Obituary News

R&B singer Richard "Rick" Lewis Dies at 71

Source: All About Jazz
April 27, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- Richard (Rick) Lewis, a member of the doo-wop group the Silhouettes whose song Get a Job soared to the top of the charts in 1958, died yesterday. He was 71.

Lewis died of multiple organ failure at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Lewis wrote “Get a Job," the group's one big hit. It sold nearly two million copies and led to tours and appearances on Philadelphia's American Bandstand. Years later, the group Sha Na Na took its name from ...

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Stan Levey: Bebop/West Coast Drummer & Photographer

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2005

Born: April 5, 1926 in Philadelphia, PA Died: April 20, 2005 in Van Nuys, CA

Stan Levey was born in 1926 in Philadelphia. When he was sixteen he met Dizzy Gillespie and was hired for the trumpeter’s rhythm section. Not long thereafter he followed his boss to New York City, where the two men, along with Charlie Parker, Max Roach and others, helped formulate the bebop revolution. Bebop was largely seen as a black man’s music, a response ...

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Jimmy Woode Funeral Services Announcement

Source: All About Jazz
April 26, 2005

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Arnie Lawrence has left this world.

Source: All About Jazz
April 22, 2005

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Bassist Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen dies

Source: All About Jazz
April 21, 2005

Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen, one of Denmark's best known jazz musicians, who performed with legends such as Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie, has died at age 58.

Oersted Pedersen, the bass player widely known by his initials NHOP and nicknamed “The Great Dane," died Tuesday in Copenhagen, leading jazz experts and Danish media said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

His career as a bass player took off in 1962 when, at age 16, he played in ...

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Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: First-call Danish Bassist

Source: All About Jazz
April 20, 2005

Born: May 27, 1946 in Osted, Denmark Died: April 19, 2005 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, who began his professional career as a teenager and performed with many of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, died of a heart attack on April 19, 2005. He was 58 years old.

NHØP, as he was commonly known, originally studied the piano but moved to the bass at the age of fourteen, at which time he had ...

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Pianist Johnnie Johnson dies at 80

Source: All About Jazz
April 13, 2005

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Johnnie Johnson, a rock 'n' roll pioneer who teamed with Chuck Berry for hits like “Roll Over Beethoven" and “No Particular Place to Go," died Wednesday. He was 80.

Johnson died at his St. Louis home. The cause of death was not immediately known, said publicist Margo Lewis. He had been hospitalized a month ago with pneumonia and was on dialysis for a kidney ailment, said John May, a friend and fellow musician.

Though he was ...

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Enos Payne Tribute Set

Source: All About Jazz
March 28, 2005

Jazz Pianist ENOS PAYNE and his life were celebrated with a tribute at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music on 7th Avenue in Brooklyn on Sunday, March 20th, 2005. Among the performers; pianist ELLIS THE NAZARENE, ERIC LEMON,bassist, Kim Clarke, bassist, Hank Johnson, pianist, Bertha Hope, pianist, Jazz Vocalist Tulivia Cumberbatch, Shirl Wright,others. On April 6th, 2005 in Queens, New York at the Queens Conservatory in Flushing there will be another tribute for ENOS PAYNE. Eric Lemon, bassist is organizing it, ...

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