Johann Strauss ll

popular name: Cootie Williams

date_of_death: September 15, 1985

age: 74

cause_of_death: Kidney disease

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Cootie Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter who is best remembered for his tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Cootie first played professionally with the Young Family Band (which included the future tenor sax superstar Lester Young) when he was 14. In his later teens, he settled in New York and worked with James P. Johnson, Chick Webb, and Fletcher Henderson. Joining the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1929, among the hundreds of Ellington recordings on which he is featured, the “miniature concertos” “Echoes of Harlem” and “Concerto for Cootie” are especially noted; he also led a small ensemble of fellow Ellington band members, Cootie Williams and His Rug Cutters, on outstanding recordings. Williams left Ellington in 1940 and spent a year in Benny Goodman’s band. In the face of the general decline of the big band business, he led a big band for much of the 1940s and rhythm-and-blues units after that. He rejoined Ellington in 1962; by then he was a somewhat coarser but no less dramatic player. After Duke’s death he played in the Mercer Ellington band into the 1970s.

popular name: Dennis Brown

date_of_death: July 1, 1999

age: 42

cause_of_death: Collapsed lung

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: If Bob Marley was the King of Reggae, then Dennis Brown certainly earned his title of Crown Prince of Reggae. Brown's musical career began at age nine and he is credited with over 70 albums and touring relentlessly throughout the world up until his early demise. Blessed with a melodic vocal quality with a roots-conscious message to his lyrics. Brown scored his first hit in 1969 with "No Man is an Island". He spent much of the 1970s moving between studios and recording a series of now-classic albums before he had an international hit with "Money in My Pocket". After the death of Bob Marley, Brown was signed by A&M Records in an attempt to corner the international crossover market. He recorded with K.C. and the Sunshine Band in an effort to expand his American audience. Both efforts failed completely. He continued with his pop hits set to a reggae beat for much of the 1980s during which time he also became a fixture at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica. After an extensive tour of Brazil with close friend and peer Gregory Issacs, Brown fell ill and checked into the hospital where he rapidly declined and died suddenly at the age of 42.

popular name: Richard Street

date_of_death: February 27, 2013

age: 70

cause_of_death: Pulmonary embolism

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Richard Street was an American soul and R&B singer, most notable as a member of Motown vocal group The Temptations from 1971 to 1993. Street was the lead singer of an early Temptations predecessor, Otis Williams & the Distants, and takes the spotlight on their local hit "Come On". The Distants also included future Temptations Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Elbridge "Al" Bryant. By the late-1960s, Street was being called upon to travel with The Temptations and sing Paul Williams' parts from off-stage, while Paul Williams, who suffered from both alcoholism and sickle-cell disease, danced and lip-synched onstage. Street officially replaced Paul Williams in mid-1971, after both he and Eddie Kendricks left the group. A number of the Temptations' best-selling hits feature Street's lead vocals, including "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (1971), "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (1972), "Masterpiece" (1973), and was featured solo on "Hey Girl (I Like Your Style)" (1973) as well as the album cuts "The First Time I Saw Your Face" and "Firefly" from the All Directions (1972) and A Song for You albums (1975), respectively. Street and Damon Harris traded leads on "1990"'s tune "Heavenly". At the time of his death, Street was completing his autobiography, Ball of Confusion. Completed by his co-author, Gary Flanigan, Ball of Confusion: My Life as a Temptin' Temptation was published in 2014.