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: Dennis Brown

date_of_death: July 1, 1999

age: 42

cause_of_death: Collapsed lung

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: If Bob Marley was the King of Reggae, then Dennis Brown certainly earned his title of Crown Prince of Reggae. Brown's musical career began at age nine and he is credited with over 70 albums and touring relentlessly throughout the world up until his early demise. Blessed with a melodic vocal quality with a roots-conscious message to his lyrics. Brown scored his first hit in 1969 with "No Man is an Island". He spent much of the 1970s moving between studios and recording a series of now-classic albums before he had an international hit with "Money in My Pocket". After the death of Bob Marley, Brown was signed by A&M Records in an attempt to corner the international crossover market. He recorded with K.C. and the Sunshine Band in an effort to expand his American audience. Both efforts failed completely. He continued with his pop hits set to a reggae beat for much of the 1980s during which time he also became a fixture at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica. After an extensive tour of Brazil with close friend and peer Gregory Issacs, Brown fell ill and checked into the hospital where he rapidly declined and died suddenly at the age of 42.

popular name: France Gall

date_of_death: January 7, 2018

age: 70

cause_of_death: Severe infection complicated by cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: France Gall was a French yé-yé singer who first rose to fame in 1965 when, at the age of 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg. What little did she know at the time was the song that she won the Eurovision Song Contest, Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son, was later adapted for the song My Way made famous by Frank Sinatra. Between 1973 and 1992 she collaborated with singer-songwriter Michel Berger who she later married. Although she had a long and successful career, it wasn't without it's troubles and tragedies. Serge Gainsbourg later plunged Gall into controversy when she had a massive hit with his sexually suggestive song, Les Sucettes (Lollipops), complete with promotional images of her dressed in a skimpy bikini and licking a lollypop. She said later she had been too young to understand the double entendre of the lyrics, and refused either to perform it or to work with Gainsbourg again. She had another major international hit in 1987 with the album Babacar – including the song Ella, elle l’a, her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald – with music and lyrics by her husband and musical partner Michel Berger, who died in 1992 aged 44. She retired from recording and performing in 1997, following the death from cystic fibrosis of their eldest child, Pauline. She devoted herself largely to humanitarian work until a comeback performance in a 2015 stage show based on her and her husband’s songs.