R.I.P. 2019
Notable musicians and other music-related figures who have died this year:
Jack Sheldon (“Schoolhouse Rock!” singer and jazz legend)
Carrigan Shields (keyboard player for the Scooter Brown Band)
Frank Tavares (“The Voice of NPR”)
Elijah Nelson (Black Breath bassist)
Neil Innes (Monty Python songwriter and member/co-creator of The Rutles)
Vaughan Oliver (graphic designer who did album covers for Pixies and other 4AD acts)
Don Imus (radio legend)
Lee Mendelson (producer of “Peanuts” and “Garfield” TV specials and writer of “Christmas Time Is Here”)
Jerry Herman (famed Broadway composer wrote music and lyrics for “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame,” “La Cage aux Folles,” etc.)
Kelly Fraser (Inuit-Canadian singer)
Sleepy LaBeef (rockabilly musician)
Allee Willis (Songwriters Hall of Fame member wrote Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and “Boogie Wonderland,” the “Friends” theme song and “The Color Purple” song score)
Dave Riley (Big Black bassist)
Abbey Simon (piano virtuoso)
Kenny Lynch (British singer-entertainer)
Emil Richards (session musician who performed with Frank Sinatra, George Harrison, Frank Zappa and many more; he also did the finger-snapping on the “Addams Family” theme and played bongos on the “Mission: Impossible” theme)
Beldina (Swedish singer)
Gershon Kingsley (Moog musician and writer of Hot Butter’s “Popcorn”)
Roy Loney (original Flamin’ Groovies singer)
Anna Karina (singer and French New Wave actress)
Vivian Gilley (wife of Mickey Gilley and manager of his famed Gilley’s club)
Jack Scott (1950s rock pioneer)
Marie Fredriksson (lead singer of Roxette)
Juice WRLD (fast-rising young rap star)
Caroll Spinney (played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street” from its inception in 1969 until 2018)
Buddy Terry (soulful jazz saxophonist)
Andrew “Greedy” Smith (lead singer of Mental As Anything)
Joe Smith (former label head at Warner, Elektra and Capitol)
Jimmy Cavallo (Jimmy Cavallo & His House Rockers)
Stuart “Chet” Fraser (founding member of Noiseworks and lead guitarist in the John Farnham Band)
Mariss Jansons (famed conductor)
Irving Burgie (composer who wrote “The Banana Boat Song [Day-O])”
Micheal W. Smotherman (country songwriter-producer; penned “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”)
The Rev. Clay Evans (gospel music icon)
Martin Armiger (musician-producer and “Young Einstein” composer)
Iain Sutherland (Sutherland Brothers and Quiver)
Eddie Duran (jazz guitarist)
Doug Lubahn (bassist played on Doors albums and wrote Pat Benatar’s “Treat Me Right”)
Ron Oberman (former Bowie publicist and former head of A&R at Columbia)
Gerry Atwell (Juno Award-winning musician)
Goo Hara (former member of the K-pop group Kara)
John Mann (Spirit of the West singer)
Michael Putland (rock photographer)
Browning Bryant (1960-70s teen heartthrob)
Terry O’Neill (photographer took iconic pics of Elton John, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc.)
Kehinde Lijadu (The Lijadu Sisters)
Alex Berdoff (marketing VP for SB Projects, the music management company founded by Scooter Braun)
Bad Azz (West Coast rapper)
Robert Freeman (Beatles album covers photographer)
Jackie Moore (1970s soul singer; “Precious, Precious,” “Sweet Charlie Babe”)
Layton “King” Zbornik (rock singer-songwriter who later became one of the nation’s top DJs in the 1960s)
Kendra Malia (White Ring)
Bart Walsh (former David Lee Roth guitarist)
William Cox (of the Grammy-winning bluegrass band The Cox Family)
Jerry Hudson (The Road)
Timi Hanson (original Mercyful Fate bassist)
Marie Laforêt (French singer and actress)
Ann Crumb (singer-actress; original cast member of Broadway’s “Les Misérables”)
Bernard Slade (creator of TV’s “The Partridge Family” and Broadway’s “Same Time, Next Year”)
Paul Barrere (Little Feat singer-guitarist)
Don Baskin (lead singer of Syndicate of Sound)
Joe Sun (honky-tonk country singer)
Truett Foster McKeehan (aspiring rapper and son of TobyMac)
Rolando Panerai (baritone and Maria Callas collaborator)
Gerry McGee (The Ventures guitarist)
Ed Cherney (Grammy-winning engineer)
Sonny Curtis (pedal steel guitar great for George Jones, Tammy Wynette, etc.)
