Tag Archives: deaths

Heaven Can Wait-The Celebrities who Died in 2022

This is a tribute to some of the stars who shed their mortal coil in exchange for eternal fame.

January

Sidney Poitier KBE (20 February 1927—6 January 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and the first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Michael Lee Aday (27 September 1947—20 January 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on the list of best-selling music artists. His Bat Out of Hell trilogy — Bat Out of Hell (1977), Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993), and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006) — has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

February

Gary Brooker MBE (29 May 1945—19 February 2022) was an English singer and pianist, and the founder and lead singer of the rock band Procol Harum.

Sally Clare Kellerman (2 June 1937—24 February 2022) was an American actress and singer whose acting career spanned 60 years. Her role as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s film MASH (1970) earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

March

William Hurt (20 March 1950—13 March 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.

Madeleine Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; 15 May 1937— 23 March 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Albright was the first woman to hold that post.

April

June Muriel Brown OBE (16 February 1927—3 April 2022) was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera EastEnders (1985–1993; 1997–2020). In 2005, she won Best Actress at the Inside Soap Awards, and she received the Lifetime Achievement award at The British Soap Awards.

Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (28 February 1955—12 April 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was known for his exaggerated shrill voice, a strong New York accent, and edgy, often controversial, sense of humour. His numerous roles in film and television include voicing Iago in the Aladdin animated films and series, Digit LeBoid in Cyberchase, Kraang Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Aflac Duck. He was also known for his role as Mr Peabody in the Problem Child film series.

May

Ray Liotta (18 December 1954—26 May 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990). He was a Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor and received nominations for a Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Andrew Fletcher (8 July 1961—26 May 2022), also known as Fletch, was an English keyboard player and founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode. In 2020, he and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

June

Philip Baker Hall (10 September 1931—12 June 2022) was an American character actor. He was known for his collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, including Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999). He also starred in leading roles in films, such as Secret Honor (1984) and Duck (2005). Hall had supporting roles in many films, including Say Anything… (1989), The Truman Show (1998), The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), The Insider (1999), Lost Souls (2000), The Contender (2000), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), Zodiac (2007), 50/50 (2011) and Argo (2012). He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead for his role in Hard Eight and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture for Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

Alec John Such (14 November 14 1951—5 June 2022) was an American musician.[1] He was best known as a founding member of the rock band Bon Jovi. As their bass player from 1983 to 1994, he played on their first five albums.[3]Such started his musical career in the New Jersey band Phantom’s Opera, which performed both covers and original songs. In the early 1980s, he also played in the hard rock band Message, which included guitarist Richie Sambora.

July

James Caan (26 March 26, 1940—6 July 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972) — a performance which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised his role in The Godfather Part II (1974). He received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978.

Nichelle Nichols (born Grace Dell Nichols; 28 December 1932—30 July 2022) was an American actress, singer, and dancer best known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in Star Trek and its film sequels. Nichols’ portrayal of Uhura was groundbreaking for African American actresses on American television. From 1977 until 2015, Nichols volunteered her time to promote NASA’s programs and recruit diverse astronauts, including some of the first female and ethnic minority astronauts.

August

Olivia Newton-John AC DBE (26 September 1948—8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including five #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100[4] and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: “If You Love Me, Let Me Know” (1974) and “Have You Never Been Mellow” (1975). Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four 2× platinum) have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). But of course, she is mainly for her role in Grease.

Roger E. Mosley (18 December 1938—7 August 2022) was an American actor, director, and writer best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore “T.C.” Calvin in the CBS television series Magnum, P.I., which, originally aired from 1980 until 1988.

September

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926—8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until she died in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history.

Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until he died in 2021. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022), known professionally as Coolio, was an American rapper. First rising to fame as a member of the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle, Coolio achieved mainstream success as a solo artist in the mid-to-late 1990s with his albums, “It Takes a Thief” (1994), “Gangsta’s Paradise” (1995), and “My Soul” (1997).

