Joey Ramone

popular name: Rockin' Dopsie

date_of_death: August 26, 1993

age: 61

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Rockin’ Dopsie (pronounced DOOP-sie), along with Boozoo Chavis and Clifton Chenier, is widely acknowledged to be one of the originators of zydeco music. Dopsie played music for dancing, assimilating R&B influences into zydeco and sometimes covering R&B hits in a zydeco style. He performed around Louisiana, and recorded occasionally for small independent labels in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, he started to gain attention in the US. He played accordion on the zydeco-influenced song "That Was Your Mother" on Paul Simon's Graceland album in 1986. He recorded the album Crowned Prince Of Zydeco in 1987. Dopsie also recorded with Bob Dylan and Cyndi Lauper, and in 1992 appeared in the film Delta Heat. His own last album, "Louisiana Music," was his first for a major label. The album received a Grammy nomination after it was released in November 1991.

popular name: Gene Krupa

date_of_death: October 16, 1973

age: 64

cause_of_death: Heart failure coupled with leukemia and emphysema

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Before Keith Moon, before John Bonham there was the one and only Gene Krupa - one of the greatest drummers and drum kit innovators in the 20th century. With his arms flailing behind the drum kit, Krupa forever changed the role of the drummer and provided his fans with an everlasting visual and musical image of the swing era. In 1936 he joined Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson for the first incarnation of the Benny Goodman Trio (later expanding to a quartet with Lionel Hampton) where his drum work made him a national celebrity. His tom-tom interludes on the hit "Sing, Sing, Sing" were the first extended drum solos to be recorded commercially. After his gig with Goodman he continued to record with his own group, Tommy Dorsey, Gerry Mulligan and starred as himself in several Hollywood musical-based films. In addition to his drum skills, he was also a well regarding composer with compositions which he wrote or co-wrote included "Some Like It Hot" in 1939, "Drum Boogie", "Boogie Blues", his theme song "Apurksody", "Ball of Fire", "Disc Jockey Jump" with Gerry Mulligan, "Wire Brush Stomp", "Hippdeebip", "Krupa's Wail", "Swing is Hee", "Quit and Roll 'Em" with Sam Donahue, and "How 'Bout This Mess". Even today Krupa’s reputation still looms large in pop culture: Rolling Stone recently put him at Number 7 in its list of the 100 greatest drummers of all time.

popular name: Jimmie Lunceford

date_of_death: July 12, 1947

age: 45

cause_of_death: Coronary occlusion

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmie Lunceford was one of the most underrated American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleaders in the golden years of the Swing Era. Any list of the greatest bands of the swing era usually starts with those of Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. Except in select circles, Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra is apt to be farther down the list. Yet the Lunceford band, for a few brief years in the 1930's, was one of the most exciting big jazz bands that ever played. The Lunceford band managed to be both tightly rehearsed and loose enough to swing with a tangible swagger, and its arrangements constantly took listeners by surprise, both with its original compositions and in its unexpected treatment of pop songs. But the Lunceford Orchestra didn't last as long as Basie, Goodman or Ellington simply due to the fact that Jimmie Lunceford was tight with a dollar. For the rest of the 1930's the Lunceford band rolled along on a seeming stream of success. But toward the end of the decade the cozy family began to disintegrate. The band spent months on the road playing endless one-night stands because that brought in more money than longer engagements. The money came in, but it did not filter down. There were occasional days off (without pay) and even vacations were unpaid. ''When you're young, you can go a long way on ambition,'' Ed Wilcox said afterward. ''But when you get older you want some of the things older people have, and Jimmie didn't want to give enough money. Jimmie was used to treating us like little boys who left Memphis with him, but we had become grown men and we needed more.''