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: Cowboy Copas

date_of_death: March 5, 1963

age: 49

cause_of_death: Plane crash

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Cowboy Copas was an American country music singer who was popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. In 1943 Copas achieved national fame when he replaced Eddy Arnold as a vocalist in the Pee Wee King band, and began performing on the Grand Ole Opry. His first solo single, "Filipino Baby", released by King Records in 1946, hit number four on the Billboard country chart, and sparked the most successful period of his career. While continuing to appear on the Opry, Copas recorded several other hits during the late 1940s and early 1950s, including "Signed Sealed and Delivered", "The Tennessee Waltz", "Tennessee Moon", "Breeze", "I'm Waltzing with Tears in My Eyes", "Candy Kisses", "Hangman's Boogie", and "The Strange Little Girl". Copas' 1952 single, "'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered", reached number eight on the Billboard country chart, but it was his final top-40 hit for eight years. Although Copas did not maintain his popularity of the late 1940s through the next decade, he continued to perform regularly at the Grand Ole Opry, and appeared on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee. After a lackluster partnership with Dot Records, Copas surged to the top of the charts again in 1960 with the biggest hit of his career, "Alabam", which remained number one for three months.

popular name: T-Bone Walker

date_of_death: March 16, 1975

age: 64

cause_of_death: Bronchial pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Infusing the blues with an electrifying, yet, sophisticated uptown flavor, T-Bone Walker was the driving force that redirected the course of the blues - moving it from juke joints and roadhouses to swank nightclubs and theaters. Favoring hot swing rhythms with a big band accompaniment, Walker seamlessly blended jazz and Texas blues to become a seminal figure in the development of rock 'n' roll. In his youth, a 10-year-old T-Bone was called upon to work as lead boy to Blind Lemon Jefferson through the rough neighborhoods of Dallas. In exchange Jefferson taught the young boy the basics of blues guitar. In the fall of 1942 Walker got the chance to record his electric guitar when he cut "I Got a Break Baby" and "Mean Old World" on Capital Records. His biggest hit, "Call it Stormy Monday" was issued in 1947 and made him a household name. In the 1960s, when blues began to lose it's popularity, Walker toured Europe with such legends as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Memphis Slim. After 50 years on the road the effects of drinking, gambling, ulcers and arthritis all took their toll and he died of a stroke-induced pneumonia at the age of 64.