Musicians who died in 2015

[Heretic]

RIP to all of them.

 

5th Jan 2015, American record producer, singer and musician Kim Fowley died of bladder cancer in Hollywood, California at the age of 75. He is best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s. He wrote 'Nut Rocker' for B. Bumble and the Stingers, which became a No.1 hit in the UK in 1962.

 

12th Feb 2015, Steve Strange, lead singer of 1980s pop band Visage, died aged 55 following a heart attack in hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. His band, Visage, formed in 1979 and their breakthrough single, 'Fade To Grey', peaked at No.8 in the UK in 1981.

16th Feb 2015, American singer, songwriter, actress and activist, Lesley Gore, who had the 1963 US No.1 & UK No.9 single 'It's My Party', died at the NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, New York City, of lung cancer.

15th March 2015, Mike Porcaro bassist with Toto died following a battle Lou Gehrig's Disease. He was the middle brother of Toto members Jeff Porcaro and Steve Porcaro. Toto who formed in 1978 are best known for such classic rock hits as 'Hold the Line,' 'Rosanna' and 'Africa' and won an Album of the Year Grammy for 1982's Toto IV.

16th March 2015, Andy Fraser songwriter and bass guitarist with Free died in California aged 62. The London-born musician became a founding member of the British group when he was just 15 and went on to write most of the material with Free lead singer Paul Rodgers, including Free's 1970 hit 'All Right Now'.

20th March 2015, American drummer A. J. Pero died from an apparent heart attack. He was a member of Twisted Sister and Adrenaline Mob. Adrenaline Mob's band members attempted but failed to wake Pero on their tour bus traveling from Baltimore to Poughkeepsie.

 

21st March 2015, English singer-songwriter, and actress Jackie Trent died in hospital, aged 74, in Minorca, Spain, after a long illness. Her 1966 hit, 'I Couldn't Live Without Your Love' was inspired by the ongoing affair between Trent and record producer Tony Hatch, who she later married. The couple went on to write songs for Scott Walker,Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Des O'Connor, Val Doonican, Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr, and Dean Martin.

1st April 2015, Cynthia Lennon, first wife of The Beatles' John Lennondied at her home in Spain following a short battle with cancer. At the height of The Beatles' early success she was, at the insistence of the band's management, kept in the background so their legions of female fans were not aware of her existence. The couple divorced in 1968 after Cynthia discovered her husband's affair with Yoko Ono.

3rd April 2015, Bob Burns, the American drummer who was in the original line-up of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a car crash in Georgia when his car struck a mailbox and a tree with the front of the vehicle. Burns was the only occupant of the car and was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. He appeared on the band's 'Sweet Home Alabama,' 'Gimme Three Steps' and 'Free Bird.'

14th April 2015, American R&B and soul singer Percy Sledge died of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge aged 73. The inspiration behind his 1966 US No.1 hit 'When a Man Loves a Woman', came when Sledge's girlfriend left him for a modelling career after he was laid off from a construction job in late 1965.

30th April 2015, Ben E King, (Benjmin Earl Nelson), soul and R&B singer with The Drifters, died at the Hackensack University Medical Center at the age of 76. The Driffters had the 1960 US No.1 & UK No.2 single 'Save The Last Dance For Me', and King scored the the 1987 UK No.1 solo single 'Stand By Me', (first released in 1961).

6th May 2015, British-Jamaican singer and songwriter Errol Brown, best known as the frontman of the soul and funk band Hot Chocolate died of liver cancer at his home in the Bahamas. Their hits included 'You Sexy Thing', 'So You Win Again' and 'Brother Louie'. His break in music came in 1969 when he recorded a version of 'Give Peace a Chance' with some friends. Unable to change the lyrics without John Lennon's permission, he sent a copy to his record label, Apple, and the song was released with Lennon's approval.

14th May 2015, Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist B.B. King died in his sleep aged 89 from a series of small strokes caused by type 2 diabetes. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time, Rolling Stone magazine placed him behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

 

27th June 2015, Chris Squire, the bass guitarist and co-founder of 1970s British progressive rock band Yes, died at the age of 67 after battling leukemia. He was the only member to appear on each of their 21 studio albums, released from 1969 to 2014.

