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: Albert Ayler

date_of_death: November 25, 1970

age: 34

cause_of_death: Suicide by drowning

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer and the older brother of jazz trumpeter Donald Ayler. Ayler began recording music during the free-form jazz era of the 1960s and evoked incredibly strong and disparate reactions from critics and fans alike. Said Jon Goldman, an enthusiast who knew and recorded both brothers here. "It was out of the mainstream. It's still way out of the mainstream." On November 25, 1970, his body was found floating in the East River, at the foot of Congress Street Pier, in Brooklyn.

popular name: Ric Ocasek

date_of_death: September 15, 2019

age: 75

cause_of_death: Hypertensive heart and coronary artery disease

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Musician, primary vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and frontman for the American new wave band The Cars, Ric Ocasek led the Cars to huge international success from 1978 until 1988. The Cars reached their highest UK chart position, No 3, with My Best Friend’s Girl in November 1978 and enjoyed hits with Just What I Needed, Let the Good Times Roll, You Might Think, Let’s Go and, best and biggest of all, the aching ballad Drive (sung by the late Benjamin Orr). In addition to his work with The Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song "Emotion in Motion" was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986. Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack, Suicide, Bad Brains, Weezer, Nada Surf, Guided by Voices, and No Doubt. In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Cars.