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Jam Master Jay was murdered on October 30, 2002.

Jam Master Jay, born Jason William Mizell on January 21, 1965, in Brooklyn, New York, was a pivotal figure in hip hop and a trailblazer who helped shape the sound and culture of the genre. Best known as the DJ of the groundbreaking group Run-DMC, Mizell’s artistry and innovation in DJing earned him a revered place in music history. Under the stage name Jam Master Jay, he played an instrumental role in popularizing hip hop, propelling it into mainstream culture and expanding its reach. His influence and contributions went beyond the beats and scratches of turntables; he was a mentor,…
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Mr Bojangles writer Jerry Jeff Walker died October 23, 2020

Jerry Jeff Walker (March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an country music singer, songwriter and a leading figure in the outlaw country music movement. Jerry Jeff Walker was born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta, New York. His father, Mel, was as a sports referee and bartender and his mother, Alma, was a housewife. His grandparents played for square dances with his grandmother, Jessie Conroe, playing piano and his grandfather playing fiddle. During the late 1950s, Ronald Crosby was a member of a local teen band called The Tones. After high school, Crosby joined the National Guard, but went AWOL…
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Spencer Davis died October 19, 2020

Spencer Davis (July 17, 1939 – October 19, 2020) was born Spencer David Nelson Davies, and was a Welsh multi-instrument musician and founder of the Spencer Davis Group. Spencer Davis was born in Swansea, South-West Wales, and began learning to play the accordion and harmonica at the age of six. He attended Dynevor School and was very good at languages. When he was 16 he moved to London and started working for the UK Government before going back to his old school to study for Advanced Levels in languages. In 1960, he moved to Birmingham, to study German at the…
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Johnny Nash died October 6, 2020

Johnny Nash (August 19, 1940 – October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1972 classic hit “I Can See Clearly Now”. He was primarily a reggae and pop singer and was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston. Johnny Nash was born was born John Lester Nash Jr. in Houston, Texas, and sang in the choir at Progressive New Hope Baptist Church in South Central Houston as a child. From 1953, Johnny Nash sang covers of R&B hits on Matinee, a local variety show on KPRC-TV, and from 1956 he sang on…
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Eddie Van Halen died October 6, 2020

Eddie Van Halen was born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) and was a Dutch-American musician, songwriter and producer. He was the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded in 1972 with his brother, drummer Alex, bassist Mark Stone, and singer David Lee Roth. He was well known for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with both hands on the fretboard. Eddie Van Halen was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands and in 1962, his family moved to the United States and settled…
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Elvis songwrited Mac Davis died September 29, 2020

Mac Davis (January 21, 1942 – September 29, 2020) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. During his early career wrote for Elvis Presley, providing him with the hits “Memories”, “In the Ghetto”, “Don’t Cry Daddy”, and “A Little Less Conversation”. A subsequent solo career in the 1970s produced hits such as “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me”. Scoot Mac Davis was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, the son of Edith Irene (Lankford) and T. J. Davis. He graduated from Lubbock High School at 16 and, looking to escape Lubbock, moved to Atlanta where his mother was…
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I Am Woman singer Helen Reddy died September 29, 2020

Helen Reddy (October 25, 1941 – September 29, 2020) was an Australian-American singer, songwriter, author, actress, and activist. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria, to a show-business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on radio and television and won a talent contest on the television program, Bandstand in 1966; her prize was a ticket to New York City and a record audition, which was unsuccessful. Helen Reddy pursued her international singing career by moving to Chicago, and then on to Los Angeles, where she made her debut singles “One Way Ticket” in 1968 and…
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The Four Seasons founder Tommy DeVito died September 21, 2020 from COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Tommy DeVito, born Gaetano DeVito (June 19, 1928 – September 21, 2020) was an American musician and singer, best known as a founding member, vocalist, and lead guitarist of rock band the Four Seasons. Tommy DeVito was born on June 19, 1928 in New Jersey, United States, the youngest of nine children in an big, traditional Italian-American family. At 8 years old, he taught himself to play his brother’s guitar by listening to country music on the radio, by 12 he was playing for tips in neighborhood bars and by 16, he had his own R&B band and was making $25…
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Uriah heep and Ozzy Osbourne drummer Lee Kerslake died September 19, 2020

Lee Kerslake (April 16, 1947 – September 19, 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. Lee Kerslake was born in Dorset, England, and at the age 11, he began playing drums and got his first professional gig with the Gods in 1969, going on to record three albums with the band. He later played with Toe Fat and National Head Band before linking up with Uriah Heep in November 1971. Lee Kerslake first appeared with Uriah Heep…
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Toots and the Maytals Toots Hibbert died September 11, 2020 from COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Frederick Nathaniel “Toots” Hibbert (December 8, 1942 – September 11, 2020) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music. Toots Hibbert’s 1968 song “Do the Reggay” is widely credited as the start of the genre name reggae. His band’s album True Love won a Grammy Award in 2005. In 2010, Toots Hibbert ranked number 71 in Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”, and in August 2012 it was announced…
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