October

Anthony Robert McMillan OBE (30 March 1950 – 14 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, was a Scottish actor and comedian. He gained worldwide recognition in the 2000s for playing Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series. He was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award—Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. In 2011, he was honoured for his “outstanding contribution” to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.

Jerry Lee Lewis (29 September 1935—28 October 2022) was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. Nicknamed “The Killer,” he was described as “rock ‘n‘ roll’s first great wild man.” A pioneer of rock ‘n‘ roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. “Crazy Arms” sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless,” and “High School Confidential.” His rock ‘n‘ roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin once removed.

November

Christine McVie (née Perfect; 12 July 1943—30 November 2022) was an English musician and songwriter. She was best known as a keyboardist and one of the vocalists of Fleetwood Mac.

McVie was a member of several bands, notably Chicken Shack, in the mid-1960s British Blues scene. She began working with Fleetwood Mac in 1968, initially as a session player, before joining the band in 1970. Her first compositions with Fleetwood Mac appeared on their fifth album, Future Games. She remained with the band through many changes of line-up, writing songs and performing lead vocals, before partially retiring in 1998. She was described as “the prime mover behind some of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits”. Eight songs written or co-written by McVie, including “Don’t Stop,” “Everywhere,” and “Little Lies,” appeared on Fleetwood Mac’s 1988 “Greatest Hits” album. She appeared as a session musician on the band’s last studio album, “Say You Will.” She also released three solo studio albums.

Irene Cara (18 March 1959—25 November 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent.[13] Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film’s title song “Fame,” which reached No. 1 in several countries.

In 1983, Cara co-wrote and sang the song “Flashdance… What a Feeling” (from the film Flashdance), for which she shared an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984. Before her success with Fame, Cara portrayed the title character Sparkle Williams in the original 1976 musical drama film Sparkle.

December

Maxwell Fraser (14 June 1957—23 December 2022), better known by his stage name Maxi Jazz, was a British musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. He was the lead vocalist of the British electronic band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2016.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento (23 October 1940—29 December 2022), known by his nickname Pelé, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled “the greatest” by FIFA,[1][2] he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. In 1999, he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. In 2000, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, which includes friendlies, are recognised as a Guinness World Record.

source

https://news.sky.com/story/celebrity-deaths-2022-the-famous-faces-and-notable-figures-we-said-goodbye-to-this-year-12748889

Auschwitz- Some forgotten facts.

AUSCHWITZ

Prisoners in Auschwitz were given a number which was tattooed on their arm. Marking people with a number makes it easier to treat them as objects rather then human beings. However not everyone got a number, there were occasions where they ran out of ink.

More people were killed in Auschwitz then the combined total  WWII military casualties of the US,UK and Canada. An estimated 1.1 million were murdered in Auschwitz. 845.800 UK/US and Canadian troops were killed during all of WWII .

A Star of David was placed above the entrance to the gas chamber and a sign was painted in Hebrew on a purple curtain covering the entrance to the gas chamber that said “This is the Gateway to God. Righteous men will pass through”

Of the estimated 7,500 -8000 guards only 750 were sentenced, and even those sentences were mostly relatively light sentences.

Auschwitz guards had their own athletics team. The camp for the  was like a small town, with its own staff canteen, cinema, theatre and grocery store.

gurads

The Nazis generated a revenue of  60 million Reichmarks, which is today’s equivalent of 163 million USD. from slave labour.

Auschwitz was of course a complex of about 40 camps.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Sources

BBC

http://auschwitz.org/en/

 

Paying to be transported to death.

 

tickets

Killing the Jews wasn’t enough for the Nazi regime. They also needed to be humiliated. and their deaths had to be profitable. Laws were introduced to remove them from any social interaction and then they were forcibly removed from their homes, with only one suitcase of possessions, all other valuables were sold or just taken by Nazi officials.

Then when they were put on transport to the concentration camps or death camps(in my opinion they were all death camps, some camps just killed more on an industrial scale) They even had to pay for the train tickets.

