Joey Ramone

popular name: Udo Jürgens

date_of_death: December 21, 2014

age: 80

cause_of_death: Cardiac arrest

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Udo Jürgens, was an Austrian composer and singer of German origin of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, composed close to 1,000 songs, and sold over 104 million records. He is credited with broadening German-language pop music beyond the traditional post-war "Schlager" (hit song) in the 1950s by infusing it with a modern pop appeal and French chanson style. His compositions and arrangements attracted fans of all ages. A few of his memorable recordings include "Griechischer Wein", "Aber bitte mit Sahne", "Mit 66 Jahren", and—one of his biggest successes—"Buenos Días, Argentina". Until his death at age 80, he continued to fill venues in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Jürgens collapsed during a walk in Gottlieben, a town on Lake Constance north of Zurich, Switzerland, and died of heart failure later at a hospital.

popular name: Arthur Crudup

date_of_death: March 28, 1974

age: 68

cause_of_death: Stroke

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later recorded by Elvis Presley in the mid-1950s. His songs "Mean Old 'Frisco Blues", "Who's Been Foolin' You" and "That's All Right" were popular in the South even though he did not tour regularly due to stage fright. These and his other songs "Rock Me Mama", "So Glad You're Mine", and "My Baby Left Me" have been recorded by many artists, including Slade, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Creedence Clearwater Revival and helped launch Elvis Presley's career. You would think that Crudup could sit back and enjoy living off the royalties - but that would not be the case. He was cheated out of his royalties his entire life by producer Lester Melrose and others as his catalog was sold to different record companies. After making a living outside of music, in the late 1960s Crudup was “rediscovered,” and, for the first time in his career, he was playing concerts with large audiences, mostly at colleges. He played such venues as the Newport Jazz Festival and the Mariposa Folk Festival and even traveled to Europe where he was enthusiastically received. Just before he died Arthur was touring with Bonnie Raitt. He was finally beginning to get the recognition he richly deserved, but not the money. Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup died of a stroke on March 28, 1974. He never collected his due. He was laid to rest at Bethel Memorial Gardens in Franktown, VA.

popular name: Nick Drake

date_of_death: November 25, 1974

age: 26

cause_of_death: Overdose of amitriptyline (a prescribed antidepressant)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Nick Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician best known for his acoustic, mournful, melancholy songs. With only three albums released to middling reviews, abysmal sales coupled with his descent into mental illness he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, And while some like to call him "the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years", quite frankly his influence and legacy has largely been forgotten.