Joey Ramone

popular name: Django Reinhardt

date_of_death: May 16, 1953

age: 43

cause_of_death: Cerebral hemorrhage

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Django Reinhardt was a pioneering Belgian-born Romani guitarist and composer who became one of the most influential figures in European jazz. After a caravan fire in 1928 severely injured his left hand—leaving two fingers partially paralyzed—he developed a groundbreaking technique that allowed him to solo using primarily two fingers, creating a fluid, fiery style that redefined jazz guitar. In the 1930s, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with violinist Stéphane Grappelli, pioneering the all-strings format and establishing what became known as “Gypsy jazz.” The group was among the first to play jazz that featured the guitar as a lead instrument. Reinhardt recorded in France with many visiting American musicians, including Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter. Reinhardt composed enduring standards such as “Minor Swing” and “Nuages,” blending American swing with Romani musical traditions. During World War II, he continued performing across occupied Europe, and after the war he toured the United States, even performing with Duke Ellington in 1946. Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become standards within gypsy jazz, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages". In his final recordings, made with his Nouvelle Quintette in the last few months of his life, he had begun moving in a new musical direction, in which he assimilated the vocabulary of bebop and fused it with his own melodic style.

popular name: Marvin Isley

date_of_death: June 6, 2010

age: 56

cause_of_death: Complications of diabetes

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Marvin Isley was an American musician best known as the deep, funky bass player for the Isley Brothers. The Isley Brothers were initially a vocal trio made up of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley. They broke in 1959 with their first composition “Shout,” also a big UK hit for Lulu. The first single for their own T-Neck label, 1964’s “Testify,” also stands out for being one of Jimi Hendrix’s first recordings, as Hendrix recorded and toured with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vocal group. By 1971, Marvin began performing bass guitar on The Isley Brothers' album, Givin' It Back. Within two years, he became an official member of the group. Following the Grammy-winning “It’s Your Thing” (1969), the Isley Brothers, in varying configurations and incorporating different styles, wrote and recorded such hits as “Pop That Thang,” “That Lady,” “For the Love of You” and “Caravan of Love,” with Ice Cube sampling their song “Footsteps in the Dark” for his hit “It Was a Good Day” and Notorious B.I.G. likewise sampling “Between the Sheets” for his hit “Big Poppa.” In addition to playing bass, Marvin also provided percussion and also wrote or co-wrote some of the group's hits including "Fight the Power", "The Pride" and "Between the Sheets". Isley stopped performing in 1996 after suffering complications from diabetes that included a stroke, high blood pressure, the loss of both legs and use of his left hand. Upon Marvin Isley passing away, his grave at George Washington Memorial Park is well visited.

popular name: Lisa "Lefteye" Lopes

date_of_death: April 25, 2002

age: 30

cause_of_death: Fracture of the base of the cranium and open cerebral trauma due to an automobile accident

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: For many, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes simply was TLC who jacked the pop charts with a blend of soul and rap that preached safe sex and self-reliance. Two years after their first album was released, TLC went on to garner international fame with their second album CrazySexyCool selling over 4 million albums. On April 25th, just weeks before her 31st birthday, the outspoken Lopes died in a car wreck while on a spiritual retreat at a “healing village” in Honduras.