The majority of Jews were made to pay for their own deportations, especially wherever passenger carriages were used. The payments were done in a way  of direct money deposit to the SS in relation to  the “resettlement to work in the East” myth. Charged in the ghettos for accommodation, adult Jews paid full price one-way tickets, the Nazis knew there would not be any return tickets.  Children under 12 years of age paid half price, and those under four did not have to pay. The Jews who no money left were typically  the first to be deported.

passengers

The SS would forward the monies to the German transport authority , to be paid to the Reichsbahn to finance and accommodate further transports.

In 2009 an expert report established on behalf of the German “Train of Commemoration” project, estimates that the Reichsbahn pocketed a €445,000,000 or $462,000,000. between 1938 and 1945.

The Reichsbahn weren’t the only ones to profit. The Dutch and French railways and other European rail companies also made money from the transports.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Sources

Click to access Gutachten.pdf

https://books.google.ie/books?id=IfoBx6skMCkC&redir_esc=y

 

Snap shot of Death-Registering the dead in Auschwitz.

2020-01-16

If any one still has any doubts about the scale of murder during the Holocaust, you only have to look at the the 2 official documents below. They are both from the death register in Auschwitz. The first  page are the registered deaths of female prisoners.

The document is dated December 11,1943 the heading says” On December 8,1943 the following female prisoners died” This is just a list of 1 day, there was a 2nd list connected to it but I cannot verify if that was also from December 8,1943.

female

The 2nd document is dated January 2nd 1944. In the first heading it says “From the morning roll call January 1,1944 to the midday roll call January 1,1944 the following inmates died”

The second heading says “From the midday roll call January 1,1944 to Morning roll call January 2,1944 the following inmates died”

 

rolcall

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Sources

NIOD

https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/

May 21 not a good day for Monarchs

800px-Sun_Quan_Tang

Throughout history the 21st if May has not been kind to many royals, it appears that a high number of Kings,Queens and emperors perished this day. Since the calendar has changed a bit some of the earlier records are estimated to have been on May 21.

Emperor Da of Wu (literally “Great Emperor of Wu”), was the founder of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by his elder brother, Sun Ce, in 200,died on this day in 252.age 70.

Sacre_Louis5_France_02.jpg

Louis V , also known as Louis the Do-Nothing (French: Louis le Fainéant),[1] was the king of West Francia from 986 until his premature death a year later. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, he was the last monarch in the Carolingian line in West Francia. Died 21 May 987. age 21.

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Richeza of Poland, Queen of Hungary.

She was a daughter of King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland, and his wife, Richeza of Lotharingia, the great-granddaughter of Emperor Otto II.She is traditionally called Richeza, but contemporary sources do not confirm this name. Nowadays it is supposed that she was called Adelaide.

Between 1039 and 1043, she was married to king Béla of Hungary, who had served her father and taken part in her father’s campaigns against the pagan Pomeranian tribes.

In 1048, her husband received one third of Hungary (Tercia pars Regni) as appanage from his brother, King Andrew I of Hungary, and the couple moved to Hungary. On 6 December 1060, her husband was crowned King of Hungary after defeating his brother.She died May 21 1075 age 62.

Conrad_IV_of_Germany

Conrad IV of Germany

Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of a King of Jerusalem (as Conrad  upon the death of his mother in child bed. Appointed Duke of Swabia in 1235, his father had him elected King of Germany.

Annacelje

Anne of Celje (c. 1381 – 21 May 1416) was Queen consort of Poland (1402–1416). She was the second wife of Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), King of Poland and Supreme Duke of Lithuania (reigned 1387–1434).

800px-King_Henry_VI_from_NPG_(2).jpg

Henry VI of England,The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of nine months upon his father’s death, and succeeded to the French throne on the death of his maternal grandfather Charles VI shortly afterwards. He died 21 May 1471, age 49.

Christian_I_of_Denmark,_Norway_&_Sweden_1440s.jpg

Christian I of Denmark a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). From 1460 to 1481, he was also Duke of Schleswig (within Denmark) and Count (after 1474, Duke) of Holstein (within the Holy Roman Empire). He was the first Danish monarch of the House of Oldenburg. He died on 21 May 1481,age 55.

