Obituary News

Page Cavanaugh Pianist-Singer Led Southland Jazz Trio Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
December 24, 2008

Page Cavanaugh, a veteran pianist-singer whose trio was a popular nightclub and recording group in the late 1940s and '50s and who became one of Southern California's most enduring lounge jazz artists, has died. He was 86.

Cavanaugh, who also was a composer and arranger during his more than 60-year career, died Friday morning of kidney failure at a skilled nursing facility in Granada Hills, said Phil Mallory, Cavanaugh's bass player for 18 years. During the early days with his ...

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Elmer Valentine, CO-Founder of Whisky a Go Go, Dies at 85

Source: Michael Ricci
December 22, 2008

Elmer Valentine, co-founder of the Whisky a Go Go, the legendary live rock showcase on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood that gave birth to the go-go dancer phenomenon of the 1960s, has died. He was 85.

Valentine, who also co-founded the Roxy Theatre in the early '70s, died at his home in Studio City after suffering from various ailments the last four years, said music mogul Lou Adler, his longtime friend and business partner.

The Beatles Played the Whiskey ...

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Robert Mulligan Directed 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
December 21, 2008

Robert Mulligan, who was nominated for an Academy Award for directing the 1962 film classic To Kill a Mockingbird, died Saturday at his home in Lyme, Conn. He was 83. Mulligan had heart disease, his nephew Robert Rosenthal said.

The director began working in live television in New York in the early 1950s and won an Emmy Award for the TV movie The Moon and Sixpence in 1960. His first film, Fear Strikes Out, was released in 1957 and told ...

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Detroit Jazz Composer and Pianist Kenn Cox, 68, Dies

Source: JazzStage Productions
December 20, 2008

Jazz pianist Kenneth Louis Cox II died of lung cancer on Friday. He was 68. Cox died at his Detroit home, said his wife of 42 years, Barbara Cox. He was known by some as Kenny, though he preferred Kenn. The Detroit native was a graduate of Cass Technical High School. He went on to study at the Detroit Conservatory of Music and the Detroit Institute of Musical Arts. Cox was not only a skilled pianist but also played bass, ...

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Davy Graham British Folk Musician Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
December 18, 2008

Virtuoso guitarist Davy Graham, a leading figure in Britain's 1960s folk music revival, has died. He was 68.

Graham died of a seizure in his London home on Monday, his former manager Mark Pavey said Wednesday. The musician had long suffered from lung cancer, he said. Graham's innovative tuning and dexterity on the acoustic guitar inspired a range of artists. His 1962 song ”Anji” became a folk classic and was covered, among others, by Simon and Garfunkel on their 1966 ...

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Davy Graham: 1940-2008

Source: JamBase
December 18, 2008

Davy Graham: 1940 - 2008

Davy Graham English folk musician Davy Graham died last Monday (December 15). Graham was a legend in the folk world but never really got his due, often flying just under the radar. His talents caused Paul Simon (who would cover Graham's “Anji" on Simon and Garfunkel's 1966 debut, Sound of Silence) call him “Probably England's greatest guitarist." He was 68-years-old.

From daveygraham.com:

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Davy ...

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Sam Bottoms Dies at 53; Actor Appeared in 'Apocalypse Now,' 'Last Picture Show'

Source: Michael Ricci
December 17, 2008

Sam Bottoms, a film and television actor who played the role of California surfer- turned-GI Lance Johnson in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, has died. He was 53. Bottoms died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles of glioblastoma multiforme, a virulent brain cancer, said his wife, Laura Bickford.

The brother of actors Timothy, Joseph and Ben Bottoms, Sam made his screen debut as a teenager in Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film The Last Picture Show, in ...

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Pinup Queen Bettie Page Dies at 85

Source: Michael Ricci
December 13, 2008

Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85. Page, whose later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state mental institution, died Thursday night at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since suffering a heart attack Dec. 2, according to her agent, Mark Roesler. A ...

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