Big Maybelle

popular name: Louis Prima

date_of_death: August 24, 1978

age: 67

cause_of_death: Cerebral hemorrhage followed by a 3 year waking coma

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Proud son of Italian immigrants and a talented band leader, trumpter, composer and singer Louis Prima developed his talent earning the title "King of the Vegas Lounges" and "The Wildest Act in Las Vegas." With poker-faced Keely Smith's cool image and melodic vocals coupled with Prima's inspired clowning and factured Italian dialect scat singer augmented by the backing band of Sam Butera and the Witnesses, Prima would wail wildly into the wee hours of the morning.

popular name: Waylon Jennings

date_of_death: February 13, 2002

age: 64

cause_of_death: Diabetic complications

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Waylon Jennings was the "outlaw" singer, songwriter and musician who was one of the founding pioneers of the Outlaw Movement in country music in the 1970s. A protégé of Buddy Holly and devotee of Hank Williams, he sold more than 40 million records, won 2 Grammy Awards, multiple Country Music Association awards including Male Vocalist of the Year, and was Ranked #7 in Rolling Stone's Top 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time in a career spanning six decades. Upon his passing from diabetes complications, the legendary Waylon Jennings grave can be found at Mesa Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona.

popular name: Dalida

date_of_death: May 3, 1987

age: 54

cause_of_death: Suicide - drug overdose (barbiturates)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Dalida (aka Yolande Christina Gigliotti) was born in Shoudra, a district of Cairo the child of Italian immigrants from Calabria. Her father played the violin at Cairo Opera House. In 1950 she won the beauty contest Miss Ondina, but her career really started when in 1955 21-year-old Yolande was selected as Miss Egypt. Dalida sang in 11 languages and sold nearly 2 million records internationally. Her best known songs are "Bambino", Les enfants du Pirée" "Le temps des fleurs", "Darla dirladada", "J'attendrai", and "Paroles, paroles" featuring spoken word by Alain Delon. After a successful career marred by personal tragedies, by 1987 Dalida was entering into severe depression while trying to overcome it. Although no new songs had been recorded, she toured internationally from Los Angeles to the Middle East. Being part of the music spotlight in 1978, many of her songs appeared daily on TV, as well as many notable TV appearances on talk shows from 1986 to 1987. Her last live TV appearance was hosting the Nuit des César on March 7, 1987. Her last live performance took place in Antalya, Turkey from April 27-29, 1987, just before her suicide. Sadly those performances were not recorded by the national television of Turkey which was the only TV channel in the country.