Joey Ramone

popular name: Celia Cruz

date_of_death: July 16, 2003

age: 77

cause_of_death: Brain cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Originally Celia Cruz studied to be a teacher in her native Havana, but was lured into show business when a relative entered her in a radio talent contest, which she won. She later studied music at the Havana Conservatory and performed at the wold-famous Tropicana nightclub. In the 1950s, Cruz became famous with the legendary Afro-Cuban group La Sonora Matancera. She left Cuba after its 1959 revolution for the United States in 1960, and never returned. With her powerful voice and flamboyant stage shows, Cruz helped bring salsa music to a broad audience. Her alliance with fellow salsa star and "Mambo King" Tito Puente garnered some of the biggest success in her career. The two recorded albums and regularly performed together, and they were considered legends of the genre. All in all she recorded more than 70 albums and had more than a dozen Grammy nominations. She won best salsa album for "La Negra Tiene Tumbao" and again the following year. Among her other best-known recordings are "Yerberito Moreno" and "Que le Den Candela." Today fans visit the grave of Cuban Queen of Salsa at her private mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

popular name: Ludwig van Beethoven

date_of_death: March 26, 1827

age: 56

cause_of_death: Liver disease, viral hepatitis and alcohol consumption

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist who remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. His works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. Nearly 200 years since his passing Beethoven's works remain mainstays of the classical music repertoire.

popular name: Dick Dale

date_of_death: March 16, 2019

age: 81

cause_of_death: Heart and kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Dick Dale was an American rock guitarist. He was the pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known as "The King of the Surf Guitar", which was also the title of his second studio album. Dale was one of the most influential guitarists of all time and especially of the early 1960s. Most of the leading bands in surf music, such as The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and The Trashmen, were influenced by Dale's music, and often included recordings of Dale's songs in their albums. His style and music influenced guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen and Brian May. He has been mentioned as one of the fathers of heavy metal. Many credit him with tremolo picking, a technique that is now widely used in many musical genres (such as extreme metal, folk etc.). His speedy single-note staccato picking technique was unmatched until guitarists like Eddie Van Halen entered the music scene.