2016: In Memorium


2016 was a truly awful year when you contemplate the music icons that passed away in the last 12 months. Here’s a list of them as well as others associated with the music industry. Read it and weep.


Mose Allison
Lennie Baker (Sha Na Na)
Gato Barbieri
John Berry (Beastie Boys)
Blowfly ne’ Clarence Reid

Pierre Boulez
David Bowie
Pete Burns (Dead or Alive)
Al Caiola
Guy Clark
Leonard Cohen
Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf)
Caroline Crawley (Shelleyan Orphan)
Holly Dunn
Keith Emerson
Pete Fountain
Glenn Frey
Rudy Van Gelder
Merle Haggard
Fred Hellerman (The Weavers)
Dan Hicks
Bobby Hutcherson
Sonny James
Joan Marie Johnson (The Dixie Cups)
Sharon Jones
Kitty Kallen
Paul Kantner
Greg Lake
Lonnie Mack

Sir Neville Marriner
Sir George Martin
Gayle McCormick (Smith)
Henry McCullough (Wings)
Nick Menza (Megadeth)

George Michael
Chips Moman
Scotty Moore
Andy Newman (Thunderclap Newman)
Marni Nixon
Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)
Sandy Pearlman (Blue Oyster Cult)
Phife Dawg ne’ Malik Taylor (A Tribe Called Quest)
Prince
Prince Be ne’ Attrell Cordes (P.M. Dawn)
Matt Roberts (3 Doors Down)
Julius La Rosa
Leon Russell
Shawty Lo ne’ Carlos Walker
Frank Sinatra Jr.
Ralph Stanley
Kay Starr
Robert Stigwood
Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention)
Toots Thielemans
John Thomas (Budgie)
Vanity ne’ Denise Matthews
Nana Vasconcelos
Bobby Vee
Alan Vega (Suicide)
Rob Wasserman
Papa Wemba ne’ Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba
Maurice White
James Woolley (Nine Inch Nails)
Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic)
Glenn Yarbrough (The Limeliters)

Apologies to those I may have omitted....

R.I.P.

hifijones
WOW! I knew 2016 was a bad year for music artists, but until I saw this list I did not realize how bad it really was!

Let's hope for a happier and healthier 2017 for all!!
A couple of additions to this well done but of course very sad list:

Gogi Grant
Debbie Reynolds

Both had huge number 1 hits in the 1950s.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks Jones, a great and important post. That’s a lot of talent now gone.
Why do I feel old, all of a sudden?
But in a serious tone, we lost a lot of talent, and the new talent we have coming up, is not a fair exchange.

Signe Anderson, the original female vocalist for Jefferson Airplane, died the same day as Paul Kantner.  She's on their first release, "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off."
Playing drums on the first Airplane album was Skip Spence, later of Moby Grape and acid-casualty fame. He had earlier been in a very early version of the cult San Jose Garage Band The Chocolate Watchband (seen appearing in the Roger Corman teen-exploitation movie Riot On Sunset Strip).

I just noticed pianist Paul Bley died last year. An influential if not famous jazz pianist. He was a personnel favorite, who was always interesting whether playing with Charlie Parker, or playing solo avant-garde. RIP.


Definitely a bad year for our musical hero's.

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