We have issues with 2016.
The year began horribly, with music fans waking up on New Year’s Day to find out that Natalie Cole had died overnight of congestive heart failure, and it ended with the shocking death of George Michael on Christmas Day and “Singin’ in the Rain” star Debbie Reynolds dying just a day after her daughter-actress Carrie Fisher’s death.
In-between those months were one big-name death after another; it seemed like it would never end: David Bowie … Prince … Glenn Frey … Leonard Cohen … Paul Kantner … Maurice White … Sir George Martin … Leon Russell … two-thirds of Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Keith Emerson and Greg Lake … Merle Haggard … Phife Dawg … Juan Gabriel … Sharon Jones … Kashif … etc.
Yesterday, I tweeted:
Death doesn't care what year it is … but damn, I hate 2016. In so many ways.
— Pauseandplay.com (@Pauseandplay) December 29, 2016
… and I still stand behind it.
God bless them all:
Pierre Barouh (French songwriter, composer and singer, most famous for “A Man and a Woman”)
Debbie Reynolds (actress-singer; “Tammy”)
George Michael (ex-Wham! singer-songwriter and pop superstar)
Rick Parfitt (Status Quo guitarist)
Alan Thicke (actor and father of singer Robin Thicke and composer of the theme songs to “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Facts of Life”)
George Mantalis (The Four Coins)
Jim Lowe (radio host and singer, who scored a No. 1 in 1956 with “The Green Door”)
Bob Krasnow (former Elektra Records CEO and co-founder of Blue Thumb Records)
Joe Ligon (The Might Clouds of Joy)
Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
Mark Gray (a 1979-82 member of Exile and a successful country songwriter, including Alabama’s “Take Me Down” and “The Closer You Get”)
Harry Balk (Detroit talent scout and manager; former head of Rare Earth Records)
Sfiso Ncwane (South African gospel singer)
Michael “Micky Fitz” Fitzsimmons (The Business)
Larry Hosford (Americana singer-songwriter)
Ray Columbus (New Zealand’s first rock star)
Colonel Abrams (1980s soul star; “Trapped”)
Sharon Jones (2000s-era soul great)
Albert “Diz” Russell (lead singer of the Regals and the Orioles)
Mentor Williams (songwriter, “Drift Away”; younger brother of Paul Williams)
Mose Allison (jazz-blues legend)
Holly Dunn (country singer)
David Mancuso (DJ and pioneer of NYC underground club scene)
Leon Russell (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend)
Victor Bailey (former Weather Report bassist)
Leonard Cohen (influential singer-songwriter)
Sir Jimmy Young (singer and veteran BBC disc jockey)
Eddie Harsch (of The Magpie Salute and formerly The Black Crowes)
Kay Starr (1950s-era singer)
Bap Kennedy (Belfast singer-songwriter)
Curly Putnam (country songwriter; “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “My Elusive Dreams,” etc.)
Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez (San Diego Chicano music legend)
Herb “The Cool Gent” Kent (Chicago radio legend)
Pete Burns (Dead or Alive singer)
Bobby Vee (pop legend)
Phil Chess (co-founder of Chess Records)
Robert “Big Sonny” Edwards (The Intruders)
Larry “Bingo” Marcus (The Rude Boys)
Don Ciccone (The Critters)
Michiyuki Kawashima (Boom Boom Satellites)
Peter Allen (longtime Met Opera radio broadcaster)
Joan Marie Johnson (The Dixie Cups)
Rod Temperton (“Thriller” and “Rock With You” songwriter; also a member of Heatwave)
Caroline Crawley (Shelleyan Orphan)
Sir Neville Marriner (conductor and founder of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields)
Oscar Brand (folk troubadour and radio host for seven decades)
Mike “Taffy” Taylor (Quartz)
Kashif (R&B singer-producer)
Rob Meurer (longtime Christopher Cross collaborator and band member)
Jean Shepard (Country Music Hall of Famer)
Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr. (leader of Buckwheat Zydeco)
John D. Loudermilk (songwriter; “Indian Reservation,” “Tobacco Road,” etc.)
