Joey Ramone

popular name: Pee Wee Crayton

date_of_death: June 25, 1985

age: 70

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Pee Wee Crayton was a Texas born blues guitarist who first took up the electric blues guitar after he moved to California in 1935. In Oakland, Crayton joined Texas-born bluesman T-Bone Walker. Throughout the forties and early fifties he performed in blues clubs along the Pacific Coast and toured the nation with his own band. Crayton also performed with Roy Brown, Ivory Joe Hunter, Big Joe Turner, Red Callender, and Gatemouth Brown. He played the Apollo Theatre and the Savoy Ballroom, and went on tour in package shows with Roy Milton, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, and Big Maybelle. He is best remembered by blues fans as having written two songs that achieved moderate success, “Blues After Hours” and “The Texas Hop.” Crayton’s legendary status brought him renewed attention and several albums and festival appearances in later years and his periodic guitar battles with longtime friend T-Bone Walker always made headlines. Crayton died in Los Angeles just after returning from a triumphant return to his hometown of Austin to play at Antone’s.

popular name: Victor Borge

date_of_death: December 23, 2000

age: 91

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Victor Borge was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nickname "The Clown Prince of Denmark". Borge played his first major concert in 1926 at the Danish Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow's Lodge building) concert hall. After a few years as a classical concert pianist, he started his now famous stand-up act with the signature blend of piano music and jokes. Borge appeared on Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan several times during 1948. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on October 2, 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show in the history of theater with 849 performances when it closed on 21 January 1956, a feat which placed it in the Guinness Book of World Records. Continuing his success with tours and shows, Borge played with and conducted orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. Always modest, he felt honored when he was invited to conduct the Royal Danish Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1992. His later television appearances included his "Phonetic Punctuation" routine on The Electric Company in a filmed sketch. He would also use this sketch on The Electric Company's subsequent LP record, during its "Punctuation" song. In addition, he appeared several times on Sesame Street, and he was a guest star during the fourth season of The Muppet Show. Victor Borge continued to tour until his last days, performing up to 60 times per year when he was 90 years old.

popular name: Townes Van Zandt

date_of_death: January 1, 1997

age: 52

cause_of_death: Heart attack due to chronic alcohol abuse

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: He was a reckless drunk and a hopeless idealist, but he is considered by many the greatest Texas songwriter of his generation. He wrote numerous songs, such as "Pancho and Lefty", "For the Sake of the Song", "Tecumseh Valley", "Rex's Blues", and "To Live Is to Fly", that are widely considered masterpieces of American songwriting. His musical style has often been described as melancholy and features rich, poetic lyrics. During his early years, Van Zandt was respected for his guitar playing and fingerpicking ability.