Johann Strauss ll

popular name: Big Mama Thornton

date_of_death: July 25, 1985

age: 57

cause_of_death: Heart and liver disorders due to longstanding alcohol abuse

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Janis Joplin called her one of her inspirations and Living Blues magazine described her as "two hundred pounds of boogaloo." Of course, fans and musicians alike just called her Big Mama Thornton. An aggressive blues shouter, who also played the drums and a biting country-style harmonica, Miss Thornton helped bring to rock-and-roll the legacy of such seminal blues singers as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. A major influence on younger blues and soul singers, including Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, her growling, visceral rendition of the Jerry Leiber- Mike Stoller song ''Hound Dog'' directly influenced Presley's version, which became a No. 1 pop hit in 1956. Miss Thornton's own song ''Ball and Chain'' became a signature for Janis Joplin in 1968. A rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter from Alabama, Thornton was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog" in 1952, which became her biggest hit staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart and selling almost two million copies. Thornton's other recordings included the original version of "Ball and Chain", which she wrote. Stop me if you heard this story but this phenomenal blues artist died penniless in a small Los Angeles boarding house near the airport and now shares a grave with two other family members.

popular name: Alain Bashung

date_of_death: March 14, 2009

age: 61

cause_of_death: Lung cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Alain Bashung was a French singer, songwriter and actor credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil" and was one of the most influential and admired French singer/songwriters of the last 40 years. His songs were heavily influenced by American blues and rock, but he belonged to the world of Parisian chanson, inheriting the tradition of Charles Trenet, Georges Brassens and Serge Gainsbourg. He is often regarded in his home country as the most important French rock musician after Serge Gainsbourg. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s with hit songs such as "Gaby oh Gaby" and "Vertige de l'amour", and later had a string of hit records from the 1990s onward, such as "Osez Joséphine", "Ma petite entreprise" and "La nuit je mens". He has had an influence on many later French artists, and is the most awarded artist in the Victoires de la Musique history with 12 victories obtained throughout his career. Bashung died at age 61 after a two-year battle with lung cancer. He was interred at Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris, France.

popular name: Gene Krupa

date_of_death: October 16, 1973

age: 64

cause_of_death: Heart failure coupled with leukemia and emphysema

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Before Keith Moon, before John Bonham there was the one and only Gene Krupa - one of the greatest drummers and drum kit innovators in the 20th century. With his arms flailing behind the drum kit, Krupa forever changed the role of the drummer and provided his fans with an everlasting visual and musical image of the swing era. In 1936 he joined Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson for the first incarnation of the Benny Goodman Trio (later expanding to a quartet with Lionel Hampton) where his drum work made him a national celebrity. His tom-tom interludes on the hit "Sing, Sing, Sing" were the first extended drum solos to be recorded commercially. After his gig with Goodman he continued to record with his own group, Tommy Dorsey, Gerry Mulligan and starred as himself in several Hollywood musical-based films. In addition to his drum skills, he was also a well regarding composer with compositions which he wrote or co-wrote included "Some Like It Hot" in 1939, "Drum Boogie", "Boogie Blues", his theme song "Apurksody", "Ball of Fire", "Disc Jockey Jump" with Gerry Mulligan, "Wire Brush Stomp", "Hippdeebip", "Krupa's Wail", "Swing is Hee", "Quit and Roll 'Em" with Sam Donahue, and "How 'Bout This Mess". Even today Krupa’s reputation still looms large in pop culture: Rolling Stone recently put him at Number 7 in its list of the 100 greatest drummers of all time.