve Grantley [drummer; Stiff Little Fingers/Alarm/the Big Wheel/Freelance].
1960: Richard Darbyshire [singer, songwriter; Living In A Box/solo].
1958: Gary Numan [singer, keyboards, synthesizer; Tubeway Army/solo].
1957: Clive Burr [drummer; Iron Maiden].
1954: Cheryl Baker/Rita Crudgington [singer, TV presenter; Co-Co/Bucks Fizz/musicals]
1949: Dave Lambert [guitar, vocals; The Strawbs].
1948: Little Peggy March/Margaret Battavio [US singer].
1948: Mel Galley (UK guitarist; Whitesnake/Trapeze/Finders Keepers/freelance)*01.July.2008.
1947: Michael Allsup [guitar; Three Dog Knight].
1947: Carole Bayer Sager [singer, songwriter; solo/musicals/films].
1946: Randy Meisner [US singer, bassist; Poco, Eagles].
1945: Mickey Dolenz [US actor, drums, television & Theatre director; The Monkees].
1944: Keef Hartley [drummer; The Artwoods/John Mayall's Bluesbreakers/Keef Hartley Band].
1943: Andrew Semple [guitar, vocals]
1942: Ralph Ellis [guitar, banjo; Swinging Blue Jeans].
1935: George Edward Coleman (US hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer).
1937: Raynoma Liles (co-founder of Motown with husband Berry Gordy).
1927: Dick Hyman (pianist, music director for Arthur Godfrey).
1892: "Mississippi" John Smith Hurt (US blues singer and guitarist)*02.Nov.1966.(both dates from his gravestone)

March 9th
1987: Bow Wow/Shad Gregory Moss [US rap artist].
1980: Chingy/Howard Bailey [US rapper].
1968: Andrew Barker [keyboardist; 808 State].
1968: Robert Sledge [bass, upright bass; Ben Folds Five/International Orange]
1958: Martin Fry [vocals; ABC/solo].
1951: Frank Rodriguez [organist/keyboard; ? & The Mysterians]
1948: Jimmy Fadden [singer, harmonica, guitar; Nitty Gritty Dirt Band]
1948: Jeffrey Osborne [singer; Love Men Ltd/solo].
1946: Jim Cregan [guitarist, bassist, Family, Cockney Rebel/Rod Stewart/freelance]
1945: Robert Newton Calvert [singer, poet; Hawkwind]*14.Aug.1988.
1945: Robin Trower [lead guitar; Procol Harum, solo].
1944: Trevor Burton [bass; The Move/Journeyman/Dexy's Midnight Runners/own band].
1942: Mark Linday [US rhythm guitarist; Paul Revere & Raiders].
1940: John Cale (multi-musician; Theater of Eternal Music/Velvet Underground).
1936: Mickey Gilley (US pianist, country singer].
1933: Lloyd Price [US singer/songwriter].
1932: Keely Smith [US Jazz singer].
1905: Paul Hindemith [German composer]*28.Dec.1963.

March 10th
1971: Timbaland/Timothy Z. Mosley (US rap artist).
1967: Susie Q/Susan Banfield [rap duo Cookie Crew].
1966: Edie Brickell [US singer].
1964: Neneh Cherry [Swedish singer].
1964: Patrick "Pat" Kane [Scottish singer, arts journalist;Hue & Cry].
1963: Jeff Ament [bassist, Pearl Jam/Mother Love Bone].
1962: Gary Clark [Scottish guitarist, vocals, songwriter].
1954: Tina Charles [UK singer].
1950: Ted McKenna [Drums, percussion; Sensational Alex Harvey Band].
1947: Tom Scholz [guitar, keyboards; Boston]
1945: Pete Nelson/Peter Lipscomb [vocals; The Flowerpot Men/White Plains].
1940: Dean Torrence [US singer; Jan & Dean].
1938: Norman Blake [mandolin, 6-string banjo, fiddle, banjo; folk & bluegrass groups].
1938: Dave Alexander [US blues pianist, drummer, trumpet, bass; NOT of the Stooges].
1919: Marion Hutton (American singer and actress; Glenn Miller)*10.Jan.1987.

March 11th
1981: LeToya Luckett [singer; Destiny's Child].
1979: Joel Madden [lead vocalist; Good Charlotte].
1979: Benji Madden [guitarist, backup vocalist; Good Charlotte].
1969: Soraya Raquel Lamilla Cuevas [Columbian/US singer,songwriter,guitar]*10.May.2006.
1969: Rami Jaffee [pianist, organist; Wallflowers].
1968: Lisa Loeb [US singer].
1964: Vinnie Paul [drummer; Pantera/Damageplan].
1961: Bruce Watson [Canadian guitarist, Big Country].
1961: Mike Percy [UK bassist; Dead Or Alive].
1957: Cheryl Lynn [US singer].
1955: Nina Hagen [German singer/songwriter].
1955: Flinto [bassist; Jimmy the Hoover]
1951: Katie Kissoon [singer; Mac & Katie/freelance/sessionist].
1950: Bobby McFerrin [US singer].
1948: George Kooymans [vocals, guitar; Golden Earring/The Tornados].
1947: Bill Dickinson [US bassist; LA sessionist].
1947: Mark Stein [vocalist, keyboardist, composer; Vanilla Fudge].
1945: Harvey Mandel (US blues guitarist; solo/sessionist).
1944: Eric "Ric" Rothwell [drummer; Mindbenders].
1903: Lawrence Welk (US accordionist, bandleader, TV personality)*17.May.1992.

March 12th
1986: Danny Jones [guitar, vocals, harmonica; McFly].
1979: Pete Doherty [lead vocals, guitar; Libertines/Babyshambles].
1975: Kelle Bryan [UK singer; Eternal].
1969: Graham Coxon [UK guitar; Blur].
1957: Marlon Jackson [singer, guitarist; Jacksons/Jackson 5/sessionist].
1957: Steve Harris [bassist, Iron Maiden].
1949: Mike Gibbins [Welsh drummer; Badfinger]
1949: Bill Payne [piano, keyboards, organ; Little Feat/freelance].
1948: Les Holroyd [bassist; Barclay James Harvest].
1948: James Taylor [US singer/songwriter].
1946: Liza Minnelli [US singer, actress].
1942: Brian O'Hara [lead guitarist, vocals; The Fourmost].
1940: Al Jarreau [US singer].
1928: Aldemaro Romero (Venezuelan pianist, composer, orchestral conductor)*15.Sept.2007.
1917: Leonard Chess [company executive, founder of Chess record label]*16.Oct.1969

March 13th
1963: Billy Yates (C&W singer-songwriter)
1960: Adam Charles Clayton [bassist; U2].
1959: Greg Norton [bassist; Husker Du].
1959: Ronnie Rogers [rhythm guitarist, songwriter; T'Pau].
1953: Rustee/Rusty Allen (US bass guitar player; Sly & the Family Stone/others).
1951: Lester Jerome Williams (US keyboard, piano, singer, composer; Motown/solo/freelance).
1947: Dave Kelly [guitar, vocals; John Dummer Blues/Tramp/Paul Jones Blues/own band].
1942: Scatman John/John Paul Larkin (American singer)*03.Dec.1999.
1939: Neil Sedaka [singer, songwriter, pianist].
1939: Liz Anderson [C&W singer-songwriter].
1938: Erma Franklin (US soul, R&B and pop singer, sister to Aretha)*07.Sept.2002
1933: Mike Stoller [songwriter, composer; Stoller & Leiber].
1914: Robert Sherwood Haggart (US bass,composer,arranger; Bob Crosby Orch)*2.Dec.1998.
1913: Sammy Kaye (US multiple reeds player; big bandleader)*2.June.1987.
1912: Sam 'Lightnin' Hopkins (US legendry blues guitarist)*30.Jan.1982 (1912 as on his statue)
1906: Frank Teschemacher (US clarinet, alto sax, violin; Chicago jazz groups/solo)*01.March.1932.

March 14th
1988: Chris Feener (Canadian guitarist, composer).
1983: Jordan Taylor Hanson [singer, keyboard, bongos, piano; Hanson].
1962: Steve Lambert [UK singer; Roman Holliday].
1957: Chris Redburn [UK bassist; Kenny]
!949: Peter John 'Ollie' Halsall (UK guitarist virtuoso Patto/The Boxer/The Rutles/others)*29 May 1992.
1947: Peter Skellern [UK singer, pianist, songwriter].
1947: Jona Lewie [vocals, piano, guitar, songwriter;Thunderbolts/sessoinist/solo].
1945: James O'Rourke [multi instruments, guitar; Playboy Band/freelance/guest]
1945: Walter Parazaider [US sax, flute, woodwind insts;founder member of Chicago]
1943: Jim Pons [bass; The Turtles/The Leaves].
1934: Shirley Scott (US hard bop and soul-jazz organist)*10.March.2002.
1933: Quincy Jones [trumpet player, composer, music producer, business personality].
1926: Lita Roza (UK singer; first uk female singer to top the UK Singles Chart)*14.Aug.2008.
1922: Les Baxter [US saxophonist, pianist; own band]*15.Jan.1996.

March 15th
1977: Joe Hahn [electronics, DJ; Linkin Park].
1975: Will.i.am/William Adams Jr [Jamacian rapper, producer; Black Eyed Peas].
1972: Mark Hoppus [singer, bass guitar; Blink-182].
1968: Mark McGrath [lead singer; Sugar Ray].
1964: Rockwell/Kenneth Gordy [US singer, Berry Gordy's son].
1963: Brett Michaels/Bret Michael Sychak [lead singer, film production; Poison].
1962: Steve Coy/Steve McCoy [UK drummer; Dead Or Alive]
1962: Terence Trent D'arby/Sananda Maitreya [vocals, sax, keyboards, drums, guitar].
1955: Dee Snider [lead singer; Twisted Sister].
1955: Etterlene "Bunny" Debarge [soprano vocals; Debarge].
1948: Stephen 'Grizzly' Nisbett [drummer, Steel Pulse.guest].
1947: Jean Carne [US jazz singer, pianist; Motown, solo].
1947: Hernandez Lugo (bassist; ? & The Mysterians)
1947: Ry Cooder (US slide, guitar, vocals, mandolin; Buena Vista/Rising Sons/Little Village).
1946: Howard Scott [guitarist; War]
1944: David Costell [lead guitar; Playboys].
1944: Sly Stone/Sylvester Stewart (US guitar, keyboard; Sly & The Family Stone).
1941: Hughie Flint [drums, McGuinness Flint/Bluesbreakers].
1941: Mike Love (US singer, sax; The Beach Boys).
1940: Phil Lesh [bassist; Grateful Dead].
1932: Arif Mardin [musical producer/arranger]*26.Jun.2006.
1931: James Mitchell [saxophone; The Detroit Emeralds/Memphis Horns/session]
1922: Eddie Calvert [UK trumpet player; Stanley Black Orchestra/solo]*07.Aug.1978
1935: Johan Halvorsen (Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist)*04.Dec.1935
1912: Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins (US blues guitarist, singer)*30.Jan.1982.

March 16th
1979: Leena Peisa [Finnish keyboardist; Lordi].
1972: Andy Dunlop [Scottish guitarist; Travis].
1964: Patty Griffin [US singer, songwriter].
1963: Stuart Kerr [drummer; Texas].
1959: Flavor Flav/William Drayton [rapper, vocals, producer; Public Enemy].
1954: Nancy Wilson [singer, guitarist; Heart].
1954: Jimmy Nail/James Michael Aloysius Bradford [UK singer, actor].
1948: Michael Bruce [guitar, keyboards; Alice Cooper Band].
1942: Jerry Jeff Walker/Ronald Clyde Crosby [US country singer/song writer].
1941: Wong Jim (Cantopop lyricist and writer)*24.Nov.2004
1936: Fred Neil [US singer, guitar, songwriter]*07.July.2001.
1930: Tommy Flanagan (US jazz pianist; Ella Fitzgerald backing band)*16.Nov.2001.
1926: Jerry Lewis/Joseph Levitch (US actor, comedian, singer).
1902: Leon Roppolo [US jazz clarinetist]*05.Oct.1943

March 17th
1976: Stephen Gately [singer; Boyzone].
1975: Justin Hawkins [lead singer, song writter; The Darkness].
1973: Caroline Corr [drummer; The Corrs].
1972: Melissa Auf der Maur [bassist, vocals; Hole, Smashing Pumpkins].
1967: Billy Corgan [guitar; Zwan, Smashing Pumpkins].
1962: Clare Grogan [Scottish actress, lead singer; Altered Images].
1959: Mike Kindup [keyboards, vocals; Level 42].
1954: Wally Stocker [guitarist; Babys/Humble Pie/Air Supply/freelance].
1951: Scott Gorham [US guitarist, mastering, songwriter; Thin Lizzy].
1948: Bobby Whitlock [singer,keyboards,songwriter; Derek-the Dominos/sessions/own band].
1948: Pat Lloyd [guitar, bassist; Equals].
1946: Harold Brown (drums, percussion, vocals; War/Night Shift/Lowrider]
1944: Pat McAuley [keyboards, drums, Them/The Other Them]
1944: Tony Jackson [high tenor singer; session/backgound/Skatalites]
1944: Bob Johnson [guitar, Steeleye Span]
1944: John Sebastian [vocals, harmonica, guitar; Lovin Spoonful/ Mugwumps]
1941: Paul Kantner [guitar; Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship].
1941: Clarence Collins [Little Anthony & the Imperials].
1983: Lorraine Ellison (African-American female soul singer)*31.Jan.1983.
1919: Nat "King" Cole [US singer, piano]*15.Feb.1965.
1903: Leon 'Bix' Beiderbecke [US jazz cornetist and composer]*6.Aug.1931.

March 18th
1979: Adam Levine [lead singer, guitar; Maroon 5].
1979: Shola Ama [UK singer].
1978: Bryan Ottoson (German born guitarist; American Head Charge)*19.April.2005
1977: Devin Lima [vocals; LFO].
1974: Stuart Zender [bassist; Jamiroquai].
1970: Queen Latifah/Dana Owens [US rapper].
1966: Jerry Cantrell [guitar, vocals, producer; Alice In Chains].
1964: Courtney Pine [UK jazz saxophonist, multi-musician; solo/freelance].
1963: Vanessa Williams [African-American singer].
1963: Jeff LeBar [guitar, vocals; Cinderella].
1962: Taja Sevelle [US singer, songwritr]
1961: Grant Hart [drummer, vocals; Husker Du].
1959: Irene Cara [US singer].
1947: Barry "B.J." Wilson [drums, percussion; Procol Harum].
1946: Stu Parks (UK bassist; Mickey & the Sapphires/Gary Farr & the T-Bones, Shelley)
1941: Wilson Pickett [US R&B, soul singer]*19.Jan.2006.
1938: Charley Pride [country singer, guitarist].
1936: Robert Lee Smith [singer; Tams].

March 19th
1980: Mikuni Shimokawa [Japanese singer].
1976: Ben Marlin (US bassist; brutal death metal band Disgorge)*02.Jan.2008.
1975: Brann Dailor [US drummer; Mastodon/Lethargy].
1971: Jack Bessant [bassist; Reef].
1959: Terry Hall [singer; Specials/Fun Boy Three/The Colourfield/freelance].
1955: Bruce Willis [actor, vocals, harmonica].
1953: Billy Sheehan [bassist; Talas/Steve Vai/David Lee Roth/Mr. Big/Niacin/guest].
1951: Derek Longmuir [bass; Bay City Rollers].
1946: Paul Atkinson [UK guitarist; The Zombies]*01.April.2004.
1946: Ruth Pointer [the eldest singer; The Pointer Sisters].
1937: Clarence "Frogman" Henry [US rhythm and blues singer].
1936: Birthe Wilke [Danish singer].

March 20th
1984: Winta Efrem Negassi (Norwegian R&B, soul singer).
1982: Nick Wheeler (US guitarist; All-American Rejects).
1980: Ock Ju-Hyun (South Korean singer).
1976: Chester Bennington [vocals; Linkin Park/Snow White Tan].
1972: Alex Kapranos [UK lead singer, guitariast; Franz Ferdinand].
1972: Shellie Poole [singer; Alisha's Attic/Brian Pooles daughter].
1968: Frederick Schönfelt [Swedish bassist; Wannadies]
1967: Shutty/David Shuttleworth [drummer; Terrorvision].
1964: Ock Ju-Hyun (South Korean singer).
1960: Slim Jim Phantom/James McDonnell [drummer; Stray Cats/Headcat].
1959: Richard Drummie [singer; Go West].
1959: Owen If/Owen Rossiter [drummer, Stereo MC's]
1956: Alphonso Martin [vocalist, percussionist; Steel Pulse].
1953: Stray Straton [vocals, bassist; sessionist/freelance].
1951: Jimmie Vaughan [vocals, guitar; Fabulous Thunderbirds, SRV's brother].
1950: Carl Palmer [drums; Arthur Brown/Atomic Rooster/Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Asia].
1941: Vito Picone [lead singer; Elegants]
1937: Jerry Reed Hubbard [country singer & guitarist].
1906: Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson (US radio/TV show presenter, entertainer, bandleader)*03.June.1975.

March 21st
1980: Bizzy D/Deryck Whibley [lead singer, mult-musician; Sum 41].
1977: Mark Hamilton [Irish bassist; Ash]
1968: Andrew Copeland [singer, acoustic guitar, songwriter; Sister Hazel]
1967: Maxim/Keith "Keeti" Palmer [MC; Prodigy/solo].
1967: Jonas Berggren [songwriter, vocals; Ace Of Base].
1967: Sean Dickson [singer, songwriter; Soup Dragons]
1957: John Reddington [UK guitarist; King Kurt]
1953: Robert Johnson [drums; KC and the Sunshine Band]
1951: Conrad Lozano [bassist; Los Lobos].
1951: Russell Thompkins Jr [falsetto vocals; The Stylistics].
1950: Roger Hodgson [guitar, vocals;Supertramp].
1949: Eddie Money [US singer, saxophone, keyboards].
1946: Ray Dorset [singer, percussion, guitar; Mungo Jerry/Good Earth/guest].
1945: Rosemary Stone [vocalist, pianist; Sly & The Family Stone].
1943: Viv Stanshall [vocals, trumpet, percussion; Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band]*05.May.1995
1940: Solomon Burke [US rhythm & blues singer]
1936: Betty Curtis [Italian singer].

March 22nd
1986: Amy Studt [uk singer].
1973: Beverly Knight [uk soul singer].
1968: Euronymous/Øystein Aarseth (Norwegian guitarist; Mayhem)*10.Aug.1993.
1963: Susanne Sulley [UK singer; Human League]
1958: Pete Wylie [singer; Wah!].
1957: Stephanie Mills [US singer, actress, musicals].
1948: Randy Jo Hobbs [bassist; The McCoys; Edgar & Johnny Winters]*5.Aug.1993.
1948: Andrew Lloyd Webber [songwriter/Orchestration/Executive Producer].
1947: Patrick Olive [percussionist; Hot Chocolate].
1946: Harry Vanda [Dutch guitarist, songwriter,record producer; Easybeats].
1943: Keith Relf (UK singer; Medicine Head, Armageddon, The Yardbirds)*14.May.1976.
1943: George Benson [US singer, guitarist].
1936: Roger Whittaker [African-born British pop singer].
1929: Fred Anderson (American jazz tenor saxophonist).

March 23rd
1968: Damon Albarn [piano, vocals; Blur/Gorillaz/Good, the Bad and the Queen].
1967: John Strohm [guitarist; Lemonheads].
1965: Marti Pellow [Scottish singer; Wet Wet Wet/solo].
1953: Chaka Khan [US singer, Rufus/solo].
1952: Dave Bartram [vocals; Showaddywaddy]
1951: Phil Keaggy (Finger style guitarist, vocalist; Phil Keaggy Band/solo/freelance].
1949: Ric Ocasek [guitar; Cars].
1944: Tony McPhee [guitar, vocals; Herbal Mixture/Groundhogs].
1944: Michael Nyman [UK pianist /composer].
1938: Irwin Levine (US songwriter; including "Tie A Yellow Ribbon")*21.Jan.1997.
1914: Margaret Kitchin (Classical pianist, born in Switzerland, long resident in the UK)*16.June.2008.
1905: Lale Andersen [German singer and cabaretist]*29.Aug.1972

March 24th
1974: Chad Butler [US drummer; Switchfoot].
1970: Sharon Corr [Irish violinist, vocals; The Corrs].
1970: Mase/Vincent Mason [rap & hip-hop artist; De La Soul].
1960: Nena/Gabriele Susanne Kerner [German singer; Nena].
1951: Dougie Thomson [Scottish bassist; Supertramp].
1946: Klaus Dinger (German drummer, songwriter; Krautrock/Neu!/Kraftwerk)*20.March.2008.
1946: Lee Oskar [Danish harmonica player; War/freelance].
1937: Billy Stewart (US singer with scat-singing style; The Rainbows/solo)*17.Jan.1970.
1928: Byron Janis [American classical pianist].
1906: Klavdiya Shulzhenko (Soviet jazz and classical singer)*17.June.1984.

March 25th
1975: Melanie Blatt [singer; All Saints/solo].
1975: Juvenile/Terius Gray [rap artist].
1974: Finley Quaye [Scottish reggae singer].
1971: Michael McKeegan [Irish bassist; Therapy?]
1969: Cathy Dennis [UK singer, songwriter].
1966: Jeff Healey (Blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock guitarist, vocalist)*02.March.2008.
1960: Steve Norman [sax, guitar, percussion; New Romantic/Spandau Ballet/Cloudfish].
1954: Nathan Watts [US bassist; Motown/Miles Davis/Session/freelance]
1951: Bob Pelander [keyboardist, vocalist; Michael Stanley Band]
1951: Maisie Williams [Montserratan singer; Boney M].
1949: Nick Lowe [bassist, vocals; Brinsley Schwarz/Rockpile/solo/guest].
1949: Neil Jones [Welsh guitarist; Amen Corner]
1947: Duncan Browne (UK singer, songwriter)*28.May.1993.
1947: Sir Elton Hercules John/Reginald Kenneth Dwight [UK singer/songwriter/pianist].
1947: Jack Hall [bassist; Charlie Daniels Band]
1942: Aretha Franklin [US singer, Queen of Soul].
1938: Hoyt Axton [US singer, songwriter, piano, guitar, actor]*26.Oct.1999.
1934: Johnny Burnette [US singer]*14.Aug.1964
1931: Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr (US record producer; Columbia/verve)*06.Sept.1978.
1915: Dorothy Squires (Welsh vocalist;Billy Reid Orchestra/solo)*14.April.1998.

March 26th
1971: John Hendy [singer; East 17].
1968: James Iha [guitarist; Smashing Pumpkins].
1968: Kenny Chesney [US country singer/songwriter].
1957: Paul Morley [writer-New Musical Express, co-founder-Art Of Noise,TV presenter].
1955: Martin Price [keyboardist, co-founder; 808 State].
1953: Billy Lyall [keyboard, vocals; Pilot/Bay City Rollers]*01.Dec.1989
1950: Teddy Pendergrass [US singer, drums; Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes/solo/freelance].
1948: Steven Tyler [lead singer, harmonica; Aerosmith].
1948: Richard Tandy [bassist, keyboards; ELO].
1949: Fran Sheehan [bassist, percussion, backing vocals; Boston].
1944: Diana Ross [US singer; Supreme/solos].
1917: Rufus Thomas [US R&B and soul singer]*15.Dec.2001.
1886: Al Jolson/Asa Yoelson [US singer, songwriter, blackface minstrel]*23.Oct.1950.

March 27th
1975: Fergie/Stacy Ann Ferguson (US singer).
1970: Mariah Carey [US pop diva, singer].
1970: Brendan Hill [drums; Blues Traveler].
1965: Johnny April [bassist; Staind].
1964: Clark Datchler [singer; Johnny Hates Jazz].
1964: Derrick McKenzie [drummer; Jamiroquai].
1959: Andrew Farris [keyboards, songwriter; INXS]
1957: Billy MacKenzie (Scottish singer; The Associates)*22.Jan.1997.
1950: Tony Banks [piano, keyboards, songwriter; Genesis/solo/guest]
1946: Andrew Brown [keyboards; Herd].
1940: Janis Martin (American rockabilly singer)*03.Sept,2007.
1924: Sarah Vaughan [US jazz singer]*03.April.1990

March 28th
1976: David Brent (US guitarist; The Killers).
1969: James Atkin [UK vocalist, guitar; EMF].
1968: Jon Lee (UK drummer; Feeder)*07.Jan.2002.
1965: Steve Turner [guitar, Mudhoney/ the Fall-Outs]
1962: Ged Grimes (bassist; Danny Wilson Band].
1948: Milan Williams [keyboards, brass, guitar; The Commodores].
1948: John Evans [drums; Blades/Jethro Tull/freelance].
1947: Paul Jackson [jazz bassist; Headhunters/freelance].
1955: Reba McEntire [US country singer].
1945: Chuck Portz [bassist; Turtles].
1945: Sally Carr [vocals, percussion; Middle Of The Road].
1941: Charlie McCoy [hamonica, guitar; Area Code 615].
1923: Ike Isaacs (American jazz bassist; many greats/sessionist)*27.Feb.1981
1890: Paul Whiteman [Jazz violinist; own orchestra]*29.Dec.1967.

March 29th
1967: John Popper [singer, harmonica; Blues Traveler/Frogwings].
1959: Perry Farrell [US singer; Psi Com/Porno for Pyros/Jane's Addiction].
1956: Patty Donahue (US lead singer; Waitresses)*09.Dec.1996.
1949: Dave Greenfield [keyboards; Stranglers].
1949: Michael Brecker (US saxophonist; Brecker Brs/sessionist/won 11 Grammys)*13.Jan.2007
1947: Bobby Kimball [lead singer; Toto/Kayak].
1946: Billy Thorpe (Australian lead singer, guitar; Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs/solo)*28.Feb.2007.
1945: John Speedy Keen (vocals,drums,songwriter;Thunderclap Newman/solo)*21.March.2002.
1944: Terry Jacks (Canadian singer, guitar, record producer; The Chessmen/solo).
1943: Vangelis/Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou (keyboards, synth; Jon & Vangelis).
1943: Chad Allan (lead vocals; Expressions, Guess Who)
1942: Eden Kane/Richard Graham Sarstedt (UK pop singer).
1907: Abe Lincoln (Jazz trombonist; many bands/session/freelance)*8.June.2000

March 30th
1979: Norah Jones [US singer].
1979: Simon Webbe [vocals; Blue].
1968: Celine Dion [Canadian singer].
1967: Ace/Martin Kent [UK guitarist, Skunk Anansie]
1965: Tim Dorney [keyboards; Republica].
1964: Tracy Chapman [singer, guitar, songwriter].
1963: M.C. Hammer/Stanley Kirk Burrell [rap artist].
1955: Randy VanWarmer [singer, songwriter,composer]*12.Jan.2004.
1950: Dave Ball [UK guitarist; Bedlam/Procol Harum/freelance].
1949: Lena Lovich/Lili-Marlene Premilovich [US singer, saxophone].
1948: James "Jim Dandy" Mangrum [lead vocals; Black Oak Arkansas].
1945: Johnny Walker/Peter Dingley [Radio DJ; Radio Caroline/BBC Radio].
1945: Eric Clapton [singer, guitarist, songwriter].
1943: Kenny Forssi (US bassist; Love /studio sessionist)*05.Jan.1998.
1941: Graeme Edge [drums, Moody Blues].
1930: Rolf Harris [singer, didjeridu, piano].
1914: Sonny Boy Williamson I/John Lee Williamson [US blues harmonica player & pioneer]*01.Jun.1948.
1913: Frankie Laine/Francesco Paolo LoVecchio [US singer]*06.Feb.2007.

March 31st
1987: Georg Listing (German bassist; Tokio Hotel).
1978: Tony Yayo/Marvin Bernard (US rapper ).
1975: Fergie/Stacy Ann Ferguson [R&B singer].
1974: Stefan Olsdal [Swedish bassist; Placebo].
1971: Julian Deane [guitarist; Toploader].
1969: Jerry Finn (American record producer)*21.Aug.2008.
1964: Paul Wong Koon-Chung (Hong Kong guitarist; Beyond/Hann/solo).
1959: Ali McMordie (Irish bassist; Stiff Little Fingers).
1959: Robert Holmes [guitarist; 'Til Tuesday].
1958: Pat McGlynn [Scottish rhythm guitarist; Bay City Rollers].
1958: Paul Ferguson [drummer; Killing Joke/Pigface].
1955: Angus Young [Scottish guitar; AC/DC].
1954: Tony Brock [drummer; Babys].
1953: Sean Hopper [keyboard: Huey Lewis & the News].
1948: Thiis Van Leer [organ, flute; Focus]
1947: Al Goodman [singer in the soul band Ray, Goodman & Brown].
1947: Jon-Jon Poulos [drums, Buckinghams]*26.March.1980.
1946: Al Nichol [lead guitarist; Turtles].
1944: Pascal Danel (French singer, songwriter).
1944: Mick Ralphs [guitar; Bad Company].
1944: Malcolm Roberts [actor, solo singer, musicals]*07.Feb.2003.
1944: Rod Allen/Rodney Bainbridge (UK lead vocalist, bass player; The Fortunes)*10.Jan.2008.
1935: Herb Alpert [trumpet; vocals].
1934: Shirley Jones [Mom on TV's Partridge Family].
1929: Gene Puerling (American jazz musician, singer, musical arranger)*26.March.2008.
1732: Franz Joseph Haydn [composer, keyboards, "Father of the Symphony"]*31.May.1809.

