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: Celia Cruz

date_of_death: July 16, 2003

age: 77

cause_of_death: Brain cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Originally Celia Cruz studied to be a teacher in her native Havana, but was lured into show business when a relative entered her in a radio talent contest, which she won. She later studied music at the Havana Conservatory and performed at the wold-famous Tropicana nightclub. In the 1950s, Cruz became famous with the legendary Afro-Cuban group La Sonora Matancera. She left Cuba after its 1959 revolution for the United States in 1960, and never returned. With her powerful voice and flamboyant stage shows, Cruz helped bring salsa music to a broad audience. Her alliance with fellow salsa star and "Mambo King" Tito Puente garnered some of the biggest success in her career. The two recorded albums and regularly performed together, and they were considered legends of the genre. All in all she recorded more than 70 albums and had more than a dozen Grammy nominations. She won best salsa album for "La Negra Tiene Tumbao" and again the following year. Among her other best-known recordings are "Yerberito Moreno" and "Que le Den Candela." Today fans visit the grave of Cuban Queen of Salsa at her private mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

popular name: Rockin' Dopsie

date_of_death: August 26, 1993

age: 61

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Rockin’ Dopsie (pronounced DOOP-sie), along with Boozoo Chavis and Clifton Chenier, is widely acknowledged to be one of the originators of zydeco music. Dopsie played music for dancing, assimilating R&B influences into zydeco and sometimes covering R&B hits in a zydeco style. He performed around Louisiana, and recorded occasionally for small independent labels in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, he started to gain attention in the US. He played accordion on the zydeco-influenced song "That Was Your Mother" on Paul Simon's Graceland album in 1986. He recorded the album Crowned Prince Of Zydeco in 1987. Dopsie also recorded with Bob Dylan and Cyndi Lauper, and in 1992 appeared in the film Delta Heat. His own last album, "Louisiana Music," was his first for a major label. The album received a Grammy nomination after it was released in November 1991.