Departed Music Personalities
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Courtesy of MySpace.com
Hank Locklin, March 8: For half a century, the Grand Ole Opry star masterfully fused the Honky Tonk and Nashville sounds, making timeless hits like 'Please Help Me I'm Falling' and 'Send Me the Pillow You Dream On.' Locklin died at his home in Alabama of undisclosed causes. He was 91.
Frank Driggs Collection / Getty Images
Randy Bewley, Feb. 25: The Pylon guitarist suffered a heart attack while driving. His Athens, GA band inspired many others, including R.E.M., with their distinctive, danceable pop sound.
Chris McKay, Retna
Kelly Groucutt, Feb. 19: He provided the bass end to classic ELO hits such as 'Mr. Blue Sky,' 'Do Ya' and 'Livin' Thing.' Groucutt died after having a heart attack, his management confirmed. He was 63.
Fin Costello, Getty Images
Louie Bellson, Feb. 14: The American big band drummer, composer and bandleader was 84.
Evans / Three Lions / Getty Images
Estelle Bennett, Feb. 11: With her sister Ronnie, left, and cousin Nedra Talley, right, Bennett sang '60s classics like 'Baby, I Love You' and 'Be My Baby' with the legendary Ronettes. She was found dead in her New Jersey home of undetermined causes. She was 67.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, Feb. 9: The "heartbeat" of Cuba's legendary Buena Vista Social Club, a group of semi-retired musicians living in Havana made famous thanks to the work of producer Ry Cooder, died of complications from prostate surgery. He was 76.
Jose Luis Magana, AP
Molly Bee, Feb. 7: The yodeling country singer shot to fame with the 1952 novelty hit 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' and later became a familiar face on TV's 'Hometown Jamboree' and 'The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show.' Bee died in California from complications following a stroke at age 69.
AP
Lux Interior, Feb. 4: The frontman of the legendary punk band the Cramps passed away due to a pre-existing heart condition.
Dave Allocca, Getty Images
Dewey Martin, Jan. 31: The drummer for the short-lived country rock pioneers Buffalo Springfield was found dead in Van Nuys, Calif. The cause of death is unknown. Martin added the backdrop to early hits penned by bandmates Neil Young ('Mr. Soul') and Stephen Stills ('For What It's Worth'). He was 68.
Getty Images
According to reports Brittingham, 23, shot himself in the head while in a taxicab as officers approached him in Greenburgh, New York. Police later pulled the cab over. Lt. Chris McNerney ordered everyone out of the vehicle and although the woman and the driver complied, Brittingham refused and shot himself. "He knew we were going to arrest him and he decided he wasn't going to go to jail," said Greenburgh police chief John Kapica.
Brittingham had been on the run from police since early February and was found when a cell phone trace pinpointed his location at a Greenburgh motel. Officers staked out the building and saw Brittingham and a woman enter a taxi earlier in the day.
This tragic event brought to end on-going legal trouble for Brittingham. He was arrested under drug possession charges on Feb. 11, after police searched his vehicle finding marijuana and cocaine stuffed in a teddy bear. The New Jersey native was arrested and subsequently released on $25,000 bail. One day later police were trailing him again after he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend seven times before going into hiding.
Reader Comments(1 of 45)
drktranquillityat 3-18-2009
It's a "tragic" event when some dirtbag shoots himself? No, I'd say that sentiment is what's tragic.
Mikeat 3-19-2009
Again....as a MUSICIAN, it pisses me off to no end to see Rappers called "musicians". Sorry.....I'm as open-minded as the next person but this particular genre was old after its second year.
"Gangstas: Want to make some money doing something that requires ZERO talent and allows you to be put on a pedestal for being the punk you already are? Become a Rapper.....talk to a beat, that's all you have to do!"
"Musician" my azz!
SexyBasturdat 3-19-2009
Musician thats what you call your self seems your so narrow minded that you got your head stuck up your @$$ ( mike) if rapping was so easy and your so talented why the hell are you on the computer running your mouth shouldn't you be out making music
bbasham251at 3-19-2009
I agree....good ridance of rubbish.
gwenhwyvar20at 3-19-2009
good bye and good riddance. God only knows what else he did.
tamihunter45at 3-19-2009
"Rap" is NOT music and those who listen to it have below average I.Q's. There used to be many, many TALENTED black singers out there, Luther Vandross, Barry White, Marvin Gaye, etc. ALL had ACTUAL TALENT! Blacks with that kind of talent are a dead breed. Rapping is NOT a talent! The ONLY thing that makes it a "talent" are the blacks and idiotic white punks who's parents don't give a damn about them. Even Mr. Bill Cosby hates it!
Also, you can't even turn on a radio station without hearing this trash. I want a white musician only radio station that I can listen to.
Marcat 3-19-2009
Tamihunter......just turn on the country station, and you'll have what you're looking for
Natalieat 3-19-2009
If you call yourself a musician, then you're the most narrow minded musician i've ever heard. I'd like to see you write a rhyme that's as complex as some of these rappers have made. And most of the time, they compose their own beats as well. There's more to the world of hip hop and rap than drive by's and gangsters. Idiot...
Libbyat 3-19-2009
Not excusing the actions of this particular person, but I think it’s interesting that when something like this happens all the ‘rockers-skater boarder’ freaks come out their hiding to comment on hip-hop. You want to say hip-hop is not music, well, neither is screaming into a mic, ‘off-beat’ might I add, while looking ghostly and pasty. You weren’t talking all that shit when your ‘beloved’ Kurt Cobain blasted his coked-up brains out, or when Bradley Nowell overdosed. Instead of kicking shit on other cultures’ musical genres, please take a long look at your own drug-meth-mindless-heading banging noise you call music.
kimberlyat 3-19-2009
I think you all should find Jesus. You all have a very sick minded way of so called sending replys to an unfortunate thing. This person had a family & friends who loved him more than life itself. None of you matter.
kimberlyat 3-19-2009
I think you all should find Jesus. You all have a very sick minded way of so called sending replys to an unfortunate thing. This person had a family & friends who loved him more than life itself. None of you matter.
Michael Zackat 3-19-2009
Planet is a little bit better place to be now.
petrormpetroat 3-19-2009
Singers are not musicians. People who play an instrument are musicians.
christinapoem66at 3-19-2009
The sickness in society is within you...not them
jbat 3-19-2009
Don't you just love our justice system... one day after he's released on bail, he stabs his girlfriend 7 times!! But if we had held him in jail then Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson would be screaming about racist inequality. We're all a little safer without his punk azz stinking up our streets.