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...
Rossini, Gioachino
Music
Age 76
February 29, 1792 - November 13, 1868
Santa Croce Basilica / Firenze / Florence / Italy / Europe
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was the most significant Italian composer of the first half of the nineteenth century. Although he wrote many songs including chamber music and piano pieces, Rossini is most famous for his 39 operas, in p...
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...
Scott, Jimmy
Music
Age 88
July 17, 1925 - June 12, 2014
Knollwood Cemetery / Mayfield Heights / Ohio / USA / North America
A jazz vocalist known for his naturally high contralto voice who started his career with Lionel Hampton and was a favorite of Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and Frankie Valli before becoming a solo artist. He is...
Selena
Music
Age 23
April 16, 1971 - March 31, 1995
Seaside Memorial Park Cemetery / Corpus Christi / Texas / USA / North America
Considered among the most influential Latin artists of all time and is credited for catapulting Tejano music into the mainstream market, Selena, known as the Queen of Tejano Music, contributions to music and fashion made her one o...
Shannon, Del
Music
Age 55
December 30, 1934 - February 8, 1990
Cremated / North America
His heyday as a chart-friendly star in the U.S. may have been brief, but on the strength of his biggest hit "Runaway" Del Shannon deserves to be regarded as a rock and roll legend. In 1999 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Ha...
Shaw, Artie
Music
Age 94
May 23, 1910 - December 30, 2004
Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park / Westlake Village / California / USA / North America
Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Artie Shaw led one of the United States' most popular big bands in the late 1930s through the early 1940s. Though he had numerous hit records, he was perhaps best known for h...
Shepherd, Elvin
Music
Age 72
May 28, 1923 - June 2, 1995
Forest Lawn Cemetery / Buffalo / New York / USA / North America
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 s...
Sinatra, Frank
Music
Age 82
December 12, 1915 - May 14, 1998
Desert Memorial Park / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
Frank "The Voice" Sinatra was an American singer, producer and motion-picture actor who, through a long career and a very public personal life, became one of the most sought-after performers in the entertainment industry. Often ha...
Slovak, Hillel
Music
Age 26
April 13, 1962 - June 25, 1988
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Hillel Slovak was an Israeli-American musician best known as the founding guitarist of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he recorded two albums. His guitar work was rooted in funk and hard rock, and he oft...
Smith, Arthur
Music
Age 93
April 1, 1921 - April 3, 2014
Magnolia Memorial Gardens / Charlotte / North Carolina / USA / North America
Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith was a musician, composer, and record producer, as well as a radio and TV host. He produced the first nationally syndicated country music show on television: The Arthur Smith Show". A talented and respe...
Smith, Bessie
Music
Age 43
April 15, 1894 - September 26, 1937
Montlawn Cemetery / Sharon Hill / Pennsylvania / USA / North America
The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful voices of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent womanl who was also the...
Sousa, John Philip
Music
Age 77
November 6, 1854 - March 6, 1932
Historic Congressional Cemetery / Washington, D.C. / Washington, D.C. / USA / North America
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. Some of his best known marches include "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National March of the United ...