It’s always the hardest post to write every year: a tribute to all the great artists who have passed away over the last 12 months.
2025 has been no exception, delivering a relentless stream of heartbreak month after month. Losing Brian Wilson and Sly Stone within just 48 hours of each other? That was very brutal. Seriously, look at this list.
For those of us who live and breathe music, these losses feel deeply personal. You don’t just mourn a celebrity; you mourn a presence that was always there — on your radio, in your headphones, and right by your side through life’s highs and lows.
Though they may be gone, their music remains. Here is our look back at the icons who left us this year, and the indelible marks they left on us.
Brian Wilson: A visionary architect of The Beach Boys, he redefined the limits of the recording studio; his “teenage symphonies” changed pop music forever.
Sly Stone: A true pioneer who bridged the gap between soul, rock, and social consciousness, he taught the world how to “dance to the music” while fearlessly rewriting the rules of funk.
Ozzy Osbourne: The “Prince of Darkness” and heavy metal’s most enduring spirit, he moved from the industrial gloom of Black Sabbath to solo superstardom with a voice and a charisma that defined an entire genre’s DNA.
Jimmy Cliff: A global ambassador of rhythm and soul, he used his soaring voice to bring the spirit of reggae to the masses and gave us the definitive soundtrack for the struggle, the triumph, and the “harder they come” reality of life.
Connie Francis: The quintessential voice of a generation’s transition into adulthood, she combined an amazing vocal range with a rare emotional vulnerability that made her the most successful female artist of her era. Before her death, she enjoyed unexpected resurgence via TikTok, of all places. Her obscure 1962 song “Pretty Little Baby” became a viral sensation.
Steve Cropper: The understated backbone of the Stax sound, he was the master of the “less is more” philosophy, carving out some of the most iconic riffs in history with a sharp, telecaster twang that defined the very soul of Memphis.
D’Angelo: A master of the groove who operated on his own timeline, he revived the spirit of soul with a raw, organic intimacy and a rhythmic sophistication that reminded us all what it feels like to truly “feel” the music. He defined 1990s-20s soul.
We lost many other Rock and Roll Hall of Famers along the way:
Sam Moore [Sam & Dave]
Garth Hudson [The Band]
Tommy Hunt [The Flamingos]
Jerry Butler [The Impressions]
Chris Jasper [The Isley Brothers]
Clem Burke [Blondie]
Les Binks [Judas Priest]
John Edwards [The Spinners]
Mick Ralphs [Bad Company]
Sonny Curtis [The Crickets]
Chris Dreja [The Yardbirds]
John Lodge [The Moody Blues]
Ace Frehley [KISS]
Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay [Grateful Dead]
Perry Bamonte [The Cure]
So many legendary jazz artists … gone:
Chuck Mangione
Jack DeJohnette
Eddie Palmieri
Cleo Laine
Roy Ayers
Al Foster
Sheila Jackson
And there were several who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame:
Peter Yarrow [Peter, Paul and Mary]
Rick Derringer
Rick Buckler [The Jam]
Roberta Flack
David Johansen [New York Dolls]
Here are some personal reflections:
Johnny Tillotson: What a thrill it was to interview him, Lesley Gore and Del Shannon all in the same day in 1987 in Tokyo, shortly before they shared the stage at a club in Shibuya. His hits were well before my time, but Tillotson had a stage presence like no other. That’s a night I will never forget.
Rick Derringer: We used to shop at the same Publix in Sarasota, FL, but I would never approach him because I figured he deserved his privacy in the produce department. I finally got to interview him in 2013 for a charity event he was attending. We’re both Ohio guys, so it was easy to reminisce with him about the rock sounds coming out of our home state. He was a rock star even before he graduated from high school — his first band, The McCoys, went No. 1 in 1965 with “Hang On Sloopy” and they toured with The Rolling Stones. “That’s a great way to start out,” he said. “But our biggest challenge at the time was trying not to be associated with the bubblegum stuff that was coming out of Ohio at the time. We were a rock ‘n’ roll band, pure and simple. That’s why I was so happy to hook up with Johnny Winter and later The Edgar Winter Group.”
Mick Ralphs: Another Sarasota connection. Got the chance to speak with the guitarist before Bad Company’s “Company of Strangers” was released. He relished seaside living. “I love it down here, it’s beautiful,” he said. “But there’s no chance of ever seeing me in a leisure suit, balding, and going to Red Lobster for an early-bird dinner. I don’t see myself really retiring, but I could certainly live with living here and hanging out on the beach all day.” Sadly, he died before he and his bandmates could reunite at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in November.
Lou Christie: “Beyond the Blue Horizon” (late 1973) was an overlooked gem that saw new life in movies in the 1980s and ’90s, including “Rain Man.” Why wasn’t it a hit the first time around?, I asked the great falsetto singer. “The week it was released, the (distributing) company was going into bankruptcy so they stopped everything. People were telling us it was the No. 1 requested song, but there was no product in the stores. But it’s OK, I never thought the thing would ever die.”
Mike Peters of The Alarm: I’m not sure I’ve met a more positive person in all my years covering music — especially someone who had faced as many health challenges as Peters did. When I interviewed him in 1998, he had just gotten an all-clear from his doctor three years after he had been told he had lymphoma. “When you go through an experience like that,” he said, “it does focus your mind. It made me sort the wheat from the chaff. There was a creative destruction I went through musically, mentally and physically, the way I live and the way I conduct my life. If a lot of things weren’t working, I figured, ‘Well, let’s move on to something else.’ I’ve done that at various times in my life, like when I started The Alarm. There was a song we did called ‘Unsafe Building’ about burning the bridges and leaving your past life behind and moving forward and not being afraid to take chances.” He was a fighter to the end.
Joey Molland: For many, Badfinger helped soften the blow of the Beatles’ breakup in 1970. “Perhaps we did, in a way,” the guitarist said. “We certainly played a similar kind of music and being raised up the same way, coming from the same place. It’s great to be included in the same sentence as them, really.” The reason Badfinger didn’t reach superstar status, Molland said, was that the band didn’t go out of its way to sell itself. “We kind of let the music stand on its own,” he said. “Like we never put on the albums who played on the albums, even though we had people like George Harrison playing. We never tried to capitalize on those affairs. We were an honest band. We were honest in the music and with our audience. I don’t think we ever conned them out of anything. And we never wore spandex.”