2016 will go down in history for many reasons, not the least of which is the toll it took on popular music. With icons like Prince, David Bowie, George Martin, and a host of others, we pay tribute and remember 25 musicians who died in 2016.
Prince, 57
Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, actor – died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl 4/21/16
Born Prince Rogers Nelson, Prince’s influence on and contributions to popular music are impossible to quantify. An astonishing range artists list Prince as a major influence, including the many dozens who collaborated on songs and production, covered his material, were his proteges or projects, or recorded songs penned by Prince. From pop to R&B, folk to rock, Prince’s profound contribution dates back to his debut in 1978 when he released For You as a 19-year-old with a Warner Brothers record deal that gave him complete artistic control (though famously didn’t give him all the publishing rights to his material).
Prince was also exceptional for the range of talent he possessed. He was an inimitable singer, dancer, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist – he played every instrument on his first five releases, including his first masterpieces, 1980’s Dirty Mind and 1982’s 1999, which sold 4 million copies and included the hits “1999” and “Little Red Corvette.” Of course, it was his sixth album, Purple Rain, that launched Prince into the stratosphere, adding “movie star” to his list of talents. While his acting career peaked with his screen debut, Prince’s musical explorations were just beginning.
After 13 million record sales for Purple Rain – the album that contained “Darling Nikki,” which prompted the creation of the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) – Prince made a decidedly surprising choice to follow his muse rather than crank out pop records in the same vein,. His album sales and chart appearances remained frequent and predictable through the following decades (“Raspberry Beret” and “Kiss” were features of his next two releases), but he never matched the sales of Purple Rain. Critically, though, he continued to assert his influence and relevance with the albums Sign ‘O’ The Times, Diamonds and Pearls, and The Love Symbol Album.
A recurring criticism leveled at Prince relates to the inconsistency of his releases post 1990, though not many artists can match his volume of output as Prince cranked out virtually an album a year over the majority of his career, with him as the producer on every release. Not to mention that he has a storied vault of unreleased material left to continue his legacy after his death. And, perhaps even more influential than his albums was Prince’s prowess as a live performer, which he did up until his very last days. Apparently, this took its toll, as Prince’s physical performance style caused the need for hip replacement surgery in 2010, which began an opioid addiction that ultimately claimed his life.
David Bowie, 69
Singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, actor – died of cancer 1/10/16
In a career spanning 51 years, David Bowie released 25 studio albums, sold 140 million albums, released 111 singles, and acted in TV and film, including The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Hunger, and Labyrinth. But perhaps more than for his work as a gifted musician, composer, actor, and producer, Bowie will be remembered as a master at redefining his music throughout his career and his creation of extraordinary stage personas, including the iconic Ziggy Stardust and Thin White Duke. He once admitted he developed these personalities to help him overcome his fear of performing, but they also informed the music and art he created as he shifted from glam rock to plastic soul to his Berlin trilogy with Brian Eno and then into mainstream pop/rock with albums like Let’s Dance in 1983.
In 1989, Bowie strayed off the solo artist path to record two albums with Tin Machine, a band he formed with guitarist Reeves Gabrels and Tony and Hunt Sales. After a four-year excursion with the band, Bowie returned to solo work with 1993’s Black Tie White Noise.
After the release of Reality in 2003, Bowie suffered a heart attack in the summer of 2004. He performed very sporadically after that, appearing on stage for the last time in 2006, and many thought his music career over until the surprise release of the song “Where Are We Now?” on his 66th birthday in 2013. That signaled the release of The Next Day, which found Bowie working with the same musicians and producer, his longtime associate Tony Visconti, as he had played with on Reality. On his 69th birthday, Bowie released Blackstar, another Visconti-produced album that proved to be Bowie’s swan song, as he died three days after its release.
Sir George Martin, 90
English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer and musician – died of undisclosed causes 3/8/16
According to Paul McCartney, “If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle, it was George. From the day that he gave the Beatles our first recording contract, to the last time I saw him, he was the most generous, intelligent and musical person I’ve ever had the pleasure to know… He was like a second father to me.” Martin’s career spanned more than six decades of work in music, film, television and live performance, working with a wide range of artists and productions, though he is best known for his catalog with the Beatles. Martin helped the Beatles construct the most notable eight-year career in the history of popular music, during which the band continually pushed the boundaries of studio recordings.
Born in London in 1926, Martin was running a small band, George Martin and the Four Tune Tellers, at the age of 15. In 1947, he enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying piano and oboe, then joining EMI Records’ Parlophone label. His early successes included a hit record with actor Peter Ustinov in 1952, and he was asked to head the label in 1955.
