Notable musicians and other music-related figures who have died this year:
Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook singer)
Mike “Beard Guy” Taylor (Walk Off the Earth)
James Calvin Wilsey (guitarist for Chris Isaak)
Norman Gimbel (Oscar and Grammy-winning lyricist; “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “The Girl From Ipanema,” “I Got a Name,” “Happy Days” theme, etc.)
Steve Hall (comedian and the voice of “Shotgun Red,” a regular guest on TNN’s The Ralph Emery Show”)
Malani Bilyeu (founding member of iconic Hawaiian band Kalapana)
Jimmy Work (country singer-songwriter, best known for “Making Believe”)
Joe Osborn (Wrecking Crew bassist)
Anca Pop (Romanian singer-songwriter)
Jerry Chesnut (country songwriter; “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” “A Good Year For the Roses,” etc.)
Andrew Frierson (pioneering black opera singer)
Nancy Wilson (Grammy-winning jazz singer)
Lucas Starr (Oh, Sleeper)
Floyd Parton (singer-songwriter and younger brother of Dolly Parton)
Ace Cannon (legendary saxophonist)
Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks)
Wayne Elliott (lead singer of Knightshade)
Cyril Pahinui (slack-key guitar legend)
Angelica Cob-Baehler (veteran music industry executive)
Devin Lima (LFO singer)
Peter Simon (rock photographer and brother of Carly Simon)
Al James (former Showaddywaddy bassist)
Roy Clark (country guitar legend and “Hee Haw” co-host)
Lucho Gatica (the King of Bolero)
Paula Wayne (Broadway singer-actress)
Kurt Kaiser (Christian songwriter-pianist; “Pass It On,” “Oh How He Loves You and Me”)
Francis Lai (Oscar-winning French composer, “Love Story”)
Vic Emerson (keyboardist with Mandalaband, Sad Café and 10cc)
Hugh McDowell (former Electric Light Orchestra cellist)
Roy Hargrove (Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter)
Dave Rowland (country trio Dave & Sugar)
Tom Diaz (The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die)
Kenny Marks (Christian singer-songwriter)
Beverly McClellan (finalist on season one of “The Voice”)
Jimmy Farrar (former Molly Hatchet singer)
Herb Remington (steel guitarist for Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys)
Freddie Hart (country star; “Easy Loving”)
Tony Joe White (singer-songwriter, “Polk Salad Annie,” “Rainy Night in Georgia,” etc.)
Jon James (Canadian rapper)
Oli Herbert (All That Remains founding member and guitarist)
Kat Arthur (Legal Weapon)
Angela Maria (Brazilian singer)
Montserrat Caballe (Spanish opera singer, collaborated with Freddie Mercury)
Geoff Emerick (The Beatles’ chief recording engineer)
Charles Aznavour (the “Frank Sinatra of France”)
Otis Rush (blues legend)
Marty Balin (Jefferson Airplane / Jefferson Starship)
Chas Hodges (Chas & Dave)
Mac Miller (hip-hop star)
Beth Krakower (veteran publicist for film and TV composers)
Conway Savage (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds pianist)
Ed King (Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist)
Daniel Scanlan (Chicago avant-garde jazz artist)
Kyle Pavone (We Came As Romans singer)
Khaira Arby (the “Queen of Saharan Song”)
Danny Pearson (R&B singer)
Jill Janus (Huntress)
Aretha Franklin (The Queen of Soul)
Aretha Franklin, the Greatest Female Singer of All Time »
Randy Rampage (D.O.A., Annihilator)
Morgana King (jazz singer who played Marlon Brando’s wife in “The Godfather”)
Blue Miller (musician-producer)
Jason “J-Sin” Luttrell (Primer 55)
Lorrie Collins (rockabilly singer)
G.G. Shinn (swamp pop legend)
Irvin “Carrot” Jarrett (former Third World and Inner Circle member)
Erma Drew (The Drew-Vels)
Adrian Cronauer (the Armed Forces Radio DJ who was the inspiration for “Good Morning Vietnam”)
Rev. Frank Perkovich (“The Polka Priest”)
George Theiss (Bruce Springsteen’s bandmate in the Castiles)
Theryl “The Houseman” DeClouet (former Galactic vocalist)
Tab Hunter (actor-singer; “Young Love”)
Bret Hoffmann (former Malevolent Creation frontman)
Vince Martin (early folk-rock pioneer)
Jim Malloy (Grammy-winning engineer worked with Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Johnny Cash, Henry Mancini, Dolly Parton, etc.)
