Queen Candice Anderson

popular name: Elvin Shepherd

date_of_death: June 2, 1995

age: 72

cause_of_death: Undisclosed

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Elvin "Shep" Shepherd was a legendary saxophonist whose career spanned half a century. He traveled with such big name bands as Buck Clayton, Bill Doggett, Billy Ekstine, Erskin Hawkins, Lucky Milinder, and Nat Towles. During his storied career he also accompanied such artists as Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Ray Price, Della Reese, and Dakota Staton.

popular name: Charlie Parker

date_of_death: March 12, 1955

age: 34

cause_of_death: Pneumonia, a bleeding ulcer, cirrhosis of the liver and a heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Charlie Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was a blazingly fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Often accompanied by the likes of Miles Davis, John Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Jordan, or Max Roach, Parker's wild excesses never seemed—at least until the very end of his life—to interfere with his music.

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.