Musicians Who Died on April 26

  • 1648 Christophe Thomas Walliser, French composer, dies at 79
  • 1703 Georg Christoph Leuttner, German composer, dies at 58
  • 1785 Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff, German composer, dies at 40
  • 1827 Bernardo Ottani, Italian composer, dies at 90
  • 1865 Charles J Sax, Belgian musician, instrument maker, and father of Adolphe Sax - inventor of the saxophone, dies at 74
  • 1907 Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., Austrian composer, violinist, and conductor, dies of kidney failure at 52
  • 1907 Pietro Platania, Italian composer, dies at 79
  • 1918 Cecil Coles, Scottish organist and composer (Behind the Lines), killed during WWI by sniper fire while recovering casualties on the Western Front at 29
  • 1922 Hans Sommer, German theatre composer, dies at 84
  • 1924 Josef Labor, Austrian composer, dies at 82
  • 1951 John Alden Carpenter, American composer (Sea Drift), dies at 75
  • 1965 Aaron Avshalomov, Russian-Jewish-American composer (Kuan Yin; The Great Wall), conductor (Shanghai Municipal Orchestra, 1943-46), and librarian, dies at 70
  • 1972 Margaret Bonds,  American composer (The Ballad of the Brown King), pianist, arranger, and teacher, dies at 59
  • 1983 Bronislaw Kaper, Polish-American Academy Award-winning film composer (Green Dolphin Street; Lili; The Brothers Karamazov), dies at 81

Count Basie (1904-1984)

Jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader ("One O'Clock Jump"; "April In Paris"), dies of pancreatic cancer at 79

  • 1984 Barry Gray [John Livesey Eccles], British pianist, ondist, Hammond organ player, film and television composer (Thunderbirds; Space:1999), dies at 75
  • 1991 Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (The Godfather Part II), and father of Francis Ford Coppola, dies at 80
  • 1991 Hans Holewa, Austrian-born Swedish composer, dies at 85
  • 1991 Leo Arnaud, French-American composer (Bugler's Dream), dies at 86
  • 1994 Manuel Enríquez, Mexican composer, dies at 67
  • 1997 Gene Ames, American singer (Ames Brothers), dies of cancer at 73
  • 1999 Adrian Borland, English musician (The Sound), dies at 41
  • 2004 Claude "Fiddler" Williams, American jazz violinist and guitarist (Twelve Clouds of Joy; Count Basie), dies at 96
  • 2008 Henry Brant, American composer (Great American Goot), dies at 94
  • 2011 Phoebe Snow [Laub], American singer-songwriter ("Poetry Man"), dies at 60
  • 2013 George Jones, American country singer-songwriter ("Golden Rings"; "Oh Lonesome Me"), dies from hypoxic respiratory failure at 81
  • 2018 Charles Neville, American vocalist & saxophonist (Neville Brothers), dies of pancreatic cancer at 79
  • 2021 Albert "Al" Schmitt, American Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and record producer (Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand), dies at 91 [1] [2]