Pick a Day

Music History Events: Deaths

August 14, 1964 Johnny Burnette (lead singer of The Rock and Roll Trio), age 30, drowns in a boating accident in Clear Lake, California.

July 31, 1964 Country singer Jim Reeves dies at age 40 when he crashes his private plane while flying over Brentwood, Tennessee, in the midst of a violent thunderstorm. He will continue to chart after his death, with "Distant Drums" fighting the Beatles' double-sided "Yellow Submarine" and "Eleanor Rigby" for the #1 spot in the UK.

May 20, 1964 The Drifters' lead singer Rudy Lewis is found dead on the morning the group is scheduled to record "Under The Boardwalk." He is replaced by Johnny Moore, who was with a previous incarnation of the group, who sings lead on the song the next day. Lewis' death is widely reported as a drug overdose, although this is never confirmed by a medical authority.

January 7, 1964 Blues musician Cyril Davies (of Blues Incorporated) dies of endocarditis, an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, at age 31, a year after contracting pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the lungs.

December 28, 1963 German composer Paul Hindemith dies of pancreatitis at age 68.

December 14, 1963 Dinah Washington dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose at age 39.

October 10, 1963 Cabaret singer Edith Piaf dies of liver cancer in her villa on the French Riviera, at age 47.

May 24, 1963 Blues guitarist Elmore James dies of a heart attack at age 45.

March 10, 1963 Three days after an emotional public service, Patsy Cline's body is buried quietly at Shenandoah Memorial Park in Winchester, Virginia.

March 5, 1963 Having ironically just finished a tribute concert for the family of a country music DJ who'd been killed in a car crash, country legend Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins fly back to Nashville, with Cline's manager, Randy Hughes, at the controls. Bad weather postpones the flight an extra day, however, and, anxious to get going, Hughes phones his wife in Nashville, who informs him that the weather is clearing there. Unfortunately, she is actually in the storm's eye, and when the four proceed on, Hughes, who is not rated "on instruments," loses all visibility and attempts to land on a nearby highway. Instead, he skirts some trees, which bring the plane down in a nearby swamp. Cline, her other fellow stars, and Hughes are all killed in the accident.

August 5, 1962 Marilyn Monroe dies of a barbiturate overdose at age 36 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Musically, she's known for an iconic performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

April 22, 1962 Jerry Lee Lewis loses his first son, Steve Allen (named after the TV host and good friend), in a tragic drowning accident at the age of three.

April 29, 1961 Folk singer-songwriter Cisco Houston, frequent collaborator of Woody Guthrie, dies of terminal stomach cancer two months after recording his final album, Ain't Got No Home.

February 20, 1961 Australian-born composer Percy Grainger dies at age 78.

November 12, 1960 Stage performer and comic Lord Buckley dies of a stroke in New York City, at age 54.

November 5, 1960 Country singer Johnny Horton, age 35, dies in an automobile accident near Milano, Texas.

April 25, 1960 Eddie Cochran is laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California, six days after his untimely death in a car accident.

February 6, 1960 R&B singer Jesse Belvin, who co-wrote the Penguins' hit "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)," dies in a car crash at age 27.

November 17, 1959 Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos dies in Rio de Janeiro at age 72.

October 7, 1959 Singer/actor Mario Lanza dies at a weight loss clinic in Rome, possibly from a pulmonary embolism or a massive heart attack (no autopsy was performed). He was 38.

May 14, 1959 Jazz musician Sidney Bechet dies of lung cancer in Garches, France, on his 62nd birthday.

February 7, 1959 New Orleans blues guitarist Eddie Jones, known as Guitar Slim, struggling with alcoholism, dies of pneumonia at age 32.

February 7, 1959 Ritchie Valens is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

August 26, 1958 English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams dies in London, England, at age 85. Known for compositions like "A Pastoral Symphony" and "The Lark Ascending."

July 15, 1958 John Lennon's mother, Julia, is killed when she's hit by a car driven by an off-duty police officer. Lennon, 17 at the time, later writes the songs "Julia" and "Mother" about her.

April 10, 1958 Rock 'n roll singer Chuck Willis dies at age 30 of peritonitis.

March 28, 1958 Blues musician W.C. Handy dies of bronchial pneumonia at age 84.

September 20, 1957 Finnish composer Jean Sibelius dies of a brain hemorrhage at age 91.

June 12, 1957 Big band leader Jimmy Dorsey dies of throat cancer at age 53.

November 26, 1956 Tommy Dorsey, jazz trombonist and bandleader, dies at age 51 when he chokes in his sleep (he was too sedated from sleeping pills to wake up).