Florian Völker

#otd 16 Feb 2015
Lesley Gore (Lesley Sue Goldstein, *1946)

US-American singer, songwriter and actress ("It's My Party", "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows"); hosted several editions of the PBS television series "In the Life", which focused on LGBT issues

~ lung cancer

youtu.be/ft_QfY16CxU

16 Feb 2014
Kralle Krawinkel (Gert Franz Krawinkel, *1947)

German musician and actor, mostly known as guitarist for TRIO, entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's longest equestrian trek from Seville to Hamburg in 1998

~ bronchial carcinoma

youtu.be/jqk0jwNs2Ew

YouTube video by Soulful Sounds Nat King Cole - When I Fall In Love

#otd 15 Feb 1965
Nat King Cole (Nathaniel A. Coles, *1919)

US-American singer, jazz pianist, and actor; active in the civil rights movement; "The Nat King Cole Show" became the first nationally broadcast tv-show hosted by an African American

~ lung cancer

youtu.be/FOx8QBcIS8Y

14 Feb 2002
Mick Tucker (*1947)

English musician, drummer and backing vocalist of The Sweet

~ leukemia

youtu.be/zRgWvvkSvfk

#otd 14 Feb 1990
Tony Holiday (Rolf Peter Knigge, *1951)

German textile merchant and Schlager singer

~ AIDS

youtu.be/0FdUgPSLD8M

14 Feb 2014
Cäpt'n Suurbier (Michael Wahler, *1963)

German musician, singer and guitarist of Berlin fun punk band Die Suurbiers

~ suicide, jumped in front of a train

youtu.be/HV-W8mPsZwE

#otd 13 Feb 2001
Manuela (Doris Inge Wegener, *1943)

German schlager singer and actress ("Schuld war nur der Bossa Nova", 1963)

~ oral cancer

youtu.be/ccYG2IPuAKI

#otd 13 Feb 2016
Viola Beach
Kris Leonard (vocals, guitar), River Reeves (guitar), Tomas Lowe (bass), Jack Dakin (drums) an Craig Tarry (manager)

~ killed during their first overseas tour when their car fell from a bridge in the Swedish city of Södertälje

youtu.be/LrhRlCf_NJM

#otd 13 Feb 1997
Michael Tachie Menson (*1967)

British musician, part of the dance producer trio Double Trouble

~ set on fire in a racist attack and died two weeks later

youtu.be/r-41ODAh6No

12 Feb 2015
Steve Strange (Steven John Harrington, *1959)

Welsh nightclub host (The Blitz), promoter, singer of new wave project Visage and posterboy of the New Romantic movement

~ heart attack

youtu.be/nVsrcmW3Yc8

12 Feb 2000
Screamin Jay Hawkins (Jalacy J. Hawkins, *1929)

US-American boxer, blues musician and pioneer of shock-rock

~ died after emergency surgery from an aneurysm

youtu.be/7kGPhpvqtOc

#otd 12 February 2023
Trugoy the Dove (David Jude Jolicoeur, *1968)

US-American rapper, one third of the hip hop group De La Soul; co-wrote the Gorillaz song "Feel Good Inc."

~ cause of death undisclosed, but was diagnosed with congestive heart failure

youtu.be/zR9AlcgL6_0

#otd 12 February 2023
Trugoy the Dove (David Jude Jolicoeur, *1968)

US-American rapper, one third of the hip hop group De La Soul; co-wrote the Gorillaz song "Feel Good Inc."

~ cause of death undisclosed, but was diagnosed with congestive heart failure

youtu.be/zR9AlcgL6_0

#otd 11 February 2012
Whitney Houston (*1963)

US-American singer, actress, film producer, and model; commonly referred to as "the Voice"; one of the most awarded performers of all time

~ drowning in the bathtub (together with atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use)

youtu.be/kxZD0VQvfqU

#otd 11 February 2012
Whitney Houston (*1963)

US-American singer, actress, film producer, and model; commonly referred to as "the Voice"; one of the most awarded performers of all time

~ drowning in the bathtub (together with atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use)

youtu.be/kxZD0VQvfqU

#otd 9 Feb 1997
Brian Connolly (*1945)

Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, lead singer of The Sweet

~ kidney failure, liver failure and repeated heart attacks

youtu.be/7lTwA5xMeTM

#otd 9 Feb 2024
Damo Suzuki (Kenji Suzuki / 鈴木健次, *1950)

Japanese musician best known as the vocalist for the German Krautrock group Can between 1970 and 1973

~ cause of death unknown (maybe colon cancer)

youtu.be/JXsd5W8ofDw

9 Feb 2022
Betty Davis (Betty Gray Mabry, *1944)

American singer, songwriter, and model; second wife of Miles Davis

~ cancer

youtu.be/fxKBnR_8LIM

#otd 9 Feb 1981
Bill Haley (William John Clifton Haley, *1925)

US-American rock and roll musician; credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s

~ heart attack (maybe brain tumor)

youtu.be/ZgdufzXvjqw

8 Feb 1990
Del Shannon (Charles Weedon Westover, *1934)

US-American musician, singer & songwriter ("Runaway", 1961)

~ suicide (shooting himself); his widow blamed the antidepressant Prozac, which he had started taking two weeks earlier

youtu.be/H56qRqHfSRQ

8 Feb 2004
Cem Karaca (*1945)

Turkish rock musician (Moğollar, Dervişan, Edirdahan), one of the most important figures in the Anadolu rock movement, left Turkey in 1979 for West Germany, founded there the group Die Kanaken in 1984

~ heart failure

youtu.be/ALg5xRtIzWU

#otd 7 Feb 2000
Big Pun / Big Punisher (Christopher Lee Rios, *1971)

US-American rapper and songwriter, initially discovered by Fat Joe, became later a member of Terror Squad

~ heart attack and respiratory failure due to obesity (698 pounds / 317 kg)

youtu.be/7Xue-dOOLiY

6 Feb 2013
Fabio Fritelli (*1966)

Italian model and singer of Eurodance project Mo-Do ("Eins, zwei, Polizei")

~ suicide

youtu.be/dSy2DcATYUo

#otd 6 Feb 1989
King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock, *1941)

Jamaican sound engineer who influenced the development of dub music in the 1960s and 1970s; often cited as the inventor of the concept of the remix

~ shot dead outside his home in Kingston (probably outcome of a robbery)

youtu.be/SQWpYHAH2fI

6 Feb 1998
Falco (Hans Hölzel, *1957)

Austrian musician, singer and bassist

~ car accident in the Dominican Republic

youtu.be/DAPWGjMFW6Q

#otd 4 Feb 2009
Lux Interior (Erick Lee Purkhiser, *1946)

US-American singer of the punk band The Cramps, which he founded with his wife Poison Ivy

~ aortic dissection

youtu.be/r92XTMRy2gs

4 Feb 1987
Liberace (Władziu Valentino Liberace, *1919)
aka Mr Showmanship

US-American pianist, singer and actor (e. g. in the Batman TV series)

~ pneumonia as a result of AIDS

youtu.be/tYxWMZTEIro

#otd 4 Feb 1983
Karen Carpenter (*1950)

US-American singer and drummer who formed half of the duo The Carpenters with her older brother Richard

~ complications of anorexia nervosa

youtu.be/Tt1MqAZ9XHw

#otd 4 Feb 2016
Maurice White (*1941)

US-American musician; founder, leader, main songwriter and chief producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire

~ Parkinson's disease

youtu.be/Gs069dndIYk

3 Feb 1959

US-American rock'n'roll musicians Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley, *1936), Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela, *1941) & The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, *1930) died in a plane crash

The incident is later referred to as "The Day the Music Died" ("American Pie", 1971)