Peter Hobbs (Angel of Death)
Nick Tosches (music writer and biographer)
Roman Tam (“godfather of Canto-pop”)
Ray Santos (Latin musician and Oscar-nominated arranger of the theme song for “The Mambo Kings”)
Bob Kingsley (host of “American Country Countdown” and “Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40”)
Julie Gibson (singer-actress; “The Feminine Touch,” “Hail the Conquering Hero”)
Dallas Harms (Canadian Country Hall of Famer)
Steve Cash (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
Erik Scott (former Alice Cooper bassist)
Jay Frank (digital music pioneer and Kane Brown’s first manager)
Kenny Dixon (drummer for country singer Kane Brown)
George “Pops” Chambers (The Chambers Brothers)
Larry Willis (Blood, Sweat & Tears keyboardist from 1972-78)
Beverly Watkins (blues guitarist)
Malcolm “Molly” Duncan (Average White Band saxophonist)
Ginger Baker (Cream drummer)
Karen Pendleton (original Mouseketeer)
Larry Junstrom (bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special)
Ed Ackerman (Polara frontman; producer and recording studio owner)
Diahann Carroll (pioneering actress-singer; she was the first black woman to win a Tony Award for best actress, for Richard Rodgers’ “No Strings”)
Mary Ellen Cataneo (veteran record company publicist)
Kim Shattuck (The Muffs)
Karel Gott (Czech singer, “Sinatra of the East”)
Barrie Masters (Eddie and the Hot Rods)
Bat McGrath (singer-songwriter; a member of The Showstoppers and McGrath and Potter)
Louie Rankin (Jamaican actor and Grammy Award-winning dancehall artist)
Jessye Norman (Grammy-winning opera star)
Busbee (songwriter and producer [Maren Morris, Lady Antebellum, etc.])
José José (Latin singer)
Myron Bloom (French horn player with the Cleveland Orchestra)
Richard Brunelle (former Morbid Angel guitarist)
Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead collaborator and lyricist)
Christopher Rouse (Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning composer)
Yonrico Scott (drummer for Derek Trucks Band, Royal Southern Brotherhood)
Chuck Dauphin (Billboard country music contributor)
Harold Mabern (Memphis jazz great)
Ric Ocasek (lead singer of The Cars)
Sandie Jones (Irish Eurovision singer)
Larry Wallis (original Motörhead guitarist)
John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers)
Tony Mills (former TNT singer)
Mick Schauer (former Clutch keyboardist)
Phyllis Newman (Broadway actress-singer)
Al Embry (Nashville music executive)
Eddie Money (1970s-’80s hitmaker)
Jeff Fenholt (Broadway’s original “Jesus Christ Superstar”)
Jimmy Johnson (Muscle Shoals session guitarist, part of the famed “Swampers”)
Dan Warner (Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning guitarist)
Daniel Johnston (cult folk singer-songwriter)
Robert Frank (“Exile on Main Street” photographer)
Camilo Sesto (Spanish singer-songwriter)
Dan Warner (Grammy-winning guitarist)
Bobby Ingram (folk singer-songwriter)
Kylie Rae Harris (country singer)
LaShawn Daniels (Grammy-winning songwriter-producer; “The Boy Is Mine,” “Telephone,” “Lose My Breath,” “You Rock My World”)
Haley Smith (“American Idol” season 11 contestant)
Jimmy Pitman (Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Nightcrawlers)
Andrew Horn (documentary filmmaker; “The Nomi Song,” “We Are Twisted F***ing Sister!”)
