Judee Sill
October 7, 1944 - November 23, 1979

Judee Sill was an American singer and songwriter, singing in a style she called "Country-Cult-Baroque". Many of her songs dealt with Christian spirituality, metaphysics, rapture and redemption, and related topics. She was baptized by Pat Boone in his swimming pool.

Notably, she was the first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label. She released two albums on the new label "Judee Sill" and "Heartfood" before disappearing into obscurity.

Judee was the subject of a 1972 review in Newsweek magazine who called her "one of the most promising new singers in the business." She performed on BBC radio several times in the 1970s. Judee Sill wrote two songs that were minor hits for others: "Lady-O" (recorded by the Turtles) and "Jesus Was a Cross-Maker" (recorded by the Hollies). She died of a drug overdose the day after Thanksgiving in 1979.

11/17/1979	26	John Glascock	Jethro Tull	Heart Failure
11/16/1979	37	Twiggs Lyndon	Dixie Dregs	Skydiving Accident	Duanesburg, New York

Twiggs Lyndon
1942 - November 16, 1979

Twiggs Lyndon was road manager for Little Richard, Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers Band and the Dixie Dregs.

On April 30 1970, the Allman Brothers arrived at a club in Buffalo, New York to play a gig. They were fifteen minutes late. When the club's owner, a man named Aliotta, refused to pay them, Twiggs Lyndon stabbed him three times with a fishing knife. The man died of his injuries and Lyndon was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

At the ensuing trial, Lyndon's lawyers argued that he had been temporarily insane at the time of the incident; touring with the Allman Brothers, they declared, would drive anyone insane. Bassist Berry Oakley was called to the stand and, though he was barely coherent and had to run to the bathroom several times to vomit, he did manage to answer a few questions:

"Did you take any dope in the last month?"
"Uh-huh."
"In the last week?"
"Oh yeah."
"What about the last hour?"
"You bet."

Incredibly, Lyndon was acquitted.

He died in 1979 in a parachute jump at an upstate New York airport. In the book, Midnight Riders: The Story of The Allman Brothers Band by Scott Freeman, the author noted: "Lyndon was the veteran of three hundred jumps. He stepped out of an airplane at 8,500 feet, his chute never opened and Twiggs was killed on impact. He was 37. Although it was impossible to know, a lot of people suspected suicide. They said Twiggs had never been the same after Duane Allman and Berry Oakley died, and the irony was inescapable-the airport was in a little town named Duanesburg."

In an August 2000 interview in Goldmine magazine, guitarist Steve Morse states: "Anybody who said it wasn't an accident, first of all, wasn't there and is just trying to romanticize this crap. I spent all night driving and talking to Twiggs about everything. I spent a lot of time with him right before he went into the plane. I also spent hours, days, weeks, months talking about parachute jumps with him. I even dropped him out of one of my planes so he could make an appointment. Instead of landing, he would just jump."

09/27/1979	26	Jimmy McCulloch	Wings	Heart Failure (drug related)	London
07/12/1979	31	Minnie Riperton	R&B singer	Breast Cancer
06/29/1979	34	Lowell George	Little Feat	Heart Failure
02/02/1979	21	Sid Vicious	Sex Pistols	Drug Overdose
01/13/1979	33	Donny Hathaway		Defenestration	New York City

Donny Hathaway

Donny Hathaway was perhaps the greatest soul singer of the 1970's, whose life came to a tragic end much too soon. On January 13th 1979, Donny was found dead on the sidewalk below the 15th floor window of his room in New York's Essex House hotel.

The glass had been carefully removed from the window, and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule his death a suicide.

12/27/1978

27

Chris Bell

Big Star

Car Accident

Memphis, TN

Chris Bell

Another member of the "Forever 27" Club.

09/07/1978	32	Keith Moon	The Who	Drug Overdose	England
04/20/1978	31	Sandy Denny	Fairport Convention	Brain Hemorrhage	England
03/11/1978	39	Claude Francois	French pop Star	Electrocution	Paris

Claude Francois

Claude Francois was a very popular French rock star. Like Jim Morrison, he died in a Paris bathtub. It seems that after bathing, he observed a burned out light above him. While standing in the tub, his feet in the water, he attempted to change the bulb. He was electrocuted and efforts to revive him failed.

01/23/1978

32

Terry Kath

Chicago

Gun Accident

Terry Kath

Terry Kath was tragically killed while cleaning a semi-automatic handgun from his collection. He removed the clip, but a round was already chambered. He is buried in the famous Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California.

