Joey Ramone

popular name: Jimmie Lunceford

date_of_death: July 12, 1947

age: 45

cause_of_death: Coronary occlusion

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmie Lunceford was one of the most underrated American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleaders in the golden years of the Swing Era. Any list of the greatest bands of the swing era usually starts with those of Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. Except in select circles, Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra is apt to be farther down the list. Yet the Lunceford band, for a few brief years in the 1930's, was one of the most exciting big jazz bands that ever played. The Lunceford band managed to be both tightly rehearsed and loose enough to swing with a tangible swagger, and its arrangements constantly took listeners by surprise, both with its original compositions and in its unexpected treatment of pop songs. But the Lunceford Orchestra didn't last as long as Basie, Goodman or Ellington simply due to the fact that Jimmie Lunceford was tight with a dollar. For the rest of the 1930's the Lunceford band rolled along on a seeming stream of success. But toward the end of the decade the cozy family began to disintegrate. The band spent months on the road playing endless one-night stands because that brought in more money than longer engagements. The money came in, but it did not filter down. There were occasional days off (without pay) and even vacations were unpaid. ''When you're young, you can go a long way on ambition,'' Ed Wilcox said afterward. ''But when you get older you want some of the things older people have, and Jimmie didn't want to give enough money. Jimmie was used to treating us like little boys who left Memphis with him, but we had become grown men and we needed more.''

popular name: Bob Marley

date_of_death: May 11, 1981

age: 36

cause_of_death: Acral lentiginous melanoma (skin cancer)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician whose brilliant and ongoing distillation of early ska, rock steady, and reggae musical forms blossomed in the 1970s into an electrifying rock-influenced hybrid that made him an international superstar. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, Marley's contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a global figure in popular culture for over a decade. In 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 11 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

popular name: Béla Bartók

date_of_death: September 26, 1945

age: 64

cause_of_death: Leukemia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and one founders of comparative musicology (ethnomusicologist). He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century, and he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers.