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: Pee Wee Crayton

date_of_death: June 25, 1985

age: 70

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Pee Wee Crayton was a Texas born blues guitarist who first took up the electric blues guitar after he moved to California in 1935. In Oakland, Crayton joined Texas-born bluesman T-Bone Walker. Throughout the forties and early fifties he performed in blues clubs along the Pacific Coast and toured the nation with his own band. Crayton also performed with Roy Brown, Ivory Joe Hunter, Big Joe Turner, Red Callender, and Gatemouth Brown. He played the Apollo Theatre and the Savoy Ballroom, and went on tour in package shows with Roy Milton, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, and Big Maybelle. He is best remembered by blues fans as having written two songs that achieved moderate success, “Blues After Hours” and “The Texas Hop.” Crayton’s legendary status brought him renewed attention and several albums and festival appearances in later years and his periodic guitar battles with longtime friend T-Bone Walker always made headlines. Crayton died in Los Angeles just after returning from a triumphant return to his hometown of Austin to play at Antone’s.

popular name: Ric Ocasek

date_of_death: September 15, 2019

age: 75

cause_of_death: Hypertensive heart and coronary artery disease

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Musician, primary vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and frontman for the American new wave band The Cars, Ric Ocasek led the Cars to huge international success from 1978 until 1988. The Cars reached their highest UK chart position, No 3, with My Best Friend’s Girl in November 1978 and enjoyed hits with Just What I Needed, Let the Good Times Roll, You Might Think, Let’s Go and, best and biggest of all, the aching ballad Drive (sung by the late Benjamin Orr). In addition to his work with The Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song "Emotion in Motion" was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986. Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack, Suicide, Bad Brains, Weezer, Nada Surf, Guided by Voices, and No Doubt. In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Cars.