Musicians Who Died on October 4

  • 1713 Valentin Molitor, Swiss composer, dies at 76
  • 1838 Eleanore Sophia Maria Westenholz, German composer, dies at 79
  • 1848 Louis Massonneau, composer, dies at 82
  • 1907 Alfredo Keil, Portuguese composer, dies at 57
  • 1915 George Edwardes, British composer (Gaiety Girl), dies at 59
  • 1935 Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German operatic soprano (Vienna State Opera, 1920-26), and pedagogue, dies at 61
  • 1949 Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer, mostly of operettas (Bruder Straubinger; The Golden Mistress), dies from injuries from falling off of a stage at 75
  • 1962 John Lowry, NYC builder (Radio City Music Hall), dies at 79
  • 1969 Natalino Otto [Natale Codognotto], Italianswing-jazz singer, dies at 56
  • 1970 George Frederick McKay, American composer, dies at 71

Janis Joplin (1943-1970)

American rock and blues singer-songwriter ("Piece of My Heart"; "Me and Bobby McGee"; "Mercedes Benz"), dies of a heroin overdose at 27

  • 1977 Del Porter, American jazz singer (Foursome - "Walkin' My Baby Back Home"; Spike Jones and His City Slickers - "Der Fuehrer's Face"), dies at 75
  • 1979 Christina Spierenburg, Dutch singer, dies at 56
  • 1982 Glenn Gould, Canadian classical pianist (Bach's Goldberg Variations) and broadcaster (Solitude Trilogy), dies after suffering a stroke at 50
  • 1993 Varetta Dillard, American R&B singer ("Mercy, Mr. Percy"; "Easy, Easy Baby"; "Johnny Has Gone"), and civil rights activist, dies of cancer at 60 [1]
  • 1994 Bill Challis, American jazz arranger and pianist, dies at 90
  • 1994 Daniel Wood "Danny" Gatton, American guitarist (88 Elmira St.), commits suicide at 48
  • 1994 Scoville "Toby" Browne, American jazz saxophone and clarinet player, dies at 84
  • 1999 Art Farmer, American trumpet player (Farmer's Market, The Jazztet), dies of a heart attack at 71
  • 1999 Grim [Erik Brødreskift], Norwegian black metal drummer commits suicide at 29
  • 2005 Mike Gibbins, Welsh musician and drummer (Badfinger - "Come and Get It": No Matter What"), dies of a brain aneurysm at 56
  • 2009 Mercedes Sosa, Argentinian singer (exponent of nueva canción), dies at 74
  • 2013 Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer (Conversations; A Diary of the Sea), dies at 80
  • 2014 Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer, dies at 73
  • 2014 Paul Revere [Dick], American rock organ player and pianist (Paul Revere & Raiders - "Kicks": "Indian Reservation"), dies of cancer at 76
  • 2016 Caroline Crawley, British alt-rock singer (Shelleyan Orphan; Babacar), dies at 53
  • 2016 Donald H. White, American composer (Lyric Suite for Euphonium and Winds; Tuba Sonata) and educator, dies at 95
  • 2018 John Tyrrell, British musicologist (Leoš Janáček; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians), dies at 76

Loretta Lynn (1932-2022)

American country singer-songwriter ("Coal Miner's Daughter"; "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man"), dies at 90 [1]