Artist: Obituary

As you'll probably have heard elsewhere, Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48. So ends one of the slowest second-act tragedies in an American life. -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Whitney Houston , who ruled as pop music's queen until she was ravaged by drug use, has died. She was only 48! Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died , but the cause and the location of her death were unclear. CNN reports that Ray J , who was once involved in a relationship with Whitney Houston, found her dead body in a room at the Beverly Hilton hotel. At her peak in the 1980s and '90s, Houston the golden girl of the music [...]

I'm not going to pretend like I knew who Alori Joh was yesterday. I'm not going to pretend like I listened to her The Love Religion album from last November. [...]

Don Cornelius, who created Soul Train and hosted it for decades, has died . Cornelius created Soul Train as a black answer to American Bandstand in 1970; within a year it had outgrown its Chicago audience and went into national syndication. It remained syndicated for 35 years, which is a record. Don remained as host until 1993; the programme continued with out him until 2006. Given that Soul Train was, perhaps, the highest-profile regular slot for African Americans to appear on prime time television, who better to illustrate it than, erm, David Bowie? [...]

SoulTrain.com​There's one fewer soul survivor now that Don Cornelius has passed. The producer, creator, and host of Soul Train was found dead Wednesday morning at his Los Angeles home. He was 75, and

According to TMZ, Soul Train creator Don Cornelius, 75, was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, California home. Early reports indicate he suffered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the [...]

Winston Riley, a major figure in Jamaica's music scene across four decades, has died . Riley's contribution to bringing reggae to a global audience is unquestionable; his label Techniques was responsible for Dave And Ansell Collins' I Am The Greatest, the second reggae number one in the UK. He also produced this, amongst much else: Despite massive success, Riley didn't start to make money until more recently, when his beats started to be sampled. His music runs through the spine of much R&B; a large chunk of it derived [...]

John Levy, bassist-turned-manager, has died . Levy managed jazz acts at a time when being African American wasn't easy; back in the age of segregation, Levy did all he could to ensure his artists were given the respect they deserved. He worked with, and for, Betty Carter, Herbie Mann, Freddie Hubbard, George Shearing, Joe Williams and Nancy Wilson amongst others. His clients respected him because, as a musician, he understood what they were doing, but also understood that his charges weren't machines. As Nancy Wilson put it: I wanted a life, and [...]

Holy shit. The winningest coach in college football died at 85 from complications with cancer. What a sad, tragic footnote to the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Paterno didn't handle it well, but hopefully that won't sully his otherwise sterling reputation as both a coach and leader of young men. The Penn State program wasn't always the best off the field, but they were certainly better than most. Much of that was because of Joe Paterno.

Legendary blues singer Etta James who is most famous for her rendition of "At Last" has passed away. Etta is one of the movers and shakers of pop history and no diva is the same without her legacy. Beyonce played her in Cadillac Records and she revolutionized her genre to another level. Sad to hear of her passing. She has passed away at the age of 73. Related articles Throwback Friday: 'At Last' by Etta James... RIP (Jan 25, 1938-Jan [...]

Facebook.com​Etta James, a woman with a delicious, complex voice that pioneered the modern R&B sound, has passed following complications from leukemia. She was 73. James' gorgeous version of Glenn

Just heard the not entirely unexpected news that Etta James has died. A fuller obituary will follow. -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

The writing on the wall had been apparent for sometime now regarding singer Etta James, who passed away from complications with leukemia on Friday. She was 73 . The powerhouse singer, known as "Miss Peaches," lived an eventful life. She first hit the charts as a teenager, taking "The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)" - an "answer record" to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie" - to No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1955. She joined Chess Records in 1960 and had a string of R&B and pop hits, many with lush string arrangements. [...]

Artwork by Daniel Levy​It's said that there are no words for a time like this, but words may be what bring us the most comfort.I did not know Daniel Levy, but I knew Adam, his father. I met Adam whil

Publicity photo courtesy Christine Rosholt​The Twin Cities jazz scene is grieving today upon learning the news that Christine Rosholt, an omnipresent and longtime local singer, has passed away suddenl

Charlie LouvinIt's an annual tradition to look back at year's end to those who've passed on in the previous twelve months. Whether it's just filler for the year's final broadcast of Entertainme

He was the first president of the Czech republic. But what really marked out Vaclav Havel , who has died at the age of 75, was his passion for the Velvet Underground: -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Christopher Hitchens , an infamous journalist, writer, thinker, and atheist, passed away late Thursday following a long battle with esophageal cancer. He was 62. Hitchens served as contributing editor at Vanity Fair for nearly two decades. The magazine broke the news on Twitter. "There will never be another like Christopher Hitchens," said the magazine in a statement . "A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar." His final piece for Vanity Fair , " Trial of the Will ," was published last week. As fitting [...]

I'm doubly sad to hear of the death of Billie Jo Spears. It's sad news in its own right, of course, but also there's a personal note of sadness. My Mum didn't show much interest in popular music when I was a kid - she'd tap along to a James Last album, and would always have Radio 2 on, but there wasn't very much of the excited connection with music that I was starting to feel back then. Billie Jo Spears was one of the exceptions to this, though: I think it's the only [...]

██████, it ████'t ███████ ████ ████ to get the ████ █████████ ████ ██████████ . For the █████-████ █████████' █████████ ████ ████ █████ and █████ Red ██████, ████████ ████████ █████ was out of the ████-up ████ a "█████ ██████ leg." ████ ████████ on the ██████████ -█████████ ████ ████ ████, the ████ ████ the ████ █████ a █████ van [...]