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: Lester Young

date_of_death: March 15, 1959

age: 49

cause_of_death: Internal bleeding due to the effects of alcoholism

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Lester Young, nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is considered by many to be the greatest, most influential tenor sax player in the jazz idiom. Lester rose to prominence with the Count Basie Orchestra. His playing in the Basie band was characterized by a relaxed style which contrasted sharply with the more forceful approach of Coleman Hawkins, the dominant tenor sax player of the day. After his dismissal from the Basie organization, Lester accompanied the singer Billie Holiday in a couple of studio sessions (during 1937 - 1941 period) and also made a small set of recordings with Nat "King" Cole (their first of several collaborations) in June 1942. From around 1951, Young's level of playing declined more precipitously as his drinking increased. His playing showed reliance on a small number of clichéd phrases and reduced creativity and originality. On December 8, 1957, Young appeared with Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan in the CBS television special The Sound of Jazz, performing Holiday's tune "Fine and Mellow." It was a reunion with Holiday, with whom he had lost contact over the years. She was also in physical decline, near the end of her career, yet they both gave moving performances. Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March 1959 with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and drank heavily. On a flight to New York City, he suffered from internal bleeding due to the effects of alcoholism and died in the early morning hours of March 15, 1959, only hours after arriving back in New York, at the age of 49.

popular name: Frederick Loewe

date_of_death: February 1, 1988

age: 86

cause_of_death: Cardiac arrest

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Frederick Loewe was was an Austrian-American composer who collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including classic musicals like Gigi, Camelot, My Fair Lady, Paint Your Wagon and Brigadoon. A one of the most successful collaborations in American musical history Lerner and Loewe produced such songs as Almost Like Being in Love, I Could Have Danced All Night, On the Street Where You Live, I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face and If Ever I Would Leave You. Loewe was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and seven years later, in 1979, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.