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You just couldn’t make this up- Weird deaths.

weirddeaths

Sometimes truth is stranger then fiction. These are some of the saddest but also most bizarre causes of death I ever heard of.

 

Clement Vallandigham

800px-Clement_Vallandigham_-_Brady-Handy

Clement Laird Vallandigham July 29, 1820 – June 17, 1871) was an Ohio politician and leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the American Civil War. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives.

Vallandigham died in 1871 in Lebanon, Ohio, at the age of 50, after accidentally shooting himself in the abdomen with a pistol. He was representing a defendant, Thomas McGehan,in a murder case for killing a man in a barroom brawl in Hamilton, Ohio. Vallandigham attempted to prove the victim, Tom Myers, had in fact accidentally shot himself while drawing his pistol from a pocket while rising from a kneeling position. As Vallandigham conferred with fellow defense attorneys in his hotel room at the Lebanon House, today’s Golden Lamb Inn, he showed them how he would demonstrate this to the jury. Selecting a pistol he believed to be unloaded, he put it in his pocket and enacted the events as they might have happened, snagging the loaded gun on his clothing and unintentionally causing it to discharge into his belly. Although he was fatally wounded, Vallandigham’s demonstration proved his point, and the defendant, Thomas McGehan, was acquitted and released from custody (only to be shot to death four years later in his saloon)

William Snyder

william-snyder

A 13 year old boy named William Snyder was recorded as dying from “being swung around by the heels by a circus clown” in 1854. It’s unclear exactly what the cause of death was.

Garry Hoy

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Garry Hoy (January 1, 1955 – July 9, 1993) was a lawyer for the law firm of Holden Day Wilson in Toronto notorious for how he died.

In an attempt to prove to a group of prospective  students that the glass in the Toronto-Dominion Centre was unbreakable, Hoy threw himself through a glass wall on the 24th storey and fell to his death after the window frame gave way.

He had apparently performed this stunt many times in the past, having previously bounced harmlessly off the glass. The event occurred in a small conference room adjacent to a boardroom where a reception was being held for new articling students. Hoy was a noted and respected corporate and securities law specialist in Toronto. He was a professional engineer, having completed his engineering degree before studying law.

Toronto Police Service Detective Mike Stowell reported that:

At this Friday night party, Mr. Hoy did it again and bounced off the glass the first time. However, he did it a second time and this time crashed right through the middle of the glass.

In another interview, the firm’s spokesman mentioned that the glass in fact did not break, but popped out of its frame, leading to Hoy’s fatal plunge.

Hoy’s death contributed to the closing of Holden Day Wilson in 1996, at the time the largest law firm closure in Canada.

Hans Steininger

Hans-Steininger

Hans Steininger. mayor of Braunau am Inn, and his amazing beard. Sometime in the 1560’s Hans beard was a mere 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) long. He is famous for 2 things;

1. Having the longest recorded beard in early history

2. Being killed by his beard

So how did it happen?

Renowned for the world’s longest beard that measured four and a half feet long, the bristly Austrian wasn’t expecting to die from his formidable furry feat. But that he did. According to folklore Hans would keep his beard rolled up in a leather pouch, but failed to do so one day in 1567. During a fire, Steininger stumbled on his beard while trying to beat the heat and broke his neck from the fall.

Dick Wertheim

1983_stefan_edberg_line_judge_accident

 

Dick Wertheim  was an American tennis linesman who suffered a fatal injury on September 10, 1983, during a match at the 1983 US Open.

Wertheim’s fatal injury occurred after Stefan Edberg sent an errant serve directly into his groin. The official had been sitting in a chair and officiating at the center line when the blow knocked him backward. He fell out of the chair and onto the hardcourt surface, striking his head.

Wertheim was unconscious when he was taken to Flushing Hospital and Medical Center. He died on September 15.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Into the great wide open

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This is a tribute to the musicians who left this place in 2017 to venture into the great wide open. Although 2017 was not as bad as 2016, we still have lost a great number of musical legends. In fact the numbers were so great that I won’t be able to mention all of them in this blog.

