Musicians Who Died on January 21

  • 1626 John Dowland, English composer (In Darkness We Dwell), dies at 62
  • 1638 Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (c. 1570)
  • 1665 Domenico Mazzocchi, Italian Baroque composer, dies at 72
  • 1746 Gottfried Kirchhoff, German composer, dies at 60
  • 1851 (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, German Spieloper composer and actor (Zar und Zimmerman), dies at 49
  • 1882 Anton Emil Titl, Austrian composer, dies at 72
  • 1883 Jacopo Tomadini, Italian composer, dies at 62
  • 1884 Auguste Franchomme, French cellist and composer, dies at 75
  • 1888 Stephan Hale Alonzo Marsh, British born composer who worked in Australia (Australia's 1st opera), dies at 83
  • 1891 Calixa Lavallee, Canadian composer (O Canada), dies at 48
  • 1894 Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian composer (Épithalame), dies of typhoid fever at 24
  • 1931 Felix Blumenfeld, Russian composer, conductor and pianist, dies at 67
  • 1942 Henryk Opieński, Polish violinist, conductor, choral director, composer (Zygmunt August and Barbara), and musicologist (Moniuszko), dies at 72
  • 1943 Otakar Sini, composer, dies at 61

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948)

Italian light opera composer, dies at 72

  • 1959 Lamar Stringfield, American composer, dies at 61
  • 1961 John Joseph Becker, American composer and conductor, dies a day before his 75th birthday
  • 1975 Ernst Gernot Klussmann, German composer, dies at 73
  • 1977 John Vincent, American composer, dies at 74
  • 1977 Zoltan Vasarhelyi, composer, dies at 76
  • 1983 Lamar Williams, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band), dies of cancer at 34

Jackie Wilson (1934-1984)

American soul singer-songwriter and performer ("Lonely Teardrops"; "Higher And Higher": "I Get the Sweetest Feeling"), dies from stroke complications at 49

  • 1989 Billy Tipton [Dorothy Tipton], American jazz pianist, saxophone player, and bandleader, dies from an untreated hemorrhaging peptic ulcer at 74 [1] [2]
  • 1992 (William Thomas) "Champion Jack" Dupree, American boxer, blues and boogie-woogie pianist, singer-songwriter (Walkin' The Blues), and WWII P.O.W., dies of cancer at 81
  • 1993 Jan Zimmer, Slovak composer, dies at 66
  • 1999 Charles Brown, American blues singer and pianist ("Merry Christmas Baby"), dies at 76
  • 1999 Jacques Chailley, French musicologist and composer, dies at 88
  • 1999 Leslie French, British actor and singer (Death in Venice, More than a Miracle), dies at 94

Peggy Lee (1920-2002)

American singer ("Fever"; "Is That All There Is?"), songwriter ("Mañana"), and actress (Pete Kelly's Blues; Lady and the Tramp), dies of a heart attack at 81

  • 2010 Paul Quarrington, Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator (b. 1953)
  • 2013 Michael Adamis, Greek electro-acoustic music composer, dies at 83
  • 2015 Waldemar Kmentt, Austrian operatic tenor (Vienna State Opera, 1951-2005), dies at 85
  • 2017 Maggie Roche, American singer-songwriter (The Roches - "Hammond Song"), dies of cancer at 65
  • 2017 Veljo Tormis, Estonian composer, specializing in choral music (Curse Upon Iron (Raua needmine)), dies at 86
  • 2019 Kaye Ballard, American stage and screen actress, comedienne, and singer (Mothers-in-Law - "Kaye"), dies at 93
  • 2019 Maxine Brown, American country music singer (Browns), dies at 87