In 1962, Martin was introduced to the Beatles, though he recalls being initially unimpressed with their music, thinking their songs “weak” and “uneven,” while admitting, “they were interesting and had something slightly different,” specifically noting the band’s personality and sense of humor. In his expansive career, Martin also worked with America (producing “Tin Man,” “Lonely People” and “Sister Golden Hair”), Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, UFO, Peter Sellers, Shirley Bassey, Ultravox, and Celine Dion, among others – and produced the best selling single of all time (since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991), Elton John’s renovated “Candle in the Wind,” done in honor of Princess Diana in 1997. Martin also continued to work with Paul McCartney on solo projects, including “Live and Let Die” and the album Tug of War.
Martin’s production career slowed as he began to lose his hearing, and he became the vice-president of Deafness Research UK, a charity dedicated to hearing issues before officially retiring in 2009, when he was 83. He was knighted in 1996, serving as musical director for Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. He died peacefully at home, according to his family.
George Michael, 53
Singer, songwriter, producer – died of heart failure 12/25/16
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, George Michael was the most-played pop star on English radio between 1984-2004 (according to Britain’s Radio Academy), sold over 100 million records worldwide, and flourished in the heyday of MTV. Beginning his musical career in a ska band called the Executive with schoolmate Andrew Ridgeley, the band was short-lived, but Michael and Ridgeley went on to form Wham!, which vaulted them into pop stardom in the UK and around the world with the duo’s 1983 debut, Fantastic. That album yielded hits and big sales, but the duo recognized they had signed an unfavorable record deal, and in extricating themselves from the deal, gave up future royalties on the album. It paid off, as Wham!’s next album, Make It Big, built on the debut’s success, reaching Number One in the UK and US, and selling 10 million copies worldwide. In 1985, Wham! was the first Western group to tour the People’s Republic of China.
In 1986, Wham!’s final album was released (Music From The Edge of Heaven in North America and Japan, and The Final elsewhere), but Michael was already fashioning a solo career, and in 1987 he released Faith, which doubled Wham!’s sales on the strength of “I Want Your Sex,” “Father Figure,” “Kissing a Fool,” and the title track, selling 20 million worldwide and showcasing Michael’s writing and producing talents as he penned all but one song (a co-write) and had creative control of the entire album.
Michael took a calculated step back from his sexy, pop-star image in his subsequent releases, stating in interviews that he wanted to avoid falling into the pitfalls of success and fame he saw other artists succumb to. After his 2004 release, Patience he announced he’d stop releasing albums, and would release content online, with proceeds going to charity.
Michael’s stardom made his personal life fair game, and his four arrests between 1998 and 2010 were open to public scrutiny. The first, famously connected to an incident with an undercover policeman in a men’s bathroom, ultimately led to his revealing his homosexuality (he had also claimed to be bisexual). He suffered bouts of depression, was arrested multiple times for drug possession, and suffered numerous serious health issues in the past decade. In 2011, he was treated in an intensive care unit in Vienna, Austria for pneumonia, leading to his cancelling dates on his Symphonica Tour. In 2013, he was hospitalized after a car accident in England. Rumors are circulating regarding his physical and mental states leading to his death, but details beyond heart failure have yet to emerge.
Leonard Cohen, 82
Author and singer/songwriter – died in his sleep 11/7/16
Born in Westmount, Canada in 1934, Leonard Cohen was six books into his writing career when he released his first album at the age of 33, 1967’s Songs of Leonard Cohen. He enjoyed critical success as a writer, issuing books of poetry and prose, and was once compared to James Joyce by The Boston Globe. His musical career began in earnest when Judy Collins included “Suzanne,” a song written by Cohen, on her 1966 release, In My Life. Cohen’s first release, Songs of Leonard Cohen, scored him an audience among the college folk crowd, and his long career included various extended tours (as in years-long) as well as extended periods of silence – he issued only one album between 1988 and 2001. It was 1985’s Various Positions that included his best-known composition, “Hallelujah,” but it wasn’t until Jeff Buckley recorded it in 1994 that the song received any real recognition. now it is a staple of a capella and has been covered by wildly disparate artists: Newsweek even ranked 60 cover versions of the song in an article in 2015, dismantling most of the renditions (including Cohen’s).
Cohen’s musical career was never your standard story, and includes theater productions (1973’s Sisters of Mercy) and an ill-fated collaboration with Phil Spector on 1977’s Death of a Ladies’ Man. Cohen’s music came back into popular consciousness in 2005, largely due to Cohen’s daughter Lorca suspecting his longtime manager, Kelley Lynch, of embezzling money. It turns out Lynch had stolen more than $5 million, which prompted Cohen to embark on an epic 387-show tour that spanned the world and five years. He released four studio and four live albums in the 12 years after that tour started, including 2016’s You Want It Darker, which was released less than a month before he died. Cohen’s commercial success, while perhaps modest by commercial pop standards, was dwarfed by his impact as a songwriter and performer, borne out by the hundreds of artists who list him as an influence and inspiration.
Merle Haggard, 79
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, fiddle player – died of complications from pneumonia 4/6/16
One of the most beloved and revered singers and songwriters in country music’s history, it’s a wonder that Merle Haggard even had a music career. His story leading up to his early success in Bakersfield, CA includes a string of robberies, incarceration, and malefaction that could have easily ended in a life in jail, or worse. But Haggard, who taught himself to play guitar at the age of 12, had a telent that kept catching the attention of country stars of the day, and he eventually cut his first record for Tally Records in 1963. From there, it was a steady rise in popularity, as he honed his songwriting craft and built an audience, breaking through as a country superstar in 1966, with three Top Ten hits: “Swinging Doors,” “The Bottle Let Me Down,” and “The Fugitive.” The next year began a phenomenal streak of 37 Top Ten hits over the next decade, with 23 of those reaching number one, including a streak of four in in row: “Branded Man,” “Sing Me Back Home,” “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde,” and “Mama Tried.”
In his storied career, Haggard racked up 19 awards from the Academy of Country Music, six Country Music Association Awards, and four Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977 and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1994, though his recording career didn’t end until his final days, with his final song, “Kern River Blues,” being released a month after his death. In all, Haggard recorded more than 65 albums over a 53 year span, and his influence on the country music genre is nearly impossible to overstate. Haggard battled lung cancer in the last decade of his life, though he continued to perform live before dying on his birthday in his home in Palo Cedro, California.
Glenn Frey, 67
Guitarist, pianist, singer, co-founder of the Eagles – died of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia 1/18/16
Born in Detriot, MI, Glenn Frey’s early musical life was influenced and aided by Bob Seger, who helped the young musician with his early efforts. Indeed in 1968, the 19-year-old Frey played acoustic guitar and sang on Seger’s “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.” Later that year, Frey moved to Los Angeles, befriending drummer Don Henley, and ultimately formed the Eagles as he, Henley, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon played together backing Linda Ronstadt. In 1972, those four signed with David Geffen as he was forming Asylum Records. Eagles was released in June 1972, going gold on the strength “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman,” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.”
The Eagles went on to be one of the biggest selling acts in music history, with Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) release in 1976 selling 25 million copies, followed by Hotel California, which topped 10 million in sales. The band stopped performing and writing between 1980-1994, but then reunited, releasing Hell Freezes Over and Long Road Out Of Eden between tours and appearances.
Frey also released six solo albums between 1982 and 2012 and did some acting work as well, including TV appearances on Miami Vice and a shot at his own show, which was canceled after its debut. But Frey will be remembered mostly for his enduring work with the Eagles, including “Hotel California,” “Take It Easy,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” and “Heartache Tonight.”
Malik Taylor, AKA Phife Dawg, 45
Rapper, co-founder of A Tribe Called Quest – died of complications from diabetes 3/22/16
With its 1990 debut, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, A Tribe Called Quest and its Native Tongues contemporaries (De La Soul and Jungle Brothers) served a jazzed-up intelligent style of rap that provided an alternative to the harder-edged hardcore and gangsta rap that had grown to define the hip hop genre, at least in terms of notoriety and record sales. Phife Dawg, also known as Phife, The Five-Foot Assassin (he was 5′ 3″), and The Funky Diabetic (he was diagnosed with Diabetes mellitus type 2 in 1990), teamed up with high school classmate Q-Tip in 1985 and was later joined by Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White before releasing their first album as A Tribe Called Quest on Jive Records. The group released five records before disbanding in 1998, with their sophomore effort, The Low End Theory, widely regarded as one of the best hip hop albums ever recorded. Born in Queens, NY, Phife received a kidney transplant from his wife in 2008, though by 2012, he needed another. He died in his home in Contra Costa County, CA.
Maurice White, 74
Singer, drummer, songwriter, producer, founder of Earth, Wind & Fire – died after battling Parkinson’s 2/4/16
A session drummer for legendary Chicago-based OKeh and Chess Records, Maurice White founded Earth, Wind & Fire in 1969. The band went on to have 46 charting R&B singles, 33 charting pop singles, win six Grammys Awards, earn four American Music Awards, and score over 50 gold and platinum albums. Incorporating a mystic spiritualism and an eclectic stage show that rivaled that of Parliament Funkadelic, White’s songwriting and arranging skills were the foundation upon which EWF built its temple. White continued to play, compose, and arrange with EWF until 1999, enduring a 13-year hiatus with the band between 1974-1987. In 2000, he announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, though he wrote, arranged, sang, produced, and played kalimba on 2003’s The Promise.
