2020

Pointer Sister Bonnie Pointer died June 8, 2020

Patricia Eva “Bonnie” Pointer (July 11, 1950 – June 8, 2020) was an American singer, and founding member of the legendary vocal group, The Pointer Sisters, as well as a solo performer. Bonnie Pointer and her youngest sister June began singing together in their father’s West Oakland Church of God in California. They formed The Pointers, also known as The Pair, in 1969. After their sister Anita joined the duo that same year, they changed their name to The Pointer Sisters and recorded several singles for Atlantic Records between 1971 and 1972. In December 1972, they recruited oldest sister Ruth…
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The Sweet Bass player Steve Priest died June 4, 2020

Steve Priest (February 23, 1948 – June 4, 2020) was a British bass player and lead and backing vocalist of the glam rock band The Sweet. Stephen Norman (Steve) Priest was born in Hayes, Middlesex, UK. As a young teenager he made his own bass guitar and began playing in local bands after being influenced by artists such as the Shadows, the Rolling Stones and The Who. In January 1968, Steve Priest was invited to form a band with vocalist Brian Connolly, drummer Mick Tucker, and guitarist Frank Torpey. That band that was to become The Sweet. Frank Torpey was…
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KISS, Meat Loaf and WASP guitarist Bob Kulick died on May 29, 2020

Robert J. (Bob) Kulick (January 16, 1950 – May 29, 2020) was an American guitarist and record producer, best known for his studio work with KISS and shock-rock heavy metal band W.A.S.P. Robert J. (Bob) Kulick was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was the older brother of another former KISS lead guitarist Bruce Kulick. In late 1972 Bob Kulick took a chance and auditioned for the lead guitar spot in a new band called KISS. KISS founding members Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss were very impressed by Bob’s performance, but the glitzier showman Ace Frehley, who auditioned…
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Jazz Drummer Jimmy Cobb died May 24, 2020

Wilbur James Cobb (January 20, 1929 – May 24, 2020) was an American jazz drummer, known as Jimmy Cobb, and a member of the legendary Miles Davis’s First Great Sextet. Wilbur James (Jimmy) Cobb was born in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 1929 to Wilbur Cobb, a security guard and taxi driver, and Katherine, a domestic worker. As a teenager in the mid-1940s he became obsessed with jazz, listening to American wartime broadcasts and washing dishes in diners to save money to buy a drum kit. His dream was to learn the polyrhythmic innovations of the bebop drum masters Kenny…
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Bluesman Lucky Peterson died May 17, 2020.

Judge Kenneth Peterson (December 13, 1964 – May 17, 2020), KNOW AS Lucky Peterson, was an American singer and musician who played contemporary blues guitar and keyboards, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. Lucky Peterson’s father James Peterson, who was also a bluesman, owned a nightclub in Buffalo, called The Governor’s Inn, which was a regular stop for fellow bluesmen including Howlin Wolf and Willie Dixon, who saw five-year-old Lucky Peterson performing at the club and took him under his wing. A few months later, Lucky Peterson performed on The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and What’s…
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Soul and R&B singer Betty Wright died May 10, 2020

Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), was known as Betty Wright, and was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and backing vocalist. Born in Miami, Florida, Betty Wright was the youngest of seven children of Rosa Akins Braddy-Wright and her second husband, McArthur Norris. Betty Wright began her professional career at the age of two when her brothers and sisters formed a gospel group called “the Echoes of Joy”, and she contributed to the vocals on the group’s first album which was released in 1956. “The Echoes of Joy” performed together until 1965, when Betty…
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Rock n Roll Legend Little Richard died May 9, 2020

Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), better known as Little Richard, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, and was the third of 12 children to Charles “Bud” Penniman and Leva Mae. His father was a church deacon, a brick mason, sold bootlegged moonshine and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn. As a child Richard Penniman was nicknamed “Lil’ Richard” by his family because of his small and skinny frame. Little Richard’s family was very religious and joined various churches, with several family members becoming ministers….
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Kraftwerk’s Legendary Florian Schneider died May 6, 2020

Florian Schneider-Esleben (known as Florian Schneider) (April 7, 1947 – May 6, 2020) was a German musician best known as one of the founding members of the legendary electronic band Kraftwerk and performed with them until November 2008. Florian Schneider-Esleben was born in the French occupation zone in southern Germany, in what would, in 1952, become the state of Baden-Württemberg. His family then moved to Düsseldorf, Germany when he was 3 years old. Florian Schneider played in the group Pissoff from 1967 to 1968 with future Kraftwerk band member Eberhard Kranemann. From 1968 to 1969, Florian Schneider played flute, with…
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Bad Company frontman Brian Howe died May 6, 2020

Bad Company‘s Brian Howe was born Brian Anthony Howe on July 22, 1953 and was an English rock singer and songwriter, best known for replacing Paul Rodgers as the lead singer of Bad Company. Brian Howe was born in Portsmouth, England in 1953. He sang with a local band called Shy, then joined White Spirit, replacing singer Bruce Ruff, but the band quickly collapsed, and Brian Howe never recorded an album with them. In 1983 Howe’s career was jump-started when singer-songwriter, guitarist, and political activist Ted Nugent recruited him to sing lead vocals for his “Penetrator” album and to front…
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My Boy Lollipop singer Millie Small died May 5, 2020

Millie Small was a Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known for her 1964 recording of “My Boy Lollipop”, which reached number two in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. Millicent Dolly May (Millie) Small (October 6, 1946 – May 5, 2020) was born in Clarendon, Jamaica, the daughter of a sugar plantation overseer and was one of seven brothers and five sisters. Millie’s music career began by winning the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour talent contest, at the age of 12. Wanting to follow a career as a singer, she moved to live with relatives Kingston,…
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