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: Jack Teagarden

date_of_death: January 15, 1964

age: 58

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Until Jack Teagarden, jazz trombone sounded like "a dying cow in a thunderstorm" according to jazz trombonist Vic Dickerson. Like musical innovators Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker before him Teagarden developed new ideas and a close-to-the-chest slide technique that revolutionized jazz trombone. He parlayed his talents and collaborated with such giants as Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Hoagy Carmichael as well as fronting his all-star jazz band. But 50 years on the road, 5 marriages and excessive alcohol consumption all took their toll when he died in his sleep after a gig at the Dream Room in New Orleans.

popular name: Harry Nilsson

date_of_death: January 15, 1994

age: 52

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: A leading pop songwriter first, and a performer a distant second Harry Nilsson was never able to fully develop his talent and instead was more widely regarded for his erratic rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Nilsson began writing songs in the early sixties while working the late shift in the computer department of a large California bank. After struggling for 5 years, he sold the songs "Paradise" and "Here I Sit" to producer and future murderer Phil Spector and the Ronettes. He signed a recording contract with RCA after he sold songs to The Monkees and the fledging Yardbirds. In 1967 he released the critically acclaimed album "The Pandemonium Shadow Show", showcasing his three-octave range while still working at the bank. The album did not go unnoticed by the Beatles and soon Nilsson became good friends with the Fab Four. Nilsson scored his first Top Ten hit with "Everybody's Talkin'", the theme song from the movie "Midnight Cowboy" (ironically written by someone else). In 1971 he scored big with his most commercially successful album "Nilsson Schmilsson," which included the emotive ballad "Without You." But Nilsson's problems began with the infamous year-long "lost weekend" with John Lennon during Lennon's split with Yoko Ono. The year long sessions of drinking and debauchery stayed with Nilsson the rest of his life. Another setback came when, after Lennon offered to produce Nilsson's next album, Nilsson lost the upper register of his voice for much of the recording sessions. Failing in health during the nineties, Nilsson passed away in his sleep from a massive heart attack just two days after putting the final vocal tracks down on his last album.