On This Day

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Musicians Who Died on August 2

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  • 1661 Louis Couperin, French composer and organist, dies (b. 1626)
  • 1792 Nathanael Gottfried Gruner, German composer (Kantor at Gera), dies at 60
  • 1827 James Hewitt, American composer and conductor, dies at 57
  • 1873 Frank Mori, English composer, dies at 53
  • 1914 Gabriel Édouard Xavier Dupont, French composer, dies of tuberculosis at 36
  • 1916 Hamish MacCunn, Scottish composer (The Land of the Mountain and the Flood), and teacher, dies at 48

Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)

Italian operatic tenor (Faust), dies of pleurisy at 48

Enrico Caruso
  • 1933 Arthur Collins, American baritone vocalist, known as 'King of the Ragtime Singers' (Peerless Quartet), and comedian, dies at 69
  • 1938 Bjarni Thorsteinsson, Icelandic organist, composer, musical folklorist, and priest, dies at 76
  • 1945 Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Austrian composer (Donna Diana), dies at 85
  • 1945 Pietro Mascagni, Italian opera composer (Cavalleria Rusticana), dies at 81
  • 1953 Betty Jack Davis, American country singer (with Skeeter Davis in The Davis Sisters), killed in car crash at 21
  • 1954 Rene Amengual, Chilean pianist, composer and educator, dies at 42
  • 1959 Prospero Bisquertt, Chilean composer, dies at 78
  • 1964 José María Castro, Argentine composer, dies at 71
  • 1965 Milton B. Babbitt, American composer (Widow's Lament), dies at 49
  • 1969 Clarence Dickinson, American composer, dies at 96
  • 1972 Brian Cole, American rock vocalist and bassist (The Association - "Windy"; "Cherish"), dies of a drug overdose at 29
  • 1972 Rudolph Ganz, Swiss-American pianist, conductor (St. Louis Symphony, 1921-27), composer, and educator (Chicago Musical College, 1928-54), dies at 95
  • 1978 Carlos Chávez, Mexican conductor and composer (Sinfonía India), dies at 79
  • 1982 Rudolf Maros, Hungarian composer (Sirato/Lament; Euphonies), and pedagogue, dies at 65
  • 1983 James Jamerson, American session bass guitarist (Motown Records' "Funk Brothers"), dies of alcohol-related complications at 47
  • 1988 Roger Vuataz, Swiss organist, conductor, and composer, dies at 90
  • 1989 Helmer-Rayner Sinisalo, Karelian-Soviet composer (Sampo), and educator, dies at 69
  • 1992 Michel Berger [Hamburger], French singer-songwriter, and record producer. dies of a heart attack at 44
  • 1995 Irwin Bazelon, American composer (Duo for Viola), dies at 73

Fela Kuti (1938-1997)

Nigerian Afrobeat musician and composer, dies of an illness, disputedly AIDS related, at 58

Fela Kuti
  • 2001 Ron Townson, American singer (The 5th Dimension - "Up, Up and Away"), dies of kidney failure at 68
  • 2003 Don Estelle [Ronald Edwards], British actor and singer ("It Ain't Half Hot Mum"), dies at 70
  • 2004 Don Tosti, American musician ("Pachuco Boogie"), dies at 81
  • 2011 DeLois Barrett Campbell, American gospel singer (Barrett Sisters), dies at 85
  • 2012 Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter ("Handy Man"), dies at 75
  • 2012 Marguerite Piazza, American operatic soprano (Young Broadway), dies at 86
  • 2014 Rosetta Hightower, American pop singer (The Orlons - "Don't Hang Up"), dies at 70
  • 2020 Leon Fleisher, American pianist and conductor (Annapolis Symphony 1970-82), dies of cancer at 92 [1]
  • 2022 Ray Majors, British rock guitarist (Mott the Hoople, 1975-76; British Lions, 1977-78), dies at 73


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