King Oliver

popular name: Franz Schubert

date_of_death: November 19, 1828

age: 31

cause_of_death: Bacterial typhoid infection brought on by tertiary syphilis

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of piano and chamber music. His major works include "Erlkönig" (D. 328), the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (Trout Quintet), the Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (Unfinished Symphony), the "Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, the String Quintet (D. 956), the three last piano sonatas (D. 958–960), the opera Fierrabras (D. 796), the incidental music to the play Rosamunde (D. 797), and the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin (D. 795) and Winterreise (D. 911). He gave a concert of his works to critical acclaim in March 1828, the only time he did so in his career. He died eight months later at the age of 31, the cause officially attributed to typhoid fever caused by a long-standing infection of tertiary syphilis. Appreciation of Schubert's music while he was alive was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased greatly in the decades following his death. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works. Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music.

popular name: D. Boon

date_of_death: December 22, 1985

age: 27

cause_of_death: Broken neck, blunt force trauma (car accident)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: D. Boon was a pioneer of the punk scene in the early 1980s in Los Angeles, California. As singer, songwriter, guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock trio the Minutemen, D. Boon mixed funk, punk, metal, country and a healthy dose of rage that influenced the likes of Nirvana for generations. Like peers Black Flag, Husker Du and the Meat Puppets, the Minutemen built a solid cult following throughout the U.S. the old-fashioned way - by living in a van on the road for six years. Tragically the end came suddenly when after a concert D. Boon was killed in a tragic auto accident at the young age of 27.

popular name: Big Mama Thornton

date_of_death: July 25, 1985

age: 57

cause_of_death: Heart and liver disorders due to longstanding alcohol abuse

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Janis Joplin called her one of her inspirations and Living Blues magazine described her as "two hundred pounds of boogaloo." Of course, fans and musicians alike just called her Big Mama Thornton. An aggressive blues shouter, who also played the drums and a biting country-style harmonica, Miss Thornton helped bring to rock-and-roll the legacy of such seminal blues singers as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. A major influence on younger blues and soul singers, including Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, her growling, visceral rendition of the Jerry Leiber- Mike Stoller song ''Hound Dog'' directly influenced Presley's version, which became a No. 1 pop hit in 1956. Miss Thornton's own song ''Ball and Chain'' became a signature for Janis Joplin in 1968. A rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter from Alabama, Thornton was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog" in 1952, which became her biggest hit staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart and selling almost two million copies. Thornton's other recordings included the original version of "Ball and Chain", which she wrote. Stop me if you heard this story but this phenomenal blues artist died penniless in a small Los Angeles boarding house near the airport and now shares a grave with two other family members.