Elvin Shepherd

popular name: Jelly Roll Morton

date_of_death: July 10, 1941

age: 50

cause_of_death: Respiratory distress due to previous stab wounds

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Along with Sidney Bechet, Johnny Dodds, Kid Ory, and Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton was one of the most important musical figure to emerge from the early days of New Orleans. While most will dismiss his claim that he, Jelly Roll Morton, alone created jazz music, there can be no doubt to his technical brilliance as a pianist, composer and arranger. For it was Jelly Roll Morton who transformed the rigid confines of ragtime and ushered in the free form structures of jazz. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. Morton also wrote "King Porter Stomp", "Wolverine Blues", "Black Bottom Stomp", and "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say" which were covered by every major jazz and dance orchestra including Benny Goodman and Fletcher Henderson. Sadly he never received a penny in royalties for his original compositions and he was only recognized for his contributions decades after his passing when Morton was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, elected as a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

popular name: Nancy Wilson

date_of_death: December 13, 2018

age: 81

cause_of_death: Long-term respiratory illness

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Nancy Wilson was an American singer whose career spanned over five decades, from the mid-1950s until her retirement in the early 2010s. She was especially notable for her single "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am" and her version of the standard "Guess Who I Saw Today". When Wilson traveled to New York City, her distinctive voice enchanted a representative from Capitol Records and she was signed in 1959. In the years that followed, Wilson recorded 37 original albums for the label. Her first hit, "Guess Who I Saw Today," came in 1961. One year later, a collaborative album with Adderley solidified her standing in the jazz community and provided the foundation for her growing fame and career. During her performing career, Wilson was labeled a singer of blues, jazz, R&B, pop, and soul; a consummate actress and the complete entertainer. Wilson also has worked in television, where in 1968 she won an Emmy Award for her NBC series, The Nancy Wilson Show. She has performed on The Andy Williams Show and The Carol Burnett Show and has appeared in series such as Hawaii Five-O, The Cosby Show, Moesha, and The Parkers. Although she often has crossed over to pop and rhythm-and- blues recordings, she still is best known for her jazz performances. In the 1980s, she returned to jazz with a series of performances with such jazz greats as Art Farmer, Benny Golson, and Hank Jones. And to start the new century, Wilson teamed with pianist Ramsey Lewis for a pair of highly regarded recordings. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including two Grammy Awards and honorary degrees from Berklee School of Music and Central State University in Ohio.

popular name: Sam Phillips

date_of_death: July 30, 2003

age: 80

cause_of_death: Respiratory failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Sam Phillips was one of the true musical pioneers of the 20th century. A man who redefined the cultural landscape by producing and engineering local talent in his modest studio and distributing the results on his own Sun Records label. And while he may have only had moderate results with such discoveries as Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf, BB King and Roy Orbison, he became a legend recording and producing Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and, of course, Elvis Presley. In the end, Sam was one of the main people responsible for breaking down the barriers between white and black music, melding country with blues, and creating the genre that we now refer to as rock & roll.