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...
Waters, Muddy
Music
Age 70
April 4, 1913 - April 30, 1983
Restvale Cemetery / Alsip / Illinois / USA / North America
If blues is an original American art form, then Muddy Waters should be considered an original American icon. An extraordinarily potent singer, songwriter and guitarist, Waters was the architect of Chicago Blues. Backed by Little W...
West, Sandy
Music
Age 47
July 10, 1959 - October 21, 2006
Forest Lawn Memorial Park / Cypress / California / USA / North America
Sandy West's ferocious drumming fueled the influential all-female ’70s rock band the Runaways which she co-founded with Joan Jett. Along with band members Lita Ford, Cherie Currie and Jackie Fox, they had such hits as "Cherry Bo...
White, Bukka
Music
Age 70
November 12, 1906 - February 26, 1977
New Park Cemetery / Memphis / Tennessee / USA / North America
A master blues guitarist and vocalist, he was also B.B. King's uncle
Williams, Big Joe
Music
Age 79
December 17, 1982 - December 17, 1982
Crigler Cemetery / Crawford / Mississippi / USA / North America
As a first generation bluesman, Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams recorded more often, performed longer and lived longer than almost all of his contemporaries. In 1935 Williams recorded his signature song “Baby Please Don’t Go,”...
Williams, Cootie
Music
Age 74
July 10, 1911 - September 15, 1985
Woodlawn Cemetery / Bronx / New York / USA / North America
Cootie Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter who is best remembered for his tenure with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Cootie first played professionally with the Young Family Band (which include...
Williams, Hank
Music
Age 29
November 17, 1923 - January 1, 1953
Oakwood Cemetery Annex / Montgomery / Alabama / USA / North America
American Country singer, songwriter, and musician. Hank Williams was one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century. Some of his best hits include "Move It on Over", "Lovesick Blu...
Williamson II, Sonny Boy
Music
Age 52
December 5, 1912 - May 24, 1965
Whitfield Church Cemetery / Tutwiler / Mississippi / USA / North America
Sonny Boy Williamson II was one of the most influential harmonica players in blues history. Often compared to Little Walter and John Lee Williamson (aka Sonny Boy Williamson I), Sonny Boy Williamson II was a legendary blues charac...
Willie, Boxcar
Music
Age 67
September 1, 1931 - April 12, 1999
Ozark Memorial Park Cemetery / Branson / Missouri / USA / North America
Perhaps the most successful invented character in the history of country music, Boxcar Willie was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and...
Wills, Bob
Music
Age 70
March 6, 1905 - May 13, 1975
Memorial Park Cemetery / Tulsa / Oklahoma / USA / North America
Bob Wills was a bandleader, fiddler, singer, and songwriter who is the most famous exponent of the popular musical genre now known as western swing, which synthesized ragtime, traditional fiddling, New Orleans jazz, blues, Mexican...
Wilson, Al
Music
Age 68
June 19, 1939 - April 21, 2008
Evergreen Memorial Park / Riverside / California / USA / North America
Al Wilson is best remembered for the #1 pop hit "Show and Tell". From the age of 12 Wilson was already singing professionally - his own spiritual quartet and singing in the church choir, even performing covers of country & western...
Wilson, Carl
Music
Age 51
December 21, 1946 - February 6, 1998
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Carl Wilson playing the guitar as a teenager when brothers Brian and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine formed a music group called the Beach Boys in 1961. In addition to guitar Brian's vocals can be heard on Good Vibr...
Wilson, Ricky
Music
Age 32
March 19, 1953 - October 12, 1985
Oconee Hills Cemetery / Athens / Georgia / USA / North America
With their bouffant coifs, thrift store fashion and dance-infected retrofitted sound, The B-52's rocked the house in the early 80s by capturing the attentions of the "so what?" generation. Founded by Ricky Wilson and his fellow ki...
Wolf, Howlin'
Music
Age 65
June 10, 1910 - January 10, 1976
Oakridge-Glen Oaks Cemetery / Hillside / Illinois / USA / North America
Chester Arthur Burnett, known as Howlin’ Wolf or Howling Wolf, was one of the most influential musicians of the post–World War II era. His electric blues guitar, backing his powerful, howling voice, helped shape rock and roll....
Yankovic, Frankie
Music
Age 83
July 28, 1915 - October 14, 1998
Calvary Cemetery / Cleveland / Ohio / USA / North America
At his peak, Yankovic traveled around the world and performed 325 shows a year and sold 30 million records during his lifetime thus earning the title "America's Polka King". In 1969 he became a charter member of the Polka Hall of...
Young, Lester
Music
Age 49
August 27, 1909 - March 15, 1959
The Evergreens Cemetery / Brooklyn / New York / USA / North America
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 Orc...
Zawinul, Joe
Music
Age 75
July 7, 1932 - September 11, 2007
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof / Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234 / Vienna / Austria / Europe
Joe Zawinul was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer who first come to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion...