Obituary News

Ray Ellis Arranger for Darin, Mathis, Day and Holiday Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
November 5, 2008

Ray Ellis dies at 85; arranger worked with Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, scores of others. Ellis, a saxophone player who turned to arranging pop music, wrote charts for hits by the Four Lads, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday and many others.

Ray Ellis, the versatile pop music arranger who wrote the charts for hits by the Four Lads, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Doris Day and Johnny Mathis, has died. ...

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Michael Crichton Million-Selling Science-Fiction Author Dies at 66

Source: Michael Ricci
November 5, 2008

Best-selling author Michael Crichton, who wrote such novels as The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, and created the popular TV drama ER, has died at 66, his family said today.

Crichton, a medical doctor turned novelist whose books have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide, died “unexpectedly" Tuesday in Los Angeles after a private battle with cancer, his family said.

“While the world knew him as a great story teller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around ...

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Jheryl Busby Ex-Motown Chief Dies

Source: All About Jazz
November 5, 2008

Jheryl Busby, the former president and chief executive of Motown Records who helped foster the careers of Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill, has died. He was 59.

Busby was found early Tuesday in a hot tub at his home in Malibu, said Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter. “It was a possible accident or else he died of natural causes," Winter said. Busby was named Motown's president and chief executive officer in 1988 and stayed there for ...

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Jimmy Carl Black Mothers of Invention Drummer Dead at 70

Source: All About Jazz
November 5, 2008

Jimmy Carl Black, the original drummer for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, passed away this past weekend after a bout with lung cancer. He was 70.

Black, the self-proclaimed Indian of the group, served with the Mothers from their acclaimed 1966 debut Freak Out! until Zappas 1970 album Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Black is also known for donning a dress on the cover of Were Only In It For the Money.

Blacks drumming also formed the heartbeat during ...

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Yma Sumac Peruvian Songbird Silenced

Source: Michael Ricci
November 4, 2008

Yma Sumac, 'Peruvian songbird' with multi-octave range, dies at 86 The singer with a persona matching her exotic voice became an international sensation in the 1950s.

Yma Sumac, the Peruvian-born singer whose spectacular multi-octave vocal range and exotic persona made her an international sensation in the 1950s, has died. She was 86. Sumac, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in February, died Saturday in an assisted-living facility in Silver Lake, said Damon Devine, her personal assistant and close friend. Bursting ...

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Studs Terkel, Giant

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
November 2, 2008

There is little or no mention of it in his obituaries, but Studs Terkel's first book was about jazz. The oral historian, broadcaster and master interviewer died yesterday in Chicago at ninety-six. Terkel won the Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling 1985 book The Good War: An Oral History Of World War II. Many of his other oral history books were also best sellers, beginning in 1967 with Division Street: America. He followed with Hard Times, Working and seven other books. ...

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Estelle Reiner Singer-Actress Dies

Source: All About Jazz
October 29, 2008

Estelle Reiner, 94, a singer, artist and actress known for her cameo role in her son Rob Reiner's 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, died Saturday, her family announced.

A cause of death was not given for Reiner, who was married to comedian Carl Reiner for nearly 65 years. She also appeared in Fatso, directed by Anne Bancroft, and in Mel Brooks' To Be or Not to Be.

I don't do anything but act myself. I think that's why people ...

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E. Roger Muir Backed Howdy Doody dies

Source: Michael Ricci
October 28, 2008

E. Roger Muir, who helped create and was executive producer of The Howdy Doody Show, the puppet-and-people program that first hooked millions of kids on television in its early days.

Muir died Thursday near his home in Wolfeboro, N.H. Mr. Muir, who went on to produce other successful shows, including Concentration, was 89. The cause was a stroke, his son, Warren, said. At a time when big, bulky wood-encased television sets were first coming out of their crates in homes ...

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