Chuck Berry

1

Chuck Berry, a pioneer of rock and roll, died at age 90 on March 18. Berry was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is often called the “father of rock and roll.”

Berry starting playing music when he was just a kid. When he was sent to a juvenile detention facility in high school, he formed a signing quartet. When he was released at 21, he began performing in clubs while working odd jobs. Eventually he catapulted to fame with his hit “Maybellene” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”

Known for his signature sound that mixed blues, jazz, and rhythm, Berry also personified what it meant to be a rock star. He received multiple music awards – including several grammys – and is considered one of the best musicians of all time.

Chris Cornell

2

Singer songwriter Chris Cornell – best known as the front man for Soundgarden and Audioslave – died unexpectedly after a concert in Detroit. He was 52.

Cornell was born and raised in Seattle. As a young musician, he performed with his siblings but suffered from severe depression which made it hard for him to leave his house. He eventually discovered music helped him cope and joined a local cover band before forming Soundgarden in 1984. The band became huge in the Seattle grunge alt-rock scene, writing hits like “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman.” The band broke up in 1997, but came back together in 2010 for a reunion tour, which included headlining Lollapalooza.

During Soundgarden’s hiatus, Cornell had a brief solo career before forming Audioslave. Audioslave was a huge success, and Cornell penned most of the band’s songs himself. Cornell left the band in 2006 to pursue a solo career, but habitually performed with the band – including at the Anti-Inaugural Ball to protest President Donald Trump.

Cornell was on tour at the time of his death. He had performed a show in Detroit before his death. The Wanye County Medical Examiner ruled Cornell’s death was a suicide by hanging.

Chester Bennington

3

Chester Bennington – the frontman for alt rock band Linkin Park – hung himself at a Los Angeles County home on July 20. He was 41.

Bennington was born in Arizona and struggled with drugs and alcohol most of his life. He also suffered from depression, a result of being sexually abused by an older boy as a kid. He didn’t address his abuse until he was an adult, and as a child channeled his emotions over it into poetry and songs.

After high school, he pursued a career in music. In 1993, he recorded several songs with a few bands in Arizona. His big break came in 1998 when he was asked to audition for Linkin Park – then called Xero. The group released several hit albums, including Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

Between his work with Linkin Park, Bennington worked with the Stone Temple Pilots, Death by Sunrise, and with musician Chris Cornell. Bennington and Cornell – who also committed suicide in 2017 – were very close friends.

Fats Domino

4

Singer and pianist Fats Domino died on October 24 at the age of 89. He made his mark on the music world with hits like “Ain’t It a Shame,” “Blueberry Hill,” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”

The New Orleans-born Antoine Domino began playing in local bars as a teenager, and soon dropped out of school to pursue his music career full time. His signature style went on to influence the burgeoning rock and roll scene; artists like Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney cited him as an influence. His nickname came from bandleader Billy Diamond, partly in reference to Fats Waller, and party as a joke about Domino’s appetite.

In his later years, Domino kept to himself more, but remained a beloved presence in New Orleans. He contributed greatly to the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

Malcolm Young

5

AC/DC co-founder and guitarist Malcolm Young died on November 18 at the age of 64. He had been living with dementia; the condition forced him to retired from his band.

The Glasgow-born, Sydney-raised Young and his brother Angus founded AC/DC in 1973. The band is widely considered one of the greatest rock outfits of all time, and Young is frequently cited as the driving force behind its success.

Chuck Mosley

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The original vocalist for Faith No More, Chuck Mosley, has died on November 9th at the age of 57. His family wrote, “After a long period of sobriety, Charles Henry Mosley III lost his life, on November 9th, 2017, due to the disease of addiction. We’re sharing the manner in which he passed, in the hopes that it might serve as a warning or wake up call or beacon to anyone else struggling to fight for sobriety. He is survived by long-term partner Pip Logan, two daughters, Erica and Sophie and his grandson Wolfgang Logan Mosley. The family will be accepting donations for funeral expenses.”

