Joey Ramone

popular name: Cab Calloway

date_of_death: November 18, 1994

age: 86

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Cab Calloway was an American jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. He was a popular vocalist of the swing era, and mixed jazz and vaudeville. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular big bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He had a very successful career that spanned over 65 years.

popular name: Bunny Berigan

date_of_death: June 2, 1942

age: 33

cause_of_death: Cirrhosis of the liver

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Bunny Berigan was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era of the 1930s and early 40s. Although he composed some jazz instrumentals such as "Chicken and Waffles" and "Blues", Berigan was best known for his virtuoso jazz trumpeting, successfully fuse the nuanced tonal palette of Bix Beiderbecke with the bravura power of Louis Armstrong. A tall handsome dark-haired Irishman, Berigan was a charming, popular and charismatic performer deeply adored by his fans and admired by fellow musicians. The road to fame was long and hard for Berigan. He labored in less than stellar ensembles during his early years, grinding out distracted dance music in hotel orchestras at uninspiring residencies. But starting around 1930 there was growing demand for his gifts from the Dorsey Brothers, the Boswell Sisters, Paul Whiteman, Red Norvo, Artie Shaw, Bing Crosby, the CBS and NBC radio networks and the Columbia, Vocalion, Decca, Victor and Brunswick record companies. More than 600 surviving records, transcriptions and airchecks are evidence of Berigan’s brilliant gift for making a song his own. Playing the trumpet equally well from the bottom to the top of its range, his horn soared above the finest bands of the Swing era, gracing the biggest hits of Glenn Miller, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. His 1937 classic recording "I Can't Get Started" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1975 and he was inducted in the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 2008.

popular name: Jimmie Rodgers

date_of_death: May 26, 1933

age: 35

cause_of_death: Tuberculosis

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmie Rodgers was an American singer, songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmic yodeling. During his all-to brief career, Rodgers was known as "The Singing Brakeman" and "America's Blue Yodeler". Born in 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi, Jimmie learned to play guitar while working on the railroad as a water boy and brakeman. He was influenced by the music played and the songs sung by the African American railway workers he met at the railway yard and around town – their call-and-response singing style during work and the blues songs they sang made a distinctive mark on Rodgers’ sound. He also spent time in Meridian’s opera house, vaudeville theaters, and hotels where he heard jazz, parlor music, and popular tunes, all of which also provided inspiration. During what later became known as the Bristol sessions, Rodgers recorded solo as he was deserted by his band after a disagreement. A second session with Rodgers was later arranged in Camden, New Jersey, that produced "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)". The song became a success and it propelled Rodgers to national fame, while it assured him a recording career that produced over 100 songs for the label. As the Father of Country Music, Jimmie Rodgers has been inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Blues Hall of Fame, The Songwriters Hall of Fame, The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine placed Rodgers at number 11 on the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time list.