Michel Legrand

popular name: Booker Little Jr.

date_of_death: October 5, 1961

age: 23

cause_of_death: Complications from uremia caused by kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Booker Little, twenty-three year-old composer, arranger and trumpet player has lately come to demonstrate, in recordings and as the musical director of the Max Roach group, a talent that was taken too early. When he died suddenly at the age of 23 he was one of the most promising jazz trumpeters working with Max Roach, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. After years of physical pain, Little died of complications resulting from kidney failure on October 5, 1961, in New York City at the age 23. He was survived by his wife, two sons Booker T. III and Larry Cornelius, and two daughters Cornelia and Ana Dorsey.

popular name: Jackie Wilson

date_of_death: January 21, 1984

age: 49

cause_of_death: Complications of pneumonia after massive heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jackie Wilson was an American singer who was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in the 20th century. Among his hits are "Lonely Teardrops," "Baby Workout," "Reet Petite", "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher". His performance style is often cited as a significant influence on contemporary and later artists such as Elvis Presley, James Brown, and Michael Jackson.

popular name: Jimmy Reed

date_of_death: August 29, 1976

age: 50

cause_of_death: Respiratory failure due to epileptic seizure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmy Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter whose particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (1960), "Big Boss Man" (1961), and "Bright Lights, Big City" (1961) appeared on both Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues and Hot 100 singles charts. In the beginning Reed learned the rudiments of guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor, a far more accomplished guitarist who would serve as Reed’s accompanist for much of his career. By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician yet failed to gain a recording contract with Chess Records, but signed with Vee-Jay and began playing again with Eddie Taylor and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record. It was followed by a long string of hit songs. Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; his wife sometimes had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while recording. In 1957, Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Reed and doctors assumed it was delirium tremens. After his death his songs have been covered innumerable times, by artists as diverse as Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Etta James, Neil Young and The Righteous Brothers. BMI lists over 30 covers of “Baby What You Want Me to Do” alone, while Elvis Presley chose to sing “Big Boss Man” (one of the few Reed hits that was not from his own pen) on his 1968 television comeback special. Reed was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.