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REMEMBER THIS MONTH

March 1st
1932: Frank Teschemacher (25) American jazz clarinetist and alto-saxophonist, along with Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman and others, he was associated with the "Austin High" gang. He was mainly self-taught on his instruments and doubled on violin and banjo early in his career. Strongly influenced by cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, he started playing the clarinet professionally in 1925. He began recording under his own name in 1928. His intense solo work laid the groundwork for a rich sound and creative approach, that is credited with influencing a young Benny Goodman and a style of which Pee Wee Russell is perhaps the best-known representative. (killed in a car accident as a passenger in a car driven by his performing associate cornetist "Wild" Bill Davison, just days before of what would have been his 26th birthday) b. March 13th 1906.
1937: Clarence Holiday (38) US jazz guitarist; he worked locally until he became a member of the Fletcher "Smack" Henderson Orchestra in 1928 for 5 years, after which he worked and recorded with Benny Carter in 1934, Bob Howard and also with Charlie Turner in 1935, then Louis Metcalf from 1935, before joining the Don Redman Big Band in 1936 till his early death. Clarence was also the father to the great Billie Holiday (?) b. 1898
1970: Lucille Hegamin (76) American singer and a pioneer of African American blues. At the age of 15 she was touring the US South with Minstrel shows and became a prominent singer, billed as "The Georgia Peach". Settling in Chicago in 1914 she worked with Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton before marrying pianist Bill Hegamin. He led Lucille' band the Blue Flame Syncopators, first in L.A. and then in New York. In November 1920 she became the second ever African American blues singer to record, after Mamie Smith. In 1926 she performed in Clarence Williams' Review at the Lincoln Theater in New York, then in various reviews in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey through to 1934, when she retired from the music business to become a nurse. In 1961 and 1962 she came out of retirement to make more records (died in Harlem Hospital in New York City) b. November 29th 1894.
1974: Robert Henry "Bobby" Timmons (38) US jazz pianist; best known for his role as sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (cirrhosis of the liver)
1991: Frank Smith Air Supply (pneumonia)
2002: Doreen Waddell (36) singer, Soul II Soul/KLF (run over by several cars on the A27, Brighton)
2005: Chris Curtis (63) Searchers
2006: Johnny Jackson (54) drummer; Jackson 5 (stabbed to death by his girlfriend)

March 2nd
1942: Charlie Christian (24) American jazz guitarist and blues singer; the first important electric guitarist, It was 25 years before jazz guitarists finally moved beyond Charlie Christian (tuberculosis)
1972: James "Spanky" DeBrest (34) US Jazz bassist; terrific discography includes hard bop material from Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk to John Coltrane, Clifford Jordan and many more, liner notes occasionally listing him as Jimmy DeBrest.()
1991: Serge Gainsbourg (62) French singer, pianist, guitarist; the saucey old man of popular music and provocateur notorious for his appetite for alcohol, cigarettes, and women, his scandalous, taboo-shattering output made him a legend in Europe but only a cult figure in America. (His death virtually lead to national mourning in France - heartattack)
1999: Dusty Springfield/Mary O'Brien (59) Uk husky-voiced soul singer ; Britain's greatest pop diva, also the finest white soul singer of her era, a performer of remarkable emotional resonance whose body of work spans the decades and their attendant musical transformations with a consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries (breast cancer)
2003: Hank Ballard (75) US singer, songwriter; Royals/Midnighters (throat cancer).
2005: Martin Denny (93) US easy listening piano; a child prodigy, at age ten he studied piano under Lester Spitz and Isadore Gorn. His last concert was held in Hawaii on February 13, 2005 at a benefit to aid tsunami victims, just three weeks later he passed away. ()
2008: Jeff Healey (41) Blind Canadian jazz / blues-rock guitarist and vocalist; discovered by guitar virtuoso Stevie Ray Vaughan and later appeared in the Patrick Swayze film "Road House" (cancer).
2009: Ernie Ashworth (80) American country singer, songwriter and longtime star of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He began his career singing on Huntsville radio station WBHP. In 1949, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked for several radio stations and was signed by Wesley Rose as a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music. Among the artists who recorded his songs were Jimmy Dickens, Carl Smith, Johnny Horton and Paul Anka. As a singer his first single, "Each Moment (Spent With You)," became a Top 5 Hit, which was followed by another top 10 hit "You Can’t Pick A Rose In December". Then the release that would become his signature song “Talk Back Trembling Lips” went to No.1 and he was voted "Most Promising Male Artist" by Cashbox, Billboard and Record World in 1963 and 1964 and he was also invited to join the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. In 1989, he purchased radio station WSLV in Ardmore, Tennessee. In 1992, Ernie was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.remained active as a recording artist until his death () b. December 15th 1928.

March 3rd
1979: Mike Patto (36) singer, Boxer (throat cancer)
1987: Danny Kaye/David Daniel Kominski (74) Inimitable, multi-talented entertainer, first gained fame on Broadway by upstaging the great Gertrude Lawrence in Lady in the Dark with an unforgettable rendition of the "Tchaikovsky," in which he rapidly fired off the names of 54 Russian composers in 38 seconds (heart attack)
1993: Carlos Montoya (89)Spanish flamenco guitarist; from the age of 14, he played in concert halls across the world. (died in Wainscott, New York)
2002: James Blackwood () gospel singer with the group Blackwoods (stroke)
2008: Norman "Hurricane" Smith (85) British singer, songwriter, record producer, also recording engineer and with The Beatles, Pink Floyd and many others. He wrote many hits, using a pseudonym of "Hurricane Smith," he had a UK hit with Don't Let It Die, a song he had written for John Lennon and a US No.1 Cashbox hit with Oh Babe What Would You Say (?).

March 4th
1986: Richard Manuel () Canadian singer, piano, keyboards, drums, lap slide guitar in the Rockin' Revols and group, The Band; his is the first voice you hear on The Band's legendary debut album, Music From Big Pink, a rich baritone so soulful and charged with pathos it's hard to believe it could come from the frail Canadian.(committed suicide by hanging when his wife briefly stepped out of their room. A bottle of Grand Marnier and cocaine were found alongside his body)
1986: Howard Greenfield (50) singer/songwriter (brain tumour)
1992: Mary Osborne (70) jazz guitarist, violin, bass, vocals, many jazz bands and she also featured on Jack Sterling's daily CBS radio program from 1952 to 1960. She remained a formidable guitarist late in life; in an appearance with Lionel Hampton at the 1990 Playboy Jazz Festival, she virtually stole the show(?)
2001: Glenn Hughes (50) singer, the original "Biker" character Village People. (lung cancer)
2002: Eric Flynn (62)Chinese-born British actor and singer (cancer)
2004: John McGeoch (58) Legendary Scottish guitarist; Magazine/the Banshees/Public Image Ltd/Visage/ sessionist and guest (died in his sleep)
2009: John "Bowling Green" Cephas (78) American Piedmont blues guitarist, well known as one half of the duo Cephas & Wiggins. He learned the blues from a guitar-playing aunt while his grandfather taught him about eastern Virginia folklore and his cousin David Taleofero, is credited with teaching him the Piedmont blues style of alternating thumb-and-picking method of guitar. Before serving in the Army during the Korean War, he joined the Capitol Harmonizers and toured on the gospel circuit. He met "Harmonica Phil" Wiggins at a jam session in Washington in 1977, and both performed as regular members of Wilbert "Big Chief" Ellis's Barrelhouse Rockers. Wilbert Ellis died later that year, John and Phil carried on together and since 1978, as the duo Cephas & Wiggins, they have performed on tours of Europe, Africa, Asia, South and Central America and the Soviet Union. Their 13 releases from the 1980 include Dog Days of August, Guitar Man and Flip, Flop and Fly. All are great examples of state-of-the-art, acoustic Piedmont blues (natural causes) b. September 4th 1940.

March 5th
1963: Patsy Cline/Virginia Patterson Hensley (30) American country singer, who helped blaze a trail for female singers to assert themselves as an integral part of the Nashville-dominated country music industry. Posthumously, millions of her albums have been sold over the past 46 years and she has been given numerous awards, which has given her an iconic status. Only ten years after her death, she became the first female solo artist inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2002, she was voted by artists and members of the Country Music industry as #1 on CMT's television special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music of all time, and in 1999 she was voted #11 on VH1's special The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll of all time by members and artists of the rock industry. According to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, "Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity." Among those hits are "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall to Pieces", "She's Got You", "Crazy", and "Sweet Dreams". (plane crash with The Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins) b. September 8th 1932.
1982: John Belushi (33) American comedian, actor and musician, notable for his work on Saturday Night Live, National Lampoon's Animal House and The Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers were a Grammy Award-nominated American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians John and his friend Dan Aykroyd as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live. John as lead vocalist "Joliet" Jake Blues and Dan as harpist/vocalist Elwood Blues, they fronted the band, which was composed of well-known and respected musicians. The band made its debut as the musical guest on the April 22, 1978, episode of Saturday Night Live. The band then began to take on a life beyond the confines of the television screen, releasing an album, Briefcase Full of Blues, in 1978, and then having a Hollywood film, The Blues Brothers, created around its characters in 1980. (overdose of cocaine & heroin) b. January 24th 1949.
1995: Viv Stanshall (51) vocals, trumpet, percussion; the original tenor in the absurdist Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (died in a house fire)
(killed in a house fire)
1996: Minnie Pearl/Sarah Ophelia Colley (83) US comedienne, singer; a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast from 1940 until her death, was country music's preeminent comedian and one of the most widely recognized comic performers American culture has ever produced (Her death was brought on by complications due to a stroke).
2004: John McGeoch (49) Guitarist, Magazine (died in his sleep)

March 6th
1854: John P. Sousa (77) composer, arranger, conductor, band leader; the sousaphone was named after him. Wrote over 100 marches. The guy who wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever" ()
1951: Ivor Novello (58) Welsh composer, singer, actor; Annual British songwriter award is named after him (coronary thrombosis).
1961: George Formby OBE (57) UK singer, comedian, ukulele, banjo; a musical comedian among Britain's most popular stars during the first half of the 20th century, with a legacy encompassing over 200 records and more than 20 hit films.(heart attack)
1986: Richard Manuel (42) Singer, piano, keyboards, drums, slide guitar, The Band; he developed a rhythmic style of piano unique in its usage of inverted chord structures, a naturally talented vocalist, with a timbre often compared to that of Ray Charles. (hung himself from a shower curtain rod in a hotel)
1988: Bob Garber (84) piano; band leader; very big around Washington DC, and a regular on the radio, apparently his band didn't use vocalists.()
2006: Thomas James Robb (57) Bassist; Highly respected and much sort after session bassist; played on hundreds of albums with a wide range of artists, including Alicia Bridges' worldwide hit "I Love The Night Life" (liver cancer)

March 7th
1966: Mike Millward (23) UK rhythm guitarist, singer; in the late 50's he played with Bob Evans and the Five Shillings, which become "The Vegas Five", then "The Undertakers", after which he was an original member the Four Jays in 1961. In the summer of 1963, the group, now called The Fourmost - signed up with Brian Epstein. This led to their being auditioned by George Martin and signed to EMI's Parlophone record label. Their first two singles were written by John Lennon. "Hello Little Girl", one of the earliest Lennon songs dating from 1957. Their follow-up single, "I'm in Love" a Lennon/McCartney song, was released on 15 November 1963. Their biggest hit "A Little Loving", written by Russ Alquist, reached Number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in mid 1964. The band appeared in the 1965 film, Ferry Cross the Mersey and are on the soundtrack album of the same name. The group's only album, First and Fourmost, was released in September 1965 (taken ill with throat cancer in '64, he recovered from that only to be tragically struck down by leukaemia) b. May 9th 1942
1985: Gordon Huntley (54) British pioneer pedal steel guitarist, known as the Father of Britsh Pedal Steel guitaring, as heard in his wonderful work with the country rock band Southern Comfort formed in 1970. The group debuted with Frog City, in 1971, which was followed up by self-titled release and Stir Don't Shake in 1972. Gordon played on all Southern Comforts albums and singles. The beautiful velvet tones of his steel on their No.1 hit ‘Woodstock’ was probabley an introduction and inspiration to many guitarists and future pedal steel guitarists. He started his long career out on the road with Felix Mendelssohn & his Hawaiian Serenaders, and by the late 50's before pedals were standard in the UK, Gordon was playing a triple-neck Fender non-pedal guitar. In 1963, he joined ‘The Westernaires’, a band mainly made up of U.S. Servicemen, by this time he had built himself one pedal onto his steel! Soon after he got himself his first model, a six pedal. As well as all the bands he has been a member of he became a much in-demand session player in both the studio and out on the road, which he prefered, with the likes of The Pretty Things, Pilot, Marc Ellington, Bridget Saint Paul, Cliff Richard, Elton John, Clodagh Rogers, Rod Stewart, Pete Green, Demis Roussos, John Renbourn, Al Jones, Fairport Convention and many others, before he was taken too early from us (cancer) b.1930
1988: Divine/Harris Glenn Milstead (42) US female impersonator, actor, singer; he featured in many films including the 1974 movie "Female Trouble", where he played the dual roles of teenage crime queen Dawn Davenport and Earl Peterson, the man who gets her pregnant! He also sang the theme song to "Female Trouble". This flamboyant and talented actor also had a singing career, which started in 1979 when Divine as a disco diva released his first single ‘Born To Be Cheap/The Name Game’. But his best-known hits came in the early and mid-Eighties, with high-energy disco tracks like ‘Shoot Your Shot’ in 1983 and ‘Walk Like A Man’ in 1985. But it is the song ‘You Think You’re A Man’ that was hiss biggest hit, reaching number 16 in the UK charts in 1984. Divine performed this song on well-known UK music show Top Of The Pops on July 19 1984, resulting in a barrage of complaints to the BBC. He released eleven international hit dance singles, and toured the world with his solo cabaret act of disco and outrageous humor, performing over 900 times in more than 19 countries.
(The autopsy found he had died in his sleep of heart failure, or an enlarged heart brought on by sleep apnea. The night he died, he had leaned over his hotel balcony and sang "Arrivederci Roma" before retiring to bed) b. October 19th 1945.
1991: Al Klink (74) American swing jazz tenor saxophonist; played with Glenn Miller from 1939 to 1942, and is heard trading solos with Tex Beneke on "In the Mood". He next played with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, and did work as a session musician after World War II. From 1952 to 1953 he played with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. In 1955, he recorded his only session as a bandleader, doing six songs for a Bob Alexander album which won a Grammy award. After the 1950s he disappeared from record until 1974, when he began playing with the World's Greatest Jazz Band. Later in the 1970s he played with Glenn Zottola and George Masso, and continued playing until the mid-1980s, when he retired in Florida. He died there in 1991 (?) b. December 28th 1915.