30th July 2015, American country music singer, Lynn Anderson, died aged 67. The multi-award-winning singer scored the 1970 US No.3 & 1971 UK No.3 single 'Rose Garden', and charted 12 No.1, 18 Top 10, and more than 50 Top 40 hits. Anderson was the first female country artist to win the American Music Award (in 1974), as well as the first to headline and sellout Madison Square Garden that same year.

1st Aug 2015, English singer, actress and entertainer Cilla Black died at her holiday home near Marbella, Spain, aged 72. Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own eponymous variety show, Cilla, for the BBC between 1968 and 1976 and later shows such as Blind Date (1985–2003) and Surprise Surprise (1984–2001).

4th Aug 2015, Influential country producer Billy Sherrill, who worked with artists like George Jones, Charlie Rich, and Tammy Wynette and is known for pioneering the “countrypolitan” sound, died after a short illness at the age of 78. Sherrill also co-wrote many hit songs, including 'Stand by Your Man' (written with Tammy Wynette).

14th Aug 2015, Jazz Summers, manager of bands such as Wham!, Snow Patrol, Scissor Sisters and The Verve, died from lung cancer. He co-managed Wham! and is credited with the duo breaking into the United States market in 1985 and to go onto to become the first western pop group to tour China.

8th Oct 2015, Scottish singer-songwriter Jim Diamond died at the age of 64. His first hit was 'I Won't Let You Down' (1982), as the lead singer in the trio PhD, and the solo hit 'I Should Have Known Better', a UK No.1 hit in 1984.

10th Nov 2015, Allen Toussaint the American musician, songwriter, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B died aged 77 while on tour in Madrid, Spain.

11th Nov 2015, Phil Taylor better known as "Philthy Animal" Taylor and drummer with Motorhead died aged 61. He was in the The classic mark IV Motörhead line-up of Lemmy, Taylor, and Fast Eddie Clarke who recorded ten studio albums and the live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith.

3rd Dec 2015, American musician and singer-songwriter Scott Weiland died aged 48. He was found in cardiac arrest on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, just before he was scheduled to go on stage with his band The Wildabouts. He was 48 years old. Weiland was best known as the lead singer for Stone Temple Pilots from 1986 to 2013, as well as Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008.

27th Dec 2015, Singer Stevie Wright died aged 68. During 1964–69 he was lead singer of Sydney-based band the Easybeats, who had the 1966 world-wide hit 'Friday on My Mind'. The Easybeats were widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s.

28th Dec 2015, Lemmy lead vocalist and bassist with Motorhead died at his home in Los Angeles, California, four days after his 70th birthday following a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer.

 

 

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/pages/musicians_who_died_2015

[Bombastik der Teutone]

28th December - Guru Josh / british Techno DJ  (popular in europe)

28th December - John Bradbury / Drummer of the british Ska Band "The Specials"

well the list is long ...also some Musicans out of the  Death and Blackmetal Scene passe away this Year 

14th September -Martin Kearns former Drummer of the british Death Metal Combo Bolt Thrower  

not a good year for the british it seems

[goal-ghost]

A few greats on that list, for sure.

Where's Ron Hynes?

[GLASSJAW]

you forgot Meek Mill

[RUPERTKBD]

I'm shocked that I didn't know about Chris Squire. Terrific player and actually sounded quite a bit like Jon Anderson, which allowed Yes to pull off some sweet harmonies. (For those that may be unaware, similar sounding voices make for better harmonies. That's why studio albums often use the same singer overdubbed, instead of the guy who sings the harmonies on stage)

Mike Pocaro is a big loss as well. (bad year for bass players) There was a ton of talent in that family.

[D-Money]

Almost all of them seemed to die past 70, with a few in their 60's...mostly natural causes, with some probably at least partially attributable to a hard lifestyle (i.e. liver cancers, heart attacks).

Not really much in the way of "tragic" deaths. Previous years had a lot more notable musicians under 40.

[TheFirstLine]

Never heard of em

[Honky Cat]

After living through the 60's and 70's where it was cool to be 'elegantly wasted' all the time...I'm surprised that there are not more of the older icons passing away...At least they lived in popular musics best era.

[nucklehead]

6 hours ago, goal-ghost said:

A few greats on that list, for sure.

Where's Ron Hynes?

In the ground

[TimberWolf]

Pretty soon were all going to have to die if we want to hear good music again..