Joey Ramone

popular name: Les Brown

date_of_death: January 4, 2001

age: 88

cause_of_death: Lung cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Les Brown was an American musician, big band leader and composer best known for his nearly seven decades of work with the big band Les Brown and His Band of Renown (1938-2001). The Band of Renown began in the late 1930s, initially as the group Les Brown and His Blue Devils, led by Brown while he was a student at Duke University. During his tenure the band had ten number-one hit songs including "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", "Sweet and Hot" and "Sentimental Journey" featuring Doris Day. Les Brown and the Band of Renown also performed with Bob Hope on radio, stage and television for almost fifty years. They did 18 USO Tours for American troops around the world, and entertained over three million people. Les Brown was the first president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Today the band performs under the direction of his son, Les Brown, Jr.

popular name: Red Sovine

date_of_death: April 4, 1980

age: 62

cause_of_death: Massive abdominal bleeding caused by a lacerated spleen, liver and fractured ribs and sternum

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Red Sovine was an American country music singer and songwriter associated with country western truck-and-trailer tradegy ballads, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music. A minor star in country western circles, Red had a loyal fan base both in the U.S. and United Kingdom. During the 1960s Red became a legend by truckers with the release of "Phantom 309", "Giddy Up and Go" and his only #1 hit "Teddy Bear" (a story about a crippled boy and his CB radio). "Little Joe" is a tale of a trucker and his devoted canine friend, which became his last hit. This last story features the Teddy Bear character, who can now walk.

popular name: Booker Little Jr.

date_of_death: October 5, 1961

age: 23

cause_of_death: Complications from uremia caused by kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Booker Little, twenty-three year-old composer, arranger and trumpet player has lately come to demonstrate, in recordings and as the musical director of the Max Roach group, a talent that was taken too early. When he died suddenly at the age of 23 he was one of the most promising jazz trumpeters working with Max Roach, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. After years of physical pain, Little died of complications resulting from kidney failure on October 5, 1961, in New York City at the age 23. He was survived by his wife, two sons Booker T. III and Larry Cornelius, and two daughters Cornelia and Ana Dorsey.