March 8th
1973: Ron "Pigpen" Mckernan (27) US multi-musician and founding member The Grateful Dead. His musical contributions included vocals, Hammond organ, harmonica, percussion, and occasionally guitar. He began spending time around coffeehouses and music stores, where he met Jerry Garcia. One night Garcia invited him onstage to play harmonica and sing the blues. Garcia was impressed and Ron became the blues singer in local jam sessions. He was a participant in the preceeding groups leading to the formation of the Grateful Dead, beginning with the Zodiacs and Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, which evolved into The Warlocks. Around 1965 Ron urged the rest of the Warlocks to switch to electric instruments after which they became the Grateful Dead. In 1970, Ron began experiencing symptoms of congenital biliary cirrhosis; these were exacerbated by his alcohol abuse. He had a short relationship and longer friendship with Janis Joplin who joined him onstage at the Fillmore West in June 1969 with the Grateful Dead to sing his signature "Turn On Your Lovelight". The two repeated this duet July 16, 1970 at the Euphoria Ballroom in San Rafael. After an August 1971 hospitalization, doctors requested that he stop touring indefinitely, He carried on performing, but sadly after their Europe '72 tour, his health had degenerated to the point where he could no longer continue on the road. His final concert appearance was June 17th 1972 at the Hollywood Bowl, in L.A.(gastrointestinal hemorrhage) b. September 8th 1945.
1993: Billy Eckstine (79) US jazz singer and band leader; his smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular music. After working in many bands, he formed his own big band in 1944 and made it a fountain head for young musicians who would reshape jazz by the end of the decade, including Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, and Fats Navarro. The Billy Eckstine Orchestra was the first bop big-band, and hit the charts often during the mid-'40s, with Top Ten entries including "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love." On the group's frequent European and American tours, Eckstine, popularly known as Mr. B, also played trumpet, valve trombone and guitar. Billy made numerous appearances on television variety shows, including "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Nat King Cole Show", "The Tonight Show" with Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson, "The Merv Griffin Show", "The Art Linkletter Show," "The Joey Bishop Show," "The Dean Martin Show," "The Flip Wilson Show," and "Playboy After Dark." He also performed as an actor in the TV sitcom "Sanford and Son," and in such films as Skirts Ahoy, Let's Do It Again, and Jo Jo Dancer. He recorded his final album in 1984, "I Am A Singer", featuring beautiful ballads arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo (?) b. July 8th 1914.
2003: Adam Faith/Terence Nelhams-Wright (62) English singer, actor in television, movies and theatre and financial journalist. He began his musical career in 1957, while working as a film cutter in London, singing with and managing a skiffle group, The Worried Men. They in Soho coffee bars after work, and became the resident band at The 2i's Coffee Bar, where they appeared on the BBC Television live music programme Six-Five Special, which led to a solo recording contract with HMV under the name Adam Faith, but his first two singles failed to chart. In March 1959, John Barry invited him to audition for a BBC TV rock and roll show, Drumbeat, he was given a contract for three shows, extended to the full 22-week run. He recorded six-track EP released by the Fontana record label, again he failed to chart. After taking drama and elocution lessons, he got an acting job appearing as a pop singer in the film, Beat Girl. This led to his third recording contract, with Parlophone. His next record in 1959, "What Do You Want?", this became his first number one hit in the UK Singles Chart. It was also the first number one hit for Parlophone, and Adam Faith the only pop act on the label. He went on to record 37 singles, 24 being chart hits, and nine albums, before going into full time acting. In the 1980s, he became a financial investments advisor. (heart attack) b. June 23rd 1940.
2009: Hank Locklin (91) American country singer, member of Grand Ole Opry. His hits include "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On", "Geisha Girl", and "Please Help Me I'm Falling", which went to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart. Billboard Magazine's 100th Anniversary issue also listed it as the second most successful country single of the Rock and Roll era. He had/has a strong following in Europe, and Ireland, so much so in 1963 he recorded an album called Irish Songs Country Style, which includes the beautiful song Wild Irish Rose. Also he has a fanclub situated in Langeli, Norway. In 2006, he appeared on the PBS special, Country Pop Legends in which he performed "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On", and "Please Help Me I'm Falling". Until his passing in 2009, he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 91. He recently released his 65th album, By the Grace of God, a collection of gospel songs.() b. February 15th 1918.

March 9th
1985: Robert Alexander "Bumps" Blackwell (62) American songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work overseeing the early hits of Little Richard. He produced and co-wrote hits for Little Richard including: "Long Tall Sally"; "Good Golly Miss Molly"; "Ready Teddy"; and "Rip It Up". He also produced Sam Cooke's hit "You Send Me". Earlier in his career in the 1940s he led a jazz group that included pianist Ray Charles and trumpeter Quincy Jones. He moved to Hollywood, California and took a job at Art Rupe's Specialty Records as an arranger and producer. He worked with Larry Williams, Lloyd Price and Guitar Slim before "discovering" Little Richard in 1955. In 1981 he produced some songs for Bob Dylan's album, Shot of Love, including the title track. Not be confused with another songwriter, Otis Blackwell (pneumonia) b. May 23rd 1922.
1993: Bob Crosby (79) American dixieland bandleader and vocalist with a singing voice remarkably similar to his brother Bing, but without its range; best known for his group Bob Crosby & the Bob Cats. He began singing with Anson Weeks in 1931, then Dorsey Brothers in 1934, before he led his first band in 1935. His most famous band, the Bob-Cats, was a Dixieland jazz group with members from the Bob Crosby Orchestra. Both the Bob Crosby Orchestra and the smaller Bob-Cats group specialized in Dixieland jazz, showcasing the traditional jazz revival of the 1940s. Over the years members included Yank Lawson, Billy Butterfield, Muggsy Spanier, Matty Matlock, Irving Fazola, Ward Silloway, Warren Smith, Eddie Miller, Joe Sullivan, Bob Zurke, Jess Stacy, Nappy Lamare, Bob Haggart, Walt Yoder, Jack Sperling, and Ray Bauduc. During World War II, he spent 18 months in the Marines, touring with bands in the Pacific. His radio variety series, The Bob Crosby Show, aired on NBC and CBS in different runs between the years 1943 to 1950, followed by Club Fifteen on CBS from 1947 through 1953 and a half-hour CBS daytime series, The Bob Crosby Show from 1953 to 1957. Also in 1952, Bob replaced Phil Harris as the bandleader on The Jack Benny Program, remaining until Benny retired the radio show in 1955 (complications from cancer) b. August 23rd 1913.
1997: Notorious BIG/Biggie Smalls/Christopher Wallace (24) American gangsta-rapper, a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene and increased New York's visibility at a time when hip hop was mostly dominated by West Coast artists. He began rapping when he was a teenager, entertaining people on the streets, as well as perform with local groups, the Old Gold Brothers and the Techniques. He had also lived a life of crime since he was 12 selling drugs and guns. After a prison sentence, Chris made a demo tape under the name Biggie Smalls which led his signing with Uptown who immediately gave him an appearance on Heavy D & the Boyz' "A Buncha Niggas". In mid 1992, he signed to Bad Boy Records. By 1996, he was headlining shows, enjoying MTV appearances, No.1 hit singles, and his debut album, Ready to Die, was selling remarkably well. He focused his energies on his second album, Life After Death, where, rather than relying on hardcore narratives and beats, he opted for midtempo and pop grooves, spawning hit singles such as "Hypnotise" and "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems". But when his former friend, Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas in September of 1996, and fingers were soon pointing at Chris and his East Coast associates, especially by the LA Times newspaper, which ran a campaign accusing the rapper of paying the Crips gang £1m to kill Shakur. Less than a year later, on a promotional tour in Los Angeles, Chris was dead, which many believed was in retaliation for Tupac's death. (After leaving a party in L.A. a black Chevy Impala pulled up alongside Chris's truck. The driver of the Impala, an African-American male neatly dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol and fired numerous rounds into the GMC Suburban; four bullets hit Chris in the chest. He was rushed to Cedars -Sinai Medical Center by his entourage but was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.) b. May 21st 1972.
1999: Mike Anthony (68) US guitarist with 5th Dimension (heart attack) b. ????
2005: Chris LeDoux (56) American singer, guitarist and rodeo performer. As well as being a solo artist he recorded and played with his pal Garth Brooks. He has recorded thirty-six albums and was awarded one gold album certification from the RIAA, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and the Academy of Country Music Music Pioneer Award. When his rodeo career ended, he continued to write and record his songs, and began playing concerts, which often featured a mechanical bull. He worked independenly until 1989, when he shot to national prominence when he was mentioned in the debut song of future superstar Garth Brooks, the Top-10 country hit "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)". In 1991Chris signed with Capitol Records and released his first national album, Western Underground, and his follow-up album, Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy, was certified gold and reached the top ten. The title track, a duet with Brooks, became LeDoux's first and only Top Ten country single, reaching #7 in 1992. In 2000, Chris suffered an illness that required a liver transplant. Garth Brooks volunteered to donate part of his liver, but it was found to be incompatible. n donor was located, and LeDoux did receive a transplant. After his recovery he released two additional albums (complications from ongoing treatment for cancer of the bile duct and liver) b. October 2nd 1948.
2007: Brad Delp (55) American multi-musician, lead singer, frontman of the rock band Boston, he is also known for his extremely high range, and often cited as a key influence in the rock music vocal scene. He began performing in Tom Scholz' band 'Mother's Milk' in 1969. Eventually they signed with Epic Records and renamed the band 'Boston'. Their debut album, Boston, released in August 1976, was an enormous success, selling over 17 million records and produced future rock standards such as "More Than a Feeling" and "Peace of Mind", it ranks as the best-selling debut album in United States history. Brad performed all lead and backing vocals, including all 'layered' vocal overdubs on the album. They went on to record 4 more studio albums with 1978's Don't Look Back and 1986's Third Stage both topping the Billboard album chart. From a very young age he had love and admiration for the UK band The Beales and besides his work with Boston from the mid '90s up until his death, Brad also played in a side project, a Beatles tribute band called Beatlejuice when he had time off from Boston (suicide) b. June 12th 1951

March 10th
1988: Andy Gibb (30) UK solo singer, the youngest of the Gibb brothers but he was not a member of The Bee Gees. In 1977, he began his career as a solo singer, following his brothers' disco style. His first three singles "I Just Want to Be Your Everything," "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water," and "Shadow Dancing" all reached the No.1 spot. Three more consecutive Top Ten hits followed, cementing his overnight sensation status. Despite the number four "Desire," Gibb's streak of Top Ten hits began to slip in 1980; the following year he had his last Top 40 hit, "Me (Without You)." After a brief stint as the host of Solid Gold, Andy turned to acting, but he did not replicate the enormous success of his recording career. Sadly he developed a massive cocaine addiction, which helped lead to his death (died from the virus myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle) b. March 5th 1958
1989: Doc Green Jr. (54) US bass & baritone singer; The Five Crowns/Drifters ()
1997: Lavern Baker/Delores Williams (57) R&B singer; one of the sexiest divas gracing the mid-'50s rock & roll circuit (coronary complications)
2001: Massimo Morsello (42) Italian singer; He was the main figure of Italian far-right political music and a co-founder of the Italian nationalist movement Forza Nuova. (cancer)
2002: Shirley Scott (67) US hard bop and soul-jazz organist; became known in the 1950s for her work with saxophone player Eddie Davis, particularly the song "In the Kitchen.", went on to play with many greats (died of heart failure, believed this had been hastened by the diet drug fen-phen).
2008: Charles "Chuck" Day (65) American blues guitarist, singer and bassist working with the likes of the Johnny River band and the Mamas and Papas before forming his own band. He wrote the distinctive riff in "Secret Agent Man" (died in Healdsburg District Hospital after a long illness).
2008: Dennis Irwin (56) American jazz double bassist, he toured and recorded with John Scofield and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among others (complications of cancer).
2009: Ralph Mercado (67) American promoter of Latin American music — Latin Jazz, Latin rock, merengue and salsa — he established a network of businesses that included promoting concerts, managing artists, a record label, film company, nightclubs and restaurants. He out started promoting "waistline parties", live music events in apartment building basements where women were charged in proportion to their waist size, with himself measuring at the door. Soon he was promoting Latin jazz at Manhattan clubs such as The Village Gate. These expanded into concerts at major venues with stars such as James Brown, who appeared with Latin acts such as Mongo Santamaría. He turned to managing performers, founding RMM Management in 1972, where his clients included Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, achieving acclaim as the biggest salsa manager in the United States by the 1970s. He developed new talent, such as La India Marc Anthony, presenting salsa concerts at major venues across the country, from Madison Square Garden to the Hollywood Bowl. Ralf started RMM Records in 1987, which had in excess of 130 artists performing across the Latin music spectrum, representing merengue, salsa, Latin jazz and Latin rock. He rode the expanding size and economic power of the nation's Hispanic population and a general interest in salsa music. Mercado brought in international groups and influences from Africa, Brazil and even Japan. He achieved acclaim as the most successful promoter of salsa music, and in 1991, Billboard magazine described him as "the entrepreneur who took salsa from New York to the world" (cancer) b. September 29th 1941

March 11th
1978: Claude Francois (39) French pop singer (electrocuted when changing a light bulb while standing in his bathtub)
1986: Sonny Terry/Saunders Terrell (75) blues singer, harmonica; Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers or Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five ()

March 12th
1955: Charlie Parker (34) US j azz saxophonist; considered one of the greatest and influential jazz musicians, ranked with such players as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He began playing the saxophone at age 11 and at age 14 joined his school's band using a rented school instrument. He spent 3 to 4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day, playing many tunes in all 12 keys. In this wood-shedding period, he mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas of be-bop. He became an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer. His style – from a rhythmic, harmonic and soloing perspective – influenced countless peers on every instrument, he changed the sound of jazz music forever. His numerous awards, inductions and achievements include four recordings inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame - 1945's "Billie's Bounce", 1946's "Ornithology", 1953's "Jazz at Massey Hall" and 1950's "Charlie Parker with Strings", a Grammy Award for Best Performance By A Soloist in 1974, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984, in 1995 a 32 cents Commemorative stamp was issued in his honor and in 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Koko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry (died in his friend and patron Nica de Koenigswarter's Stanhope Hotel suite while watching Tommy Dorsey on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer) b. August 29th 1920.
2005: Stavros Kouyioumtzis (72) Greek composer, one of the most significant Greek music composers of the 20th century. He worked with some of the most important Greek singers, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Anna Vissi, Haris Alexiou, Yiannis Parios, and Giorgos Kalatzis and also collaborated in many songs with the poet-lyricist Manos Eleftheriou. His last appearance on television was in the music show of Spyros Papadopoulos on NET TV. During his last few years he left Athens and moved back to his birthplace, Thessaloniki, where he continued working on music and songs (?) b. 1932
2009: Kalman Bloch (95) American clarinetist; he was principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for more than 40 years. He studied with Simeon Bellison, a notable clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic. Kalman left New York for Los Angeles during the Great Depression, and wrote out over 100 job applications. Otto Klemperer, then music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was the only one to respond. Kalman also performed on several film soundtracks, including those of Sunset Boulevard and North by Northwest (?) b. May 30th 1913.

March 13th
1987: Gerald Moore CBE (87) uk pianist best known for accompanying many famous singers in the performance and recordings of Lieder (?)
1994: Danny Barker (85) US jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele player and author from New Orleans, founder of the locally famous Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band (cancer).
1998: Judge Dread/Alex Hughes (52) English reggae and ska artist; the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, and has the most banned songs of all time. He worked as a bouncer, a bodyguard, professional wrestler, debt collector and radio DJ before he released his first record, "Big Six" which reached No.11 in the UK Singles Chart and spent six months on the chart, despite getting no radio airplay due to its lyrics. Further hit singles followed with "Big Seven" and "Big Eight", both following the pattern of rude versions of nursery rhymes over a reggae backing, as well as "Y Viva Suspenders" and "Up With The Cock". He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica with "Big Six", which lead him to travel to Jamaica to perform live, where many were surprised that he was white. He released 13 albums and he had 11 UK singles chart hits in the 1970s, which was more than any other reggae artist, including Bob Marley. The Guinness Book of World Records credits Judge Dread for having the highest number of banned songs of all time, 11! He helped organize a benefit concert for the famine in Ethiopia featuring The Wailers and Desmond Dekker, and released a benefit single "Molly". Despite this single not featuring Dread's trademark innuendos, it was still banned from radio airplay. He tried releasing singles under the pseudonyms JD Alex and Jason Sinclair, but the BBC still banned them (He was finishing a performance at Penny Theatre in Canterbury, as the set finished, he turned to the audience and said, "Let's hear it for the band." They were his final words, as he walked offstage, he suffered a fatal heart attack) b. May 2nd 1945.
2002: Marc Moreland (44) guitarist, Wall Of Voodoo (kidney failure)
2008: Martin Fierro (66) American tenor saxophonist who played in the jazz, freeform rock, and avant-garde traditions with musicians as diverse as the Sir Douglas Quintet, Legion of Mary to the Allman Brothers and The Grateful Dead (cancer).
2009: Alan W. Livingston (91) American music executive; he began his career leading his own college orchestra at the University of Pennsylvania. After the war he obtained his first position with Capitol Records, as a writer/producer. He wrote and produced many children's series of storytelling record-album including the debut of Bozo the Clown with the September 1946's "Bozo at the Circus"; many products for Walt Disney; Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker; Hopalong Cassidy including "Hopalong Cassidy and The Singing Bandit" in 1950; Bugs Bunny and all of the Warner Bros characters and he wrote the 1951 pop hit "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat". Alan moved on to the adult music and became Vice President. He signed Frank Sinatra, who agreed to work with Nelson Riddle, with an immediate impact, producing the classics "I've Got the World on a String." and "Young-at-Heart". Alan was also officially credited as the inspiration for the distinctive Capitol Records Tower, completed in April 1956, noted for being the first circular office building in the world. In the 60's he turned Capitol Records into a more rock-oriented company with such artists as The Beach Boys, Steve Miller, The Band, and others. He signed The Beatles, agreeing to release 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' in 1963 and bringing them to the United States in 1964, after rejecting their previous singles as unsuitable for the U.S. market despite Capitol being owned by The Beatles' U.K. record company, EMI. Alan was the creative force responsible for Capitol Records' growth from net sales of $6 million per year to sales in excess of $100 million per year. He later sold his stock in Capitol Industries to form his own company, Mediarts Inc., for the production of motion pictures, records and music publishing. Aug '76, he joined 20th Century Fox as Senior Vice President and President, Entertainment Group. He left in 1980 to accept the presidency of Atalanta Investment Company, but resigned in 1987 to produce a one-hour film for television and to form Pacific Rim Productions, Inc (?) b. October 15th 1917.

March 14th
1972: Linda Jones (27) US soul singer;the biggest of several hits was "Hypnotized" (diagnosed with diabetes, died after she collapsed backstage at the Apollo Theater).
1976: Busby Berkeley/William Berkeley Enos (80) US film director, musical choreographer, famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. His quintessential works used legions of showgirls and props as fantastic elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances (natural causes)
1991: Doc Pomus/Jerome Solon Felder (66) American blues singer and songwriter, found success as one of the finest white blues singers of the 1940s before becoming one of the greatest songwriters in the history of American popular music; elected to Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (cancer)

March 15th
1959: Lester "The Prez" Young (49) saxophone, clarinet; one of the three most important tenor saxophonists of all time. Billie Holiday gave him his nickname “Prez”. His experiences dealing with racism in the military were horrifying, affecting his mental state of mind for the remainder of his life.(After becoming ill in Paris in early 1959, he came home and essentially drank himself to death)
1988: Dannie Richmond (52) US drummer; Charles Mingus/own band ().
2004: Rust Epique (35) guitarist in the band Crazy Town (heart attack)
2008: Mikey Dread/Michael Campbell (54) Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster, his music attracted the attention of British punk rockers The Clash, who invited him over to England to produce some of their music (brain tumor).
2009: Edmund "Ted" Hockridge (89) Canadian singer and actor; he first visited the UK in 1941 with the Royal Canadian Air Force and helped set up the Allied Expeditionary Forces Network, which supplied entertainment and news for troops in Europe. He was loaned to the BBC, often working with the Glen Miller Band and the Canadian band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces led by Robert Farnon. He sang and produced more than 400 shows with the BBC Forces Network and as the war ended he sang with big bands such as Geraldo’s. After the war and back in Canada he played leading roles in operas such as Don Giovanni, La bohème, Peter Grimes and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, as well as having his own radio show in Toronto. In 1951 he returned to Britain to take the part of Billy Bigelow in Carousel at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London, which had rave reviews. He went on to play leading roles in a string of popular musicals including Guys and Dolls, Can Can and The Pajama Game and had recording hits with songs such as ''Young and Foolish'', ''No Other Love'', ''The Fountains of Rome'' and ''More than Ever''. A song from The Pajama Game, ''Hey There'', gave him his biggest hit and became his signature tune. He appeared in early editions of The Benny Hill Show, Sunday Night at the London Palladium and he starred in a six-month, sell-out variety season again at the Palladium. In 1953 he was in the Royal Variety Show and the same year he was Canada’s representative in the Westminster Abbey choir at the Coronation. Edmond headlined in cabaret on the QE2’s maiden voyage and he toured Europe in revivals of musicals. He also turned to British summer seasons and Sunday concerts, becoming one of Blackpool’s most popular stars. He topped the bill on Blackpool’s North Pier for seven years and appeared in several of Harold Fielding’s Opera House concerts in the 1960s. In the early 1980s he appeared in revivals of The Sound of Music and South Pacific but he made a spectacular comeback in 1986 when he played the part of the elderly Buffalo Bill in the big revival of Annie Get Your Gun. In the 1990s he was back on the road with his show, The Edmund Hockridge Family, in which he was joined on stage by Jackie and their two sons, Murray and Stephen. He never really retired and even in his eighties he was still making public appearances and giving talks about his long career () b. August 9th 1919.
2009: Jack Lawrence (96) American Academy Award-nominated songwriter. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. (complications from a fall) b. April 7th 1912

March 16th
1958: Carl Perkins (27) US jazz pianist with Max Roach-Clifford Brown quintet, but is better known for his association with Curtis Counce; a fine bop-oriented pianist who overcame a slightly crippled left hand due to polio.(drug related)
1970: Tammi Terrell/Thomasina Montgomery (24) Solo singer, a member of The Sherrys and Motown singer (brain tumour, collapsed into Marvin Gaye's arms onstage during a duet of 'That's All You Need To Get By')
1975: T- Bone Walker/Aaron Thibeaux Walker (64) US blues guitarist, singer; he was the idiom's first true lead guitarist, and undeniably one of its very best. Modern electric blues guitar can be traced directly back to this Texas-born pioneer, who began amplifying his sumptuous lead lines for public consumption circa 1940 and thus initiated a revolution so total that its tremors are still being felt today. He was the childhood hero of Jimi Hendrix, and Hendrix imitated some of Walker's ways throughout his life including Walker's flamboyant playing style with the guitar behind his back and legs and with his teeth on stage.(heart problems)
1991: Reba Mcentire () (All seven members of Country star Reba Mcentire's band were killed when their plane crashed near San Diego)
1996: Joseph Pope (62) singer, Tams
2008: Ola Brunkert (61) Swedish session drummer; playered on all Abba's albums and every hit record, and accompanied the group on all their tours (bled to death in a tragic freak accident at his home in Mallorca, when he fell into a glass door, cutting his throat).
2008: Daniel MacMaster (39) US rock vocalist for American/British hard rock band Bonham releasing two albums with them The Disregard of Timekeeping and Mad Hatter (died from a staph infection).


March 17th
1979: Zenon de Fleur Heirowski (28) guitarist, Count Bishops (heart attack)
1982: Samuel George Jr (39) lead singer, Capitol (stabbed during a family argument)
1983: Gigi Gryce/Basheer Qusim/George General Grice Jr (58) jazz saxophonist ()
1990: Rick Grech () bass player, Traffic (kidney and liver failure)
1997: Jermaine Stewart (39) American singer, best known for his hits, "The Word Is Out" and "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off". Before his solo career he had been a backup singer and dancer for several artists such as The Chi-Lites, The Staple Singers and Shalamar and recording backup vocals for such artists as Culture Club. (liver cancer attributed to AIDS) b. Sept 7th 1957
2006: Professor X/Lumumba Robert Carson (49)US rapper with X-Clan known for its Afrocentrism and militant activism (spinal meningitis)

March 18th
1984: Paul Francis Webster (76) American Academy Award-winning lyricist; before going freelance, Twentieth Century Fox signed him to a contract to write lyrics for Shirley Temple's films()
1984: Joseph Spence (73) Bahamian fisherman-turned-guitarist, singer; several modern folk, blues and jazz musicians, including Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Woody Mann and John Renbourn were influenced by and have recorded variations of his arrangements of gospel and Bahamian pop tunes.()
1988: Billy Butterfield (61) US jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist; gained attention working with Bob Crosby and later worked with Artie Shaw ().
2001: John Phillips (65) singer, guitarist, songwriter. Founder member of The Mamas and The Papas and the Journeymen (heart failure)
2009: Eddie Bo/Edwin Joseph Bocage (79) American singer and one of the last New Orleans junker-style pianists. He was known for his wild R&B, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrangements. After leaving school and a stint in the army he studied piano, music theory, sight reading and music arrangement at the Grundwald School of Music inNew Orleans. He was influenced by Russian classical pianist Horowitz and bebop pianists Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. Eddie began playing in the New Orleans jazz scene and went under the name of Spider Bocage, later forming the Spider Bocage Orchestra. In the 1950s he and a group of New Orleans musicians toured the country supporting singers Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown, Smiley Lewis, and The Platters. He debuted on Ace Records in 1955 and released more single records than anyone else in New Orleans other than Fats Domino. His song "Hook & Sling" was featured on the breakbeat compilation "Ultimate Breaks and Beats". In the 70's he can be heard with the likes of Curly Moore & The Kool Ones and Roy Ward. Through the 1980s and 1990s he recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, he played, toured and recorded with Willy DeVille, Victory Mixture and Big Easy Fantasy. He later joined up with Raful Neal and Rockin’ Tabby Thomas playing and recording under the names The Louisiana Legends, The District Court and The Hoodoo Kings. As well as his busy career as a recording and performing musician, he also produced and arranged records by such artists as Art Neville, Chris Kenner, Chuck Carbo, Irma Thomas, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Johnny Adams, Mary Jane Hooper, Robert Parker, The Vibrettes, and The Explosions. He was honoured on May 22, 1997 when it was declared "Eddie Bo Day" in New Orleans by mayor Marc Morial while Bo was playing in Karachi, Pakistan. He won many music awards including two Lifetime Achievement awards from the South Louisiana Music Association and Music / Offbeat Best of the Beat and was named New Orleans' music ambassador to Pakistan (heart attack) b. September 20th 1930.

March 19th
1913: John Thomas (87) Welsh harpist and composer, highly honored throughout Europe with memberships in the Societa di S. Cecilia in Rome, Societa Filharmonica of Florence,the Philharmonic Society of London and harpist to Queen Victoria. ()
1976: Gary Thain (28) bass, Uriah Heep (drug overdose)
1976: Paul Kossoff (25) UK rock guitarist with the band Free (died from a drug-induced heart attack while on a plane flight from Los Angeles to New York)
1982: Randy Rhoads (25) American rock guitarist; founder member of Quiet Riot, after which he joined The Ozzy Osbourne Band. He is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. (killed in a freak airplane accident, whilst buzzing the bands tour bus from a light aircraft, the plane's wing clipped the bus and crashed). b. Dec 6th 1956.
1989: Alan Civil (59) English French horn player; he was engaged by Thomas Beecham to play second horn to Dennis Brain in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, when Brain left for the Philharmonia, Alan took over leadership of the section. In 1955, he joined the Philharmonia himself, becoming principal horn player when Brain died in a car crash in 1957. In the 1960s, Alan became the first non-German to be approached by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to become a member, but he stayed with the Philharmonia, who were reshaping themselves into the New Philharmonia. In 1966 he became principal hornist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, remaining there until his retirement in 1988. As a soloist, Civil recorded the horn concertos of Mozart, and his recording of Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Robert Tear is also quite well known. He also played chamber music in the Alan Civil Horn Trio. Alan He was awarded an OBE in 1985 (?) b.
2007: Luther Ingram (69) American R&B, soul singer, songwriter; best known for his hit, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right", which was placed number one on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, and peaked at No.3 on the Hot 100 chart in 1972. Other popular tracks include "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)" and "I'll Be Your Shelter". He was also responsible for the classic 1966 Northern Soul stormer "If It's All The Same To You" and it's instrumental "Exus Trek". He also co-authored the Staples Singers hit, "Respect Yourself". (heart failure) b. March 19th 2007.
2008: Mia Permanto (19) Finnish singer, radio host and was placed sixth in the Idols finals of 2007. She can be heard on the single "Rising Sun" released by Heikki Liimatainen in October 2007. She can also be heard on The Prophecy album by Cristal Snow. She had started to record an album with Helsinki Music Works just before her death (cause of death not released) b. April 21st 1988.
2009: Ion Dolanescu (65) Romanian singer and politician; popular East European traditional folk music singer having recorded 9 hit singles, the last 3 of which feature Maria Ciobanu. Since 2000 he has also been a member of parliment as deputy of the Committee for Culture, Arts, and Mass Media (heart attack) b. January 25th 1944.

March 20th
1981: Sonny Red Kyner (48)American alto saxophonist (?).
1987: Norman Harris (39) an American guitarist, producer, arranger, songwriter, and orchestra conductor associated with Philly soul; a founding member of MFSB and one-third of the production trio of Baker-Harris-Young (heart attack)
1991: Coner Clapton (4) Eric Clapton's son (fell from a 53rd floor window in New York)
1991: Billy Butler (65) US soul-jazz and blues guitarist; sessionist/freelance ().
2008: Klaus Dinger (61) German drummer and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal Krautrock outfit; the band Neu! and his invention of the Motorik beat. Less known is that he was the former percussionist and founding member of Kraftwerk (heart failure).
2009: Mel Brown (69) American blues guitarist, he started guitar in his early teens while battling meningitis, studying the music of idols like B. B. King and T-Bone Walker. In 1960, he toured with The Olympics, followed by a two years with Etta James. By 1963 he had become a wanted session musician playing/ recording for artists from Bobby Darin to T-Bone Walker. In 1971 he paired up with fellow guitarist Herb Ellis recording a series of LPs including ''Big Foot Country Gal'', ''The Wizard'', and ''I'd Rather Suck My Thumb'', they worked on various projects over 12 years. In the years to follow, he backed artists from Buddy Guy to Stevie Ray Vaughan to Clifton Chenier. In 1986, Brown accepted Albert Collins' offer to join his band the Icebreakers, recording Cold Snap before returning to Antone's. In 1989, he resumed his solo career with "If It's All Night, It's All Right". Then in early 1990, Mel relocated to Canada, where he formed a new band, the Homewreckers. He was nominated for a Juno Award in both 2001 and 2002 and on April 3 2008 Mel performed on stage with Buddy Guy in Kitchener Ontario mesmerizing the crowd. Buddy Guy left the stage for Mel to finish the show to a Standing Ovation (emphysema) b. October 7th 1939.

March 21st
1991: Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender (81) Greek-American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, now known as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and later founded MusicMan and G&L Musical Products (G&L Guitars). His guitar, bass, and amplifier designs from the 1950s continue to dominate popular music more than half a century later. "The Strat" he asked his customers what new features they would want on the Telecaster. The large number of replies, along with the continued popularity of the Telecaster, caused him to leave the Telecaster as it was and to design a new, upscale solid body guitar to be sold alongside the basic Telecaster instead. Western swing guitarist Bill Carson was one of the chief critics of the Telecaster, stating that the new design should have individually adjustable bridge saddles, four or five pickups, a vibrato unit that could be used in either direction and return to proper tuning, and a contoured body for enhanced comfort over the slab-body Telecaster's harsh edges. Leo and draughtsman Freddie Tavares began designing the new guitar in late 1953, which would address most of Carson's ideas and would also include a rounder, less "club-like" neck and a double cutaway for easier reach to the upper registers. Released in 1954, the Stratocaster has been in continuous production ever since. The Electric Bass: Leo also conceived an instrument that would prove to be essential to the evolution of popular music with the Precision Bass (or "P-Bass"), released in 1951,. Up until this time, bassists had been left to playing acoustically resonating double basses/upright basses. Unlike double basses, the Telecaster-based Precision Bass was small and portable, and its solid body construction and four magnet, single coil electronic pickup allowed it to be amplified at higher volumes without the feedback issues normally associated with acoustic instruments. Along with the Precision Bass, so named because its fretted neck allowed bassists to play with 'precision'.the P-Bass and its accompanying amplifier were the first widely-produced of their kind, and the P-bass was the first bass to be fretted like a guitar; arguably, the P-Bass remains one of the most popular basses in music today. 1960 saw the release of the Jazz Bass, a sleeker, updated bass with a slimmer neck, and offset waist body and two single coil pickups, as opposed to the Precision Bass and its split-humbucking pickup that had been introduced in 1957. Like its predecessor, the Jazz Bass/"J-Bass" was an instant hit and has remained popular to this day, and early models are highly sought after by collectors (complications of Parkinson's disease) b. August 10th 1909.
2002: John "Speedy" Keen (57) UK vocalist, songwriter, drummer for Thunderclap Newman, a band The Who's guitarist Pete Townshend created in 1969, to play and record songs written by 'Speedy' who had been The Who's roadie and chauffeur for Peter. Originally Peter Townsend played bass for the band under the pseudonym Bijou Drains. Speedy wrote The Who's "Armenia City in the Sky", the only song The Who ever performed that was specifically written for the group by a non-member. Speedy's mega hit song "Something In The Air" appeared on the soundtracks of the films The Magic Christian (1969),The Strawberry Statement (1970) Kingpin (1996), Almost Famous (2000), The Dish (2000) and The Girl Next Door (2004). Speedy went on to be record producer for The Heartbreakers and Motörhead.(died suddenly of heart failure) b. March 29th 1945.
2004: Johnny Bristol (65) US singer, songwriter and record producer for the Motown label, later signing with MGM. He started out recording locally, with the Detroit label Anna in 1959, owned by Gwen Gordy and Billy Davis and also for Gwen Gordy and Harvey Fuqua's Tri-Phi label. The 2 labels were absorbed by Berry Gordy's Motow, here Johnny had many hits both as a producer and songwriter including Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Your Precious Love", Edwin Starr's "Twenty-Five Miles", Gladys Knight & the Pips' "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" and David Ruffin's "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)". After leaving Motown in 1973 he joined CBS as a producer, before signing a recording contract with MGM. Later he had much success in Europe especially with the release of "Man Up in the Sky", and a cover of the his penned "What Does it Take to Win Your Love", originally a hit for Jr. Walker & the All Stars. Johnny 's last releases were a 12" single in 1991 for Whichway Records, "Come to Me", and an album Life & Love released for the Japanese market in 1993 (natural causes) b. February 3rd 1939.
2005: Robert Waltrip "Bobby" Short (80) American cabaret singer and pianist known for his interpretation of songs by 20th century composers such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke and George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. He also championed African-American composers of the same period such as Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, Andy Razaf, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. In 1972 he sung the theme song in James Ivory's film "Savages" and in 1986 he appeared in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters", then Woody Allen used his recording "I Happen To Like New York" for opening title of '''Manhattan Murder Mystery'' in 1993. (leukemia) b. September 15th 1924
2008: Shusha 'Shamsi' Guppy (72) Persian writer, editor and a singer of Persian and Western folk-songs. At the age of 17 she studied Oriental languages and philosophy in Paris and also trained as an opera singer. In Paris she encountered artists, writers and poets such as Louis Aragon, Jose Bergamin, Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus and encouraged by Jacques Prévert to record albums of Persian folk songs, and subsequently chansons and old French songs. Her first British release, in 1971, was an album of traditional Persian music, previously released in France. In 1976 Shamsi relocated to London, and was very influenced by the Folk Revival, she wrote and sung some of her own songs, as well as covering the works of many contemporary singer/song-writers. She recorded 9 albums and gave successful concerts in Britain, America and Europe (?) b. December 24th 1935.
2008: John Fowler (42) American drummer; he was a member of the band Rage of Angels, before becoming a founding member of Steelheart playing on the bands first two albums ''Steelheart'' & ''Tangled In Reins''. He left the band to play with ''Voodoo Jets'' and ''Smoke and Hipnotic'' with whom he was playing with when sadly, he fell into a fatel coma (brain aneurysm) b. 1965

March 22nd
1991: Dave Guard (56) American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio. While an undergraduate at Stanford, Dave started a pickup group with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane. He called his group Dave Guard and the Calypsonians. He kept the group together after Reynolds and Shane left, changing the name to The Kingston Quartet. Then in 1957, when Reynolds and Shane agreed to team up with him again, the group changed its name to The Kingston Trio. Under contract with Capitol Records, the Trio became a huge commercial and influential success with hits such as songs include "Tom Dooley," "A Worried Man," "Hard Travelin'," "Tijuana Jail," "Greenback Dollar," "Reverend Mr. Black," "Sloop John B.," "Scotch And Soda," "Merry Minuet," "M.T.A.", "Zombie Jamboree", "Hard, Ain't It Hard," "Three Jolly Coachmen," and "Raspberries, Strawberries". In 1961, shortly after leaving the Trio, Dave formed a new group, The Whiskeyhill Singers, They toured and released an album and were asked to perform several folk songs on the Academy Award winning soundtrack of How the West Was Won. Their voices can be heard on "The Erie Canal", "900 miles", "The Ox Driver", "Raise A Ruckus Tonight". Dave performed solo on the tracks "Wanderin'" and "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger". In late 1962 he moved to Sydney, Australia. There he hosted a national TV variety show called Dave's Place. Until his return to the United States in 1968. Through the '80's he continued to make solo performances, along with several "reunions" of the old Kingston Trio. In 2000 The Kingston Trio was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame (lymphatic cancer) b. October 19th 1934.
1994: Dan Hartman (43) American singer, songwriter and record producer; he joined his first band, The Legends, at the age of 13, as keyboardist and wrote much of the band's music, releasing several records. He next joined the Edgar Winter Group and played guitar on three of their albums; he wrote the band's second biggest pop hit "Free Ride" in 1972. A re-recorded version of "Free Ride" was used in the movie, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, in 1995 and Charizard the Dragon in 1998. He launched his solo career in 1976 and in 1978 he reached No.1 on the Dance Charts with the single, "Instant Replay". This was followed by his second chart topper, "Relight My Fire", which later became the theme for the NBC talk show Tomorrow. In 1984, Dave also performed "Heart of the Beat" under the band name 3V with Charlie Midnight for the soundtrack of Breakin' directed by Joel Silberg. In 1985, he scored a third No.1 single on the Dance Music charts, with "We Are The Young." (brain tumor caused by AIDS) b. December 8th 1950.
2005: Rod Price (58) UK guitarist; a t 21, he joined the British blues band Black Cat Bones, replacing Paul Kossoff, which recorded one album, Barbed Wire Sandwich. Rod is best known for his years with the band Foghat, he joined Foghat when the group was first formed in London in 1971. He played on the band's first ten albums, released from 1972 through to 1980. Known as the "Magician of slide" he worked with many other musicians such as Champion Jack Dupree, Duster Bennett, Eddie Kirkland, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon and Honey Boy Edwards (died after falling down a flight of stairs and suffering a massive coronary) b. November 22nd 1947.
2006: Pío Leyva/Wilfredo Pascual (88) Cuban singer; he is the author of the well-known guaracha El Mentiroso ("The Liar") and composed some of Cuba’s best known standards. At the age of six he won a bongo contest and made his singing debut in 1932. He recorded over 25 albums since he signed his first contract with RCA Victor in 1950. He also sang with other Cuban artists such as Benny Moré, Bebo Valdés and Noro Morales and was a member of Estrellas de Areito and "Compay Segundo y Sus Muchachos". Pío was part of the Buena Vista Social Club, and took part in the 2004 film Música Cubana, which was marketed as a sequel to Buena Vista Social Club (heart attack) b. May 5th 1917
2008: Israel "Cachao" López (89) Cuban mambo musician, bassist and composer, who has helped bring mambo music to popularity in the United States of America in the early 1950s. From an eight year old bongo player to one of the 2 most sort after bass player in New York, Cachao has played with artists such as Celia Cruz, Bebo Valdes, Tito Puente, Willy Chirino, Paquito D'Rivera, Willie Colon, and his music has been featured on movies such as The Birdcage, and on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack. Andy García produced two documentaries about this music, Cachao ... Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos ("With A Rhythm Like No Other") in 1993 and Cachao: Uno Más, which premiered in April 2008 at the San Francisco International Film Festival. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has been described as "the inventor of the mambo" winning several Grammy Awards for both his own work and his contributions on albums by Latin music stars, including Gloria Estefan. In 1994 he won a Grammy for Master Sessions Volume 1. In 2003 he won a Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album together with Bebo and Patato Valdés for El Arte Del Sabor and he won a further Grammy in 2005, again for his own work (renal failure) b. September 14th 1918.
2008: Jason Rae (31) Scottish saxophonist, who played with his band Haggis Horns for the late 8 years of his life. The group have played backing band and toured with the likes of Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Mark Ronson, Nightmares On Wax and Corinne Bailey Rae, who was also Jason's wife. His band had recently released a debut album, "Hot Damn!", at the time of his death. (found dead in his flat in Leeds, UK; a toxicology test has proved inconclusive but West Yorkshire Police suspect he died of a drugs overdose). b. October 19th 1976.