10/20/1977	29	Ronnie Van Zant	Lynyrd Skynyrd	Plane Crash	Gillsburg, MS
10/20/1977	28	Steve Gaines	Lynyrd Skynyrd	Plane Crash	Gillsburg, MS
10/20/1977	29	Cassie Gaines	Lynyrd Skynyrd	Plane Crash	Gillsburg, MS
09/16/1977	30	Marc Bolan	T. Rex	Car Accident	London
08/16/1977	42	Elvis Presley		Drug Overdose	Memphis, TN
05/26/1977	35	William Powell	O'Jays	Cancer	Canton, OH
12/28/1976	42	Freddie King		Heart Failure, Ulcers
12/04/1976	25	Tommy Bolin	Deep Purple	Drug Overdose	Miami, FL
05/14/1976	34	Keith Relf	Yardbirds	Electrocution	England

Keith Relf
March 22, 1943 - May 14, 1976

Keith Relf was born on the 22nd of March 1943 in Richmond, Surry. He was a part of the Metropolis Blues Quartet before joining the Yardbirds in 1963. With Keith’s jaw dropping vocal range and amazing harmonica skill, he seemed to lead his fellow Yardbirds. In 1969, when the Yardbirds had fallen from the charts, he teamed up with his sister Jane Relf and former Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty to form Renaissance. In 1970 he left the band and continued to do various producing jobs and forming the band Armageddon.

On May 14th 1976, Keith met his untimely death by electrocution due to an improperly grounded guitar.

05/09/1976

64

Floyd Council

bluesman

heart failure

Sanford, NC

Floyd Council
September 2, 1911 - May 9, 1976

Floyd Council was a bluesman from North Carolina. He played with Blind Boy Fuller in the Piedmont blues style, popular in the early 1900's.

Syd Barrett, of the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, came up with that band's name by combining the first names of Council and fellow Carolina bluesman, Pink Anderson. Syd noticed the names of these bluesmen in the liner notes of a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller LP. There is no evidence that Pink and Floyd ever met or recorded together.

04/09/1976

35

Phil Ochs

folksinger

Suicide (hanging)

Far Rockaway, NY

Phil Ochs
December 19, 1940 - April 9, 1976

Phil Ochs was folksinger/songwriter who specialized in topical, political and Vietnam War protest songs. His best remembered song is "I Ain't Marching Anymore" (from his second LP).

Phil was involved in the creation of the Youth International Party, known as the "Yippies", along with '60s radicals Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and Paul Krassner. Ochs went to Chicago in 1968 to participate in the demonstrations against the Vietnam war. He performed in Lincoln Park, Grant Park and at the Chicago Coliseum, witnessed the violence perpetrated by the Chicago police against the protestors, and was himself arrested at one point.

The cover of his 1969 "Rehearsals for Retirement" album eerily portrays a tombstone with the words:

PHIL OCHS
(AMERICAN)
BORN: EL PASO, TEXAS, 1940
DIED: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 1968

Phil was troubled by manic depression and hung himself at his sister’s home. He was cremated and his ashes scattered in Scotland.

03/19/1976	25	Paul Kossoff	Free	Heart Failure, Drug related	New York City
03/19/1976	27	Gary Thain	Uriah Heep	Drug Overdose
01/10/1976	65	Chester A. Burnett	Howlin' Wolf	Kidney Disease	Chicago
06/29/1975	28	Tim Buckley	singer/songwriter	Drug Overdose	Santa Monica, CA
04/23/1975	27	Peter Ham	Badfinger	Suicide (hanging)
03/16/1975	64	T-Bone Walker	blues pioneer	Pneumonia	Los Angeles
02/10/1975	27	Dave Alexander	Stooges, bassist	Pneumonia

Dave Alexander

Another member of the "Forever 27" Club.

02/04/1975

66

Louis Jordan

Blues humorist

Heart Failure

Los Angeles

Louis Jordan
Born: July 8, 1908 – Brinkley, Arkansas
Died: February 4, 1975 - Los Angeles, California

Pioneering blues musician and songwriter with a humorous style. Known as The King of the Jukebox. Some of his big hits were "G.I. Jive," "Caldonia," "Buzz Me," "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie," "Ain't That Just like a Woman," "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens," "Boogie Woogie Blue Plate," "Beans and Cornbread," "Saturday Night Fish Fry," "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?," and "Blue Light Boogie." Jordan was particularly popular during World War II.

11/25/1974	26	Nick Drake	British Folk Singer	Trypitzol Overdose	Tanworth-in-Arden, England
10/12/1974	74	Pink Anderson	Blues Pioneer		Spartanburg, SC
09/23/1974	24	Robbie McIntosh	Average White Band	Heroin Overdose	Los Angeles
07/29/1974	32	Mama Cass Elliot	Mamas & Papas	Heart Attack / Ham Sandwich	London
07/17/1974	32	Don Rich	The Buckeroos	Motorcycle Accident	Morro Bay, California

Don Rich

Often called the "right arm" of Buck Owens, Don Rich was born Donald Eugene Ulrich on August 15, 1941, in Olympia, Washington. He was only 3 when he started singing and playing guitar. He appeared on radio at age 5 and took up the violin at age 6. At 15, he was playing lead guitar with Tex Mitchell. A year later, he began playing part-time with Buck Owens.

On July 17, 1974, after an evening in the studio, Don rode his motorcycle toward Morro Bay, California, where he planned to join his wife Marlene and their two sons, Vic and Vance, on a fishing trip. Don never made it to Morro Bay. Somewhere near San Luis Obispo he crashed his motorcycle into a highway divider. He was laid to rest at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Bakersfield.

12/20/1973

37

Bobby Darin

singer

Heart Failure

Hollywood

Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin's hits included "Splish Splash" and "Mack The Knife". Born with a rheumatic heart, he died after unsuccessful open-heart surgery at the age of 37.

In 2004, actor Kevin Spacey starred as Bobby Darin in the feature film biography Beyond the Sea.

09/20/1973	30	Jim Croce	singer-songwriter	Plane Crash	Natchitoches LA
09/20/1973	24	Maury Muehleisen	guitarist	Plane Crash	Natchitoches LA

Jim Croce

Jim Croce and five others (his guitarist Maury Muehleisen, manager Dennis Rast, booking agent Ken Cortese, comedian George Stevens, and the pilot) were killed after their Beechcraft D-18 airplane clipped trees during takeoff from Natchitoches, Louisiana. He had just performed at a concert at Northwestern State University. Jim was honoring a previous commitment to the school for a show they had booked before his career starting taking off.

Ingrid, Croce's widow, runs a successful restaurant and nightclub, Croce's, in San Diego. Jim's son, A.J. Croce, is a musician active in the San Diego music scene. He has released several CDs.

09/19/1973	26	Gram Parsons	Byrds	Drug Overdose	Joshua Tree, CA
08/17/1973	34	Paul Williams	Temptations	Suicide (gunshot)	Detroit, MI
07/14/1973	29	Clarence White	Byrds	Killed by Drunk Driver	Palmdale, CA
03/08/1973	27	Ron "Pigpen" McKernan	Grateful Dead	Liver Disease

Another member of the "Forever 27" Club.

03/05/1973		Mike Jeffrey	Manager, Jimi Hendrix	Plane Crash	France
11/11/1972	24	Berry Oakley	Allman Brothers	Motorcycle Accident	Macon, GA

Berry Oakley

On November 11, 1972, Berry Oakley's motorcycle collided with a city bus in Macon, Georgia, just three blocks from where Duane Allman had his fatal motorcycle accident the year before. Oakley said he was okay after the accident, declined medical treatment, and went back to The Big House. Just three hours later, he was taken to the hospital and died of a skull fracture.

11/06/1972	21	Billy Murcia	New York Dolls	Alcohol & Pills	London
08/02/1972	28	Brian Cole	Association	Heroin Overdose	Los Angeles
07/24/1972		Bobby Ramirez	Edgar Winter	Stabbing	Chicago
07/03/1972	68	Mississippi Fred McDowell	bluesman	Cancer	Memphis
05/05/1972	76	Reverend Gary Davis	bluesman
04/27/1972	24	Phil King	Blue Oyster Cult	Murdered	New York City

Phil King

Phil King of Blue Oyster Cult was murdered during a gambling dispute in New York City. He was shot three times in the head. His death came before the heavy metal group achieved major success.

01/16/1972

52

Ross Bagdasarian

The Chipmunks

Heart Failure

Beverly Hills

Ross Bagdasarian
January 27, 1919 - January 16, 1972

Ross Bagdasarian was a songwriter, singer and actor of Armenian ethnic heritage. Under his stage name of David Seville, he wrote songs for Rosemary Clooney and Dean Martin. He had a #1 hit in 1959 with "The Witch Doctor," his first experiment with speeding up tape playback to create a high-pitched, squeeky sound. This success led to his recording of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" with The Chipmunks in 1959. The Chipmunks went on to sell millions of records and win several Grammy awards.

The Chipmunks are named after executives of their original record label, Liberty Records: Alvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).

The singing Chipmunks were given life in several animated TV shows and motion pictures. In 2007, the live-action/computer-generated feature length movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" was released. The movie portrays a Los Angeles songwriter who discovers the Chipmunks and saves them from evil music executives.

