Mississippi Joe Callicott

popular name: Tex Williams

date_of_death: October 11, 1985

age: 68

cause_of_death: Pancreatic cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Tex Williams was an American country music singer, songwriter, bandleader and occasional film actor. He is best known for his 1949 hit "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)," which became a major crossover success. Tex Williams, along with Spade Cooley and Bob Wills, was among the most popular bandleaders in the musical genre known as "western swing" in the 1940s and 1950s. Williams began his career in music in the late 1930s, playing in local bands. After serving in World War II, he joined the Spade Cooley Orchestra, where he gained considerable recognition. He later formed his own band, Tex Williams and His Western Caravan, which helped establish his career. In the 1950s, Williams moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to record and perform. Williams' other successes included the cover of a Bob Wills' classic, 'That's What I Like About The West', and also 'Never Trust A Woman', 'Don't Telephone, Don't Telegraph, Tell A Woman', 'Suspicion' and 'Talking Boogie'. Tex's band was a frequent guest on numerous radio and TV programs in the 1950s, including the Grand Ole Opry, Spike Jones, Dinah Shore, the Jo Stafford Show and National Barn Dance. His band split up in 1965 because, as he said, he 'had no use for a band. When you have a band, you have to keep those guys working.' He continued to perform and record throughout his life, although his fame was mostly rooted in his earlier work. Tex's constant smoke, smoke, smoke of cigarettes finally caught up with him, and he died of lung and pancreatic cancer in 1985. He was laid to rest in Eternal Valley Memorial Park, Newall, California.

popular name: Bessie Smith

date_of_death: September 26, 1937

age: 43

cause_of_death: Severe internal injuries to the entire right side of her body due to car collision

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful voices of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent womanl who was also the greatest of the classic Blues singers of the 1920s. The pioneering singer influenced blues, jazz, rock and beyond with her powerful voice and inventive delivery. During her career Bessie recorded 160 singles for Columbia Records and was often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green. A number of Smith's recordings—such as "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1927—quickly became among the best-selling records of their release years. Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, who toured the country in her own 72-foot custom-built railroad car sold hundreds of thousands of records, and was the highest-paid black entertainer of the 1920s. Bessie's first contract with Columbia paid $125 per releasable recording. But in April 1923, her new 8-year contract gave her $1,500 up front plus increased the amount paid for each record to $150. Between 1923 and 1931, Bessie recorded 160 songs and became one of Columbia's best-selling artists. But if that sounds like a lot of money, Smith's version of "Downhearted Blues" sold a reported 780,000 copies in 1923.

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.