King Oliver

popular name: J.B. Lenoir

date_of_death: April 29, 1967

age: 38

cause_of_death: Internal bleeding (untreated) after an auto accident

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Monticello area native J. B. Lenoir was a distinctive blues artist, in both his high-pitched singing style and the candid political critiques in many of his song lyrics and is best remembered for his 1955 hit “Mama, Talk to Your Daughter". He died on April 29, 1967, in Urbana, Illinois, at the age 38, of internal bleeding related to injuries he had suffered in a car crash three weeks earlier. The 2003 documentary film The Soul of a Man, directed by Wim Wenders as the second installment of Martin Scorsese's series The Blues, explored Lenoir's career, together with those of Skip James and Blind Willie Johnson. In 2011, Lenoir was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

popular name: Blind Willie McTell

date_of_death: August 19, 1959

age: 61

cause_of_death: Stroke

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: “Blind Willie” McTell was one of the great blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s who continued to play through the 1950s. Displaying an extraordinary range on the twelve-string guitar, this Atlanta-based musician recorded more than 120 titles during fourteen recording sessions. His voice was soft and expressive, and his musical tastes were influenced by southern blues, ragtime, gospel, hillbilly, and popular music. At a time when most blues musicians were poorly educated and rarely traveled, McTell was an exception. He could read and write music in Braille. McTell's influence extended over a wide variety of artists, including the Allman Brothers Band, who covered his song "Statesboro Blues", and Bob Dylan, who paid tribute to him in his 1983 song "Blind Willie McTell" and covered a number of his songs throughout his career. Blind Willie was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1981.

popular name: Jimmy Dorsey

date_of_death: June 12, 1957

age: 53

cause_of_death: Cancer of the throat

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmy Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who played a key role in the big band and swing eras of the 1930s and 1940s. His father, a coal miner turned music teacher, taught Tommy and Jimmy to play and appreciate music. They both started by learning to play the cornet, but Jimmy would soon learn and excel at the clarinet and alto saxophone while Tommy would perfect playing the trumpet and trombone. The brothers would form their first band, Dorsey’s Novelty Six, while they were still teenagers. In 1927 they began recording on their own label, The Dorsey Brothers and Their Concert Orchestra, though it did not officially debut until 1934. During this period of time, the lead vocals for their orchestra was Bing Crosby. Their combined orchestra did not last long. Tension and rivalry ran high among the brothers and less than a year after their official debut, Tommy left to form his own band. On the night of May 30, 1935, the growing tension between the two brothers exploded. As the band started “I’ll Never Say ‘Never Again’ Again,” the two started to argue about the tempo and in the middle of the performance Tommy walked off the stage, abandoning his brother and the band. They both went on to successful solo careers when they reunited 1953 and co-led The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra again. They appeared on the television program “Stage Show”, which famously introduced Elvis Presley to national TV audiences. Before his sudden death at the age of 53, Jimmy Dorsey had eleven number one hits with his orchestra in the 1930s and the 1940s including "Green Eyes", "Blue Champagne", "Tangerine", "Bésame Mucho" and "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby. Upon his death he was laid to rest at Annunciation Blessed Virgin Mary Cemetery.