Joey Ramone

popular name: Willie Foster

date_of_death: May 20, 2001

age: 79

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Not to be confused with Little Willy Foster from Chicago, Willie Foster was a talented delta blues harmonica player who was born into poverty who ended up eventually in Chicago playing for tips on Maxwell Street. Shortly after he graduated to the city's club scene where his fellow performers included Walter Horton, Leroy Foster, Snooky Pryor and Lazy Bill Lucas. By 1953 he was working with Muddy Waters and in that same year he cut his first sides: "Falling Rain Blues" and "Four Day Jump". Moving back to Mississippi he played up until the time of his death in 2001.

popular name: Rory Gallagher

date_of_death: June 14, 1995

age: 47

cause_of_death: Staphylococcal infection (MRSA) following a liver transplant

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: One of Europe's great guitar players, Rory Gallagher's single-minded dedication to the blues and refusal to change his style for radio success forever relegated him to small clubs and the college tour circuit. Born in Ballyshannon, Ireland Gallagher formed his first band, Taste, in 1968. A blend of heavy metal power chords and American blues, Taste recorded several well-received on the ATCO record label. With so few Irish rock bands apart from Van Morrison and Them, Taste began to garner critical and popular acclaim touring with Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Cream and Blind Faith before disbanding under a cloud of financial mismanagement. Gallagher continued as a solo act, touring the U.S. no less than 25 times. Voted Musician of the Year by Melody Maker magazine in 1972, Gallagher's popularity dropped considerably over the next decade. In 1994, during a small tour of Europe clubs and college gigs, Gallagher fell seriously ill in very short order and underwent a liver transplant in 1995. He died of a massive infection while still recuperating in the hospital. Upon his death, he was laid to rest in St. Oliver's Cemetery, Cork Ireland.

popular name: Jam Master Jay

date_of_death: October 30, 2002

age: 37

cause_of_death: Homicide - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jam Master Jay was a musician and the DJ of the influential hip hop group Run-D.M.C. During the 1980s, Run-D.M.C. became one of the biggest hip hop groups and are credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music. On October 30, 2002, Jam Master Jay was fatally shot by an unknown person in New York City in a recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens.