Joey Ramone

popular name: Victor Herbert

date_of_death: May 26, 1924

age: 65

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Victor Herbert was one of the great composers and musicians of his era who enjoyed a prolific career that embraced a variety of musical genres. In addition to forty operettas and two operas, he wrote the music for several Ziegfeld Follies, did musical scores for motion pictures, composed for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and between 1900 and 1915, wrote 23 musicals.

popular name: Lil Hardin Armstrong

date_of_death: August 27, 1971

age: 73

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Lil Hardin Armstrong was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s with the Louis Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles. On February 4, 1924, Armstrong married Lil Hardin Armstrong, King Oliver's pianist. Armstrong's second wife helped him develop his career, urging Armstrong to seek more prominent billing and develop his style apart from the influence of Oliver. At her suggestion, Armstrong began to play classical music in church concerts to broaden his skills; and Armstrong began to dress more in more stylish attire to offset his girth. Her influence eventually undermined Armstrong's relationship with his mentor, especially concerning his salary and additional money that Joe "King" Oliver held back from Armstrong and other band members. Shortly after Armstrong, with Lil Hardin, formed the famous Louis Armstrong Hot Five and later the Hot Seven jazz bands that launched Armstrong's career to new heights. After her divorce from Armstrong when he had a liaison with Alpha Smith, sometimes billing herself as "Mrs. Louis Armstrong", Hardin led an "All Girl Orchestra", a mixed-sex big band which broadcast nationally over the NBC radio network. In the same decade she recorded for Decca as a swing vocalist and performed as piano accompanist for other singers. Hardin returned to Chicago and the house on East 41st Street. She made a trip to Europe and had a brief love affair in France, but mostly she worked around Chicago, often with fellow Chicagoans. Collaborators included Red Saunders, Joe Williams, Oscar Brown Jr., and Little Brother Montgomery. After living a full and complete life, Miss Lil was at the piano at a Louis Armstrong memorial concert shortly after his death when she slumped over and died while playing The St. Louis Blues at the age of 73. She was laid to rest at Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois.

popular name: Booker Little Jr.

date_of_death: October 5, 1961

age: 23

cause_of_death: Complications from uremia caused by kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Booker Little, twenty-three year-old composer, arranger and trumpet player has lately come to demonstrate, in recordings and as the musical director of the Max Roach group, a talent that was taken too early. When he died suddenly at the age of 23 he was one of the most promising jazz trumpeters working with Max Roach, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. After years of physical pain, Little died of complications resulting from kidney failure on October 5, 1961, in New York City at the age 23. He was survived by his wife, two sons Booker T. III and Larry Cornelius, and two daughters Cornelia and Ana Dorsey.