Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

April 2, 1996 Blues musician Guitar Gabriel dies at age 70.

March 31, 1996 After battling a number of health issues, Gun Club guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce dies at age 37.

March 22, 1996 Don Murray (drummer for The Turtles) dies of complications from ulcer surgery at age 50.

March 17, 1996 Country singer Terry Stafford ("Amarillo By Morning") dies of liver failure at age 54.

March 4, 1996 Grand Ole Opry icon Minnie Pearl dies at 83.

February 29, 1996 Producer Wes Farrell, writer of "Hang On Sloopy," dies of cancer at age 56.

February 16, 1996 Folk singer Walter "Brownie" McGhee dies of stomach cancer at age 80.

January 21, 1996 Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia (of Cannibal and the Headhunters) dies of an AIDS-related illness at age 49.

December 30, 1995 Clarence "Satch" Satchell (saxophonist, guitarist for The Ohio Players) dies of a brain aneurysm at age 54.

December 25, 1995 Dean Martin, also suffering from lung cancer, dies from acute respiratory failure due to emphysema at age 78. Las Vegas honors the legend by dimming the lights along the city's famous Strip.

November 23, 1995 Junior Walker (of Junior Walker & the All-Stars) dies of cancer at age 64.

November 21, 1995 Peter Grant (manager for The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company) dies of a heart attack at age 60.

November 21, 1995 Matthew Ashman (Bow Wow Wow guitarist) dies of complications from diabetes at age 35.

November 17, 1995 Folk rocker Alan Hull (of Lindisfarne) dies suddenly of heart thrombosis at age 50.

November 2, 1995 Record producer Florence Greenberg dies of heart failure at age 82. As founder of Scepter Records, she worked with hot '60s acts such as Dionne Warwick, B.J. Thomas, and The Shirelles.

October 19, 1995 Don Cherry, acclaimed trumpet player and father of Neneh and Eagle-Eye Cherry, dies of liver cancer at age 58.

September 23, 1995 Bluesman Lawrence "Booker T." Laury dies of cancer at age 81.

August 30, 1995 Sterling Morrison (guitarist for The Velvet Underground) dies of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Poughkeepsie, New York, the day after his 53rd birthday.

August 26, 1995 Ronnie White (of The Miracles) dies after a battle with leukemia at age 56 in Detroit, Michigan. White had also lost his first-born daughter to the disease when she was 9 years old.

August 25, 1995 Dutch rock 'n roller Arnie Treffers (of Long Tall Ernie & the Shakers) dies of lung cancer in Westeremden, Groningen, Netherlands, at age 48. Had an international hit in 1977 with "Do You Remember."

August 23, 1995 Industrial/techno musician Dwayne Goettel (of Skinny Puppy) dies of a heroin overdose in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at age 31.

July 30, 1995 Biggie Tembo (guitarist/lead vocalist for Bhundu Boys) commits suicide at age 37 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

July 29, 1995 Les Elgart, swing jazz bandleader and trumpeter who performed the American Bandstand theme "Bandstand Boogie," dies of heart failure shortly before his 78th birthday.

July 28, 1995 Guitarist Eddie Hinton dies from a heart attack in Birmingham, Alabama. He wrote the Dusty Springfield hit "Breakfast in Bed."

July 25, 1995 Country performer Charlie Rich, known for "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl," dies of a blood clot at age 62 at a motel in Hammond, Louisiana.

July 1, 1995 Legendary DJ Wolfman Jack, who famously spun rock and roll records from a border blaster station in Mexico throughout the '60s, dies of a heart attack at age 57.

June 30, 1995 Phyllis Hyman commits suicide by drug overdose at age 45. Known for the 1979 hit single "You Know How to Love Me," among others.

June 18, 1995 Louise Dean (singer for Shiva) dies in a hit-and-run accident at age 24. Shiva's single "Freedom" peaks at #18 on the UK charts shortly after.

June 14, 1995 Irish blues rocker Rory Gallagher dies of a staphylococcal infection following a liver transplant at age 47.

April 14, 1995 Singer and actor Burl Ives dies at age 85 of oral cancer.