Pedro Bell (artist designed many Funkadelic and George Clinton album covers)
Donnie Fritts (“Breakfast in Bed” songwriter and longtime keyboardist for Kris Kristofferson)
Clora Bryant (barrier-breaking jazz trumpeter)
Rob Warmowski (Chicago musician and audio engineer)
Neal Casal (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals)
Celso Piña (Mexican cumbia legend)
Frederic Riesterer, aka Fred Rister (producer/DJ, co-wrote Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling”)
Paul Grace (The Boomtang Boys)
Larry Taylor (Canned Heat bassist)
Rosemary Kuhlmann (mezzo-soprano)
Katreese Barnes (“SNL” musical director/pianist and former member of the ’80s R&B duo Juicy)
Jim Cullum (flamekeeper of traditional jazz)
Phil Haggerty (Somos)
DJ Arafat (popular Ivory Coast singer)
Nicky Wonder (Brian Wilson and Wondermints guitarist)
Bob Wilber (jazz revival clarinet and saxophonist)
Danny Doyle (Irish folk singer)
Dacia Bridges (singer-songwriter; co-wrote Dannii Minogue’s “I Begin to Wonder”)
David Berman (Silver Jews, Purple Mountains)
Henri Belolo (French producer who helped create The Ritchie Family and Village People)
“Fergie” Ferguson (legendary rock roadie)
Lol Mason (of City Boy and The Maisonettes)
D.A. Pennebaker (director and cinematographer best known for the Bob Dylan documentary “Don’t Look Back” and “Monterey Pop”)
Damien Lovelock (Celibate Rifles)
Joe Longthorne (singer and impressionist)
Gary Lee Archer (legendary CCM group The Archers)
Ian Gibbons (The Kinks keyboardist)
Hal Prince (Broadway producer / director)
Ras G (beat producer/DJ)
Art Neville (founding member of The Meters and The Neville Brothers)
Bob Frank (folk singer-songwriter)
Bill Vitt (session drummer who worked with Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and the Sons of Champlin)
Alan Rogan (rock guitar tech who worked with The Who and many other big-name acts)
Pat Kelly (The Techniques)
Johnny Clegg (South African legend)
Russell Smith (Amazing Rhythm Aces)
Dick Boccelli (drummer for Bill Haley and His Comets)
Stefanie Keys (touring vocalist for Big Brother & The Holding Co.)
Jerry Lawson (The Persuasians)
Gary LeMel (music supervisor for such movies as “The Bodyguard,” “The Big Chill” and “Ghostbusters”)
Lauren Valencia (artist manager at Roc Nation who represented My Chemical Romance, Grimes, etc.)
Johnny Kitagawa (Japanese boy-band producer)
Michael Colgrass (Pulitzer Prize-winning classical composer)
James Henke (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame chief curator and longtime Rolling Stone writer-editor)
Jack Renner (founder and chief recording engineer of Telarc)
Martin Charnin (Tony-winning lyricist-writer who created and directed the Broadway musical “Annie”)
João Gilberto (Brazilian bossa nova legend)
Sid Ramin (Oscar/Grammy-winning “West Side Story” orchestrator)
Gary Duncan (Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist)
Jeff Austin (Yonder Mountain String Band)
Nature Ganganbaigal, aka Nature G (Tengger Cavalry)
Jerry Carrigan (Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section member and legendary Nashville session drummer)
Dave Bartholomew (rock ‘n’ roll pioneer)
Elliot Roberts (artist manager; worked with Neil Young, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Eagles, Yes, Devo, etc.)
