Tag Archive: dead musicians

Kurt Cobain took his own life on April 5, 1994

Kurt Cobain was one of the most iconic and influential musicians of the late 20th century. As the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Nirvana, Cobain became the voice of Generation X, representing the disillusionment, angst, and alienation that characterized the grunge movement of the early 1990s. His untimely death at the age of 27 cemented his legacy as a tragic figure in rock history, but his influence on music, culture, and the perception of fame endures to this day. Early Life and Influences Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington, a small logging…
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Peter Green co-founder of Fleetwood Mac died July 25 2020

Peter Allen Greenbaum (October 29, 1946 – July 25, 2020), better known as Peter Green was an English blues rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and his songs, such as “Albatross”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Oh Well”, “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)” and “Man of the World”, appeared on singles charts worldwide, and several have been adapted and covered by a variety of musicians. B.B. King once said, “He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave…
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Southern Rock Pioneer and Fiddle player Charlie Daniels died July 6 2020

Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020), known as Charlie Daniels, was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist who played Southern rock, country, and bluegrass music. He was best known for his number-one country hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. Charles Edward (Charlie) Daniels was born October 28, 1936, in Wilmington, North Carolina, and was raised listening to various musical styles including Pentecostal gospel, local bluegrass bands, and the rhythm & blues and country music from Nashville’s WLAC and WSM radio stations. As a teenager, Charlie moved to the small town of Gulf in Chatham County, North…
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Composer and arranger Johnny Mandel died June 29 2020

John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925 – June 29, 2020), known as Johnny Mandel, was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. He worked with many musicians including Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Diane Schuur and Shirley Horn, and won five Grammy Awards – from 17 nominations. John Alfred “Johnny” Mandel was born in Manhattan on November 23, 1925. His father, Alfred, was a garment manufacturer who ran his own business called Mandel & Cash, and his mother, Hannah, had wanted to be an opera singer and discovered…
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Jamaican guitarist for Toots and the Maytals and Paul Simon, Hux Brown died June 18, 2020

Lynford Brown (December 4, 1944 – June 18, 2020), known as Hux Brown, was a Jamaican guitarist who featured on many successful rocksteady and reggae records in the 1960s and 1970s, and was later a member of Toots and the Maytals. Lynford “Hux” Brown was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He was nicknamed “Fordie”When at school, then “Fordux”, which eventually became “Hux”. He formed a band, the Vikings, before moving to Kingston where he joined the Soul Brothers at Clement Dodd’s Studio One label. In 1967, he moved to the rival Treasure Isle studio for producer Duke Reid, and the…
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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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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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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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