Musicians Who Died in 1987

Liberace (1919-1987)

Feb 4 American Emmy Award-winning pianist, showman (The Liberace Show), and actor (Batman -"Evil Chandell"), dies of AIDS-related pneumonia at 67

Feb 10 Ray Colignon (sometimes none as "Coco"), Belgian jazz and easy listening pianist, Hammond organist, and bandleader, dies at 80
Feb 14 Bola Sete, Brazilian guitarist, dies at 63
Feb 15 Jimmy Holiday, American soul singer ("How Can I Forget"; Baby I Love You"), and songwriter ("Put A Little Love In Your Heart"), dies of heart failure at 42
Feb 15 Osmo Lindeman, Finnish jazz pianist, film score composer, pedagogue, and electronic music pioneer, dies at 57
Feb 16 Dmitri Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (In the Fire), dies at 82
Feb 20 Adrian Cruft, British composer, dies at 66
Feb 20 Ivan Brkanović, Croatian composer (Triptych - Funeral Folk Rite), dies at 80
Feb 25 James Coco, American character actor (Only When I Laugh; Murder by Death), and singer (Man of La Mancha), dies of a heart attack at 56
Feb 28 Nora Kaye, American ballet dancer, and Broadway and film choreographer, dies of cancer at 67
Mar 1 Freddie Green, American jazz guitarist (Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1937-87), dies of a heart attack at 75
Mar 4 Siro Cisilino, Italian composer and musicologist, dies at 83
Mar 6 Eddie Durham, American pioneering jazz electric guitarist, trombonist (Count Basie; Jimmie Luceford), composer ("Topsy"; "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"), and bandleader (All-Star Girl Orchestra), dies at 80
Mar 13 Fela Sowande, Nigerian musician and composer, dies at 81
Mar 13 Finn Videro, Danish organist and composer, dies at 80
Mar 13 Gerald Moore, English pianist (Am I Too Loud), dies at 87
Mar 20 Norman Harris, American soul, R&B, and disco session guitarist (Philadelphia International; O'Jays; Salsoul Orchestra), dies of cardiovascular disease at 39
Mar 20 Rita Streich, Russian-German soprano, dies at 66
Mar 21 Dean Paul Martin, Jr, American singer (Dino, Desi & Billy), and actor (Misfits of Science), dies in a military aircraft crash at 35
Mar 21 Robert Preston [Meservey], American stage and screen actor and singer (The Music Man; Mame; The Last Starfighter), dies of lung cancer at 68
Mar 26 Eugen Jochum, German conductor (Hamburg Orchestra), dies at 84
Mar 27 Bruno Kiefer, German-born Brazilian composer, dies at 63
Mar 28 Maria Augusta von Trapp, Austrian singer who inspired the "Sound of Music" (Trapp Family Singers), dies of heart failure at 82

Buddy Rich (1917-1987)

Apr 2 American jazz drummer and bandleader (Buddy Rich Band - "Away We Go"), dies at 69