Grant Hart

6

Grant Hart, the drummer and singer of Hüsker Dü, died on September 13. The 56-year-old had been battling cancer.

Hart and Hüsker Dü rose to fame in the 1980s, and enjoyed success as part of the era’s wave of independent rock groups. The band had a bitter break up in 1988; Hart continued making music both solo and with groups like Sugar and Nova Mob.

Jessi Zazu

7

Jessi Zazu, the lead singer of the Nashville alt-rock group Those Darlins, died on September 13. The 28-year-old died of cervical cancer, which she had been fighting since 2016.

Those Darlins released three albums with Zazu since their 2009 debut. The band quickly won a following thanks to their one-of-a-kind blends of punk, garage rock, and country, but broke up in December 2015. Zazu was diagnosed with cancer a few months later.

Zazu’s bandmate Linwood Regensburg released a statement on her passing:

“She maintained a sense of humor and a commanding presence up until and through her final moments. She was in the company of those who cared deeply about her and who she cared deeply about.”

Glen Campbell

8.

In June 2011, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six months earlier.According to his family, symptoms of the disease had been occurring for years, becoming increasingly evident as time progressed. “When you first begin to see signs, you just chalk things up to the normal aging process,” said his wife, Kim.

Campbell went on to perform at the 2012 Grammy Awards ceremony, and did a final “Goodbye Tour” in 2011 and 2012 with three of his children joining him in the backup band.

He became a patient at an Alzheimer’s long-term care and treatment facility in 2014.

On March 4, 2015, Associated Press reported that two of Campbell’s children, Debby and Travis, had sought legal action against Campbell’s wife Kim, with the assertion she “secluded” the singer and prevented them from “participating” in Campbell’s medical care.

On March 8, 2016, Rolling Stone reported that Campbell was in the “final stages” of his disease. He was unable to communicate with people or understand what people said to him. However, his family stated he was receiving good care and was “happy” and “cheerful”. In May 2016 his wife confirmed that Campbell was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

He died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 8, 2017 at the age of 81 and was buried in the Campbell family cemetery at Billstown, Arkansas.

Campbell excluded daughter Kelli and sons William and Wesley (from his second marriage) from receiving anything directly from his estate.

Gordon Downie

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Gordon Downie, the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, died on October 17 at the age of 53. The musician had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2015.

The Tragically Hip was incredibly popular in their native Canada and beyond. The majority of their albums topped the charts, and they won 16 Juno awards, the most of any single band. After Downie’s diagnosis, the Hip went on one last tour to say farewell to their fans.

A statement released by his family read in part, “Gord knew this day was coming – his response was to spend this precious time as he always had – making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss… on the lips.”

Al Jarreau

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Grammy award-winning Jazz musician Al Jarreau died on February 12 at a Los Angeles hopsital. The singer was 76.

On February 8, 2017, after being hospitalized for exhaustion in Los Angeles, Jarreau cancelled his remaining 2017 tour dates. On that date, the Montreux Jazz Academy, part of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, announced Jarreau would not return as a mentor to ten young artists, as he had done in 2015.

On February 12, 2017, Jarreau died of respiratory failure, at the age of 76, just two days after announcing his retirement.

He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).

Tom Petty

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Singer Tom Petty died on October 2 after going into massive cardiac arrest. He was 66.

Petty was born in Gainsville, Florida where he met future bandmates Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. They formed a banged called Mudcrutch, and when the band dissolved, Petty went off to start a solo career. He reunited with Campbell and Tench – then called the Heartbreakers – and became Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976.

The group released several albums and hits before briefly disbanding again in 1988 to work on solo projects. Petty played with George Harrison’s band the Traveling Wilburys – which also featured Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison – and released several solo albums, most notably “Free Fallin'” and “I Won’t Back Down.”

The band reformed and continued recording and touring right until Petty’s death.

Ending this blog with one of Tom Petty’s classics and the title of this blog

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