Joey Ramone

popular name: Sonny Bono

date_of_death: January 5, 1998

age: 62

cause_of_death: Massive head injuries caused by skiing into a tree

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Singer, songwriter, actor and entertainer Sonny Bono began his career struggling to write songs while working as a waiter, a construction worker, a truck driver and a butcher's helper. In his 20's he immersed himself in the music business as a songwriter and singer with Specialty Records, where he worked with Sam Cooke and Little Richard. Soon he teamed up with the legendary record producer Phil Specter, where he wrote songs (''You Bug Me, Baby,'' and ''Needles and Pins'') and sang background for groups like the Righteous Brothers. The turning point of his career took place when the exotically beautiful 16-year-old named Cherilyn Sarkisian, who called herself Cher, drifted into his life. The pair first achieved fame with two hit songs in 1965, "Baby Don't Go" and "I Got You Babe". The couple's career as a duo ended in 1975 following their divorce. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher were nominated for two Grammy Awards and sold over 40 million records worldwide. Rolling Stone ranked them No. 18 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time. Sadly, it was on January 5th, 1998 when Sonny took off alone snow skiing and later slammed into a tree. Bono's body was found late Monday afternoon in a narrow, wooded area between two ski runs at the Heavenly Ski Resort. He died instantly from massive head trauma.

popular name: Leroy Carr

date_of_death: April 29, 1935

age: 30

cause_of_death: Complications of nephritis due to alcoholism

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Leroy Carr, together with Scrapper Blackwell are arguably the two most underrated blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. What is undeniable is the two together created some of the most recorded blues classics including How Long, How Long Blues, Mean Mistreater Mama and When the Sun Goes Down.

popular name: Max Roach

date_of_death: August 16, 2007

age: 83

cause_of_death: Complications related to Alzheimer's and dementia

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Max Roach, was an American jazz drummer, composer, and one of most influential musicians in the development of bebop jazz. One of the most influential and widely recorded percussionists in modern history, Max played or recorded with such giants as Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, and Booker Little. During his lifetime he was awarded membership into the DownBeat Hall of Fame, the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame, National Institute of Arts and Letters and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995. France named him a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, its highest cultural honor.