Apr 3 Hans Gál, Austrian-British composer (Die heilige Ente (The Sacred Duck)), dies at 97
Apr 7 Maxine Sullivan [Marietta Williams], American jazz vocalist and performer ("Going Places"), dies following a seizure at 75
Apr 14 Karl Höller, German composer, dies at 79
Apr 17 Carlton "Carly" Barrett, Jamaican reggae drummer (The Upsetters; Bob Marley & Wailers), murdered at 36
Apr 19 Hugh Brannum, American actor and singer (Captain Kangaroo - "Mr. Green Jeans"; The Fred Waring Show - "Lumpy"), dies of cancer at 77
Apr 20 Antony Tudor, English dancer and choreographer (American Ballet Theater), dies at 78
Apr 22 Irving Ashby, American jazz and session guitarist (Lionel Hampton - "Flying Home"; Nat King Cole Trio; Oscar Peterson Trio), dies at 66
Apr 28 Åke Olof Sebastian Uddén, Swedish violist, composer and educator (Royal College Of Music, 1934-70), dies at 84
May 3 Dalida [Yolande Christina Gigliotti], French-Italian actress (The Sixth Day), singer (Bambino), and Miss Egypt 1954, commits suicide at 54
May 4 Paul Butterfield, American blues singer and harmonica player (Paul Butterfield Blues Band; Better Days), dies of drug abuse at 44
May 12 Victor Feldman, British jazz pianist and drummer, dies of a heart attack at 53
May 13 Phil Moore, American jazz pianist, arranger, and bandleader, dies at 70
May 22 Mario Zafred, Italian composer, and opera director dies at 65
May 23 Karel Albert, Flemish composer (Marieken van Nymeghen), dies at 86
May 26 Emiliana de Zubeldía, Spanish-Mexican concert pianist, composer - chiefly for guitar (Landscape Basko), and educator (Academy of Music at the University of Sonora, 1947-87), dies at 98
May 29 Phyllis Tate, English composer, dies at 76
May 30 Melvin "Turk" Murphy, American Dixieland jazz trombonist, dies at 71
Jun 2 Andres Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist and composer, dies at 94
Jun 2 Sammy Kaye, American orchestra leader (Swing and Sway With Sammy Kaye)), dies of cancer at 77
Jun 8 Yogi Horton, American R&B and funk drummer (Luther Vandross), commits suicide at 33
Jun 10 (Mitchell) "Booty" Wood, American jazz trombonist (Lionel Hampton, Erskine Hawkins, Count Basie, Duke Ellington), dies at 67

Fred Astaire (1899-1987)

Jun 22 American stage and screen tap dancer, singer ("Night And Day"; "Cheek To Cheek"; "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"), and actor (Royal Wedding; Easter Parade; Swingtime), dies of pneumonia at 88

Jun 24 American comedian (The Jackie Gleason Show; The Honeymooners), actor (Requiem For A Heavyweight; The Hustler; Gigot), composer, and conductor (Music for Lovers Only), dies of colon cancer at 71

Jun 24 (Lionel) "Linc" Chamberland, American R&B and jazz-fusion guitarist, dies of leukemia at 46
Jun 25 Boudleaux Bryant, American country music and pop songwriter ("Rocky Top"; "Love Hurts"; "Bye Bye Love"), dies at 67
Jun 26 Henk Badings, Dutch opera composer (Orestes), dies at 80
Jun 30 Federico Mompou, Spanish composer, dies at 94
Jul 1 Snakefinger [Philip Lithman], British singer and songwriter. guitarist, and violinist (The Residents), dies of a heart attack at 38
Jul 7 Tibor Frešo, Slovak composer (Fanfares of Peace; A Beetle was Born), and conductor (Slovak National Theatre Opera), dies at 68
Jul 10 John H. Hammond, American music producer, talent scout, promoter, and activist, "discovered" Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen, dies at 76
Jul 15 Jack O'Hagan, cricketer and composer (Our Don Bradman), dies at 88
Jul 17 Howard McGhee, American be-bop bebop jazz trumpeter, dies at 69
Jul 24 Dick Wellstood, American jazz pianist, dies at 59
Jul 25 Alex Sadkin, American audio engineer, and record producer (Grace Jones; Thompson Twins), dies in a car crash in The Bahamas at 38
Jul 26 Joe Liggins [Theodro Elliott], American jazz, R&B, and jump blues pianist, songwriter, and vocalist ("The Honeydripper"; "Pink Champagne"), dies after a stroke at 71
Jul 30 Ramón González Barrón, Spanish composer, dies at 89
Aug 1 Pola Negri [Apolonia Chalupec], Polish-American stage and silent and sound screen actress (Forbidden Paradise; Madame Bovary), and singer, dies of pneumonia and a brain tumor at 92
Aug 4 Kenny Price, American country singer ("Walking on New Grass"; "Happy Tracks"), dies of a heart attack at 56
Aug 5 Zygmunt Mycielski, Polish composer, music writer and editor (Ruch Muzyczny, 1957-68), dies at 79 [1]
Aug 13 Vincent Persichetti, American composer (Sibyl), dies at 72
Aug 17 Gary Chester [Cesario Gurciullo], Italian-American sessiondrummer (Monkees; Lovin' Spoonful) and drum instructor, dies at 62
Aug 23 Siegfried Borris, German composer, dies at 80
Aug 27 Charlie Smalls, American Tony Award-winning composer and songwriter (The Wiz), dies of a burst appendix at 43
Sep 3 Morton Feldman, American composer (For Philip Guston; Rothko Chapel), dies at 61
Sep 9 Gunnar de Frumerie, Swedish pianist and composer (Circulus Quintus), dies at 79
Sep 11 Ludovic Feldman, Romanian violinist and composer, dies at 94
Sep 11 Peter Tosh [Winston Hubert McIntosh], Jamaican reggae musician (The Wailers -"Get Up Stand Up"; "Mystic Man"; "Legalize It"), shot dead at his home in Jamaica at 42
Sep 21 Jaco Pastorius, American jazz-fusion musician and bass guitarist (Weather Report; Joni Mitchell; Word of Mouth), dies from injuries sustained in a bar fight at 35
Sep 22 Louis Kentner, Hungarian-British composer, dies at 82

