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: Leopold Auer

date_of_death: July 15, 1930

age: 85

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Leopold Auer was a renown Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor and composer, best known as an outstanding violin teacher. Many notable virtuoso violinists including Jascha Heifetz, Mischa Elman, and Efrem Zimbalist were among his students and "some of the greatest violinists" of the twentieth century. Admission to Auer's class was a privilege won by talent. Remaining there was a test of endurance and hard work. While Auer pushed his students to their limits, he also remained devoted to them. He used his influence in high government offices to obtain residence permits for his Jewish students. Auer wrote a small number of works, including the Rhapsodie hongroise for violin and piano. He also wrote a number of cadenzas for other composers' violin concertos including those by Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart's third.

popular name: Keith Emerson

date_of_death: March 11, 2016

age: 71

cause_of_death: Self-Inflicted gunshot wound to the head

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Keith Emerson was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer who was perhaps best known as one-third of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. After leaving the Nice in 1970, he was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early progressive rock supergroups. Emerson, Lake & Palmer were commercially successful through much of the 1970s, becoming one of the best-known progressive rock groups of the era. He proved, without a shadow of doubt, that through his work with the Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, who were both able to demonstrate that pop, classical music and jazz could not only co-exist but feed fruitfully off each other. Emerson reached a summit of success with ELP in the early 70s, when the group achieved a string of hit albums including Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery, exploiting cutting-edge musical technology alongside outrageous showmanship. Emerson was a pioneer in the use of the Moog synthesiser and was the first musician to take the instrument on tour. Emerson remained active with ELP reunions and his own solo material. Suffering from depression, health and marital problems he took his own life at his home in Santa Monica, California.