2016 Obituaries

[waltky]

The Voice singer shot and killed in Orlando...

'Voice' singer Christina Grimmie fatally shot after Florida show
Jun 11 2016 - A man thought to be a deranged fan fatally shot Christina Grimmie, a rising singing star who gained fame on YouTube and as a contestant on television's "The Voice," while she was signing autographs after a concert in Orlando, Florida, police said on Saturday.

The suspect, identified as 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl of St. Petersburg, Florida, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was tackled by the 22-year-old singer's brother in the Friday evening attack, Orlando police said. Loibl is believed to have traveled to Orlando for the event. He had two loaded handguns, additional ammunition and a hunting knife at the time of the shooting, police said.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina told reporters the suspect did not appear to have a criminal record and there was no indication he and Grimmie knew each other. Mina said it appeared he may have been a deranged fan. "We believe he came here to commit this crime," Mina said. Grimmie, who had just performed as the opening act for the band Before You Exit, was inside the Plaza Live concert hall signing autographs at the time of the shooting.

The suspect approached Grimmie and opened fire. He was then rushed by the singer's brother. "Her brother, Marcus, is a hero and possibly saved countless other lives. He is not injured," Orlando police said in a statement, adding there were about 120 people at the venue at the time. Christina Grimmie was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and died early Saturday morning. The suspect died at the scene of the shooting.

Although patrons had their bags and purses checked for weapons at the venue, there were no metal detectors and the security guards were unarmed, Mina said.

SUPERSTAR AND LIFE PARTNER

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Singer Shot and Killed at Concert in Orlando
June 11, 2016 - Singer Christina Grimmie died early Saturday after being shot inside the Plaza Live concert venue in Orlando Friday night, police said.

he shooting was reported at the Bumby Avenue venue east of downtown about 10:30 p.m. after a concert by the band Before you Exit and Grimmie, who has appeared on NBC's singing competition, The Voice. Grimmie, 22, opened the show, then Before You Exit took the stage. The show ended about 10 p.m., police spokeswoman Wanda Miglio said. After the show, Grimmie and the band signed autographs near a merchandise table inside. That's when a man armed with two guns walked up and opened fire on her, Miglio said. She was hit at least once. Her brother tackled the suspect to the ground. The suspect then fatally shot himself.

Police are working to confirm his identity, Miglio said. "This is a very tragic event. This should have been something fun and exciting and for this to happen is just a tragedy," Miglio said. Grimmie was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Police confirmed at 3 a.m. Saturday that she died from her injuries. Miglio said no one else was injured because of the actions by Grimmie's brother. Miglio said she was unsure of the venue's security and how the man was able to enter with two guns.

Josh Call was outside the venue working a vegan hot dog stand when he heard four or five gunshots. "It was quick like pow, pow, pow, pow," he said. He said a security guard jolted and rushed to make sure others were out of harm's way. Call said he waited a few minutes and went inside where he saw a female on the ground of the venue with blood coming from her head. Someone was giving her chest compressions, he said.[ He looked over and said he saw another person injured. He said a man was on the floor in a pool of blood, his face was completely disfigured. "I don't think anyone expected something like this to happen," he said. "It was horrifying."

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[Auld Phart]

Ann Morgan Guilbert, Millie on 'Dick Van Dyke Show,' Dies at 87

 

[Auld Phart]

Bud Spencer, Italian actor known for spaghetti westerns, gone at age 86.

 

[waltky]

Sydney Schanberg, Killing Fields author, passes on...

Sydney Schanberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, dies at 82
July 9, 2016 - Memoir on Cambodian translator inspired “The Killing Fields”; Was New York Newsday columnist for 10 years

Sydney H. Schanberg, a former New York Newsday columnist whose Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the war in Cambodia for The New York Times inspired an Academy Award-winning movie, died Saturday. He was 82. In 1975, three years after Schanberg hired Dith Pran as his translator and assistant in Phnom Penh, the two were captured when Communist guerrillas overran the capital. While Schanberg fled, Pran remained behind. One year later, Schanberg won the Pulitzer for international reporting “at great risk.”

Pran managed to escape years later, and Charles Kaiser, a colleague and friend of Schanberg, recalled his reunion with Pran as a turning point in Schanberg’s happiness. “It was the miracle that really redeemed Sydney because until that time, he felt terrible every day of his life because he left behind his great friend in Cambodia and he hadn’t been able to save him,” Kaiser said. “He got a call that Dith was in some refugee camp, and Sydney flew off and that was really his redemption.” Pran was hired by The Times. “The Death and Life of Dith Pran,” the memoir Schanberg wrote, was the basis for the 1984 film “The Killing Fields.”

