T-Mad's Music: Blog Area - Too Many Deaths In The Music World In 2010 Already

Too Many Deaths In The Music World In 2010 Already [Post a Comment]
The year 2010 is shaping up to be a very sad year in the music and entertainment world. It seems that every other day or, at the very least, just about every week this year we have lost someone famous. In some cases, it was just old age. However, in a lot of cases, it was illness. Unfortunately, I have been tied up with a lot of things going on so I have not been able to stay on top of, or properly acknowledge, them like I normally would. In some cases, because the person in question was not a “mainstream” household name, I did not even know that said person had passed away until long after the fact. Here is where I want to rectify the oversights.

In order, from what I have been able to find (and some have been acknowledged here at T-Mad’s Music already while others have not), here are the people in the world of soul, funk, jazz, disco, gospel, and rap music who have passed away in 2010 thus far:

Willie Mitchell — Soul music producer best known for his work at Hi Records with Al Green, among many others. Passed away on January 5th of cardiac arrest.
Woody Cunningham — Singer and musician with the seventies disco group Universal Robot Band who then became the eighties disco funk band Kleeer. He died in his sleep on January 9th.
Teddy Pendergrass — Legendary former lead vocalist of Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes and solo vocalist known for his (in)famous For Women Only concerts back in the day. Died of cancer-related complications on January 13th.
Ed Thigpen — Acclaimed jazz drummer known for his work with jazz legend Oscar Peterson. Pioneered a soft brush style of playing. Died in Denmark on January 13th.
Robert “Squirrel” Lester — Tenor vocalist with The Chi-Lites. Died of cancer on January 21st.
George Clinton Jr. — Son of Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton and father of P-Funk rapper/vocalist LaShonda Clinton, known as Sativa (of Something Stank And I Want Some fame). Also a vocalist in the group. Found dead in his home February 1st but, according to police, apparently died days earlier.
Mallia Franklin — Early female vocalist with Parliament-Funkadelic and founding member of P-Funk girl group Parlet. Responsible for introducing Bootsy Collins to George Clinton after Bootsy and his crew left James Brown in 1971. Suffered a stroke in mid-2009 and had been on life support ever since until the sad decision was made by family members to take her off life support on February 5th.
Sylvia Shemwell — Founding member of the sixties girl group The Sweet Inspirations, which was founded by Whitney Houston’s mother Cissy Houston. Known as a standalone gospel group and as a heavily requested backup group for various performers including, famously, Elvis Presley. Presumably of complications from a stroke suffered years earlier, she passed on February 13th.
Bob “Chilly B” Crafton III — Member of the eighties electro hip hop group Newcleus, of Jam On It and Jam On Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song) fame. Died of a stroke on February 23rd.
Tom “T-Bone” Wolk — Bassist for Hall & Oates. Died of a heart attack on February 28th.
Ron Banks — Founder of The Dramatics. Also did work with George Clinton and the Brides Of Funkenstein. Died of a heart attack on March 4th.
Marva Wright — Legendary New Orleans blues singer. Died of complications from a series of strokes suffered last year, on March 23rd.
Johnny Maestro — Leader of the doowop group The Brooklyn Bridge. Died of cancer on March 24th.
Steve Reid — Jazz and Motown sessions drummer who worked with Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, James Brown, and various others. Died of cancer on April 13th.
Guru — Rapper known for his work with the group Gang Starr and his solo Jazzmatazz series of CDs. Went into cardiac arrest on February 28th and fell into a coma, ultimately passing away from cancer-related complications on April 19th.
Eddie L. Jackson — Guitarist in the Philadelphia-based group Brenda and The Tabulations Died of a brain aneurysm on May 3rd.
Lena Horne — Legendary jazz pop vocalist. Died on May 9th.
Ali-Ollie Woodson — Lead singer for The Temptations in th emid-eighties (Treat Her Like A Lady). Also worked with former Temptations member Dennis Edwards in his Temptations Revue in the mid-2000s. Died of cancer on May 30th.
Marvin Isley — Bassist for The Isley Brothers and the eighties spin-off Isley-Jasper-Isley. Long time sufferer of diabetes and had long had his legs amputated due to the disease. Died on June 6th.
Garry Shider — Guitarist, vocalist, and musical director with Parliament-Funkadelic. Originally in his own Canadian band United Soul, which ended up joining forces with Parliament-Funkadelic under the name U.S. Music With Funkadelic before officially becoming a member. Died of cancer on June 16th.
Robert “Butch” Sam — Original keyboardist with Graham Central Station. Died on July 2nd.
Harvey Fuqua — Member of The Moonglows and mentor to Marvin Gaye. Well known Motown producer. Died of a heart attack on July 6th.
Walter Hawkins — Legendary gospel evangelist who sang with the Edwin Hawkins Singers and led his own Love Center Choir which featured his then-wife, gospel singer Tramaine Hawkins, as the lead vocalist. He died of cancer on July 11th.
Rudy Wooten — Brother of funk bassist Victor Wooten and saxophonist for the Wooten Brothers. According to some sources, Rudy suffered from mental illness. He was reportedly found dead in his room, wearing his saxophone. He died on July 12th.
Roosevelt Brodie — Early member of the Philadelphia soul group The Blue Notes. He was the predecessor to Harold Melvin, who replaced him in 1971 after Roosevelt’s stint in the army. The group then became Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes. Roosevelt died from diabetes complications on July 13th.
Phillip Walker — Renowned blues guitarist. Died of heart failure on July 22nd.
Al Goodman — Founding member of The Moments, later known as Ray Goodman & Brown (Harold Ray, Al Goodman, Billy Brown). Died from complications during a surgery yesterday, July 27th.

Sigh. Like I said — way too many deaths already this year. I’m just glad that we don’t have to add Al Jarreau to the list as well.