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: Horace Heidt

date_of_death: December 1, 1986

age: 85

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television during the 1930s and 1940s. As leader of the Musical Knights, Mr. Heidt was the host of talent shows on radio and television and was credited with helping the careers of Art Carney, Joel MacRae, trumpeter Al Hirt and the King Sisters. His band recorded such hits as ''I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire,'' ''Deep in the Heart of Texas,'' ''Ti-Pi-Tin,'' ''The Hut Sut Song,'' ''Little Sir Echo,'' ''The Pennsylvania Polka'' and ''Heigh Ho.'' He is also credited with devising the first radio show to conduct ad-lib interviews with an audience, called ''Answers by the Dancers.'' It got started in 1932 when a microphone from the bandstand fell to the dance floor. Mr. Heidt jumped down, grabbed the mike and began chatting up the audience.

popular name: Otis Spann

date_of_death: April 24, 1970

age: 46

cause_of_death: Liver cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Arguably the most important pianist of the postwar Chicago blues scene, Otis Spann started playing piano at the age of seven, with some instruction from local piano players in his native Jackson. By 1944 he was playing in local bands around that city and three years later left for Chicago, where he would live for the rest of his tragically short life. Spann replaced Merriweather as Muddy Waters' piano player in late 1952, and had his first recording session with the band on September 24, 1953. From 1952 to 1969 Spann was a full-time member of the Muddy Waters band, which also included Jimmy Rogers and Little Walter. He was also in great demand by the Chess label as house pianist, accompanying artists like Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry ("No Money Down", "You Can't Catch Me"), Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Rogers and Little Walter. In April of 1970, blues pianist Otis Spann flew to Boston to play a gig. With him were his wife, Lucille, and his band. The concert would be Otis' last. Before he flew to Boston, doctors had diagnosed Spann with terminal liver cancer — he died three weeks after the concert. He was laid to rest at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.