Joey Ramone

popular name: Charlie Rich

date_of_death: July 25, 1995

age: 62

cause_of_death: Pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Charlie Rich was a country singer, songwriter and alcoholic whose career peaked in the 1970s.

popular name: Louis Armstrong

date_of_death: July 6, 1971

age: 69

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: From a New Orleans boys’ home to Hollywood, Carnegie Hall, movies and television, the tale of Louis Armstrong’s life and triumphant six-decade career epitomizes the American success story. His trumpet playing revolutionized the world of music, and he became one of our century’s most recognized and best loved entertainers. With his instantly recognizable rich, gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer and skillful improviser. He was also skilled at scat singing. By the end of Armstrong's life, his influence had spread to popular music in general. Armstrong's best known songs include "What a Wonderful World", "La Vie en Rose", "Hello, Dolly!", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "When You're Smiling" and "When the Saints Go Marching In". He collaborated with Ella Fitzgerald, producing three records together: Ella and Louis (1956), Ella and Louis Again (1957), and Porgy and Bess (1959). He also appeared in films such as A Rhapsody in Black and Blue (1932), Cabin in the Sky (1943), High Society (1956), Paris Blues (1961), A Man Called Adam (1966), and Hello, Dolly! (1969). Armstrong received numerous accolades including the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for Hello, Dolly! in 1965, as well as a posthumous win for the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972, and induction into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2017. Upon his death, he was laid to rest at Flushing Cemetery in Queens, New York.

popular name: James Booker

date_of_death: November 8, 1983

age: 43

cause_of_death: Renal failure related to chronic abuse of heroin and alcohol

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Booker was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist whose unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Flamboyant in personality and having an extraordinary technical facility, he was known as "the Black Liberace" as well as "The Piano Prince of New Orleans". Booker's two-fisted, syncopated keyboard style was a major influence on New Orleans rhythm-and-blues in the 1950's and 1960's, and he was known in New Orleans as a flamboyant pianist who was likely to toss a Chopin etude into the middle of a boogie-woogie. He had a hit with ''Gonzo,'' an organ instrumental, in 1960, and played on stage and in recording sessions for Wilson Pickett, Lloyd Price, Aretha Franklin, Bobby ''Blue'' Bland, B. B. King, Ringo Starr, the Coasters, the Doobie Brothers and others. But his career was largely confined to New Orleans. And despite his legendary consumption of drugs and alcohol (he lost his left eye to drug abuse) he is considered by most the finest, wildest and most unpredictable pianist of his time.