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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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
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,”...
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...
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...
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...
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...