Bob Fosse (1927-1987)

Sep 23 American choreographer, film and stage director (All the Jazz, Cabaret, Damn Yankees), dies of a heart attack at 62

Sep 23 Louis Kentner, Hungarian-British pianist and composer, dies at 87
Sep 23 O. B. McClinton, American country singer (Man needs a woman), dies at 47
Sep 30 Robert Schollum, Austrian composer, dies at 74
Oct 9 Guru Gopinath, Indian classical dancer, dies at 79
Oct 13 Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor, dies at 58
Oct 14 Rodolfo Halffter, Spanish composer, and music critic, dies at 86
Oct 16 Dana Suesse, American musician and songwriter ("You Ought To Be In Pictures"), dies at 77
Oct 19 Jacqueline du Pre, British cellist, dies from complications of multiple sclerosis at 42
Oct 29 Woody Herman, American jazz clarinetist and composer (Thundering Herd), dies at 74
Nov 6 Jean Rivier, French composer and educator (Paris Conservatory, 1946-66), dies at 91
Nov 6 Zohar Argov, Israeli singer, dies in jail of unintentional suicide at 32
Nov 16 Zubir Said, Singaporean composer who composed Singapore's national anthem, dies at 80
Nov 17 Irene Wicker, singer/actress (Singing Lady), dies at 81
Nov 22 Ted Taylor, American R&B singer ("Stay Away From My Baby"), dies in a car crash at 58
Nov 23 Alton Adams, American composer (1st black bandmaster in the United States Navy), dies at 98
Nov 26 Emmanuel Bondeville, French composer, dies at 89
Nov 28 Paul Arma, Hungarian-French composer, dies at 83
Dec 5 "Fat" Larry James, American drummer (Fat Larry's Band-Zoom), dies at 38
Dec 6 Izler Solomon, American conductor, dies at 77
Dec 10 (Leroy) "Slam" Stewart, American jazz double bass player, dies of congestive heart failure at 73
Dec 10 Jascha Heifetz, Russian violinist, dies at 86
Dec 12 Enrique Jorrín, Cuban charanga violinist and pop-dance music composer, considered the father of the cha-cha-chá, dies at 60
Dec 12 Louis de Meester, Belgian pianist and classical and electronic music composer (The Great Temptation of St Anthony), dies at 83
Dec 12 Truman "Pinky" Tomlin, American singer and actor (Sing While You're Able, With Love and Kisses), dies from a heart attack at 80
Dec 18 Conny Plank, German record producer and musician, dies at 47
Dec 22 Leonidas Zoras, Greek conductor and composer, dies at 82