Teagarden, Jack
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...
Thunders, Johnny
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...
Took, Steve Peregrin
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...
Tosh, Peter
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...
Troup, Bobby
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...
True, Andrea
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,"
Turner, Big Joe
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...
Tyner, Rob
Music
Age 46
December 12, 1944 - September 18, 1991
Roseland Park Cemetery / Berkley / Michigan / USA / North America
Although he originally auditioned as the bass player, Rob Tyner was the original lead singer for the original All American Detroit garage band MC5. It was Tyner who issued the rallying cry of "kick out the jams, motherfuckers" at ...
Vale, Jerry
Music
Age 83
July 8, 1930 - May 18, 2014
Forest Lawn Cemetery / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
A tenor with a smooth, polished delivery, Vale was a longtime fixture at Columbia Records who recorded more than 50 albums and hundreds of songs. He first hit the charts in 1953 with “You Can Never Give Me Back My Heart”. His ...
Valens, Ritchie
Music
Age 17
May 13, 1941 - February 3, 1959
San Fernando Mission Catholic Cemetery / Mission Hills / California / USA / North America
Richie Valens was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist and a true rock and roll pioneer who died at the young age of 17 in the infamous Buddy Holly plane crash. Ritchie played is final concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, I...
Van Heusen, Bobbe
Music
Age 98
November 28,1901 - May 2, 1999
Desert Memorial Park / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
Bobbe Van Heusen was married to the famous composer Jimmy Van Heusen. She was part of The Brox Sisters, which was an American trio of singing sisters, enjoying their greatest popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s. The trio perfo...
Van Heusen, Jimmy
Music
Age 77
January 26, 1913 - February 6, 1990
Desert Memorial Park / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
James Van Heusen was an American composer who wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. In 1940 Jimmy teamed up with the lyricist Johnny Burke and won an Academy...
Van Zandt, Townes
Music
Age 52
March 7, 1944 - January 1, 1997
Dido Cemetery / Fort Worth / Texas / USA / North America
He was a reckless drunk and a hopeless idealist, but he is considered by many the greatest Texas songwriter of his generation. He wrote numerous songs, such as "Pancho and Lefty", "For the Sake of the Song", "Tecumseh Valley", "Re...
Vaughan, Stevie Ray
Music
Age 35
October 3, 1954 - August 27, 1990
Laurel Land Cemetery / Dallas / Texas / USA / North America
With bristling chops and fiery phrasing, guitarist and bona fide Texas blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan did not so much reinvent the blues as add a renewed passion. A master of fills, intros and imaginative solos, he created pierci...
Vealey, R.J.
Music
Age 37
September 29, 1962 - November 13, 1999
Crestlawn Cemetery / Atlanta / Georgia / USA / North America
R. J. Vealey was a respected studio drummer and former member of Roy Orbison's backing band who joined the Atlanta Rhythm Section in 1995. After the Atlanta Rhythm Section had finished an afternoon set at a concert festival in Orl...
Ventriglia, Franco
Music
Age 90
October 20, 1922 - November 28, 2012
Oak Lawn Cemetery / Fairfield / Connecticut / USA / North America
Franco Ventriglia was an opera singer who sang bass in every major European opera house during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Serving in the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in the South Pacific during World War II upon return stateside Fra...
Vincent, Gene
Music
Age 36
February 11, 1935 - October 12, 1971
Eternal Valley Memorial Park / Newhall / California / United States / North America
More threatening than Elvis, wilder than Jerry Lee Lewis and sexier than Buddy Holley, Gene Vincent was the real thing. A swaggering, unrepentant rock 'n' roll singer and guitarist, he represented a dangerous embodiment of the def...
Walker, T-Bone
Music
Age 64
May 28, 1910 - March 16, 1975
Inglewood Memorial Park / Inglewood / California / USA / North America
Infusing the blues with an electrifying, yet, sophisticated uptown flavor, T-Bone Walker was the driving force that redirected the course of the blues - moving it from juke joints and roadhouses to swank nightclubs and theaters. F...
Wallis, Ruth
Music
Age 87
January 5, 1920 - December 22, 2007
Sharon Memorial Park / Sharon / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Ruth Wallis performed risqué cabaret numbers for listeners worldwide during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. She was known as the Queen of the Party Song, and began her career performing jazz and cabaret songs. Ruth was a veteran of ten ...
Washington, Dinah
Music
Age 39
August 29, 1924 - December 14, 1963
Burr Oak Cemetery / Alsip / Illinois / USA / North America
Dinah Washington was an American singer and pianist who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including b...