Music History Events: Deaths
December 10, 1996 Country singer Faron Young dies a day after shooting himself, possibly due to his failing health, at age 64.
November 30, 1996 "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" singer Tiny Tim (real name: Herbert B. Khaury) dies of a heart attack at age 64.
November 13, 1996 Jazz/R&B pianist Bill Doggett dies of a heart attack at age 80 in New York.
November 5, 1996 Jazz tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris, who was also credited for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone, dies of bone cancer and kidney disease at age 62.
November 3, 1996 Blues harmonica player William Clarke, age 45, dies from complications of a bleeding ulcer after a performance in Fresno, California.
October 17, 1996 Composer Berthold Goldschmidt dies in London, England, at age 93.
October 4, 1996 Fiddler Jerry Rivers (of The Drifting Cowboys, backing group for Hank Williams) dies of cancer.
September 17, 1996 Bluesman Jessie Hill, known for "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" (1960), dies of heart and renal failure in New Orleans, Louisiana, at age 63.
September 10, 1996 Blues guitarist Lee Baker (of Lee Baker & The Agitators) is murdered at age 53, along with his elderly aunt, in Memphis, Tennessee.
September 9, 1996 Bluegrass singer/songwriter Bill Monroe dies at age 84 in Springfield, Tennessee, several months after suffering a stroke.
August 11, 1996 Mel Taylor (drummer for The Ventures) dies of lung cancer at age 62 in Los Angeles, California.
August 1, 1996 Bill Buchanan, known for a songwriting partnership with Dickie Goodman that produced the 1956 hit "The Flying Saucer," dies of cancer at age 81.
July 28, 1996 Jason Thirsk (bass player for Pennywise) dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 28.
July 28, 1996 Marge Ganser (of The Shangri-Las) dies of breast cancer at age 48 in Valley Stream, New York.
July 23, 1996 Rob Collins (keyboardist for The Charlatans UK) dies in a car crash at age 33.
July 17, 1996 Chas Chandler (bassist for The Animals, Jimi Hendrix Experience) dies of an aortic aneurysm at age 57.
July 16, 1996 Styx drummer John Panozzo dies at age 47 when his liver fails after years of drinking.
July 11, 1996 Louis Gottlieb of The Limeliters dies at age 72.
June 19, 1996 Comedic composer Vivian Ellis, known for the 1929 musical number "Spread A Little Happiness," popularly covered by Sting in 1982, dies at age 92.
June 15, 1996 Ella Fitzgerald dies of complications from diabetes at age 79.
June 14, 1996 Mathew Fletcher, drummer for Heavenly, commits suicide at age 26 just before the release of the band's fourth and final album, Operation Heavenly.
May 31, 1996 Bass singer Elsbeary Hobbs (of The Drifters) dies from throat and lung cancer in Manhattan, New York at age 59.
May 30, 1996 John Kahn (bass guitarist for The Jerry Garcia Band) dies of a heart attack at age 48.
May 28, 1996 Jimmy Rowles, a jazz pianist who played with the likes of Benny Goodman, Les Brown, Peggy Lee, and Ella Fitzgerald, dies of cardiovascular disease at age 77.
May 17, 1996 Blues musician Johnny "Guitar" Watson dies of a myocardial infarction at age 61 after collapsing on stage during a tour in Yokohama, Japan.
May 3, 1996 Country singer Patsy Montana dies in San Jacinto, California, at age 87. Known for her 1935 signature hit "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," the tune that made her the first female country performer to have a million-selling single.
April 18, 1996 Bernard Edwards (bass guitarist for Chic) dies of pneumonia at age 43 after a Chic concert at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
April 15, 1996 The remainder of Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco; a week earlier, a portion had been scattered into India's Ganges river.
April 8, 1996 Delta blues musician Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes dies at age 59 of lung cancer.
April 4, 1996 Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered in the Ganges river in India by Dead guitarist Bob Weir and Garcia's widow, Deborah.
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