James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
American Harlem Renaissance poet, lyricist ("Lift Every Voice And Sing"), civil rights activist, and leader of the NAACP, dies in a car crash at 67
- 1945 Erno Rapee, American conductor and composer (Radio City Music Hall), dies at 54
- 1945 Nikolay Tcherepnin, Russian composer of ballets, dies at 72
- 1956 Clifford Brown, American jazz trumpeter and composer (Joyspring, Jordu), dies at 25
- 1968 Ziggy Elman [Harry Finkelman], American big band jazz trumpeter (Benny Goodman - "And The Angels Sing"; Tommy Dorsey), bandleader, and klezmer musician, dies at 54
- 1971 Guillermo Uribe Holguin, composer, dies at 91
- 1971 Inia Te Wiata, opera singer, dies
- 1971 Juan Manen, composer, dies at 88
- 1973 Arnold Richardson, composer, dies at 59
- 1977 Lou Reizner, American rock vocalist and producer (Rod Stewart; Tommy), dies of cancer at 43
- 1981 Peter Kreuder, German composer, dies
- 1982 Andre Tchaikowsy, pianist/composer, dies
- 1983 Walter O'Keefe, songwriter, radio and TV host (Mayor of Hollywood), dies of congestive heart failure at 82
- 1987 Henk Badings, Dutch opera composer (Orestes), dies at 80
- 1994 Thomas Henry Wait Armstrong, English organist (Christ College, Oxford), dies at 96
- 1997 Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Native Hawaiian singer, songwriter ("Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World"), and Hawaiian sovereignty advocate, dies from respiratory failure at 38
- 2002 Dolores Gray [Sylvia Dolores Finkelstein], American Tony Award-winning stage and screen singer and actress (Designing Woman; Kismet; Destry Rides Again), dies of a heart attack at 78
- 2004 Eskil Hemberg, Swedish composer, conductor (Stockholm University Chorus, 1959-84), and artistic director (Royal Swedish Opera, 1987-96), dies at 66
- 2004 Naomi Shemer, Israeli singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
- 2009 Erhard Karkoschka, German composer, conductor (Contac-Ensemble), educator, and music scholar, dies at 86
- 2010 Sergio Vega, Mexican Banda singer (b.1969)
- 2018 Edward Simons, American classical violinist and conductor (Rockland Symphony, 1962-2017), dies at 101
- 2019 Eugene Alcalay, Romanian concert pianist, composer, and educator, dies of a heart attack at 52
- 2020 Tami Lynn [Gloria Brown], American soul singer ("I'm Gonna Run Away From You"), and session vocalist (Dr. John; Rolling Stones), dies at 81
- 2021 Frederic Rzewski, American concert pianist, and composer (Spacecraft), dies of a heart attack at 83
- 2021 Johnny Solinger, American rock singer-songwriter (Skid Row, 1999 to 2015), dies of liver failure at 55
- 2021 Jon Hassell, American composer and trumpet player (Dream Theory In Malaya), dies at 84
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide