Obituary News

Andre Previn and Mia Farrow's Daughter Lark Dies at 35

Source: Michael Ricci
December 30, 2008

Lark Previn, a daughter of actress Mia Farrow whose sister Soon-Yi Previn was at the center of Farrow's messy breakup with Woody Allen, has died. She was 35.

The medical examiner's office says Lark Previn died Christmas Day at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn. No cause of death was given. A cremation was held today at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery.

Lark Previn was born in Vietnam in 1973. She was one of three children adopted by Farrow and her ...

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Count Five Singer John Byrne Wrote "Psychotic Reaction" Dies

Source: All About Jazz
December 30, 2008

John Byrne, the lead singer of garage-rock band Count Five and the writer of their 1966 hit “Psychotic Reaction" died on December 15th following kidney and liver failure in San Jose, California. He was 61.

Inspired by the Yardbirds “Im a Man",Psychotic Reaction peaked at Number 5 on the Billboard charts and became a radio staple during the Vietnam War era. “Psychotic Reaction" was also listed among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fames 500 Songs That Shaped Rock & ...

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Jazz Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard Dies

Source: All About Jazz
December 29, 2008

Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who played with legends such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock, died today (Dec. 29) in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Hubbard, who had suffered a heart attack on Nov. 26, was 70. Born in Indianapolis, the artist moved to New York in 1958 and quickly began playing and recording with Coleman, Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. In 1961, he released “Ready for Freddie," the first of many collaborations with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. ...

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Jazz Great Freddie Hubbard Dead at 70

Source: All About Jazz
December 29, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Grammy-winning jazz musician Freddie Hubbard, whose style influenced a generation of trumpet players, has died at age 70. Hubbard's manager, David Weiss, says the musician died Monday at Sherman Oaks Hospital in Los Angeles. He had been hospitalized since suffering a heart attack last month. Although he had been in declining health in recent years, Hubbard continued to perform until just a few months ago. Known for both the intensity of his playing, as well as ...

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Freddie Hubbard: A Jazz Icon Remembered

Source: All About Jazz
December 29, 2008

Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard died Dec. 29, 2008, at the age of 70. In this story from 2001, he talks about attempting a comeback after a series of personal setbacks. Freddie Hubbard is a legendary name in jazz. In the 1960s, he was a popular and critically acclaimed trumpeter and bandleader. But by the 1980s, he had all but disappeared from the jazz scene. Now, he's attempting a comeback. Hubbard says that the low point in his career came in ...

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Pop Music and Jazz Figures Passings 2008

Source: Michael Ricci
December 28, 2008

Pop music and jazz figures

Bob Popescu, 77; co-owner of Catalina Bar & Grill, turned the Los Angeles club into one of the top jazz venues in the country (Jan. 5)

Ken Nelson, 84; longtime Capitol Records talent scout had an ear for country music (Jan. 6)

Lew Spence, 87; composed “Nice 'n' Easy," the Grammy-nominated Frank Sinatra song (Jan. 9)

Pete Candoli, 84; leading high-register jazz trumpet player (Jan. 11)

John Stewart, 68; singer-songwriter who wrote the Monkees hit ...

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Delaney Bramlett Songwriter Who Wrote 'Let It Rain'

Source: Michael Ricci
December 28, 2008

Delaney Bramlett, 69, a singer, songwriter and producer who penned classic rock songs such as “Let It Rain" and worked with musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton, died Saturday at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles as a result of complications from gallbladder surgery, his wife Susan Lanier-Bramlett said.

Born in Mississippi in 1939, Bramlett came to Los Angeles in the 1960s and played guitar in the house band for the TV pop show Shindig. With his then- ...

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Eartha Kitt an Appreciation

Source: Michael Ricci
December 27, 2008

Yes, she played up her sexy image, but she was also a pioneer among African American entertainers.

Even as a pre-adolescent growing up in subarctic Rochester, N.Y., watching Eartha Kitt's Catwoman taunt Adam West's Batman always made me feel a little, um, hot. Julie Newmar, Emma Peel and the rest of the leather-jumpsuited superwomen/femmes fatales of the '60s were fine too. But for my inchoate tastes in all things feminine, Kitt was the insouciant queen. Of course, most of the ...

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