Joey Ramone

popular name: Herb Reed

date_of_death: June 4, 2012

age: 83

cause_of_death: Heart disease and lung disease

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Herbert Reed is best remembered as the last surviving original member of the do-wop group The Platters. As the only member of The Platters who sang on all of the 400+ songs recorded by the group, his vocals can be heard on The Platters' biggest hits including "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Great Pretender", "Twilight Time", and "My Prayer".

popular name: Manu Dibango

date_of_death: March 24, 2020

age: 86

cause_of_death: Complications related to COVID-19

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Manu Dibango (1933–2020) was a Cameroonian saxophonist, composer, and bandleader whose genre-blending style made him one of Africa’s most influential musical ambassadors. Born in Douala, he moved to Europe as a teenager and developed his craft in Belgium and France, absorbing jazz, rhythm and blues, and other Western styles. His breakthrough came in 1972 with “Soul Makossa,” a pioneering Afro-funk track built on infectious grooves and his signature saxophone riffs; the song became a global hit and helped introduce African popular music to international audiences. Throughout his long career, Dibango collaborated with artists across genres—from Fela Kuti to Herbie Hancock—while continually exploring new sounds, including jazz, funk, reggae, and traditional Cameroonian rhythms. Beyond music, he was known for his warm personality, cultural advocacy, and mentorship of younger African musicians. He remained active into his later years, performing and recording until his death in 2020.

popular name: Luther Vandross

date_of_death: July 1, 2005

age: 54

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Luther Vandross was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA-certified platinum albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. After a short stint at college and drifting through numerous groups and as a backup singer, in 1974 after a short stay with David Bowie, Luther worked with a vast array of award-winning recording artists including Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Ben E. King, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, Cat Stevens, Gary Glitter, Ringo Starr, Sister Sledge, and Donna Summer. Across the next decade, Vandross would top the US R&B charts six more times - so successful was he, and, at times, so large his girth, that he was nicknamed "the Pavarotti of pop". British audiences embraced him in the late 1980s: Never Too Much hit the British top 20 eight years after it was an American hit. At one point, he had three albums simultaneously in the top 100. Vandross's greatest hits of that era - Stop To Love, There's Nothing Better Than Love, Any Love, Here And Now, Power Of Love/Love Power - established him as the most widely admired male soul singer of the post-disco era. Vandross continued to enjoy healthy sales in the early 1990s, but his glacial pop/soul style became increasingly predictable and he was soon overshadowed by a younger, more hip-hop oriented breed of male R&B singer. His last British hit was Endless Love, a duet with Mariah Carey in 1994. All in all, Vandross has been recognized as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time (2023) by Rolling Stone, as well as one of the greatest R&B artists by Billboard. In addition, NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. He was the recipient of eight Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2004 for a track recorded not long before his death, "Dance with My Father". In 2021, he was posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.