Elvin Shepherd

AKA:
Shep
Birth Name:
Elvin J. Shepherd
Birth Date:
May 28, 1923
Birth Place:
Alexandria, Virginia
Death Date:
June 2, 1995
Place of Death:
Buffalo, New York
Age:
72
Cause of Death:
Undisclosed
Cemetery Name:
Forest Lawn Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Music
Elvin "Shep" Shepherd was a legendary saxophonist whose career spanned half a century. He traveled with such big name bands as Buck Clayton, Bill Doggett, Billy Ekstine, Erskin Hawkins, Lucky Milinder, and Nat Towles. During his storied career he also accompanied such artists as Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Ray Price, Della Reese, and Dakota Staton.

Fun fact: Drafted into the military at the age of 18, Shep went off to camp Pickett, Virginia for basic training where he made the acquaintance of members in an Army band and started sitting in with them on officers club jobs. Shep was on a troop train headed for Camp Barkley, in Ailene, Texas and made a stop in St Louis for a 5-6 hour layover. Shep and some of the guys made for place called the Hawaiian Club to hear a new band with a promising young, but unknown trumpeter named Miles Davis, and Shep recalls, “I gave him some tips on playing the trumpet”.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Forest Lawn Cemetery

1411 Delaware Ave

Buffalo, New York, 14209

USA

North America

Map:

Grave Location:

Section 36, Lot 31-N 2/3, Space: 2

Grave Location Description

Behind the mausoleum about 100 feet from the road, even with the back-side glass doors to the mausoleum

Grave Location GPS

42.92832937,-78.85753384

Photos:

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Read More About Elvin Shepherd:

Videos Featuring Elvin Shepherd:
Elvin Shepherd plays the sax solo on the Bill Doggett 1964 track "Fatso"
Elvin Shepherd plays the sax on the Bill Doggett 1964 track "Mudcat"

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date_of_death: October 11, 2012

age: 70

cause_of_death: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Frank Alamo was a French singer who achieved his greatest success in the 1960s. With his boy-next-door image and plaintive voice, the yéyé singer Frank Alamo was an engaging "idole des jeunes" – teenage idol – and a constant presence in the French charts between 1963 and 1969. His hit records included "Biche ô ma Biche" ("Sweets for My Sweet"), "Je veux prendre ta main" ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), and "Je me bats pour gagner" ("A Hard Day's Night"). In all, he released 30 singles over a five-year period in the early and mid-1960s, including some original songs. Alamo retired from the music business when he married in 1969, becoming a photographer and later a manager in the automobile industry. In 1983, he was chasing a beautiful blonde girl who was driving a funny car, she brought him to a factory and there Frank Alamo bought not a single car but the whole plant: the Dallas jeep company. He sold it in 1996 in order to give further singing performances however he never able to capture his original success. He died just one day before his 71st birthday.

Freddie King

popular name: Freddie King

date_of_death: December 28, 1976

age: 42

cause_of_death: Stomach ulcers and acute pancreatitis

claim_to_fame: Music

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Tex Williams

popular name: Tex Williams

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age: 68

cause_of_death: Pancreatic cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

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