March 23rd
1895: Sonny Greer (86) American jazz drummer; he started his career with Elmer Snowden's band and the Howard Theatre's orchestra in Washington, D.C. He met Duke Ellington in 1919 and became the Duke's first drummer, playing in his quintet, the Washingtonians. He moved with Ellington into the Cotton Club, and because of his then second job as a designer with the Leedy Drum Company, he built up a huge drum kit worth over $3,000, as well as chimes, a gong, timpani, and vibes. He stayed with the Duke for over 30 years. In 1950 the two musicians fell out to due to Sonny's heavy drinking and unreliability and they went their separate ways. Sonny worked as a freelance drummer playing with the likes of Johnny Hodges, Red Allen, J. C. Higginbotham, Tyree Glenn, and Brooks Kerr, as well as appearing in films, and briefly leading his own band. He was part of a tribute to The Duke in 1974, which achieved great success throughout the United States (?) b. December 13th 1895
1980: Jacob Miller (23) Jamaican reggae artist well known for his work with Inner Circle; he featured in the film Rockers, alongside many other musicians including Gregory Isaacs, Big Youth and Burning Spear. In the movie, he plays the singer of a hotel house band, in reality Inner Circle, who are joined on drums by the films hero, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace and play an awesome live version of Inner Circle hit "Tenement Yard". One of his biggest Jamaican hits "Tired Fe Lick Weed" showed his political leanings as can be seen in his performance of the song in the film "Heartland Reggae", where his open enjoyment of a 'ganja spliff' on stage was intended to be seen as a militant statement. He was due to perform along with Bob Marley and Inner Circle in Brazil and then to tour with them; this tour was canceled after Miller's untimely death (car crash) b. May 4th 1952.
1995: Alan Barton (41) English lead singer of hit-making duo Black Lace, alongside Colin Routh, with hits including "Agadoo", "The Music Man" and "Superman". They also represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in Jerusalem, with the song "Mary Ann", which finished seventh. In 1986, Alan replaced Chris Norman in Smokie recording six albums with them, and touring extensively as their lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. He was also the lead singer on Smokie's revival of their hit, "Living Next Door To Alice", recorded with British comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown, as "Who The Fuck is Alice". In 1991 he released his only solo album, "Precious" and two singles: "July 69" and "Carry Your Heart" ft Kristine Pettersen (Tragically on their way to Dusseldorf airport their tour bus careered off the road in a freak hailstorm. Alan died 5 days later in intesive care) b. September 16th 1953.
2006: Cindy Walker (87) American singer, songwriter, dancer. The list of artists who have recorded Cindy's work reads like a "who's who" of American giants: from frequent collaborator Bob Wills to Roy Rogers, Webb Pierce, Eddy Arnold and Elvis, her co-writers and musical partners turned to her often for her signature hooks and poignant story-telling. Cindy's renowned pieces include "Take Me in Your Arms (and Hold Me)," "Cherokee Maiden," "You Don't Know Me,""In the Misty Moonlight," "Dream Baby", "Sugar Moon," "Distant Drums" and "I Don't Care." She wrote over 50 songs for Wills, the bandleader for the Texas Playboys, and garnered a new wave of media attention in recently (2006)because of Willie Nelson's newest album, Songs of Cindy Walker. Many are calling the project Nelson's best work in decade. Cindy was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997 (?) b. 20 July 1918.
2006: Pio Leyva/Wilfredo Pascual (88) Cuban singer, part of the Buena Vista Social Club, and author of the well-known guaracha El Mentiroso ("The Liar"). He won a bongo contest at the age of six and made his singing debut in 1932. Pio recorded over 25 albums since he signed his first contract with RCA Victor in 1950. He sang with other Cuban artists including Benny Moré, Bebo Valdés, Noro Morales and was a member of Estrellas de Areito and "Compay Segundo y Sus Muchachos". He also took part in the 2004 film Música Cubana, which was marketed as a sequel to Buena Vista Social Club (heart attack) b. May 5th 1917.

March 24th
1972: Linda Jones (26) American soul singer; she started in her family's gospel group the Jones Singers at the age of six. Her first recording was "Lonely Teardrops" under the name Linda Lane, on Cub Records in 1963, and she had unsuccessful singles on Atco Records in 1964 and Blue Cat Records the following year. She signed with Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Loma Records in 1967 at age 27 and released the biggest of several hits, "Hypnotized". Soon after her career took off, however, she was diagnosed with diabetes (slipped into a diabetic coma while at home resting between shows, she was rushed to hospital, but sadly passed away) b. December 14th 1944.
1997: Harold Melvin (57) soul singer; was one of the driving forces behind Philadelphia soul, leading his group the Blue Notes (he suffered a stroke and never fully recovered)
2008: Neil Aspinall (66) UK school friend of George Harrison and Paul McCartney; he started out running them to local gigs in his van. He soon became road manager, then personal assistant, later he became a record producer and chief executive of their company, Apple Corps. (lung cancer)
2008: Chalmers "Spanky" Alford (53) American jazz guitarist and three time Grammy award winner. He had a illustrious career as a gospel quartet guitar player in the 1960s, 70's, and 80's with groups such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy among others. Later in life he found a new career in the neo-soul movement of the 90's and 2000's, most notably contributing to the sounds of D'Angelo and Tony Toni Toné. Spanky played guitar as part of The Soultronics, (D'angelo's highly regarded band for his 2000 "Voodoo" tour), alongside Questlove, James Poyser, Pino Palladino and Anthony Hamilton among many others. He was an amazing teacher and is credited with teaching Raphael Saadiq among many others to play guitar. He played on several albums with artists such as Joss Stone, John Mayer, Mary J Blige, Raphael Saadiq, D'Angelo and Roy Hargrove (diabetes) b. May 22nd 1955.

March 25th
1767: Georg Philipp Telemann (86) German composer, one of the first composers to concentrate on the business of publishing his own music ()
1918: Achille-Claude Debussy (55) Important French composer (rectal cancer)
1951: Sidney Catlett (40) US swinging jazz drummer; worked with Elmer Snowden, Benny Carter, Louis Armstrong's All Stars, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman and more (a stroke).
1957: Red Brown/Tom Brown (69) An early New Orleans dixieland jazz trombonist; born in Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana, he started out playing trombone with the bands of Papa Jack Laine and Frank Christian. By 1910 Tom was leading bands under his own name, playing in a style then locally known as "hot ragtime" or "ratty music". In early 1915 his band was heard by Vaudeville dancer Joe Frisco, who arranged a job for his band in Chicago, Illinois. On May 15, 1915, Tom Brown's Band from Dixieland opened up at Lamb's Cafe at Clark & Randolph Streets in Chicago, with Ray Lopez, cornet and manager; Tom Brown, trombone and leader; Gussie Mueller clarinet, Arnold Loyacano piano and string bass; and Billy Lambert on drums. In Chicago Gussie Mueller was hired by bandleader Bert Kelly, and his place was taken by young New Orleans clarinetist Larry Shields. This band seems to be the first to be popularly referred to as playing "Jazz", or, as it was spelled early on, "Jass". His band was soon to be callled "Brown's Jass Band". He spent the next decade between New York, Chicago and New Orleans. In the mid 1920s he returned home to New Orleans where he played with Johnny Bayersdorffer and Norman Brownlee's bands, making a few excellent recordings. During the Great Depression he supplemented his income from music by repairing radios and openedup a music shop and a junk shop on Magazine Street. He played string bass in local swing and dance bands. With the revival of interest in traditional jazz he played in various Dixieland bands in the 1950s, notably that of Johnny Wiggs. A local television station thought it would be a good idea to invite Tom and Nick LaRocca to talk about how jazz first spread north from New Orleans, but the show had scaresly started before the two old men got into an argument that turned into a fist-fight. Tom made his last recording just weeks before his death, his trombone playing apparently not suffering from the fact that he had neither teeth nor dentures at the time (died in New Orleans) b. June 3rd 1888.
1978: Bill Kenny (63) American lead singer with he Ink Spots; he joined the Inkspots in 1936 replacing Jerry Daniels. Their popularity grew through radio programs and tours, having their hit with "If I Didn't Care", in 1939, followed by songs such as "My Prayer" "Address Unknown" "I Can't Stand Losing You" "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" "Whispering Grass" and more. Many of their records made No.1 on early versions of the US pop charts, "The Gypsy" being their biggest chart success, staying at the No.1 in 1946. In 1954 Billy sang solo with a live backing band, consisting of Harry Prather, Everett Barksdale, and Andrew Maze, touring as "Bill Kenny and his Ink Spots". This group appeared on Ed Sullivan. He also performed with Joe Boatner's Ink Spots in the summer of 1962. The Ink Spots were the subject of a 1998 book by Marv Goldberg: "More Than Words Can Say: The Ink Spots And Their Music".(?) b. 12 June 1914.
2006: Rocío Dúrcal (60) Spanish singer / actress (cancer)
2006: Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr (76) American singer and guitarist; in 1945, Buck co-hosted a radio show called Buck and Britt. He relocated to Bakersfield, California, frequently traveling to Hollywood for session recording jobs at Capitol Records, playing backup for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sonny James, Wanda Jackson, Del Reeves, Tommy Sands, Tommy Collins, Faron Young and Gene Vincent, and many others. In the late 50's he recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the Pep label, using the pseudonym Corky Jones. He used the pseudonym because he did not want the fact he recorded a rock n' roll tune to hurt his country music career. In the early 60's he formed his legendary band, the Buckaroos, producing 21 No.1 hits on the Billboard country music charts. Buck and the Buckaroos pioneered what has come to be called the Bakersfield sound, a reference to Bakersfield. He originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, he can be heard harmonising with his longtime friend and guitarist Don Rich until he died in a motor cycle accident in 1974. Devastated, Buck didn't perform again until 1988 when he teamed up with Dwight Yoakam for a duet of "Streets of Bakersfield", his first No.11 single in 16 years. This led to lots of re-issues, gigs and tours. Buck was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He was ranked No.12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003 and named the Buckaroos as 2nd greatest country music band in history (heart attack) b. August 12th 1929.
2008: Gene Puerling (78) American jazz musician, singer, musical arranger for the Hi-Los and Singers Unlimited, awarded a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices in 1982 for his arrangement of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" as performed by The Manhattan Transfer (?).
2009: English Dan/ Danny Wayland Seals (61) American musician, vocals, guitar, bass, saxophone, and the younger brother of Jim Seals from the duo Seals & Crofts. Dan joined with fellow W.W. Samuell High School classmate and longtime friend John Ford Coley to perform first as part of Dallas pop/psych group Southwest "Freight on Board"/" F.O.B", before going under the name of England Dan, and forming the soft rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley in 1970. They were best known for their hit single "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight". He began a solo career in country music. releasing 16 studio albums and charted more than twenty singles on the country charts. Eleven of his singles reached No.1: "Meet Me in Montana" (with Marie Osmond), "Bop" (also a #42 pop hit), "Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold)", "You Still Move Me", "I Will Be There", "Three Time Loser", "One Friend", "Addicted", "Big Wheels in the Moonlight", "Love on Arrival", and a cover of Sam Cooke's "Good Times". Five more of Dan's singles also reached Top Ten on the country charts (died following treatment for mantle cell lymphoma) b. February 8th 1948 read more...

March 26th
1827: Ludwig van Beethoven () German composer/pianist. Mozart aside, Beethoven is the most famous classical composer of the western world. He is remembered for his powerful and stormy compositions (cirrhosis of the liver, plus dropsy)
1971: Harold McNair (39) Jamaican saxophone player and flautist player started out at the Alpha Boys School under the tutelage of Victor Tulloch, whilst playing with lifelong friend Joe Harriott, Wilton 'Bogey' Gaynair, and Baba Motta's band. He spent the first decade of his musical career in The Bahamas, where he used the name "Little G" for recordings and live performances. In 1960, he went to Miami to record his first album, a mixture of jazz and calypso numbers entitled Bahama Bash, and later that year he left for Europe. He toured Europe with Quincy Jones and worked on film and TV scores in Paris, before settling in London, where he was invited to a regular spot at Ronnie Scott's nightclub. He also worked with Charles Mingus, Zoot Sims, Tony Crombie, Jack Costanzo and many visiting Americans including vocalists Jon Hendricks and Blossom Dearie, Philly Joe Jones and saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis among others (lung cancer) b. November 5th 1931.
1973: Noel Coward (73) UK actor, playwright, composer of popular music (died in Jamaica of natural causes)
1976: Anthony Duster Bennett (29) Welsh singer, musician; John Mayall /solo/ sessionist and played as a one-man blues band (fatal car accident, when he fell asleep at the wheel).
1980: Jon-Jon Poulos (32) drummmer for the Buckinghams (drug overdose)
1995: Eazy-E/Eric Wright (31) US rapper, a member of N.W.A. the unapologetically violent and sexist pioneers of gangsta rap. He also had a solo career and hosted a hip-hop radio show on L A-based radio station KKBT (AIDS) b. March 26th 1995.
1998: Denis Charles (64) jazz drummer (?).
2002: Randy Castillo (51) drummer, Ozzy Osbourne band (cancer)
2002: Joe Schermie (57) bassist in the band Three Dog Night. (heart attack)
2004: Jan Berry (62) singer/songwriter; Jan and Dean (a seizure)
2005: Paul Hester (46) drummer for Split Enz and Crowded House (suicide, died from strangulation, found hanged in a park in Melbourne, Australia)
2006: Nikki Sudden/Adrian Nicholas Godfrey (49) singer/guitar, founder of Swell Maps; solo; Jacobites; he was writing his autobiography, as well a history of The Wick, an estate in Richmond once owned by Ronnie Wood, currently owned by Pete Townshend. (died hours after a show at New York's Knitting Factory, causes unknown)
2006: Pete Wells (58) Slide guitar, Rose Tattoo (cancer)

March 27th
1972: Joseph "Sharkey" Bonano (68) American jazz trumpeter, band leader, vocalist; a well regarded professional player by his mid teens, in his youth mostly playing in New Orleans other than a period with Eddie Edwards' band in New York City in 1920. He then started traveling widely, seldom staying in one place or with one band for more than a few months. He briefly replaced Bix Beiderbecke in the Wolverines Orchestra, and Nick LaRocca in the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. He first recorded in New Orleans with Norman Brownlee's band in 1925, and soon after had a band under his own name. He returned to New York for work in Jimmie Durante's band, then with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra in 1927, returned to his home town to play with Leon Prima, to Los Angeles, California to work with Larry Shields, then back in New Orleans to play with the Ben Pollack Orchestra in 1936. After leaving Pollack's band he led his own band on 52nd Street in New York for three years. After World War II he toured Europe, Asia, and South America, played residencies in Chicago and New York and he was a regular on Bourbon Street in the New Orleans French Quarter until he retired through ill health in the 1960's (died in New Orleans) b. April 9th 1904.
1975: Gertrude Niessen (63) US vocalist, actress and Broadway star (?)
1977: Benny Moten (60) American swing-style bass player (?)
1993: Clifford Jordan (61) saxophone, jazz musician; many big bands (?)
2000: Ian Dury (57) UK singer/ songwriter/ poet/actor. The Blockheads. (cancer)
2002: Dudley Moore (66) UK actor, musician, comedian, composer (fatal bout of pneumonia due to complications from progressive supranuclear palsy)
2004: Adán Santos Sánchez Vallejo (19) Mexican-American singer; recorded his first full-length album in 1994, entitled Soy el Hijo de Chalino (I'm the Son of Chalino) at 10 years old, notable for it's rousing title track, which evokes the classic style of celebrated ranchera singers from Mexico's Golden Age. As he grew into his teens, the majority of Adán's album titles began to revolve around the loss of his father - such as La Corona de Mi Padre (The Crown of My Father), and Homenaje a Mi Padre (Homage to My Father). These references gave Adán credibility in the Banda music scene, where the macho image and untimely death of his father had stirred a resurgence of popularity among young Mexican-American men. But Adán was also able to widen the genre's popularity even further to teenage girls, thanks to his teen idol persona and focus on contemporary romantic ballads instead of the edgier themes of crime and drugs covered by his father. Adán made history on March 20, 2004 when he became the youngest headliner and first Regional-Mexican recording artist to practically sell out the world-famous Kodak Theatre in Hollywood (died in a car crash when the 1989 Lincoln Town Car on 22 inch rims that he was traveling in blew a tire. According to police, the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled)*April 14th 1984.

March 28th
1974: Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup (69) blues singer, guitarist, songwriter; Elvis Presley's favourite blues artist. (stroke)
2001: Moe Koffman (71) Canadian saxophone, clarinet, composer; sessionist/guest (cancer)

March 29th
1980: Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (74) Italian orchestra leader, a popular conductor and light orchestra-style entertainer, cascading strings technique developed by Binge became Mantovani's hallmark and is mostly associated with the light orchestra genre. His family moved to England in 1912, where he studied at Trinity College of Music, London. After graduation, he formed his own orchestra, which played in and around Birmingham. By the time World War II broke out, his orchestra was one of the most popular in England, both on the BBC and in live performances. He recorded for Decca until the mid-1950s, and then London Records. He recorded over 50 albums on that label, many of which were top-40 hits. These included Song from Moulin Rouge and Cara Mia, which reached No. 1 in Britain in 1953 and 1954, respectively. In the United States, between 1955 and 1972, he released over 40 albums with 27 reaching the Top 40 and 11 the Top Ten. His biggest success was with the album Film Encores, which made it to No. 1 in 1957. Similarly, Mantovani Plays Music From 'Exodus' and Other Great Themes made it to No. 2 in 1961 and sold over one million albums. He made his last recordings in 1975 (died while at a care home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent) b. November 15th 1905.
1995: Jimmy McShane (37) Irish singer, dancer and front man for the Italian New Wave dance outfit Baltimora, although it is alleged that Maurizio Bassi was actually the vocalist. They released 2 albums and 9 singles including "Tarzan Boy", released in the summer of 1985. It was a huge success, debuting in the top 5 of the Italian charts and performed well in many other European countries, including Denmark, Germany, and The Netherlands, reaching No.3 in the UK and No.13 in the USA. Baltimora performed on the American TV show Solid Gold, which helped further their success in America (complications from Aids) b. May 23rd 1957.
1999: Joe Williams (80) US jazz vocalist, an elegant and sophisticated baritone, singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards. By his early teens, he had taught himself to play piano and formed his own gospel vocal quartet, "The Jubilee Boys", that sang at church functions. He got his first big break in 1938 when clarinet/saxophone player Jimmie Noone asked him to sing with his band. In less than a year, he was earning a reputation at Chicago dance halls and on a national radio station that broadcast his voice from Massachusetts to California. He toured the Midwest in 1939 and 1940 with the Les Hite band. The following year, he went on tour with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. He went onto play with all the greats, performing regularly at jazz festivals, both in the U.S. and aboard, as well as on the nightclub circuit. He has performed at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival 12 times, spanning from 1959 t0 1993, sharing the stage with jazz greats such as Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Dianne Reeves, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson, Carmen McRae, Herbie Hancock, Nat Adderley, and Dizzy Gillespie. During the 1980s he appeared at Chicago's, Playboy Jazz Festival ten times. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983, next to Basie's. When Basie died in 1984, Williams sang a rendition of Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday" at his funeral. In 1985, Williams received a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocalist for the album I Just Want to Sing. In 1991 Williams attended his own gala tribute, "For the Love of Joe", which celebrated the contribution that he had made and was still making to music. In 1992, he won his second Grammy Award, for the release Ballad and Blues Master "I Just Want to Sing." In 1997, Joe sang a duet with Nancy Wilson during the opening show of the San Francisco Jazz Festival, singing the song "You're Too Good to Be True" (?) b. December 12th 1918.
2001: John Lewis (80) American jazz pianist; in 1945 after moving to New York, he joined Dizzy Gillespie's bop-style big band as their drummer. He developed his skill further by composing and arranging for the band as well as attending the Manhattan School of Music. In January 1948, the band made a tour of Europe, he stayed in Europe after the tour, writing and studying piano. On his return from 1948 to 1951 he played with Charlie Parker, Illinois Jacquet, Lester Young after which he, Milt Jackson, Clarke, and Ray Brown formed the Milt Jackson Quartet. In 1952 Percy Heath replaced Brown on bass and the Modern Jazz Quartet was born, in which John served as its music director and pianist. From 1958 to 1982 he also served as music director of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, and in 1962 he formed the cooperative big band Orchestra U.S.A., By the early 1980s he was performing with the reunited MJQ and with his sextet, the John Lewis Group, and, in 1985, with Gary Giddins and Roberta Swann, he founded the American Jazz Orchestra. In the 1990s he continued to compose, teach, and perform, both with the MJQ and independently. He participated in the "Re-birth of the Cool" sessions with Gerry Mulligan in 1992. He was also involved in various third stream music projects with Gunther Schuller and others, as well as being an early and somewhat surprising advocate of the music of Ornette Coleman. (died after a long battle with prostate cancer) b. May 3rd 1920.

March 30th
1764: Pietro Locatelli (68) Italian composer, violinist; Locatelli's works are mainly for the violin, an instrument on which he was a virtuoso. (died in Amsterdam)
1967: Paul Clayton (34) folk singer, dulcimer; a lifelong interest in the folk song tradition, particularly sea shanties and whaling songs, and was an avid collector of folk tunes, and was instrumental in the first recordings of such traditional folk artists as Etta Baker and Hobart Smith.(deliberate overdose of medication)
2004: Timi Yuro (62) US singer; she is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era.(cancer of the brain)
2008: Anders Göthberg (32) Swedish guitarist with the alternative rock band Broder Daniel and Honey Is Cool (suicide by jumping from the Västerbron bridge in Stockholm).
2008: Sean LeVert (39) US singer with the LeVert Trio, son of legendary soul/funk singer Eddie Levert of The O'Jays. He formed the trio LeVert with older brother Gerald Levert and childhood friend Marc Gordon; together they scored several smash hits on the U.S. R&B charts in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995, Sean launched a solo career with the album ''The Other Side''', which peaked at No.22 on the U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No.146 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album yielded the charting singles "Put Your Body Where Your Mouth Is" and "Same One" that same year.(He was being held at the Cuyahoga County Jail after reportedly failing to pay child support, where he collasped and died; cause unknown at the present time) b. September 28th 1968.

March 31st
1985: Jeanine Deckers/The Singing Nun (51) Belgian nun, and a member, as Sister Luc Gabriel, of the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Belgium. She became internationally famous in 1963 as Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile) when she scored a hit with the song "Dominique". In the English speaking world, she is mostly referred to as "The Singing Nun". She gave concerts and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. To date, "Dominique" is the only Belgian number one hit single in the United States.In 1966, a movie called The Singing Nun was made about her, starring Debbie Reynolds in the title role. Deckers rejected the film as "fiction". Sally Field spoofed the role starting the following year as the title character in the television series The Flying Nun. In 1967, she left her monastery to continue her musical career under the name Luc Dominique and released an album called "I Am Not a Star in Heaven". Her repertoire consisted of religious songs and songs for children. Most of her earnings went to the convent. Her musical career over, she opened a school for autistic children in Belgium. In the late 1970s the Belgian government claimed that she owed around US$63,000 in back taxes.Jeanine countered that the money was given to the convent and therefore exempt from taxes. Lacking any receipts to prove her donations to the convent and her religious order, she ran into heavy financial problems.(Citing their financial difficulties in a note, she and her companion of ten years, Anna Pécher, both committed suicide by an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. In a great irony, the very day of her suicide and unknown to her, the Belgian association that collects royalties for songwriters (SABAM) awarded her approximately $300,000 (571,658 Belgian francs), more than enough to pay off her $65,000 debt (99,000 Belgian francs) and provide for her) b. October 17th 1933
1986: O'Kelly Isley Jr (48) US singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and one of the founding members of the legendary family group; He performed with his influential family group for close to four decades, a period spanning not only two generations of siblings but also massive cultural shifts that heralded their music's transformation from gritty R&B to Motown soul to blistering funk. He sometimes sang lead vocals on some of the Isley Brothers songs including "Black Berries" and "Let Me Down Easy" showcasing a similar vocal to that of his younger brother Ronnie. He remained a dedicated member of the group from its 1954 inception until he sudden death (heart attack) b. December 25th 1937
1991: John Wallace Carter (61) American jazz clarinetist, saxophone, and flute player; he played with Ornette Coleman and Charles Moffett in the 1940s. From 1961, he worked on the West Coast where he met Bobby Bradford, in 1965 they worked on a number of projects. He also played with Hampton Hawes and Harold Land. In the '70s he became well known on the basis of his extraordinary solo concerts. At New Jazz Festival Moers 1979 he and the German clarinet player Theo Jörgensmann performanced on three days. Afterwards he received rave reviews and wide recognition from around the world. He and Jörgensmann met and played together again in 1984 at the Berlin Jazzfes. Between 1982 and 1990 Carter composed and recorded "Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music," in five albums focused on African-Americans and their history. The complete set was acclaimed by jazz critics as containing some of the best releases of the 1980s. A clarinet quartet with Perry Robinson, Jörgensmann and Eckard Koltermann was planned for 1991, but John Carter did not recover from a nonmalignant tumor. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame (complications from a tumor) b. September 24th 1928.
1995: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (23) American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music", the youngest child of a Mexican couple. She began singing at the age of six; when she was nine her father founded the singing group Selena y Los Dinos, which she fronted and she released her first album "Mis Primeras Grabaciones," at the age of twelve. In 1987 Selina won Female Vocalist of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards and dominated the award for the next seven years. She landed a recording contract with EMI a few years later. Her breakthrough hit was "Buenos Amigos," a 1991 duet with Alvaro Torres, the ballad went to No. 1 on the Billboard Latin tracks chart. Her fame grew throughout the early 1990s, and in 1993, she won a Grammy Award for best Mexican-American album, with "Selena Live. 1995 sees her with a Grammy nomination for "Amor Prohibido" (Forbidden Love). Also in 1995 she dominated the Tejano Music Awards for song of the year ("Bidi Bidi Bom Bom"), best female entertainer, best female vocalist, album of the year ("Amor Prohibido"), Tejano crossover song, and record of the year. "Dreaming of You" was the last studio album recorded by Selena. It was first released in July 1995 after her death, debuting at No.1 on the Billboard's 200 chart. On April 12, 1995, two weeks after her death, George W. Bush, governor of Texas at the time, declared her birthday "Selena Day" in Texas. Warner Brothers made a film based on her life starring Jennifer Lopez in 1997. As of June 2006, Selena was commemorated with a museum and a bronze life-sized statue (murdered, shot in the back by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club) b. April 16th 1971.
1996: Jeffrey Lee Pierce (37) American guitarist with Gun Club; he discovered punk rock during his teenage years, while working at Bomp Records, writing for such L.A. based punk magazines as Slash, and serving as the head of Blondie's fan club. By 1979, he was fronting his own band first called Creeping Ritual, later changing their name to the Gun Club. Merging the energy of hardcore punk, rockabilly, and country, they soon became one of the frontrunners of the 'pyschobilly' music style. They releases several albums including their classic 1981 debut, "Fire of Love", 1982's "Miami", 1983's "Death Party", 1992's "In Exile" and 1994's "Lucky Jim". He also released a pair of solo albums 1985's "Wildweed" and 1992's "Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee" (blood clot on his brain) b. September 24th 1958.
2006: John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (74) American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator; He recorded with Miles Davis, on Davis' Dig album, when he was 19 years old. As a young man he also recorded with Gene Ammons, Charles Mingus, and George Wallington, and played as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. While under contract with Blue Note Records from 1959 to 1967, he recorded as a leader with a wide range of musicians, including Donald Byrd, Sonny Clark, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon, Billy Higgins, Freddie Hubbard, Grachan Moncur III, Mal Waldron and Bobby Hutcherson, among many others. In 1970, he and his wife, Dollie McLean, founded the Artists Collective, Inc. of Hartford, an organization dedicated to preserving the art and culture of the African Diaspora. It provides educational programs and instruction in dance, theatre, music and visual arts. He received an American Jazz Masters fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001 and many other national and international awards and was the only American jazz musician to found a department of studies at a University and a community based organization almost simultaneously (died after a long illness) b. May 17th 1931.
2007: Phil Cordell (59) UK multi-musician, composer, songwriter; came to fame under the name of Springwater and as Dan The Banjo Man. After playing in bands "The Prophets" and "Tuesdays Children" in 1967 he went solo, and in 1969 recorded 'Red Lady', with all the veiled drug references and psychedelic mysticism of the era. Being a multi-instrumentalist, he played all the instruments himself from slide guitar to harp. 1971 sees Phil with the pseudonym of "Springwater", under this name he had a huge hit with the instrumental "I Will Return". Again playing all the instrumentals himself. Leaving Springwater behind, in 1974, he took another pseudonym, "Dan The Banjo Man", recording a self titled album. The single “Dan The Banjo Man” was a mega hit, reaching Number 1 in the German charts twice! It was used originally for an orange juice advert on German Television. After these successes, Phil reverted back to his own name recording tracks such as: Back In Your Arms, One Man Show, Doin' The Best I Can, Cheatin' In The Dark, Roadie For The Band, Twistin And Jivin, Cool Clear Water and many others. In 2005 "Dan the Banjo Man." was reissue on CD, with eight bonus tracks, most of them written by Phil and his son Charlie (cancer) b. July 17th 1947.

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