IN MEMORIAM 2021
Honoring some in the music world—many legendary, some lesser known—who died in 2021.
Pop, Roots, Broadway, Country
Stephen Sondheim, Broadway musical pioneer; Charlie Watts, drummer (Rolling Stones);
Nancy Griffith, singer/songwriter; Don Everly, pioneering singer (Everly Brothers);
Michael Nesmith, Monkees, & country-rock & video pioneer; Gerry Marsden (Gerry and the Pacemakers);
Joanne Shenandoah, Native American singer/songwriter; Phil Spector, producer/songwriter (“Wall of Sound”);
Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls); Sophie, singer; Mary Wilson (the Supremes & solo); DMX (Earl Simmons), hip hop artist; MF Doom, masked rapper;
Jim Steinman, songwriter; Les McKeown (Bay City Rollers); Shock G, rapper (Digital Underground);
Pervis Staples (the Staple Singers); Roger Hawkins, Muscle Shoals master drummer;
B.J. Thomas (“Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”); Alix Dobkin, lesbian music pioneer;
Patrick Sky, folk singer; Byron Berline, bluegrass fiddler; Micki Grant, Bway composer (Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope); Steve Bronski (Bronski Beat);
Willie Winfield (the Haptones); Lloyd Price, soul singer; Paul Cotton (Poco)
Tom T. Hall, singer & songwriter; Sarah Dash, vocalist (Labelle); Ron Tutt, drums (Elvis);
Jay Black (Jay and the Americans); Sonny Osborne, singer/banjo (Osborne Brothers);
Ronnie Wilson (Gap Band); Don Maddox (Maddox Brothers & Sister Rose); Graeme Edge (the Moody Blues); Stonewall Jackson, Grand Old Opry star; Kangol Kid, early rapper
Dusty Hill, bassist (ZZ Top);
Julz Sale, singer & guitarist (Delta 5); Billy Conway, drummer (Morphine); Timothy “Gift of Gab” Parker, rapper (Blackalicious); George Frayne IV aka Commander Cody (Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen); Anita Lane, musician & songwriter (The Bad Seeds); J. D. Crowe, bluegrass banjo innovator
Jazz
Chick Corea, pianist/composer/bandleader; Frank Kimbrough, pianist; Eugene Wright, bassist (Dave Brubeck Quartet); Claude Bolling, pianist/arranger; Phyllis McGuire (McGuire Sisters);
Howard Johnson, tuba/brass master; David Darling, cello; Junior Mance, pianist;
Milford Graves, drummer/teacher/explorer; Dr. Lonnie Smith, Hammond B3 organ;
Larry Harlow, salsa bandleader/arranger (Fania); Johnny Pacheco, flautist, arranger, co-founder, Fania Records; George Mraz, bassist; Ralph Peterson, drummer; Freddie Redd, pianist; Sonny Simmons, alto sax;
Chris Barber, saxophonist; Buddy Deppenschmidt, drummer (Charlie Byrd Trio, Jazz Samba);
Curtis Fuller, trombone; Mario Pavone, bass; Jerry Granelli, drums; Bennie Pete (Hot 8 Brass Band);
Pat Martino, guitar; Ralph Irizarry, Latin percussionist; Paul Jackson, bass (the Headhunters); Juini Booth, bass;
Peter Ind, bass; Rick Laird, bass (Mahavishnu Orchestra); Jonas Gwnagwa, South African trombonist;
Dave Frishberg, songwriter/singer, pianist; Barry Harris, pianist
Classical
Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano; Ivry Gitlis, violinist; Theodore Lambrinos, baritone;
Bernard Haitink, conductor; Yoshi Wada, Fluxus avant pioneer; R. Murray Schafer, composer/writer;
Frederic Rzewski, composer/pianist; Michael Morgan, conductor; Carlisle Floyd, composer;
Edita Gruberová, soprano; Nelson Freire, piano; Carlos Marín, baritone (Il Divo)
International
Paddy Moloney (co-founder/uilleann pipes, the Chieftains); Flory Jagoda, Ladino songstress;
U-Roy, Jamaican toaster pioneer; Lee (Scratch) Perry, pioneering reggae & dub producer & artist;
Robbie Shakespeare, reggae bassist, producer (Sly & Robbie); Bunny Wailer, original Wailer;
Mikis Theodorakis, composer; Adalberto Álvarez, “Gentleman of Son;”
Vicente Fernández, “El Rey” of the ranchero
Other
Greg Tate, music & art critic/band leader/organizer (Burnt Sugar);
Robert Farris Thompson, scholar, author, curator of “Afro Atlantic” music and arts;
George Wein, festival innovator (Newport Jazz Festival); Peter G. Davis, classical music critic;
Bob Koester, Delmark Records; Walter Yetnikoff, CBS Records; Phil Schaap, jazz scholar & DJ; Ken Kragen, “We Are the World” organizer
DC
Grace Griffith, folk & Celtic singer/songwriter; Bill Brower, DC jazz concert producer and writer;
Chuck Thompson, hip-hop and R&B producer (& Chuck Brown Soul Searcher member);
Aaron Martin, Jr., DC saxophonist; Stephen Crout, founder, Washington Concert Opera;
Rudy Morales, DC Afro-Latin percussionist