Obituary News

Mae Mercer Blues Singer Also Had a Hollywood Career Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
November 13, 2008

Blues singer and actress Mae Mercer was found dead in her Northridge home Oct. 29. She was 76 and had been in ill health.

Mae Mercer, a deep-voiced blues singer who spent much of the 1960s performing at a blues bar in Paris and touring Europe before launching an acting career back home in films and television, has died. She was 76. Mercer was found dead Oct. 29 at her home in Northridge, said Reginald D. Brown, a friend. He ...

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Hendrix Drummer Mitch Mitchell Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
November 13, 2008

Mitch Mitchell, the drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s, has been found dead in his Oregon hotel room. He was 61.

Erin Patrick, a deputy medical examiner in Multnomah County, said Mitchell was found dead shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday in his room at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland. She said Mitchell apparently died of natural causes. An autopsy is planned.

Hendrix, one of music's most celebrated guitarists, joined with Mitchell and bass player Noel ...

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Mel Graves - Jazz Bassist, Composer, Teacher

Source: All About Jazz
November 13, 2008

Mel Graves, a gifted bassist, composer and teacher equally at home in the jazz and classical worlds, died Saturday at his Petaluma home of pancreatic cancer. He had turned 62 two days earlier. Mr. Graves was a fluent improviser known for his work with Mose Allison, Denny Zeitlin, Dewey Redman and other top jazz players, and a prolific composer and arranger who wrote for the Kronos Quartet and other new music ensembles. He had hoped to attend Sunday's musical tribute ...

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Jay Fiondella Flamboyant Owner of Chez Jay Santa Monica Landmark Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
November 13, 2008

Jay Fiondella, the flamboyant owner of Chez Jay, the scruffy restaurant-bar he opened almost 50 years ago that became a Santa Monica landmark and something of a shrine to his exploits as an adventurer, has died. He was 82.

Fiondella died Nov. 6 at a Santa Monica care facility after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, his family said.

In 1959, he was hustling for small acting parts and tending bar on the Santa Monica Pier when he heard about ...

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Phillip Wilson Remembered

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
November 11, 2008

Phillip Wilson, the drummer and St. Louis native who was an early member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, broke into the musical big time with the Butterfield Blues Band, and went on to play with many of the important free jazz musicians of the 1970s and 1980s, is remembered fondly in a recent post by Brian Olewnick at his blog Just Outside.To interject a personal note, I've had an interest in Wilson and his music since my ...

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Miriam Makeba South African Singer Dies in Italy

Source: Michael Ricci
November 10, 2008

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who wooed the world with her sultry voice but was banned from her own country for 30 years under apartheid, died early Monday after a concert in Italy. She was 76. The Pineta Grande Clinic, a private clinic near the southern city of Naples, said the singer died after being brought there. The ANSA news agency reported that Makeba apparently suffered a heart attack after performing for 30 minutes ...

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Rosella Hightower, American Indian Ballet Dancer, Dies at 88

Source: Michael Ricci
November 9, 2008

Rosella Hightower, a prominent American Indian ballet dancer who rose to an illustrious career in the 1940s and 1950s and later started one of the premier dance schools in Europe, died overnight Nov. 3 at her home in Cannes, in the south of France. She was 88 and had had several strokes. Hightower was one of five Oklahoma-born American Indians to emerge as world-class ballerinas. The others were Yvonne Chouteau, Moscelyne Larkin and the sisters Maria and Marjorie Tallchief. Their ...

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Shakir Stewart of Def Jam Recordings Dies at 34

Source: Michael Ricci
November 7, 2008

Def Jam executive Shakir Stewart died at his home in suburban Atlanta from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say.

Shakir Stewart, the executive who succeeded Jay-Z as the head of the hip-hop music label Def Jam Recordings, died Saturday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in suburban Atlanta, police said. He was 34. Stewart was found in the bathroom of his home in Marietta, Cobb County police spokeswoman Cassie Reece said. He was pronounced dead at a nearby ...

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