Joey Ramone

popular name: Al Wilson

date_of_death: April 21, 2008

age: 68

cause_of_death: Kidney Failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Al Wilson is best remembered for the #1 pop hit "Show and Tell". From the age of 12 Wilson was already singing professionally - his own spiritual quartet and singing in the church choir, even performing covers of country & western hits. After a two-year military stint, Wilson settled in Los Angeles, touring the local nightclub circuit before joining the R&B vocal group the Jewels; from there he landed with the Rollers, followed by a stint with the instrumental combo the Souls. In 1966 singer Johnny Rivers not only signed Wilson to his Soul City imprint, but also agreed to produce the sessions that yielded the 1968 R&B smash "The Snake." The minor hit "Do What You Gotta Do" appeared that same year, but Wilson then largely disappeared from sight until 1973, when he issued the platinum-selling Weighing In -- the album's success was spurred by the shimmering "Show and Tell," a Johnny Mathis castoff that sold well over a million copies. "The La La Peace Song," released in 1974, proved another major hit, and two years later, "I've Got a Feeling We'll Be Seeing Each Other Again" peaked at number three on the R&B chart. With 1979's "Count the Days" Wilson scored his final chart hit and spent the next two decades touring local clubs and lounges before succumbing to kidney disease at the age of 68.

popular name: Pete Drake

date_of_death: July 29, 1988

age: 55

cause_of_death: Emphysema

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Pete Drake was one of the greatest pedal-steel musicians who played on 118 Gold and Platinum albums with artists ranging from Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Marty Robbins, Elvis Presley, Ernst Tubb and George Jones. His session work alone on Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" and "Nashville Skyline" made him the choice session player in Nashville from the 1960s through the late 1980s. Equally in demand in the studio and at the Grand Ole Opry, Drake was always an innovator. He has been credited with popularizing the "talking" guitar long before Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck made it to the airwaves. As Drake's career and reputation grew, he branched out into production, publishing and became the owner of a highly successful recording studio on Music Row in Nashville. His work with Ernst Tubb (with whom he produced 20 of Tubb's greatest hits) earns him a place as a leader of the Nashville Sound. Pete Drake was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2021, 33 years after his death.

popular name: Buddy Holly

date_of_death: February 3, 1959

age: 22

cause_of_death: Plane crash

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Buddy Holly was an American singer-songwriter who was a key figure and pioneer of mid-1950s rock and roll music. Some of his best hits include "That'll Be The Day", "Peggy Sue", "Everyday", and "It's So Easy". He is often regarded as the artist who defined the traditional rock-and-roll lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums. He was a major influence on later popular music artists, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones. In 1959, Buddy Holly, along with musicians Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson died in a tragic airplane crash. The accident was famously referred to as "The Day the Music Died" in Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie".