Obituary News

Lee Young - Ellington and Goodman Drummer - LA Times Obituary

Source: Michael Ricci
August 13, 2008

Lee Young, 94; jazz drummer played with Ellington, Goodman Lee Young, performing in 1941, was the first African American hired as a staff musician at a Hollywood studio, signing on with Columbia Pictures in 1946. Lee Young, a jazz drummer who served as Nat King Cole's musical director for nearly a decade and broke barriers as the first African American hired for a staff position with a Hollywood studio orchestra, has died. He was 94. Young, brother of the great ...

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Concord Music Group's Statement on Isaac Hayes

Source: conqueroo
August 11, 2008

The Stax Records and Concord Music Group family lost a great friend on Sunday when soul music giant Isaac Hayes died suddenly at the age of 65.

To the world he was Black Moses, Ike The Ripper and, later, Chef from TV's South Park. To the rest of us who had the extraordinary opportunity to work with him in recent years, he was just Isaac. He was humble, unpretentious and refreshingly down-to-earth. Not bad for a man who delivered a ...

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Isaac Hayes Innovative Singer, Composer Changed Pop Music

Source: Michael Ricci
August 11, 2008

Los Angeles Times Indepth Obituary Isaac Hayes, the musician, composer and producer whose innovative sound changed the shape of pop music and whose shaved head, bejeweled outfits and regal demeanor embodied African American masculinity in the 1970s, has died. He was 65.

Family members found Hayes unresponsive Sunday afternoon next to a treadmill in a downstairs bedroom in his home just east of Memphis, Tenn., said Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Hayes' wife, ...

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Isaac Hayes, Deep-Voiced Soul Icon, is Dead at 65

Source: Michael Ricci
August 10, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)--Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless “Theme From Shaft" won Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office said. He was 65. A family member found him unresponsive near a treadmill and he was pronounced dead an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, according to the sheriff's office. The cause of death was not immediately known. In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what ...

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Singer Isaac Hayes Dead at 65

Source: All About Jazz
August 10, 2008

Soul singer and arranger Isaac Hayes, who won Grammy awards and an Oscar for the theme from the 1971 action film Shaft has died, sheriff's officials in Memphis, Tennessee, reported Sunday. Singer Issac Hayes seen performing in the U.K. last year. Hayes was found dead Sunday at age 65.

Relatives found Hayes, 65, unconscious in his home next to a still-running treadmill, said Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.

Paramedics attempted to revive him and took ...

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Jazz Drummer, Singer Lee Young Dies at 94

Source: All About Jazz
August 10, 2008

Lee Young, who emerged from a family with musical roots deep in New Orleans jazz, drummed for greats like Ellington and Basie, became a pioneering black man in music's executive suites -- and survived his musician brother, Lester, by a half-century -- died on July 31 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94. The death was confirmed by his grandson Wren Brown. In contrast to his brother, whose debilitating battle with alcohol and personal demons is almost as ...

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Actor and Comedian Bernie Mac Dies at Age 50

Source: Michael Ricci
August 9, 2008

Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper “Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50.

“Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles. She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected. The comedian suffered ...

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Erik Darling Dies Musician in the Weavers

Source: Michael Ricci
August 9, 2008

A virtuoso guitarist and banjo player, Erik Darling performed with two of the leading folk groups of the day, the Tarriers and the Weavers, which he joined after Mr. Seeger left in 1958.

Darling, a preppy Ayn Rand devotee who replaced Pete Seeger in the Weavers and who was associated with two of folk music's biggest commercial hits, “The Banana Boat Song" and “Walk Right In," died Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 74.The cause was lymphoma, said Allan ...

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