Micki Marlo (popular 1950s singer and nightclub performer)
Shawty Lo (rapper and a founding member of D4L)
Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf)
Leonard Haze (original Y&T drummer)
Rex “Tartarex” Thompson (lead singer of The Summer Hits)
Prince Buster (ska legend)
Lewis Merenstein (produced Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”)
Johan Botha (South African opera tenor)
Clifford Curry (R&B singer; “She Shot a Hole in My Soul”)
Jerry Heller (controversial manager of N.W.A., co-founder of Ruthless Records)
Fred Hellerman (The Weavers)
Kacey Jones (singer-comedian)
Juan Gabriel (iconic Mexican singer-songwriter)
Rudy Van Gelder (legendary jazz recording engineer)
Gilli Smyth (Gong)
Toots Thielemans (jazz harmonica master)
Preston Hubbard (former Fabulous Thunderbirds bassist)
Matt Roberts (former 3 Doors Down guitarist)
Lou Pearlman (Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC creator)
James Woolley (former Nine Inch Nails keyboardist)
Gary Watson (lead singer of the Lapelles)
Ruby Wilson (Queen of Beale Street)
Glenn Yarbrough (folk singer; founding member of The Limeliters)
Ricci Martin (musician son of Dean Martin)
Pete Fountain (jazz clarinetist)
Richard Fagan (country songwriter)
Ron Salisbury (founder of the Christian band JC Power Outlet)
Melvin Goins (legendary bluegrass musician)
Pat Upton (lead singer of Spiral Starecase)
Roye Albrighton (Nektar lead singer-guitarist)
Allan Barnes (a founding member of The Blackbyrds)
Sandy Pearlman (producer; Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash, The Dictators, etc.)
Marni Nixon (cinema’s most famous “ghost singer,” and mother of the late Andrew Gold)
Lewis Steinberg (original drummer for Booker T. & The MG’s)
Gary S. Paxton (produced “Alley Oop” and “Monster Mash,” plus Tommy Roe, The Association, etc.; later a gospel songwriter)
Alan Vega (of the influential electronic duo Suicide)
Bonnie Brown (one-third of The Browns)
Erik Petersen (Mischief Brew)
John Gates (drummer for GLAD)
Bob Goldstone (vice president of Thirty Tigers)
Rob Wasserman (famed bassist)
Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley’s longtime guitarist)
Sir Mack Rice (songwriter; “Mustang Sally,” “Respect Yourself”)
Chet Krause (original publisher of Goldmine magazine)
Jerome Teasley (Jr. Walker & The All Stars)
Bernie Worrell (Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist)
Ralph Stanley (bluegrass legend)
Bill Ham (longtime ZZ Top manager)
Wayne Jackson (Memphis Horns)
Freddy Powers (country legend)
Alejandro Fuentes-Rosas, aka Jano (the former contestant on the Mexican version of “The Voice” was shot and killed)
Prince Be (P.M. Dawn lead singer)
Henry McCullough (former Wings guitarist)
“Chips” Moman (legendary Memphis producer-songwriter)
Christina Grimmie (2014 “The Voice” contestant, gunned down after a concert in Orlando)
Bobby Curtola (Canadian teen idol in the early 1960s)
Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention)
Brandon Ferrell (former Municipal Waste drummer; owner of No Way Records)
Thomas Fekete (Surfer Blood guitarist)
Marshall Jones (Ohio Players)
Nick Menza (former Megadeth drummer)
John Berry (a founding member of Beastie Boys)
Guy Clark (Texas Country singer-songwriter)
Emilio Navaira (Tejano legend)
Jane Little (world’s longest-serving orchestra musician, who collapsed and died during performance of “There’s No Business Like Show Business”)
Tony Barrow (former Beatles press agent, who dubbed them “the Fab Four”)
Johnny Seay (country music singer)
Julius La Rosa (singer was fired live on Arthur Godfrey’s TV show)
Peter Behrens (former drummer of Trio; “Da Da Da”)
John Stabb (frontman of Government Issue)
Isao Tomita (synthesizer legend)
Candye Kane (blues singer)
Rickey Smith (“American Idol” finalist killed in a car crash)
Reggie Torian (replaced Curtis Mayfield in The Impressions in 1972)
Ned Miller (country singer-songwriter, “From a Jack to a King”)
Philip Kives (founder of K-tel)
Billy Paul (legendary Philly soul singer)