Carmen Campagne (Canadian singer-songwriter)
Richard Swift (of The Shins and The Black Keys)
Alan Longmuir (Bay City Rollers)
Eugene Pitt (The Jive Five)
Steve Soto (bassist and founding member of The Adolescents and Agent Orange)
Dan Ingram (legendary New York disc jockey)
Joe Jackson (musical family patriarch and early manager of The Jackson 5)
Vinnie Paul (Pantera drummer)
David Corcoran (Duke Jupiter drummer)
Lowrell Simon (The Lost Generation; “The Sly, the Slick and the Wicked”)
Bonaldo Giaiotti (Met operatic bass)
Bill Davis (Tulsa Sound singer)
XXXTentacion (rapper)
Matt “Guitar” Murphy (Blues Brothers guitarist)
Nick Knox (drummer for The Cramps)
DJ Fontana (Elvis Presley’s longtime drummer)
Jon Hiseman (drummer for Colosseum and Tempest)
Ras Kimono (Nigerian reggae star)
Neal Boyd (“America’s Got Talent” season 3 winner)
Danny Kirwan (former Fleetwood Mac guitarist)
Lorraine Gordon (longtime owner of the Village Vanguard jazz club)
Jimmy Gonzalez (Grupo Mazz)
Ralph Santolla (former Death, Iced Earth, Deicide and Obituary guitarist)
Wayne Secrest (Confederate Railroad)
Clarence Fountain (Blind Boys of Alabama)
Jerry Hopkins (best-selling rock biographer)
Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater (Chicago blues legend)
Josh Martin (Anal C**t guitarist)
Russ Regan (A&R man who signed Elton John, Barry White, Neil Diamond, etc., and former head of 20th Century Records)
Stewart Lupton (Jonathan Fire*Eater singer)
María Dolores Pradera (Spanish singer-actress)
Roger Clark (Muscle Shoals drummer)
Glenn Snoddy (architect of the “Nashville Sound”)
Clint Walker (actor-singer; star of TV’s “Cheyenne”)
Reggie Lucas (Miles Davis guitarist and producer of Madonna’s “Borderline”)
Matt Marks (Alarm Will Sound)
Glenn Branca (avant-garde composer-guitarist)
Scott Hutchison (lead singer of Frightened Rabbit)
Gayle Shepherd (The Shepherd Sisters)
Dick Williams (Williams Brothers)
Abi Ofarim (German-Israeli folk singer)
Tony Kinman (of the Dils, Rank and File, Blackbird and Cowboy Nation)
John “Jabo” Starks (James Brown’s longtime drummer)
Charles Neville (The Neville Brothers)
Don Bustany (co-creator of “American Top 40”)
Paul Gray (lead singer of Wa Wa Nee)
Bob Dorough (“Schoolhouse Rock!” performer and writer)
Avicii (Swedish EDM DJ-producer)
Randy Scruggs (Grammy-winning musician/songwriter and son of Earl Scruggs)
Big Tom McBride (Irish country singer)
Yvonne Staples (The Staple Singers)
Timmy Matley (The Overtones)
David Kavanagh (U2’s first booking agent; manager for Clannad and Celtic Woman, etc.)
Jacques Higelin (French rocker)
Mike Harrison (lead singer of Spooky Tooth)
Kenny O’Dell (Nashville singer-songwriter; wrote “Behind Closed Doors,” “Lizzie and the Rainman,” etc.)
Seo Minwoo (member of K-pop boy band 100%)
Lys Assia (Swiss singer was the first Eurovision winner in 1956)
Clay Graham (Pilgrim Jubilees lead singer)
Tossi Aaron (early 1960s folk singer)
Stephen Mandell (of “Dueling Banjos” fame with Eric Weissberg)
Robert Grossman (Rolling Stone magazine cover artist and illustrator)
Hazel Smith (Music Row journalist and publicist coined the phrase “outlaw music”)
Charlie Quintana (former Social Distortion drummer)
DJ Spoko (Bacardi house pioneer)
Allah Real (Wu-Tang Clan affiliate singer)
Mike Dike (producer and co-founder of Delicious Vinyl)
Nokie Edwards (lead guitarist of The Ventures)
Claudia Fontaine (British R&B singer)
Craig Mack (1990s rapper; “Flava in Ya Ear”)
Sir Ken Dodd (British comedian and singer, who scored a U.K. No. 1 hit with “Tears” in 1965)
Gary Burden (Grammy-winning album cover artist/designer)
Bill Flores (Chocolate Watchband bassist)
Geoffrey Ellis (worked closely with The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein and was a director of Northern Songs)
Russ Solomon (Tower Records founder)
Trevor Baylis (inventor of the wind-up radio)
Patrick Doyle (Veronica Falls drummer)
Ronnie Prophet (Canadian country singer)
Bill Burkette (lead singer of The Vogues)
James “Nick” Nixon (Nashville blues musician)
Eddy Amoo (The Real Thing)
Barbara Ann Alston (lead singer of The Crystals)
Boyd Jarvis (house producer and musician)
Jim Cuomo (Spoils of War)
Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine singer)
Michael White (former Thompson Twins member)
Vic Damone (legendary crooner)
Daryle Singletary (country singer)
Craig MacGregor (Foghat bassist)
Wesla Whitfield (jazz vocalist)
Jóhann Jóhannsson (Icelandic avant-garde musician and film composer)
Lovebug Starksi (hip-hop pioneer)
Pat Torpey (Mr. Big drummer and founding member)
John Perry Barlow (Grateful Dead lyricist)
Mickey Jones (actor and drummer for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition)
Jo Mapes (pioneering female folk singer-songwriter)
Dennis Edwards (The Temptations)
Buzz Clifford (1960s-era singer-songwriter; “Baby Sittin’ Boogie”)
Mark E. Smith (frontman of The Fall)
Lari White (Grammy-winning country singer-songwriter)
Dave Holland (former Judas Priest and Trapeze drummer)
Hugh Masekela (South African jazz trumpeter, best known for “Grazing in the Grass”)
Billy Hancock (rockabilly singer-guitarist)
Jim Rodford (a founding member of Argent and bassist for the Kinks and the Zombies)
Fredo Santana (Chicago rapper)
Marlene VerPlanck (commercial “jingle queen”)
Edwin Hawkins (gospel great; “Oh Happy Day”)
Dolores O’Riordan (lead singer of The Cranberries)
Jeremy Inkel (Frontline Assembly)
Fast Eddie Clarke (Motörhead guitarist)
Denise LaSalle (R&B legend; “Trapped By a Thing Called Love”)
Ray Thomas (founding member of The Moody Blues)
Chris Tsangarides (rock producer)
France Gall (French singer and 1965 Eurovision winner)
Gregg Analla (former Tribe of Gypsies singer)
Tony Calder (British music executive and co-founder of Immediate Records)
Betty Jane Willis (1960s soul singer)
Robert Mann (violinist and a founder of the Juilliard String Quartet)
Rick Hall (legendary producer)