Al Jackson Jr.

popular name: Scrapper Blackwell

date_of_death: October 7, 1962

age: 59

cause_of_death: Murdered (solved but no arrest)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Scrapper Blackwell, together with Leroy Carr are arguably the two most underrated blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. What is undeniable is the two together created some of the most recorded blues classics including How Long, How Long Blues, Mean Mistreater Mama and When the Sun Goes Down

popular name: Carl Lee Cunningham

date_of_death: December 10, 1967

age: 19

cause_of_death: Plane crash

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: As a member of the Bar-Kays, Carl played drums for Otis Redding and died in the plane crash that took the life of Otis Redding, Phalon Jones, Carl Cunningham, Ronnie Caldwell, guitarist Jimmy King and valet Matthew Kelly. Only Ben Cauley survived the crash.

popular name: Django Reinhardt

date_of_death: May 16, 1953

age: 43

cause_of_death: Cerebral hemorrhage

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Django Reinhardt was a pioneering Belgian-born Romani guitarist and composer who became one of the most influential figures in European jazz. After a caravan fire in 1928 severely injured his left hand—leaving two fingers partially paralyzed—he developed a groundbreaking technique that allowed him to solo using primarily two fingers, creating a fluid, fiery style that redefined jazz guitar. In the 1930s, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with violinist Stéphane Grappelli, pioneering the all-strings format and establishing what became known as “Gypsy jazz.” The group was among the first to play jazz that featured the guitar as a lead instrument. Reinhardt recorded in France with many visiting American musicians, including Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter. Reinhardt composed enduring standards such as “Minor Swing” and “Nuages,” blending American swing with Romani musical traditions. During World War II, he continued performing across occupied Europe, and after the war he toured the United States, even performing with Duke Ellington in 1946. Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become standards within gypsy jazz, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages". In his final recordings, made with his Nouvelle Quintette in the last few months of his life, he had begun moving in a new musical direction, in which he assimilated the vocabulary of bebop and fused it with his own melodic style.