Joey Ramone

popular name: Artie Shaw

date_of_death: December 30, 2004

age: 94

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Artie Shaw led one of the United States' most popular big bands in the late 1930s through the early 1940s. Though he had numerous hit records, he was perhaps best known for his 1938 recording of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine." Before the release of "Beguine," Shaw and his fledgling band had languished in relative obscurity for over two years and, after its release, he became a major pop artist within short order. The record eventually became one of the era's defining recordings. Musically restless, Shaw was also an early proponent of what became known much later as Third Stream music, which blended elements of classical and jazz forms and traditions. At the height of his popularity, he remained a force in popular music and jazz before retiring from music completely in 1954.

popular name: Frédéric Chopin

date_of_death: October 17, 1849

age: 39

cause_of_death: Pericarditis - a rare complication of tuberculosis that causes swelling of the membrane surrounding the heart

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Frederic Chopin was a Polish-born pianist and composer of matchless genius in the realm of keyboard music. As a pianist, his talents were beyond emulation and had an impact on other musicians entirely out of proportion to the number of concerts he gave — only 30 public performances in 30 years. No one before or since has contributed as many significant works to the piano's repertoire, or come closer to capturing its soul.

popular name: Big Joe Turner

date_of_death: November 24, 1985

age: 74

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Big Joe Turner, a 300-pound legend who learned to sing the blues as a Kansas City junkman and transformed decades of urban black music into the roots of rock ‘n’ roll. Turner sang rhythm and blues songs such as “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” “Corrine Corrina” and “Lucille” that became the foundation of a new genre of music when white singers such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley and the Comets popularized them for audiences of white teen-agers in the mid-1950s. The music took the name rock ‘n’ roll because those words appeared in the lyrics of several blues songs.