Obituary News

Robert H. Justman Star Trek Creative Force Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
June 2, 2008

Robert H. Justman, a producer who was one of the creative forces behind the original “Star Trek" television series of the 1960s as well as the 1980s-era “Star Trek: The Next Generation," has died. He was 81. Justman died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home of complications from Parkinson's disease, his son Jonathan said. Justman's death came within days of those of his “Star Trek" friends and colleagues Joseph Pevney, who directed some of the original series' most popular episodes, ...

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'60s Psychedelia Artist Alton Kelley Passes Away

Source: All About Jazz
June 2, 2008

Alton Kelly 1940 - 2008

[Petaluma, CA - Sunday, June 1, 2008] Legendary artist Alton Kelley created a graphic style that rocked the world beginning in the psychedelic Sixties. His concert posters, logo designs, LP album covers, and fine art have forevermore defined that time. Kelley, born June 17, 1940, passed away peacefully at home June 1st of complications from a long illness.

He is survived by the true love of his life, Marguerite Trousdale Kelley. He also leaves his ...

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Yves Saint Laurent Icon of French Fashion Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
June 1, 2008

Yves Saint Laurent, the French fashion designer who created a bold a new dress code for women during the feminist revolution of the 1970s and helped launch the era of the celebrity designer with his jet-set lifestyle, died Sunday at 71. The designer died at his Paris home following a long illness, Pierre Berge, his longtime friend and business partner, told the Associated Press. From the start of his career at 21, when he replaced his mentor, Christian Dior, as ...

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TV Theme Music Obituary

Source: Michael Ricci
May 31, 2008

R.I.P/TV Theme as it fades into sunset, Original music that has helped define shows is becoming a product for nostalgia.

Earle Hagen and Alexander Courage, who died days apart this month, were maestros of a musical genre that faded some years before they did. They composed TV theme music, those signature snippets that sent Pavlovian signals to viewers. It's fair to say they don't make TV theme composers like them anymore. In fact, it's fair to say they don't make ...

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Al Gallico Music Publisher N.Y., Nashville Dies

Source: All About Jazz
May 31, 2008

Al Gallico, 88, an influential music publisher whose firm's copyrights included “Stand By Your Man," “Time of the Season" and “House of the Rising Sun," died of cardiac arrest and pulmonary disease May 15 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Services were Wednesday in Los Angeles. Al Gallico, one of the leading independent country music publishers in the 1960s and 1970s. His companies' copyrights included “Stand By Your Man," “Almost Persuaded," “The Most Beautiful Girl," “Let Me Be There" ...

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Coroner: Sean Levert Died of Natural Causes

Source: All About Jazz
May 30, 2008

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Alexander 'Sandy' Courage Composer of Star Trek Theme Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
May 30, 2008

Alexander “Sandy" Courage, who composed the soaring theme for the Star Trek TV series in the 1960s and was an Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated arranger, has died. He was 88. Sandy Courage, who had been in declining health since 2005, died May 15 at an assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, said his step-daughter, Renata Pompelli. After launching his 54-year career as a composer for CBS Radio in 1946, Courage became an orchestrator and arranger at MGM in 1948. Over the next ...

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Utah Phillips Grammy Songwriter Passes

Source: All About Jazz
May 30, 2008

Utah Phillips - Singer, Songwriter, Activist, Raconteur and Unionist Bruce “U. Utah" Phillips, the Grammy-nominated folk singer known for his bushy white beard, tireless tour schedule and equally tireless work for social justice, died of congestive heart failure Friday at his home in Nevada City. He was 73 and had been having health problems in recent years. Mr. Phillips rose to prominence on the folk scene with the single “Moose Turd Pie," a song from his 1973 debut ...

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