Dennis Farnon (last survivor of the Recording Academy’s five founders)
Kelly Jay (keyboardist for the 1970s Canadian band Crowbar)
Philippe Zdar (Cassius)
Jim Pike (co-founder of The Lettermen)
Peter Whitehead (British filmmaker who did early promo clips for the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc.)
Lil’ Buck Sinegal (zydeco/blues guitarist)
Lew Klein (executive producer of “American Bandstand” during its Philly years)
Chuck Glaser (The Glaser Brothers)
Bushwick Bill (Geto Boys)
Andre Matos (former frontman for the Brazilian rock bands Angra and Viper)
Brian Doherty (Big Wreck guitarist)
Dr. John (Rock and Roll Hall of Famer)
Mikey Dees (Fitz of Depression)
“Humble Harve” Miller (legendary Los Angeles DJ)
Ray Deaton (Illrd Tyme Out, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver)
Lawrence Leathers (Grammy-winning jazz drummer)
Roky Erickson (The 13th Floor Elevators)
Leon Redbone (eclectic singer-songwriter)
Jeff Walls (Guadalcanal Diary)
Tony Glover (Koerner, Ray and Glover)
Ralph Murphy (veteran country songwriter)
Willie Ford (The Dramatics)
John Gary Williams (lead singer of the Stax group The Mad Lads)
Gabriel Diniz (Latin pop star)
Rosław Szaybo (designer of Judas Priest’s logo and album artwork and for other artists)
Jake Black (The Alabama 3)
Geneviève Waïte (actress/singer-songwriter; ex-wife of the Mamas and the Papas’ John Phillips and mother of Bijou Phillips)
Melvin Edmonds (After 7 singer and older brother of Babyface)
Eric Moore (The Godz)
Charles “Chuck” Barksdale (The Dells)
Leon Rausch (the voice of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys)
Mike Wilhelm (co-founder and lead guitarist of the San Francisco psychedelic rock band The Charlatans)
Doris Day (legendary singer and actress)
Beth Carvalho (Brazil’s “Godmother of Samba”)
Norma Miller (the “Queen of Swing”)
Adam Sky (Australian DJ)
J.R. Cobb (Atlanta Rhythm Section)
John Starling (The Seldom Scene)
Boon Gould (Level 42 founding member)
Phil McCormack (Molly Hatchet)
Heather Harper (operatic soprano)
Dave Samuels (Spyro Gyra)
Joe Terry (Danny and the Juniors)
Les Reed (songwriter; wrote “It’s Not Unusual” and “Delilah” for Tom Jones, plus “There’s a Kind of Hush,” “The Last Waltz,” etc.)
Paul Raymond (UFO keyboardist and guitarist)
Michiel Eikenaar (vocalist of Nihill)
Gary Stewart (veteran of Rhino Records and Apple Music)
Earl Thomas Conley (1980s country music star)
Jim Glaser (The Glaser Brothers)
Tiger Merritt (vocalist and guitarist of psychedelic rock band Morning Teleportation)
William Carvan Isles II (co-founder of The O’Jays)
Shawn Smith (former singer with Brad, Satchel and Pigeonhed)
Joe Quijano (“The King of Pachanga”)
Gerry Stickells (former Jimi Hendrix and Queen road and production manager)
Margaret Lewis Warwick (country songwriter)
Kim English (Chicago-born house vocalist)
Rick Elias (Contemporary Christian singer/guitarist/keyboardist)
Billy Adams (Rockabilly Hall of Famer)
Jenny Pagliaro (lead singer of Americana duo Roses and Cigarettes)
Nipsey Hussle (Grammy-nominated rapper)
David White (Danny and the Juniors)
Billy Clayton (pop singer and protégé of Charli XCX)
Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading (members of the Liverpool band Her’s, killed in a car crash)
Ranking Roger (The English Beat / General Public)
Scott Walker (eclectic singer-songwriter)
Tech 9 (rapper)
Justin Carter (country singer)
Bernie Tormé (former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist)
Dick Dale (The King of Surf Guitar)
Andre Williams (R&B singer; co-wrote “Shake a Tail Feather”)
Johnny Dark (legendary Memphis DJ)
John Kilzer (Memphis singer-songwriter)
Hal Blaine (Wrecking Crew drummer)
Kate Cook (former “Australian Idol” star)
Sara Romweber (Let’s Active drummer)
Keith Flint (The Prodigy)
Janice Freeman (former contestant on “The Voice”)
Hugh Fordin (cast album producer and founder of DRG Records)
Stephan Ellis (former Survivor bassist)
André Previn (musical polymath)
Andy Anderson (former drummer for The Cure)
Mark Hollis (Talk Talk)
Mac Wiseman (Country Music Hall of Fame and Bluegrass Hall of Fame member)
Dorothy Masuka (South African jazz musician)
Stanley Donen (director of movie musicals “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Funny Face,” “Two for the Road,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” etc.)
Peter Tork (The Monkees)
Fred Foster (country music producer and founder of Monument Records)
Alan Perdue (North Carolina bluegrass musician)
Skip Groff (record store owner and Minor Threat producer)
Kofi Burbridge (multi-instrumentalist for Tedeschi Trucks Band and Aquarium Rescue Unit)
Ken Nordine (“Word Jazz” creator and host)
Ethel Ennis (jazz singer who walked away from fame)
Kyle Yorlets (lead singer of Nashville rock band Carverton)
Jim Dunlop Sr. (guitar effects pioneer)
Gloria Jones (Jerry Garcia Band vocalist)
Guy Webster (rock photographer)
Ken Welch (longtime musician-composer for “The Carol Burnett Show,” and father of singer Gillian Welch)
Jacqueline Steiner (songwriter; “M.T.A.”)
Noel “Bunny” Brown (rocksteady singer)
Tim Landers (Transit and Cold Collective)
Paul Whaley (Blue Cheer drummer)
Harold Bradley (Country Music Hall of Fame guitarist)
Sanford Sylvan (baritone and Juilliard’s voice faculty chair)
James Ingram (soul-pop star)
Michel Legrand (Oscar-winning composer)
Dennis Loughlin (original lead singer of Sherbet)
Bruce Corbitt (vocalist for Warbeast and Rigor Mortis)
Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwean music legend)
Mike Ledbetter (Blues Music Awards-nominated singer)
Kaye Ballard (singer-actress)
Maxine Brown (The Browns)
Ted McKenna (drummer for Michael Schenker, Ian Gillan, Rory Gallagher and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
Linda Waterfall (folk singer-songwriter)
Reggie Young (in-demand session guitar played on “Son of a Preacher Man,” Suspicious Minds,” “In the Ghetto,” etc.)
Chris Wilson (Australian blues singer-songwriter)
Lorna Doom (The Germs bassist)
Bonnie Guitar (country singer-guitarist)
Carol Channing (Broadway icon, starred in “Hello, Dolly!,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” etc.)
Whitey Shafer (country songwriter; “All My Ex’s Live In Texas,” “Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” etc.)
Nitin Bali (Bollywood singer)
Willie Murphy (leader of Willie & the Bees)
Shirley Boone (wife of Pat Boone and daughter of Red Foley)
Larry Cunningham (The Floaters)
Clydie King (a member of the Raelettes and one of the most in-demand backup singers of the rock era)
Kevin Fret (Puerto Rican rapper-singer)
Christine McGuire (The McGuire Sisters)
Phil Thomas (country songwriter; “Colorado Kool-Aid,” “Drinkin’ My Way Back Home,” etc.)
Alvin Fielder (jazz drummer)
Steve Ripley (guitarist and leader of The Tractors)
Daryl Dragon (Captain & Tennille)
Pegi Young (musician and former wife of Neil Young)
Dean Ford (lead singer of Marmalade)
R.I.P. 2018
R.I.P. 2017
R.I.P. 2016
R.I.P. 2015
R.I.P. 2014
R.I.P. 2013
R.I.P. 2012
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
