Artist: Obituary

Banjo picker and bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs passed away today in Nashville. Scruggs' son Gary said his father passed away Wednesday morning at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital. Gary Scruggs said his father died of natural causes. He was a titan in his field, an innovator, and it was a supreme pleasure to interview Mr. Scruggs and his son Gary many years ago, as one of my first assignments for L.A. RECORD. He will be missed. -D. M. Collins

Earlier this month, Josie DeCarlo died . She was married to Don DeCarlo, comic book creator. One time, on a cruise, she dressed as a cat, which was the moment of inspiration that led to one of the all-time-great made-up popstars. This one: -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Astonishing to think that The Trammps - whose singer, Jimmy Ellis, has died - managed three R&B chart hits, and nothing at all in the mainstream top ten in the US. But you can't argue with this: Jimmy Ellis was 74; he died on Thursday in South Carolina. -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

French comic-book artist and designer Jean Giraud, known as Moebius, died overnight aged 74 after a long illness, an associate and work colleague said. Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was one of France's leading cartoonists who also found fame in Japan and the United States. Born at Nogent-sur-Marne east of Paris on May 8, 1938, he began after art school training as an illustrator for advertisers and the fashion industry before turning to comic strips. He found fame when he created the Lieutenant Blueberry western character and adopted the pseudonym Moebius for illustrations of science [...]

Ronnie Montrose, rock guitarist, has died . A statement on his official website confirms the news: Ronnie Montrose ~ 1947-2012 A few months ago, we held a surprise party for Ronnie Montrose's 64th birthday. He gave an impromptu speech, and told us that after a long life, filled with joy and hardship, he didn't take any of our love for granted. He passed today. He'd battled cancer, and staved off old age for long enough. And true to form, he chose his own exit the way he chose his own life. We miss [...]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Andrew Breitbart, who's a conservative media bigwig and thorn-in-the-side of liberals, apparently died of natural causes at the age of 43 last night in Los Angeles. It should say something about Breitbart that the news almost doesn't seem real. This has to be a joke, right? I guess not . Say whatever you want about Breitbart, but the man was kind of a media provocateur, an influential blogger, had a hand in building both The Drudge Report and the Huffington Post and will be missed by conservatives and liberals alike.

BBC news is reporting the death of Davy Jones, former Monkee and, for one episode, the grandson of Ena Sharples. Manchester-born, he'd meant to be a jockey. But instead, he became an actor; and that lead to being in a sort-of-answer-to-The-Beatles- in-a-sitcom role in the Monkees. Perhaps, though, his biggest influence on modern music was by virtue of having nabbed the name David Jones. Without which, David Bowie might never have had to change his name. -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Jan Berenstain, who with her husband, Stan, wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bears books that have been a staple in elementary schools for 50 years, has died. She was 88 . The first Berenstain Bears book, "The Big Honey Hunt," was published in 1962. Over the years, more than 300 titles have been released in 23 languages — most recently in Arabic and Icelandic — and have become a rite of passage for generations of young readers. "They say jokes don't travel well, but family humor does," [...]

via Noisevox​Christopher Reimer, guitarist for the Calgary avant-pop act Women, died in his sleep on Tuesday, according to reports. His work with the band over two acclaimed albums, the 2008 self-titl

Some grim news this morning, I'm afraid: Christopher Reimer, guitarist with Women, has died . The news was broken by the Calgary Herald, Women's local paper, but further details are vague at the moment. -- Visit No Rock & Roll Fun to comment, complain and kvetch

Scooby, left, with co-host and long-time friend, Dolewite February 2012 may go down as the worst Black History Month on record. The race - and more specifically, the musical side [...]

Scooby, left, with co-host and long-time friend, Dolewite February 2012 may go down as the worst Black History Month on record. The race - and more specifically, the musical side [...]

Michael Davis, MC5 bassist, has died . Although not part of the original line-up, Davis had joined the band before the recording of the debut (and, to be fair, career-peak) album Kick Out The James. Davis had been part of the reunited band, but after a back injury following a 2006 bike smash had been concentrating on a non-profit project to bring music to school children and various art collaborations. He seemed to be really content with his life - he'd last updated his Facebook page's 'about' section to read "Happy in His Universe" and [...]

David Bazan - Gas and Matches For all its bravura, John Fairfax's seafaring almost pales beside his earlier ventures. Footloose and handsome, he was a flesh-and-blood character out of Graham Greene, with more than a dash of Hemingway and Ian Fleming shaken in. At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate. To please his mother, who did not take kindly to his being a pirate, he briefly managed [...]

• David Bazan - Gas and Matches

The Nation Enquirer has reached a new low. The tabloid has recently released their latest issue with " Whitney's Final Minutes " on the cover. So what's so despicable ? The magazine has recreated Whitney Houston 's death scene! They actually hired a woman to pose as a dead Whitney Houston on a bathroom floor! If you look closely at the photograph you will see the words " PHOTO RE-CREATION " under it. According to the magazine, before her death [...]

Whitney Houston died last night. You probably heard. When somebody dies there's an inexplicable feeling of loss. A part of the world as you understand it disappears, and you know that there's nothing that anybody can do to bring it back. It's not like we were having regular phone calls with Whitney, or meeting her in town for a gin and tonic, or taking her to the cinema to see the latest Harry Potter, but still, when we heard, something inside went a bit funny. We won't pretend that Whitney was one [...]

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? [...]