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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
Music
Age 46
March 21, 1924 - April 24, 1970
Burr Oak Cemetery / Alsip / Illinois / USA / North America
Arguably the most important pianist of the postwar Chicago blues scene, Otis Spann started playing piano at the age of seven, with some instruction from local piano players in his native Jackson. By 1944 he was playing in local ba...
Music
Age 73
October 25, 1825 - June 3, 1899
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof / Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234 / Vienna / Austria / Europe
Johann Strauss II (also referred to as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger) was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a renown violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrille...
Music
Age 70
October 5, 1942 - February 27, 2013
Forest Lawn Memorial Park / Cypress / California / USA / North America
Richard Street was an American soul and R&B singer, most notable as a member of Motown vocal group The Temptations from 1971 to 1993. Street was the lead singer of an early Temptations predecessor, Otis Williams & the Distants, an...
Music
Age 86
September 10, 1922 - November 1, 2008
Hollywood Forever Cemetery / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Yma Sumac (pronounced Eema) was a Peruvian coloratura soprano who was one of the most famous exponents of exotica music during the 1950s. Sumac became an international success based on her extreme vocal range. It was often reporte...
Music
Age 95
October 15, 1917 - February 5, 2013
Eternal Hills Memorial Park / Oceanside / California / USA / North America
Paul Tanner (October 15, 1917 – February 5, 2013) was an American musician and a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Tanner gained fame as a trombonist, playing with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra from 1938 to 1942, the group'...
Music
Age 87
February 22, 1913 - February 10, 2001
Pinelawn Memorial Park / Farmingdale / New York / USA / North America
Buddy Tate was jazz saxophone player who made a name for himself playing with such greats as Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman as well as with his own band for over 20 years at the Celebrity Club in Harlem, New York City.
Music
Age 47
October 13, 1909 - November 5, 1956
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) / Glendale / California / USA / North America
Art Tatum transported the art of jazz piano improvisation beyond the real and imagined confines of his day. Technically the most advanced and respected pianist in the 1920s nd 1930s, Tatum's influence on later jazz pianist - Bud P...
Music
Age 62
September 24, 1933 - August 11, 1996
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
His name might not be familiar, but music fans young and old would recognize his signature drumbeat on one of the most popular instrumental songs ever recorded – “Hawaii Five-O” by the Ventures. Joining the Ventures after th...
Music
Age 58
August 20, 1905 - January 15, 1964
Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Until Jack Teagarden, jazz trombone sounded like "a dying cow in a thunderstorm" according to jazz trombonist Vic Dickerson. Like musical innovators Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker before him Teagarden developed new ideas and a...
Music
Age 38
July 15, 1952 - April 23, 1991
Mount St. Mary's Cemetery / Flushing / New York / USA / North America
One cannot talk about the origins of punk rock without mentioning the New York Dolls and their lead guitarist - Johnny Thunders. This underrated American glam band played an important role in influencing bands as diverse as the Se...
Music
Age 31
July 28, 1949 - October 27, 1980
Kensal Green Cemetery / London / United Kingdom / Europe
One-half of the founding members of T. Rex with Marc Bolan, Steve Peregrin Took was by all accounts a remarkable musician and songwriter - when he was sober. After two years and three albums, Took's push to perform more of his own...
Music
Age 42
October 19, 1944 - September 11, 1987
Peter Tosh Monument / Belmont / Jamaica / North America
Peter Tosh was a Jamaican reggae musician who, along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, was one of the core members of the band the Wailers, after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of Rastafari...
Music
Age 80
December 18, 1918 - February 7, 1999
Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Bobby Troup was a jazz pianist, singer, songwriter and actor. As a composer he has written "Daddy," "Snooty Little Cutie," "Baby, Baby All the Time," and the jazz classic "Route 66." As an actor he is probably best remembered as D...
Music
Age 68
July 26, 1943 - November 7, 2011
Calvary Cemetery / Cleveland / Ohio / USA / North America
Andrea True was a porn star turned pop singer who recorded a classic hit of the disco era, "More, More, More,"
Music
Age 74
May 18, 1911 - November 24, 1985
Roosevelt Memorial Park Cemetery / Gardena / California / USA / North America
Big Joe Turner, a 300-pound legend who learned to sing the blues as a Kansas City junkman and transformed decades of urban black music into the roots of rock ‘n’ roll. Turner sang rhythm and blues songs such as “Shake, Rattl...