Motown soul singerEdwin Starr, best-known for the 1970 chart-topping single “War”, died of a heart attack April 2 in England at his home near Nottingham. Starr, 61, was a native of Nashville, Tennessee. Hank Ballard, best-known for writing the early rock ‘n’ roll smash “The Twist”, died March 2 after battling throat cancer. Ballard, 75, [...]

Zal Yanovsky, a founding member of hitmaking 1960s folk-rock band the Lovin’ Spoonful, died December 13, 2002, in Kingston, Ontario, from heart problems. He was 57. Tommy Thompson, a founding member of North Carolina string-band revivalists the Red Clay Ramblers, died January 24, 2003, after struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 65. Frank Edmonson, a [...]

Legendary songwriter LAURA NYRO, who made her mark in the 1960s with soulful pop songs that were made hits by such acts as Blood, Sweat & Tears and Three Dog Night, died April 8 of cancer at the age of 49. Shortly before her death, Columbia Legacy had released a two-disc, 34-track collection titled Stoned [...]

Remembering The Queen I have a clear memory of sitting on my grandmother’s lap when I was five-years-old and listening to her beloved tube radio in the darkened back bedroom of the shotgun duplex that she and my grandfather rented on the corner of 67th Street and Navigation Boulevard in the hardscrabble section of Houston, [...]

Charles Sawtelle, guitarist for the Boulder, Colorado, bluegrass band Hot Rize, died March 20 of complications from a bone marrow transplant following a battle with leukemia. He was 52. While occasionally joining Hot Rize for reunion concerts, he also performed with his band, Charles Sawtelle & the Whippets, ran a recording studio, and toured with [...]

Legendary music publisher Bill Lowery died of cancer June 8 at age 79. For more than 50 years, the Lowery Group was one of the most successful music publishing houses, representing such classic songs as “Be-Bop-A-Lula” and “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden”.… Hillbilly/rockabilly guitarist Jimmie Lee Fautheree died June 29 at age 70 [...]

Silos bassist and multi-instrumentalist DREW GLACKIN died January 5 of heart damage caused by an overactive thyroid. Glackin had also played and recorded with Tandy, Crash Test Dummies, the Hold Steady and others. He was 45.

Kenneth Francis Nelson, who died January 6 at his home in Somis, California, at 96, was an enabler in the best sense of the word. In 26 years overseeing Capitol Records’ country division, his primary goal beyond selling records was allowing his acts the tools and means — combined with no-nonsense advice — to create [...]

Bluegrass fiddler and mandolinist VERNON DERRICK died January 4. He played with Jimmy Martin, the Stanley Brothers, and Hank Williams Jr. He was 74.