2025

Mastodon’s Brent Hinds died August 20, 2025

Brent Hinds (January 16, 1974 – August 20, 2025) Early Life & Musical Roots William Brent Hinds was born on January 16, 1974, in Helena, Alabama. Growing up in the South meant he was surrounded by a unique mix of country, gospel, and rock traditions. Unlike many heavy metal musicians who first cut their teeth on hard rock records, Hinds began with the banjo. The banjo would leave a permanent imprint on his approach to guitar, as he developed a hybrid-picking style that merged fingerpicking and flatpicking techniques. This banjo-informed technique became one of his defining trademarks. As a child,…
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Cool John Ferguson died August 12, 2025

Cool John Ferguson: A Life in Blues, Soul, and Spirit Early Roots in Gullah Culture and the Genesis of a Musical Prodigy John W. Ferguson, known professionally as Cool John Ferguson, was born on December 3, 1953, in Beaufort, South Carolina, a town deeply embedded in the Sea Islands and the traditions of the Gullah Geechee people. The Gullah culture preserved strong ties to West African heritage, maintaining distinctive languages, spiritual practices, and music forms. It was into this environment of rhythm, call-and-response, and deeply felt song that Cool John was born, and these sounds would form the foundation of…
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Sheila Jordan died August 11, 2025

Sheila Jordan (1928–2025): A Life in Jazz A Voice Born from Adversity Sheila Jeanette Dawson was born on November 18, 1928, in Detroit, Michigan. Her childhood was marked by instability: her father disappeared shortly after her birth, and her mother battled alcoholism. Sheila spent much of her early life with her grandparents in Summerhill, Pennsylvania, a small coal-mining town defined by poverty and struggle. The emotional and economic hardships of her youth left a lasting imprint on her sense of resilience and on the deep emotional timbre of her music. She often recalled that singing became her means of survival….
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Bobby Whitlock died August 10, 2025

Early Life and Musical Roots Bobby Whitlock was born Robert Stanley “Bobby” Whitlock in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 18, 1948, and grew up in a poverty-stricken environment in Millington, just outside Memphis. His formative years were steeped in the soulful resonance of Southern gospel, particularly from his early experiences in church music. This spiritual musical foundation deeply shaped his style as both a singer and keyboardist. As a teenager, Bobby Whitlock gravitated toward the Stax Records scene. He developed friendships with key soul artists—including Booker T. & the M.G.’s, the Staple Singers, and Albert King—and began appearing on sessions. Notably,…
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Flaco Jiménez died July 31, 2025

Flaco Jiménez: The Accordion King of Conjunto and Tex-Mex Music Flaco Jiménez, born Leonardo Jiménez in San Antonio, Texas, on March 11, 1939, was a towering figure in American roots music, whose legacy spanned nearly eight decades. A Grammy-winning accordion virtuoso and genre-bending innovator, Jiménez was best known for his mastery of conjunto, norteño, and tejano music. As both a solo artist and a collaborative force, he redefined the cultural boundaries of American popular music by blending traditional Mexican folk sounds with rock, country, blues, and R\&B. His role in legendary bands like the Texas Tornados and Los Super Seven,…
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Jazz Scat singer Cleo Laine died July 24, 2025.

Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth: The Voice That Sang Scat Across Generations Cleo Laine, born Clementine Dinah Hitching on October 28, 1927, in Southall, Middlesex, England, was a trailblazing English jazz and pop singer and an accomplished actress. Renowned for her wide vocal range and expert scat singing, Laine left an indelible mark on both British and international music and theater. Over a career that spanned eight decades, she became not only a cultural icon but also a symbol of boundary-crossing artistry in the world of jazz, classical, and stage performance. Cleo Laine passed away on July 24, 2025, just…
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The Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne died July 22, 2025

Ozzy Osbourne: A Life in Heavy Metal 1. Early Life John Michael Osbourne, known to the world as Ozzy, was born on December 3, 1948, in Marston Green near Birmingham, England. Raised in a working-class family as one of six children, Ozzy experienced a modest and often difficult upbringing. School was a struggle, particularly due to undiagnosed dyslexia, and he left formal education in his mid-teens. After bouncing between jobs—including a stint in a slaughterhouse—he was briefly incarcerated for petty theft. The name “Ozzy” was a childhood nickname that stuck, eventually becoming synonymous with heavy metal itself. 2. Black Sabbath…
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‘X-Files’ Composer Mark Snow died July 4, 2025

Mark Snow: The Sonic Architect of the Paranormal and Beyond Mark Snow, born Martin Fulterman on August 26, 1946, in Brooklyn, New York, was a prolific American composer whose name became synonymous with atmospheric suspense, mystery, and emotional depth in television scoring. With a career spanning more than five decades, Snow created unforgettable musical landscapes for some of the most beloved and culturally significant shows in modern television history. While his body of work encompassed a wide variety of genres and series, Mark Snow is best remembered for his ethereal and otherworldly theme for The X-Files, which became an iconic…
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Lalo Schifrin: The Fusion Maestro of Cinema Music died June 26, 2025.

Lalo Schifrin: The Fusion Maestro of Cinema Music Boris Claudio “Lalo” Schifrin, who passed away on June 26, 2025, at the age of 93, left behind a monumental legacy as one of the most versatile and inventive composers in film and television history. An Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor, Schifrin carved a unique niche in the music world by fusing jazz, classical, and Latin American idioms into cinematic scores that defined an era. His works have become part of the cultural lexicon, with themes like Mission: Impossible continuing to resonate with audiences across generations. With a career that spanned…
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Mick Ralphs died June 23, 2025.

Mick Ralphs: The Guitar Architect of British Rock(Michael Geoffrey Ralphs, March 31, 1944 – June 23, 2025) Michael Geoffrey Ralphs—better known to the world as Mick Ralphs—was a foundational figure in British rock, whose distinctive guitar work and songwriting laid the groundwork for two of the most enduring bands in rock history: Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Born on March 31, 1944, in Herefordshire, England, Ralphs rose to prominence during the late 1960s and 1970s, when British rock was defining itself as a global force. With a career spanning over five decades, Ralphs left an indelible imprint on classic…
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