Greg Lake, 69
Bassist, guitarist, vocalist, co-founder of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer – died after a prolonged battle with cancer 12/7/16
Born and raised in Dorset, England, Greg Lake was grade-school friends with King Crimson co-founder Robert Fripp (they went to the same guitar teacher), and was a central figure in the band’s groundbreaking debut, In The Court If The Crimson King, released in 1969, playing bass and singing lead vocals. After the band’s first tour, it was clear that Ian McDonald (flute, keyboards, mellotron, reeds, vibraphone, vocals, woodwind) and Michael Giles (drums) weren’t suited for life on the road, prompting them to leave after the recording of Crimson’s second release. According to Lake, he didn’t feel comfortable carrying on as King Crimson without them, particularly as McDonald wrote a lot of the material. Coincidentally, as the first tour and the original King Crimson lineup was coming to an end, Lake met Keith Emerson (Crimson was sharing the bill with Emerson’s band, The Nice), and the two decided to form a band. After recruiting Carl Palmer, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released its eponymous debut in 1970, which charted an acoustic number, “Lucky Man,” which had been written by Lake many years before. ELP strung a series of progressive albums together that spanned a decade and saw the band stand as a critical and commercial powerhouse. After ELP’s break-up, Lake released a solo album featuring him on guitar and vocals, along with an assembly of talent that included guitar virtuoso Gary Moore, Clarence Clemmons, Steve Lukather, David Paich, and Jeff Porcaro. His latter career included solo tours, work with Emerson and Palmer (including a 2010 reunion show), 1987’s Emerson, Lake & Powell album and tour, and a stint as Asia’s bassist and lead vocalist in 1983-84.
Keith Emerson, 71
Keyboardist, composer, founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer – died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound 3/10/16
Considered by many as the most technically proficient keyboard player in rock history, Keith Emerson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer introduced progressive rock to tens of millions of fans worldwide with a heavy dose of classical music built into its sound. The seeds of ELP were formed when Emerson’s band, the Nice, toured with Lake and King Crimson in the laste ’60s. ELP’s first five albums, released between 1970-1973, were critical and popular successes, culminating in the band’s most ambitious and satisfying release, Brain Salad Surgery. Following the break-up of ELP at the end of the ’70s, Emerson embarked on a solo career, then formed Emerson, Lake & Powell, who released an album in 1987. Emerson reunited with ELP in the early ’90s, releasing the album Black Moon, and then with the Nice for a tour in 2002. His last album, The Three Fates Project, was released in 2012. Emerson was suffering from nerve damage and pain in his right hand, as well as heart disease and depression, leading up to his suicide. His longtime partner, Mari Kawaguchi, said he had been very worried about an upcoming tour: “He didn’t want to let down his fans. He was a perfectionist and the thought he wouldn’t play perfectly made him depressed, nervous, and anxious.”
Paul Kantner, 74
Guitarist, vocalist in Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, K.B.C. Band and solo – died of multiple organ failure after suffering a heart attack 1/28/16
Paul Kantner was the first person vocalist Marty Balin recruited when he sought to put together a new band in the mid-’60s in the San Francisco Bay area. Jefferson Airplane went on to exemplify the hippie and psychedelic movement, while scoring five gold albums and being the only act to perform at Monterey, Woodstock, and Altamont. With the dissolution of the Airplane in 1972, Kantner released solo projects, including Sunfighter with Airplane band member and romantic partner Grace Slick, before forming Jefferson Starship, which went on to be one of the most successful arena rock bands of the ’70s and early ’80s. After a run that included multiple hit singles and albums, Kantner left the band (and sued for the naming rights) and formed the K.B.C. Band. In the ’90s and beyond, various iterations of Jefferson Airplane and Starship performed, with the latter releasing Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty in 2009.
