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: Elvis Presley

date_of_death: August 16, 1977

age: 42

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Elvis Presley was an American singer, musician and actor. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century and is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll". He is the best-selling solo music artist of all time, and was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, R&B, adult contemporary, and gospel. He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley made his film debut in "Love Me Tender". After touring and starring in films, by 1973 Elvis's health was in major and serious decline. Twice during that year, he overdosed on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma in his hotel suite after the first incident. On the evening of Tuesday, August 16, 1977, Presley was scheduled to fly out of Memphis to begin another tour. That afternoon, Ginger Alden discovered him in an unresponsive state on a bathroom floor. According to her eyewitness account, "Elvis looked as if his entire body had completely frozen in a seated position while using the toilet and then had fallen forward, in that fixed position, directly in front of it. ... It was clear that, from the time whatever hit him to the moment he had landed on the floor, Elvis hadn't moved."

popular name: Al Wilson

date_of_death: April 21, 2008

age: 68

cause_of_death: Kidney Failure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Al Wilson is best remembered for the #1 pop hit "Show and Tell". From the age of 12 Wilson was already singing professionally - his own spiritual quartet and singing in the church choir, even performing covers of country & western hits. After a two-year military stint, Wilson settled in Los Angeles, touring the local nightclub circuit before joining the R&B vocal group the Jewels; from there he landed with the Rollers, followed by a stint with the instrumental combo the Souls. In 1966 singer Johnny Rivers not only signed Wilson to his Soul City imprint, but also agreed to produce the sessions that yielded the 1968 R&B smash "The Snake." The minor hit "Do What You Gotta Do" appeared that same year, but Wilson then largely disappeared from sight until 1973, when he issued the platinum-selling Weighing In -- the album's success was spurred by the shimmering "Show and Tell," a Johnny Mathis castoff that sold well over a million copies. "The La La Peace Song," released in 1974, proved another major hit, and two years later, "I've Got a Feeling We'll Be Seeing Each Other Again" peaked at number three on the R&B chart. With 1979's "Count the Days" Wilson scored his final chart hit and spent the next two decades touring local clubs and lounges before succumbing to kidney disease at the age of 68.