Joey Ramone

popular name: Andy Gibb

date_of_death: March 10, 1988

age: 30

cause_of_death: Myocarditis caused by years of cocaine abuse

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Andy Gibb was an English singer and teen idol, and the youngest brother of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, aka the Bee Gees. He came to international fame in the late 1970s, with six singles that reached the Top 10 in the US. For a while there is was one of the world's biggest solo acts until he was introduced to cocaine, Victoria Principle and clinical depression. Then it all went to hell in a handbasket.

popular name: Nico

date_of_death: July 18, 1988

age: 49

cause_of_death: Cerebral hemorrhage after falling from a bicycle

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Nico was a German-born marginal singer, songwriter, musician, model, and actress. She had small roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966). In 1967, at the insistence of Warhol, she sang on four songs of the Velvet Underground's debut album "The Velvet Underground & Nico". At the same time, she started a solo career and released "Chelsea Girl". Neither of albums was a commercial success. In Los Angeles Nico's friend and lover, Jim Morrison, suggested that she start writing her own material. Soon after John Cale of The Velvet Underground became her musical arranger and produced The Marble Index, Desertshore, The End... and other subsequent albums. Yet despite having access to and working with Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones), Bob Dylan, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Lou Reed, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Jackson Browne, Nico was unable to find an audience larger than a small club. This was in part that she was notoriously unpleasant to work with, addicted to heroin, abused alcohol and was partial deaf which made it difficult to hold a tune. After a concert in Berlin in June 1988, she went on holiday in Ibiza to rest and died as the result of a cycling accident.

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.