Bagdasarian also appeared in minor film roles, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), in which he plays an obsessed piano-playing songwriter.

10/29/1971	24	Duane Allman	Allman Brothers	Motorcycle Accident	Macon, GA
10/12/1971	36	Gene Vincent	Vincent Eugene Craddock	Ulcer	Los Angeles
08/13/1971	37	Curtis Ousley	King Curtis, saxophonist	Stabbing	New York City

King Curtis

King Curtis (born Curtis Ousley on Feb. 7, 1934 in Fort Worth Texas) was murdered in 1971 by junkies he asked to move off the front stoop of his Harlem brownstone. He was Aretha Franklin's musical director and a prolific session man who played with many big names, including Eric Clapton, Wilson Pickett, and the Allman Brothers. Duane Allman played at Curtis' star-studded funeral along with Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. Allman also incorporated Curtis' "Soul Serenade" into a blistering version of "You Don't Love Me". This can be found on the excellent "Dreams" 4-CD box set.

Tragically, Duane Allman died only 10 weeks later when his motorcycle collided with a log truck.

07/06/1971	69	Louis Armstrong	Jazz trumpeter	Heart Failure	New York City
07/04/1971	29	Donald McPherson	The Main Ingredient	leukemia	Indianapolis
07/03/1971	27	Jim Morrison	The Doors	Heart Failure	Paris
10/04/1970	27	Janis Joplin	Big Brother	Drug Overdose	Hollywood
09/18/1970	27	Jimi Hendrix		Drug Overdose	London
09/03/1970	27	Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson	Canned Heat	Drug Overdose	Topanga, CA

The "Forever 27" Club.

04/24/1970

40

Otis Spann

Blues pianist

Cancer

Chicago

*** 1960's ***

10/21/1969	47	Jack Kerouac	writer	Alcoholism	St. Petersburg, FL
10/03/1969	67	Skip James	blues musician		Philadelphia
07/27/1969	34	Gary Allen Hinman		Murdered	Los Angeles
07/03/1969	27	Brian Jones	Rolling Stones	Drowned, Drug related	London
05/13/1969	19	Martin Lamble	Fairport Convention, drummer	Car Crash	England
02/15/1968	37	Little Walter	blues harmonica player	Fight
12/10/1967	26	Otis Redding		Plane Crash	Madison, WI
10/03/1967	55	Woody Guthrie	folk singer	Huntington's Disease
08/27/1967	32	Brian Epstein	Beatles, manager	Drug Overdose	London
04/29/1967	38	J. B. Lenoir	blues musician	Car Accident	Urbana, IL
11/02/1966	73	Mississippi John Hurt	blues musician	?	Grenada, MS
07/18/1966	23	Bobby Fuller	Bobby Fuller Four	Suicide?	Los Angeles

Bobby Fuller

On July 18, 1966, Bobby Fuller's body was found lying across the front seat of his mother's 1962 Oldsmobile parked in front of his apartment near Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood -- dead, apparently from swallowing gasoline. The fact that he had been beaten up and had ingested gasoline was not released to the public. Although police ruled his death a suicide, friends speculated that he was murdered, possibly by mobsters.

01/22/1965	43	Alan Freed	Rock 'n' Roll DJ	Alcoholism	Palm Springs
12/11/1964	29	Sam Cooke		Murdered	Los Angeles
07/31/1964	39	Jim Reeves	country star	Plane Crash	Nashville, TN

Jim Reeves
August 20, 1923 - July 31, 1964

Country superstar Jim Reeves died when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed during in a thunderstorm near Nashville, Tennessee. His business partner and manager Dean Manuel (who was also the pianist in Reeves' backing group) was also killed in the crash.

05/24/1963	45	Elmore James	blues slide guitarist	Heart Failure	Chicago
03/08/1963	48	Jack Anglin	country singer	Car Crash	Madison, TN

Jack Anglin

Country star Jack Anglin, of the duo Johnny and Jack, was killed driving to Patsy Cline's funeral. He apparently lost control in a curve and plunged down an embankment while driving alone at a high rate of speed.

03/05/1963

30

Patsy Cline

country singer

Plane Crash

Camden, TN

Patsy Cline
September 8, 1932 - March 5, 1963

Country singer Patsy Cline is noted for her pop-crossover hits "Crazy" (written by Willie Nelson). "Walkin' After Midnight" and "I Fall to Pieces".