Rick Parfitt, 68
Guitarist, singer, songwriter in Status Quo – died of a severe infection following shoulder surgery 12/24/16
Status Quo, while not charting a hit in the US since 1970, has a five-decade history as one of England’s most popular bands, charting singles and albums across the 50 years since its debut in 1967, with over 60 chart hits in the UK, the most of any rock band in history. Parfitt joined the band in its early days, before the 1968 debut, Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo, which yielded “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” a Top 10 in the UK that reached Number 12 in the US. That album and its follow-up featured a psychedelic musical inclination that the band abandoned in 1970 with the release of Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon. That album introduced the boogie rock formula that the Quo would explore for the following 46 years, with little variation from album to album. That predictability proved the group’s strong suit, earning them the opening slot for the Live Aid concert in 1985, where they played their hit, “Rockin’ All Over The World.” In 1997, Parfitt underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery, but continued performing and recording with Status Quo after his recovery. But his health problems forced him to leave the band in 2016, though Parfitt had plans to pen an autobiography and embark on a solo career before a fall caused him to get the operation on his shoulder which ultimately led to his death on Christmas Eve.
Lonnie Mack, 74
Rock and blues guitarist and vocalist – died of natural causes 4/21/16
Described as one of the first true rock guitar heroes, Lonnie Mack (born Lonnie McIntosh) was an innovator and massive influence on many blues guitarists, including Stevie Ray Vaughn. Mack, who started playing professionally in his early teens in the late ’50s, was of native American descent and was easily identified by his guitar of choice, the Gibson Flying V, which he chose because of its arrow-like design. Mack’s V was the seventh guitar off the Gibson production line, which he had specially fitted with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. It’s Mack’s use of the Bigsby on his album The Wham of That Memphis Man and the signature track “Wham!” that gave the “whammy bar” its nickname. His recording career began with an out-of-the-blue hit with an instrumental version of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis,” but was hampered by record label miscues, which caused him to quit the business in the late ’70s. In 1985, Vaughn convinced Mack to move to Austin, TX and return to recording, orchestrating Strike Like Lightning, which signaled a brief but emphatic comeback for the guitar great. In 2001 he was inducted into the International Guitar Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2005.
‘Toots’ Thielemans, 94
Preeminent jazz harmonica player – died in his sleep 8/22/16
Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1922, Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans – known as “Toots” – learned to play accordion at the age of three and was known for his harmonica playing, guitar, and whistling skills. Toots’ first international breakthrough came with Benny Goodman’s Band during a European tour in 1949-1950. Immigrating to the USA in 1952, he became a member of Charlie Parker’s All Stars in Philadelphia and worked for six years with the George Shearing Quintet. Thielemans also played with Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones (who called him “one of the greatest musicians of our time”), Bill Evans, Jaco Pastorius, Natalie Cole, Pat Metheny, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel. You may have heard Thielemens’ harmonica playing and not even known it: for 40 years, his harmonica was the central melody of the TV theme song of Sesame Street. For years he was the perennial winner of DownBeat magazine’s poll for “Miscellaneous Instruments,” and he was designated a Jazz Master in 2009 by The National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor for a jazz musician in the US.
Hyman Paul Bley, 83
Jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader – died of natural causes 1/3/16
One of jazz music’s most inventive and original pianists, known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s and his innovations and influence on trio playing, Canadian Paul Bley’s phrasing and harmony were the hallmark of a career based on non-conformity and creativity – for instance, performing with Moog synthesizers before an audience for the first time at Philharmonic Hall in New York City on December 26, 1969. Bley’s list of collaborators is impressive, including Chalie Parker, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and Art Blakey. Bley began teaching at the New England Music Conservatory in the ’90s and continued to tour internationally and record up until 2014. Bley released nearly 100 recordings, and also published several books, including Stopping Time and Time Will Tell. In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Mose Allison, 89
Jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter – died of natural causes 11/15/16
Mose John Allison, Jr. became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz early in his career. His first release, Back Country Suite, came in 1957, after he moved to New York. That album included “Young Man Blues,” which was later recorded in 1970 by The Who on Live At Leeds. While his career was inhibited, in part, by his affinity for different styles of music, he is recognized as being one of the finest blues songwriters of the 20th century. John Mayall, Georgie Fame, Leon Russell, and Bonnie Raitt have all recorded Allison’s songs, and The Pixies’ “Allison” is a tribute to Mose. His popularity increased in the ’80s, which prompted him to record more consistently in the ’90s, extending his influence. Tom Waits, Jimi Hendrix, the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, and Pete Townshend all list him as an influence and inspiration.
Pierre Boulez, 90
Composer and conductor – died of undisclosed causes 1/5/16
Pierre Boulez sits at the #4 position on the list of all-time Grammy winners with a total of 26 (he also won the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015). Best known for his performances of Béla Bartók, Alban Berg, Anton Bruckner, Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenb
Andre Calilhanna
Andre Calilhanna is a drummer, vocalist, writer, editor, and all around music fan. He's also a golf "enthusiast," pianist-in-progress, and a below-average guitarist (thanks for asking). Contact him at vitamindre@gmail.com.
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