Papa Wemba (Africa’s “King of Rhumba Rock”)
Prince (Rock and Roll Hall of Famer)
Lonnie Mack (blues guitar legend)
Richard Lyons (Negativland)
Brian Asawa (Japanese-American opera singer)
Don Francks (singer and actor; starred opposite Petula Clark in 1968’s “Finian’s Rainbow”)
Phil Humphrey (The Fendermen)
Mike Lazo (The Tempos)
David Gest (producer and Liza Minnelli’s ex-husband)
Bill Henderson (jazz vocalist and actor)
Jimmie Van Zant (singer and cousin of Ronnie Van Zant)
Dennis Davis (longtime David Bowie drummer)
Carlo Mastrangelo (Dion and the Belmonts)
Merle Haggard (country legend died on his 79th birthday)
Leon Haywood (funk/soul singer-producer)
Gato Barbieri (Latin jazz saxophonist)
Andy “Thunderclap” Newman (“Something in the Air”)
Patty Duke (Oscar-winning actress had a Top 10 hit in 1965)
Roger Cicero (German singer)
Ross Shapiro (The Glands frontman)
Jimmy Riley (reggae artist, former member of the Sensations and the Uniques and father of Tarrus Riley)
Rick Pinette (Rick Pinette and Oak)
Phife Dawg (A Tribe Called Quest)
Frank Sinatra Jr. (singer and son of Ol’ Blue Eyes)
Lee Andrews (doo-wop singer and father of Questlove)
Steve Young (singer-songwriter; “Seven Bridges Road”)
Ray Griff (Canadian Country Music Association Hall of Famer)
Daryl Coley (gospel great)
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (British composer)
Gogi Grant (1950s-era singer; “The Wayward Wind”)
Ernestine Anderson (jazz-blues singer)
Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
Sir George Martin (legendary Beatles producer)
Jon English (Australian rocker)
Kevin Finn (aka Danny Finn, formerly of The New Seekers)
Bankroll Fresh (rapper; killed in a shootout in Atlanta)
Joey Feek (Joey+Rory)
Gayle McCormick (lead singer of Smith; “Baby It’s You”)
Charlie Tuna (legendary L.A. DJ)
Lennie Baker (Sha Na Na singer)
Sonny James (country music icon)
Buck Rambo (gospel music legend)
Vi Subversa (Poison Girls)
Paul Gordon (keyboardist for Jennifer Nettles, The B-52’s, New Radicals)
Vanity (Prince protege)
Joey Floyd (Toby Keith’s Easy Money Band)
Viola Beach (entire U.K. band was killed in a car crash)
Bob Raymond (Sugarloaf bassist)
Dan Hicks (Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks)
Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire)
Bobby Caldwell (keyboardist for Terry Knight and the Pack; not to be confused with singer Bobby Caldwell)
Joe Dowell (singer of the 1961 No. 1 hit “Wooden Heart”)
Jane Stuart Smith (opera singer)
Robert Hamlett (Fairfield Four)
Jon Bunch (Sense Field, Further Seems Forever)
Denise Duval (French soprano)
Signe Anderson (original lead singer of Jefferson Airplane)
Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane / Jefferson Starship)
TJ Tindall (“Sound of Philadelphia” guitarist; member of MFSB and the Salsoul Orchestra)
Black (English singer-songwriter Colin Vearncombe)
Jimmy Bain (former Rainbow and Dio bassist)
Alec Wishart (Hogsnort Rupert)
Kevin Lawrence (guitarist and bandmate of Axl Rose in Rapidfire)
Glenn Frey (Eagles)
Dale Griffin (Mott the Hoople drummer)
Giorgio Gomelsky (impresario; founder of the Crawdaddy Club)
Mic Gillette (Tower of Power)
Gary Loizzo (The American Breed)
Clarence Henry Reid (aka musician, songwriter and producer Blowfly)
Pete Huttlinger (master guitarist; worked with John Denver in the 1980s)
René Angélil (Céline Dion’s husband and longtime manager)
Joe Moscheo (Elvis Presley’s The Imperials)
David Bowie (Rock and Roll Hall of Famer)
Brett Smiley (1970s glam-rock cult hero)
Otis Clay (blues/soul singer)
Red Simpson (country music pioneer)
Troy Shondell (1960s singer; “This Time [We’re Really Breaking Up]”)
Jason Mackenroth (former Rollins Band drummer)
Kitty Kallen (1940s-50s pop singer)
Nicholas Caldwell (The Whispers)
Paul Bley (renowned jazz pianist)
Long John Hunter (Texas blues guitar legend)
Robert Stigwood (Bee Gees manager and RSO Records founder)
Craig Strickland (country singer)
Michel Delpech (French singer)
Natalie Cole (Grammy Award-winning singer)