Musicians Who Died on February 13

  • 1629 Girolamo Giacobbi, Italian singer, choirmaster, conductor, and composer of sacred music and opera, dies at 61 (date approximate)
  • 1693 Johann Kaspar von Kerll, German composer, dies at 65
  • 1724 Francisco Jose Coutinho, Portuguese composer, dies at 43
  • 1741 Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer/music theorist, dies at about 80
  • 1814 Georg Augustin Holler, German composer, dies at 69
  • 1849 Christian Rummel, German conductor and composer, dies at 61

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

German composer, noted chiefly for his operas (The Ring of the Nibelung; The Flying Dutchman), dies of a heart attack while visiting Venice at 69

  • 1896 Carl Martin Reinthaler, German composer, dies at 73
  • 1952 Alfred Einstein, German-American musicologist (Mozart catalogue revision), dies at 71
  • 1959 William Axt, American film scores composer (The Prisoner of Zenda), dies at 70
  • 1965 Jerry Burke, American easy-listening pianist and organ player (Lawrence Welk Orchestra, 1934-65), dies of cancer at 53
  • 1966 Marguerite Long, French concert pianist (Ravel) and teacher (Paris Conservatoire, 1906-40), dies at 91
  • 1968 Ildebrando Pizzetti, Italian composer, dies at 87
  • 1975 Eric Harding Thiman, English composer, dies at 74
  • 1976 Alice "Lily" Pons, French-American coloratura soprano opera singer (Metropolitan Opera, 1931-60) and actress (That Girl From Paris), dies of pancreatic cancer at 77
  • 1988 John Curulewski, American rock guitarist and singer (Styx), dies of a brain aneurysm at 37
  • 1995 Wilton "Bogey" Gaynair, Jamaican jazz saxophonist, dies at 68
  • 1996 Daniel Womack, American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and harmonica player, dies at 91

Waylon Jennings (1937-2002)

American country singer and guitarist ("I'm A Ramblin' Man"), dies of diabetic complications at 64

  • 2005 Sixten Ehrling, Swedish pianist, conductor (Royal Opera of Stockholm, 1953-60; Detroit Symphony, 1963-73), and educator (Juilliard, 1973-87), dies at 86
  • 2008 Henri Salvador, French-Caribbean pop singer, guitarist, and cabaret, dies of an aneurysm at 90
  • 2008 Roger Voisin, American classical trumpet player (Boston Symphony, 1935-83), dies at 89
  • 2010 Dale Hawkins, American rock singer and songwriter (Susie Q), dies at 73
  • 2010 Jamil Nasser [George Joyner], American jazz double and electric bassist, and tuba player (Ahmad Jamal Trio), dies at 77
  • 2010 John Reed, British comic actor and singer (Gilbert & Sullivan; D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 1951-79), dies after a stroke on his 94th birthday
  • 2012 Russell Arms, American actor and vocalist (Your Hit Parade; "Cinco Robles"), dies at 92
  • 2015 John McCabe, British composer and pianist, dies at 75
  • 2017 Michael Naura, German jazz pianist, radio broadcaster, editor and anti-nuclear proliferation activist, dies at 82
  • 2023 Huey "Piano" Smith, American R&B pianist ("Rockin' Pneumonia & Boogie Woogie Flu"; "Having a Good Time"), dies at 89 [1]