Joey Ramone

popular name: Jimmie Rodgers

date_of_death: May 26, 1933

age: 35

cause_of_death: Tuberculosis

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmie Rodgers was an American singer, songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmic yodeling. During his all-to brief career, Rodgers was known as "The Singing Brakeman" and "America's Blue Yodeler". Born in 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi, Jimmie learned to play guitar while working on the railroad as a water boy and brakeman. He was influenced by the music played and the songs sung by the African American railway workers he met at the railway yard and around town – their call-and-response singing style during work and the blues songs they sang made a distinctive mark on Rodgers’ sound. He also spent time in Meridian’s opera house, vaudeville theaters, and hotels where he heard jazz, parlor music, and popular tunes, all of which also provided inspiration. During what later became known as the Bristol sessions, Rodgers recorded solo as he was deserted by his band after a disagreement. A second session with Rodgers was later arranged in Camden, New Jersey, that produced "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)". The song became a success and it propelled Rodgers to national fame, while it assured him a recording career that produced over 100 songs for the label. As the Father of Country Music, Jimmie Rodgers has been inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Blues Hall of Fame, The Songwriters Hall of Fame, The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine placed Rodgers at number 11 on the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time list.

popular name: Falco

date_of_death: February 6, 1998

age: 40

cause_of_death: Automobile accident

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: His name was Falco, and the image of sharp suit and slick-back hair already set him apart from the glam rockers and post-punks of the late 80s. He was a musician; a singer; a rapper. A gentleman, a womanizer; he hated garden gnomes and loved chaos. He was honest, plain, but one in a million. With the hit song (and matching music video) "Rock Me Amadeus" etched into our very brains, the infectious chorus of 1986 hit went on to become the only number one on the Billboard Hot 100 spoken in German. It became an international hit, climbing the charts of countless nations. Proving that he was no one-hit wonder, Falco had several international hits including "Der Kommissar" (1981), "Vienna Calling", "Jeanny", "The Sound of Musik", "Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later)", and posthumously "Out of the Dark". But it was "Rock Me Amadeus" that reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1986, making Falco the only artist in history whose principal language was German, to score a vocal number-one hit in the United States. According to his estate, he has sold 20 million albums and 40 million singles, which makes him the best-selling Austrian singer of all time. Sadly his life was cut short when his rental car collided with a bus outside of the resort town of Villa Montellano.

popular name: Al Jackson Jr.

date_of_death: October 1, 1975

age: 39

cause_of_death: Murdered (unsolved)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Dubbed “The Human Timekeeper” for his impeccable rhythm and timing, Al Jackson, Jr. was a member of the seminal Stax Records house band Booker T. and the MG’s and provided the beat for the likes of Al Green, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, and Albert King during his brief yet illustrious career.