Joey Ramone

popular name: Harry Nilsson

date_of_death: January 15, 1994

age: 52

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: A leading pop songwriter first, and a performer a distant second Harry Nilsson was never able to fully develop his talent and instead was more widely regarded for his erratic rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Nilsson began writing songs in the early sixties while working the late shift in the computer department of a large California bank. After struggling for 5 years, he sold the songs "Paradise" and "Here I Sit" to producer and future murderer Phil Spector and the Ronettes. He signed a recording contract with RCA after he sold songs to The Monkees and the fledging Yardbirds. In 1967 he released the critically acclaimed album "The Pandemonium Shadow Show", showcasing his three-octave range while still working at the bank. The album did not go unnoticed by the Beatles and soon Nilsson became good friends with the Fab Four. Nilsson scored his first Top Ten hit with "Everybody's Talkin'", the theme song from the movie "Midnight Cowboy" (ironically written by someone else). In 1971 he scored big with his most commercially successful album "Nilsson Schmilsson," which included the emotive ballad "Without You." But Nilsson's problems began with the infamous year-long "lost weekend" with John Lennon during Lennon's split with Yoko Ono. The year long sessions of drinking and debauchery stayed with Nilsson the rest of his life. Another setback came when, after Lennon offered to produce Nilsson's next album, Nilsson lost the upper register of his voice for much of the recording sessions. Failing in health during the nineties, Nilsson passed away in his sleep from a massive heart attack just two days after putting the final vocal tracks down on his last album.

popular name: Karen Carpenter

date_of_death: February 4, 1983

age: 32

cause_of_death: Heart failure due to anorexia nervosa

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Karen Carpenter was an American singer and drummer, who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters alongside her older brother Richard. With a distinctive three-octave contralto range, she was praised by her peers for her vocal skills and was named Rolling Stone's Top 100 Vocalists. Carpenter's struggle with and eventual death of heart failure related to her years-long struggle with anorexia would later raise awareness of eating disorders and body dysmorphia and their possible causes. On February 1, 1983, Carpenter saw her brother for the last time and discussed new plans for the Carpenters and for resumed touring. Three days later, on February 4, Carpenter was scheduled to sign final papers making her divorce official. Shortly after waking up on that day, she collapsed at her parents' home in Downey. Paramedics found her heart beating once every 10 seconds (6 bpm). Carpenter was pronounced dead at Downey Community Hospital at 9:51 a.m. The vocalist and drummer behind three number-one singles, five number-two singles on the Billboard Hot 100, 15 number-one hits on the Adult Contemporary chart and 12 top-10 singles was only 32 years old.

popular name: Lightnin' Hopkins

date_of_death: January 30, 1982

age: 69

cause_of_death: Esophageal cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Sam Lightnin' Hopkins began his blues trail as Blind Lemon Jefferson's guide before spending 30 years on the weekend juke joint circuit. As a soloist who loved to drink, smoke, gamble, fight and chase women, Hopkins had the scars from the prison leg irons of which he sang. Before his death he recorded over 80 albums and Rolling Stone magazine included Hopkins at number 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.