Patsy Cline died March 5, 1963 when her plane crashed 2 miles west of Camden, Tennessee. She was en route to Nashville following a benefit concert in Kansas City. The pilot, Randy Hughes (also Patsy’s manager), was not trained to fly on instruments. They headed out in Randy’s 4 seat Piper Comanche. Flying through a storm, he became disoriented and flew the plane into the ground. Also on board and killed in the crash are Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas.

Patsy's Funeral was March 10, 1963 in Winchester, Virginia. She is interred in Shenandoah Memorial Park.

04/10/1962	21	Stuart Sutcliffe	Beatles	Brain Hemorrhage	London
04/17/1960	21	Eddie Cochran		Car Accident	London

Eddie Cochran

On Saturday April 16 1960, at about 11:50 p.m. while on tour in Britain, Cochran died in a traffic accident in a taxi while traveling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, on the A4 Motorway. He was 21. The taxi crashed into a lamppost on Rowden Hill. A plaque erected there shows the actual spot. He was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day.

Songwriter Sharon Sheeley (Cochran's fiancée) and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash. The taxi driver, George Martin, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for fifteen years and sent to prison for six months.

Eddie Cochran is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California.

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*** 1950's ***

08/19/1959

58

Blind Willie McTell

bluesman

Stroke

Milledgeville, Georgia

"Blind Willie" McTell

"Blind Willie" McTell was famous for his clear voice and 12-string finger picking country blues style. His song "Statesboro Blues" was covered by the Allman Brothers Band and remains an essential staple in rock and blues music.

Annually, a Blues Festival in McTell's honor is held in his home town of Thomson, Georgia.

02/03/1959	22	Buddy Holly	Crickets	Plane Crash	Clear Lake, IA
02/03/1959	28	J.P. Richardson	The Big Bopper	Plane Crash	Clear Lake, IA
02/03/1959	17	Ritchie Valenzuela	Ritchie Valens	Plane Crash	Clear Lake, IA
03/12/1955	34	Charlie "Bird" Parker	jazz saxophonist		New York City
12/25/1954	25	Johnny Ace	R & B singer, pianist	Russian Roulette	Houston

Johnny Ace

Johnny Ace, a promising black R&B singer in the early 1950's, accidentally shot and killed himself while playing Russian roulette backstage on Christmas day 1954. His last words, to Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, were "I'll show you that it won't shoot."

Ace's recordings continued to gain popularity after his death and he was immortalized in the song "The Late Great Johnny Ace" by Paul Simon, from his "Hearts And Bones" album.

01/01/1953	29	Hank Williams	father of contemporary country music		Oak Hill, WV
12/06/1949	61	Leadbelly	blues musician	Medical	New York City
12/15/1944		Glenn Miller	trombonist	Plane Crash	English Channel

Glenn Miller
March 1, 1904 - presumably December 15, 1944

Alton Glenn Miller, known for hits such as "String of Pearls", was an American jazz musician and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the genre's best-selling performers from 1939 to 1942 and fronted one of the most well-known "Big Bands." During World War II, while traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France, his plane disappeared in bad weather. His body was never found.

It is now thought that Glenn Miller's plane was accidentally bombed by RAF bombers over The English Channel, after an abortive air raid on Germany and a dumping of the live bombs in a "safe" drop zone. The logbooks of Royal Air Force pilot Fred Shaw record that a small mono engined plane was seen to spiral out of control and crash into the water.

02/13/1941

33

Blind Boy Fuller

blues musician

Durham, North Carolina

Blind Boy Fuller
July 10, 1907 - February 13, 1941

Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen) was a Piedmont blues guitarist and vocalist. He was associated with other popular blind blues artists including Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell, Sonny Terry and Blind Blake.

He recorded with Floyd Council and Sonny Terry, among others.

In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper, was imprisoned for shooting his wife, wounding her in the leg. He was soon released, but later wrong a song - "Big House Bound"- about his time in jail.

Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double entendre "hokum" songs such as "I Want Some Of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (the origin of the phrase "keep on truckin'"), and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (the origin of a later Rolling Stones album title).

Fuller underwent a kidney operation in 1940, probably an outcome of excessive drinking, but continued to require medical treatment. He died either from a bladder infection, blood poisoning or pneumonia. He was so popular that after his death, his protégé Brownie McGhee recorded "The Death of Blind Boy Fuller" for the Okeh label, and then reluctantly began a short lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2 so that Columbia Records could cash in on his popularity.

08/16/1938	27	Robert Johnson	blues pioneer	Poisoned	Greenwood, MS
??/??/1933	40	Blind Blake	blues singer and guitarist	?	?
12/??/1929	32	Blind Lemon Jefferson	father of Texas blues		Chicago

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2002

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