Joey Ramone

popular name: Horace Heidt

date_of_death: December 1, 1986

age: 85

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television during the 1930s and 1940s. As leader of the Musical Knights, Mr. Heidt was the host of talent shows on radio and television and was credited with helping the careers of Art Carney, Joel MacRae, trumpeter Al Hirt and the King Sisters. His band recorded such hits as ''I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire,'' ''Deep in the Heart of Texas,'' ''Ti-Pi-Tin,'' ''The Hut Sut Song,'' ''Little Sir Echo,'' ''The Pennsylvania Polka'' and ''Heigh Ho.'' He is also credited with devising the first radio show to conduct ad-lib interviews with an audience, called ''Answers by the Dancers.'' It got started in 1932 when a microphone from the bandstand fell to the dance floor. Mr. Heidt jumped down, grabbed the mike and began chatting up the audience.

popular name: Ricky Wilson

date_of_death: October 12, 1985

age: 32

cause_of_death: AIDS related cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: With their bouffant coifs, thrift store fashion and dance-infected retrofitted sound, The B-52's rocked the house in the early 80s by capturing the attentions of the "so what?" generation. Founded by Ricky Wilson and his fellow killer B's, they appropriated everything that was tragically unhip and whipped up (via hook-laden pop songs) an ultra-cool, total fab pop confection. When they recorded their first album, they were picked up by Chris Blackwell of Island Records where they secured airplay and 500,000 in sales with the first two singles - Rock Lobster and Private Idaho. Unfortunately the party came to a halt when Ricky Wilson was diagnosed with AIDS during the recording of Whammy and died two years later. After four years on hiatus, the B-52’s staged a stunning comeback with their hit album Cosmic Thing. In a short time the album climbed to Number Five on the charts and selling 200,000 copies a week. The single “Love Shack” shot up to Number Three and sold over a million copies worldwide. With all that success from one album the band graduated from 1,300 seats in San Francisco’s to 14,000 seats arenas by the end of the tour,

popular name: Frank Frost

date_of_death: October 12, 1999

age: 63

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: One of the foremost Delta blues harmonica players of his generation. Frank Frost only picked up the harmonica after an accident damaged his hand that prevented him from continuing with guitar. Taught by Sonny Boy Williams II, Frank recorded with the likes of Jack Johnson, Robert Nighthawk and his son, Sam Carr and numerous other blues giants. Frost performed at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in his home town of Helena, Arkansas, on October 8th just four days before he died. He was a sick man, and playing with tears in his eyes, knowing the years of cigarettes and alcohol had taken their toll.