Johann Strauss ll

popular name: Sandy Denny

date_of_death: April 21, 1978

age: 31

cause_of_death: Traumatic mid-brain hemorrhage and blunt force trauma from several falls

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Sandy Denny has been described as the pre-eminent British folk rock singer who was successful as a solo artist and as the lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. For most fans of classic rock, she is remembered as the only female voice to ever grace a Led Zeppelin song. Sadly she suffered from depression, alcoholism, and self-harm which took it's toll on her personal and professional life. She died after a series of falls from stairwells that were labeled "accidental" by the coroners office.

popular name: Lefty Frizzell

date_of_death: July 19, 1975

age: 47

cause_of_death: Stroke

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Widely considered one of the greatest country singers who ever lived, Lefty Frizzell's body of work gives little indication of the enormous stylistic impact he had on country music beginning in the 1950s. Had Lefty died the way Hank Williams died - hard, fast and young - he'd probably be remembered with the same respect Hank commands today. But as it was, Lefty fought through a twenty-five-year career to keep his personal life together and his soul intact, only to eventually succumb to his own worst habits at the young age of 47. In the end, his recording career lasted 25 years. He had six Billboard No.1 hits and charted a total of 39 songs. The big hits include: “I Love You a Thousand Ways,” “Always Late,” “Long Black Veil,” “That’s the Way Love Goes,” “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time,” “Mom and Dad’s Waltz” and “Saginaw, Michigan.” He later was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

popular name: Bessie Smith

date_of_death: September 26, 1937

age: 43

cause_of_death: Severe internal injuries to the entire right side of her body due to car collision

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful voices of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent womanl who was also the greatest of the classic Blues singers of the 1920s. The pioneering singer influenced blues, jazz, rock and beyond with her powerful voice and inventive delivery. During her career Bessie recorded 160 singles for Columbia Records and was often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green. A number of Smith's recordings—such as "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1927—quickly became among the best-selling records of their release years. Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, who toured the country in her own 72-foot custom-built railroad car sold hundreds of thousands of records, and was the highest-paid black entertainer of the 1920s. Bessie's first contract with Columbia paid $125 per releasable recording. But in April 1923, her new 8-year contract gave her $1,500 up front plus increased the amount paid for each record to $150. Between 1923 and 1931, Bessie recorded 160 songs and became one of Columbia's best-selling artists. But if that sounds like a lot of money, Smith's version of "Downhearted Blues" sold a reported 780,000 copies in 1923.