Ray, Johnnie
Music
Age 63
January 10, 1927 - February 24, 1990
Hopewell Cemetery / Dayton / Oregon / USA / North America
In the early 1950s, Johnnie Ray was arguably the biggest musical star in the world. His emotional singing and sexually suggestive performances earned him the titles "The Prince of Wails," "The Cry Guy," and "The Million Dollar Tea...
Reed, Herb
Music
Age 83
August 7, 1928 - June 4, 2012
Puritan Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery / Peabody / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Herbert Reed is best remembered as the last surviving original member of the do-wop group The Platters. As the only member of The Platters who sang on all of the 400+ songs recorded by the group, his vocals can be heard on The Pla...
Reed, Jimmy
Music
Age 50
September 6, 1925 - August 29, 1976
Lincoln Cemetery / Blue Island / Illinois / USA / North America
Jimmy Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter whose particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (196...
Reeves, Jim
Music
Age 40
August 20, 1923 - July 31, 1964
Jim Reeves Memorial / Carthage / Texas / USA / North America
Jim Reeves was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter with records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s. He became well known as a practitioner of the traditional Nashville Sound. Reeves' last two recording sessio...
Relf, Keith
Music
Age 33
March 22, 1943 - May 12, 1976
Richmond Cemetery / Surrey / England / Europe
Keith Relf was the vocalist and guitarist for The Yardbirds, an English rock band that had a string of hits in the mid 1960s, including "For Your Love", "Over Under Sideways Down" and "Heart Full of Soul". The group is notable for...
Rich, Buddy
Music
Age 69
September 30, 1917 - April 2, 1987
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Beyond his flamboyant, sometimes volatile character, beyond his classic wardrobe and his status as the preferred guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson Buddy Rich was a magnificent drummer. His recording and performing resum...
Rich, Charlie
Music
Age 62
December 14, 1932 - July 25, 1995
Memorial Park Cemetery / Memphis / Tennessee / USA / North America
Charlie Rich was a country singer, songwriter and alcoholic whose career peaked in the 1970s.
Richardson, J. P.
Music
Age 28
October 24, 1930 - February 3, 1959
Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home / Beaumont / Texas / USA / North America
J.P. Richardson (aka The Big Bopper) was a Texas disk jockey, musician and singer known for his big hit singles "Chantilly Lace" and "White Lightning". Richardson was killed in a plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa in 1959 along with ...
Rickenbacker, Adolph
Music
Age 88
April 1, 1887 - March 21, 1976
Loma Linda Memorial Park / Fullerton / California / USA / North America
Adolph Rickenbacker was a Swiss-American remembered as one of the co-founders of the Rickenbacker guitar, and one of the key people who was responsible for the creation and adoption of electric guitars that managed to change the s...
Roach, Max
Music
Age 83
January 10, 1924 - August 16, 2007
Woodlawn Cemetery / The Bronx / New York / USA / North America
Max Roach, was an American jazz drummer, composer, and one of most influential musicians in the development of bebop jazz. One of the most influential and widely recorded percussionists in modern history, Max played or recorded wi...
Robbins, Marty
Music
Age 57
September 26, 1925 - December 8, 1982
Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum / Nashville / Tennessee / USA / North America
Marty Robbins was country music's most versatile singer and consistent hitmaker. His early recordings saw him veer from tear-stained ballads and honky-tonks to rockabilly and pop. Best known for his string of gunfighter ballads, R...
Rockin' Dopsie
Music
Age 61
February 10, 1932 - August 26, 1993
Calvary Cemetery / Lafayette / Louisiana / USA / North America
Rockin’ Dopsie (pronounced DOOP-sie), along with Boozoo Chavis and Clifton Chenier, is widely acknowledged to be one of the originators of zydeco music. Dopsie played music for dancing, assimilating R&B influences into zydeco an...
Rodgers, Jimmie
Music
Age 35
September 8, 1897 - May 26, 1933
Oak Grove Baptist Church Cemetery / Meridian / Mississippi / USA / North America
Jimmie Rodgers was an American singer, songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmic yodeling. During his all-to b...
Royal, Billy Joe
Music
Age 73
April 3, 1942 - October 6, 2015
Greenwood Cemetery / Morehead City / North Carolina / USA / North America
Billy Joe Royal was a Georgia-born singer who debuted on Columbia Records with "Down in the Boondocks" in 1965, which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. But he struggled to match his initial success with his subsequent record...
Ruffin, David
Music
Age 50
January 18, 1941 - June 1, 1991
Woodlawn Cemetery / Detroit / Michigan / USA / North America
David Ruffin is an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the original members and lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 - 1968. His vocals can be heard on the legendary Motown hits My Girl, Ain't...
Salieri, Antonio
Music
Age 74
August 18, 1750 - May 7, 1825
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof / Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234 / Vienna / Austria / Europe
Antonio Salieri was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Christoph Willibal...
Salvador, Henri
Music
Age 90
July 18, 1917 - February 13, 2008
Cimetière du Père Lachaise / Paris / France / Europe
Henri Salvador was a velvet-voiced French musician credited with inspiring the bossa nova, recording the first french rock 'n' roll single and helping create the music video. Known for his booming laughter, raucous sense of humor,...
Sandman, Mark
Music
Age 46
September 24, 1952 - July 3, 1999
Sharon Memorial Park / Sharon / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Mark Sandman was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record label founder best remembered as the bass player and lead singer for the alt indie rock band Morphine. Sandman possessed a distinctive, deep bass-ba...
Schoenberg, Arnold
Music
Age 76
September 13, 1874 - July 13, 1951
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof / Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234 / Vienna / Austria / Europe
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was associated with the expressionist movemen...
Schubert, Franz
Music
Age 31
January 31, 1797 - November 19, 1828
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof / Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234 / Vienna / Austria / Europe
Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphon...