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: John Phillips

date_of_death: March 18, 2001

age: 65

cause_of_death: Heart Failure, end stage liver disease, cirrhosis and sepsis

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: He is famous for his role in organizing the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, his incestuous relationship with his daughter Mackenzie, oh and I almost forgot - as a member and leader of the vocal group The Mamas and the Papas. And it was said that his destructive tendencies were too florid even for Keith Richards, who once kicked Phillips out of his house for being too out-of-control. Be that as it may, in addition to writing the majority of the group's compositions including "California Dreamin'", "Monday, Monday", "I Saw Her Again", "Creeque Alley", and "Dedicated to the One I Love", he also wrote "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" in 1967 for former Journeymen bandmate Scott McKenzie as well as the oft-covered "Me and My Uncle", which was a favorite in the repertoire of the Grateful Dead.

popular name: Jerry Vale

date_of_death: May 18, 2014

age: 83

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: A tenor with a smooth, polished delivery, Vale was a longtime fixture at Columbia Records who recorded more than 50 albums and hundreds of songs. He first hit the charts in 1953 with “You Can Never Give Me Back My Heart”. His other enchanting hits included “Volare,” “Al Di La,” “Two Purple Shadows,” a cover of Eddy Arnold‘s “You Don’t Know Me,” “I Live Each Day,” “Have You Looked Into Your Heart,” “Dommage, Dommage (Too Bad, Too Bad)” and “My Little Girl (Angel All A-Glow).” The boyish Vale sang all over the world during his long career, including at Carnegie Hall in New York and in Las Vegas, where his friend, Frank Sinatra, set him up with a gig at The Sands in the ’50s that would last for 22 weeks, four shows a day. Vale, who was of Italian descent, showed his love of Italian music with his albums, I Have But One Heart (1962) and Arrivederci, Roma (1963), full of Italian standards such as "Amore, Scusami", "Ciao, Ciao, Bambina", "Arrivederci, Roma", and "O Sole Mio". His renditions of "Volare", "Innamorata (Sweetheart)", and "Al di là" became classic Italian-American songs. Vale performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, made cameo appearances as himself in the Martin Scorsese films Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995) and played a lounge singer in the independent comedy A Wake in Providence (1999). He passed away in his sleep at his Palm Desert home.