Joey Ramone

popular name: Melvin Franklin

date_of_death: February 23, 1995

age: 52

cause_of_death: Multiple health issues including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, necrotizing fasciitis, seizures and heart failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: It has been over five decades since The Temptations were first founded and in that time there have been 22 different members of the group, but it is the ‘Classic Five’ (and the post-Classic Five, Dennis Edwards) line-up that most fans consider the best. Central to that line-up was the incredible bass voice of Melvin Franklin, dubbed by the group and by their fans as ‘the world’s greatest bass singer’.

popular name: Lou Rawls

date_of_death: January 6, 2006

age: 72

cause_of_death: Lung cancer that spread to his brain

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Lou Rawls, the velvet-voiced singer who started as a church choir boy and went on to record the classic tune "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine," was one of the great synthesisers of American popular music. He applied his velvet baritone voice with effortless elasticity to gospel, blues, jazz, soul and middle-of-the-road pop, ensuring his success across the decades. Lou Rawls's final performance was during a telethon honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. He performed "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "It Was A Very Good Year" as a tribute to Frank Sinatra. All told, Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles. He worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

popular name: Darby Crash

date_of_death: December 7, 1980

age: 22

cause_of_death: Suicide - intentional heroin overdose

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Darby Crash was an American punk rock vocalist and songwriter who co-founded the seminal Los Angeles punk band the Germs. As the lead "singer" a typical show featuring Crash would consist of a wretched version of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" (complete with Crash pouring sugar over the audience), food fights, a revolving door of untalented musicians, and a lead singer so loaded on smack he would smear the audience with blood from self-mutilation. All of this and more was beautifully captured in Penelope Spheeris's landmark 1981 film The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization.