Music History Events: Deaths
November 6, 2007 Country singer Hank Thompson, whose life inspired the 1987 Thomas Cobb novel Crazy Heart and the 2009 Jeff Bridges film of the same name, dies of lung cancer at age 82.
October 30, 2007 Singer/actor Robert Goulet dies while awaiting a lung transplant in Los Angeles, California, at age 73. He had been diagnosed with the rare, progressive disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
October 28, 2007 Porter Wagoner dies of lung cancer at age 80. A regular at the Grand Ole Opry, he hosted The Porter Wagoner Show for 21 years starting in 1961.
October 17, 2007 Teresa Brewer, known for the 1953 hit, "Till I Waltz Again with You," dies of progressive supranuclear palsy at age 76.
October 10, 2007 Art Todd (half of the singing duo Art and Dotty Todd) dies of congestive heart failure in Honolulu, Hawaii, at age 93. Known for the '50s hits "Broken Wings" and "Chanson D'Amour."
September 27, 2007 Dale Houston (of Dale & Grace) dies of heart failure at age 67.
September 12, 2007 Bobby Byrd, a singer known for his work with James Brown (he does the "get on up!" retort in "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine") dies of cancer near Atlanta, Georgia, at age 73.
September 11, 2007 Singer/keyboardist Willie Tee dies of colon cancer at age 63.
September 9, 2007 Rock guitarist Hughie Thomasson (of The Outlaws and Lynyrd Skynyrd) dies of a heart attack in Brooksville, Florida, at age 55.
September 6, 2007 Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti (of The Three Tenors) dies of pancreatic cancer in Modena, Italy, at age 71.
September 3, 2007 Rockabilly singer Janis Martin dies of cancer in Durham, North Carolina, at age 67. Known for her version of the pop/country song "Love Me to Pieces."
August 4, 2007 Lee Hazlewood, who wrote Nancy Sinatra's hit "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," dies of renal cancer at age 78.
July 11, 2007 Rod Lauren jumps to his death from a Tracy, California hotel room. The actor-turned-singer was accused of murdering his wife, Filipino actress Nida Blanca, six years earlier but successfully fought extradition to face a murder trial in the Philippines, where the crime took place.
July 4, 2007 Bill Pinkney (of The Drifters) dies of a heart attack at age 81.
July 3, 2007 Boots Randolph, known for the 1968 hit "Yakety Sax," dies of a brain hemorrhage a month after his 80th birthday.
June 29, 2007 George McCorkle, guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band and composer of their hit "Fire On The Mountain," dies at age 59 shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.
June 18, 2007 Doo-wop singer Hank Medress (of The Tokens) dies of lung cancer at age 68.
June 4, 2007 Soul singer Freddie Scott dies at age 74.
June 1, 2007 Tony Thompson (lead singer of Hi-Five) dies at age 31 after accidentally inhaling a toxic amount of freon.
May 19, 2007 Frank Guida, a Sicilian-American songwriter and music producer whose first hit was Tommy Facenda's "High School U.S.A.," dies in Norfolk, Virginia, at age 84.
April 30, 2007 Zola Taylor (of The Platters) dies after suffering numerous strokes and contracting pneumonia at age 69 in Riverside, California.
April 27, 2007 Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich dies at age 80 of intestinal cancer.
April 25, 2007 "Monster Mash" singer Bobby "Boris" Pickett at age 69 of complications from leukemia.
April 21, 2007 Rock guitarist Lobby Loyde (of Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, The Coloured Balls) dies at age 65 of lung cancer.
April 14, 2007 Hawaii-born pop singer Don Ho, known for the 1966 hit "Tiny Bubbles," dies at age 75 of heart failure, two years after being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.
April 10, 2007 Jazz singer Dakota Staton, known for the 1957 hit "The Late, Late Show," dies at age 76.
March 27, 2007 Faustino Oramas of Buena Vista Social Club dies at age 95.
March 24, 2007 Country singer Henson Cargill, known for the 1968 hit "Skip A Rope," dies during surgery at age 66.
March 19, 2007 Soul singer-songwriter Luther Ingram dies of heart failure at age 69.
March 16, 2007 Tupper Saussy of The Neon Philharmonic dies of a heart attack at age 70.
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