Sydney H. Schanberg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for The New York Times and former New York Newsday columnist, died Saturday, July 9, 2016. He was 82. In this 1973 photo, Schanberg crosses the Mekong River from Vietnam to Cambodia.​

Schanberg had a heart attack on Tuesday and died at 2:20 a.m. Saturday at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in upstate Poughkeepsie, his wife, Jane Freiman, said. They had lived in New Paltz for five years, she said. Schanberg was “a wonderful, wonderful husband” who was “hilariously funny” and “a great dad and a loving granddad,” she said. Freiman, a former restaurant critic for New York Newsday, said she was introduced to Schanberg in “a behind-the-scenes fix-up” by a deputy publisher in the office. “He was the best reporter with the best news sense I ever knew,” Freiman said. “He considered journalism his religion. He loved newspapers and working for newspapers, writing for newspapers and reading newspapers.”

Schanberg was born on Jan. 17, 1934, in Clinton, Massachusetts, and attended Harvard College on several scholarships, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1955. Drafted into the Army in 1956, he mainly served as a writer for the 3rd Armored Division newspaper in Frankfurt, Germany. In March 1959, The Times hired Schanberg as a copy boy; he became a staff reporter the next year. In his 26 years at the Times, he covered the New York state Legislature and served as a foreign bureau chief in New Delhi, reporting on the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. He also was a metro editor. Schanberg left The Times in 1985 when his column was discontinued after he criticized the paper’s coverage of the Westway highway development. Though offered another position, he joined New York Newsday, where he wrote a biweekly column called “New York” for the newspaper’s Viewpoints section for almost a decade. He also was an associate editor.

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[waltky]

I remember that song - but like most songs back then, ya couldn't make out the words...

'Sukiyaki' lyricist Rokusuke Ei dies
\Mon, 11 Jul 2016 - Prominent Japanese lyricist Rokusuke Ei, who composed the 1963 worldwide hit Sukiyaki, dies aged 83.

The composer of Chinese descent was best known for his work on the 1963 worldwide smash hit Sukiyaki, which protested against continued US military presence. The song was released in 1961 and topped the US Billboard charts, selling more than 13m copies worldwide. Relatives said Mr Ei suffered from Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer and died peacefully at home. An established author and radio broadcaster, Mr Ei published several books, including a novel about death and illness which sold more than 20m copies.

Sukiyaki the song, not the dish

* Japanese title "Ue o Muite Aruko" (translates as: "I look up at the sky as I walk")
* Lyrics by Rokusuke Ei, composed by Hachidai Nakamura and sung by Kyu Sakamoto
* Became one of the most successful singles of all time, selling more than 13m copies worldwide
* English title Sukiyaki has nothing to do with the famed Japanese sliced beef stew
* Mr Ei wrote the song on his way back from a student demonstration protesting against the presence of US troops in Japan
* You may not understand the lyrics but you'll recognise the tune: it has been covered by English artists and adapted with different lyrics

Fans in Japan paid tribute to the late star on Twitter, with many expressing their sympathy by remembering his iconic works. "From early on, he had a great success in Japan's electrical wave media and music industry," reminisced radio personality Jon Kabira. "While it's sad to see my great mentor depart, it has a sobering effect on me." Other users shared lyrics and links to his songs.

Japanese lyricist Rokusuke Ei dies - BBC News

 

[Uncensored2008]

Nat King Cole's daughter...

Singer Natalie Cole dead at 65
1 Jan.`16 - Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole, the daughter of Nat King Cole, has died at the age of 65, her family said on Friday.

The family's statement said Cole died Thursday night at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles from "ongoing health issues." The TMZ celebrity news website said Cole, who worked in the R&B, soul and pop genres, died from congestive heart failure following complications from a kidney transplant and Hepatitis C, diagnosed in 2008. "It is with heavy hearts that we bring to you all the news of our Mother and sister's passing," the Cole family statement said. " Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived - with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever.”

Natalie Cole poses backstage after winning Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for "Still Unforgettable" at the 51st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles​

Cole, who had struggled with drug problems in the past, broke out in 1975 with the hit "This Will Be," which won the Grammy for best R&B female performance and also earned her the Grammy for best new artist. Her career reached the superstar level in 1991 when she recorded "Unforgettable ... With Love," an album of songs related to her father, the silky-voiced singer who was one of the most popular performers of the 1940s and '50s but died before his daughter began her solo career.

Using technology that was cutting edge at the time, studio engineers merged her voice with her father's in the song "Unforgettable," which had been a hit for Nat King Cole in 1951. The result was a moving, sentimental No. 1 hit 40 years later, that actually sounded as if the two were singing a duet. The song, and the album it came from earned Cole three Grammy Awards. "I thank my dad for leaving me such a wonderful, wonderful heritage," Cole said in accepting her awards. In all, she won nine Grammys.

Singer Natalie Cole dead at 65

Very sad, she was a great talent.

 

[skye]

Dean Martin's youngest son dies at 62
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/arts/music/ricci-martin-son-of-dean-martin-dies-at-62.html

 

[Auld Phart]

Big when I was a teen

Glen Yarlbough

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/13/a...nger-with-the-limeliters-dies-at-86.html?_r=0

 

[JustAnotherNut]

The actor that played R2D2 in the original Star Wars movies passed away as well...


Hollywood Pays Respects To ‘Star War’s Kenny Baker: “The Heart And Soul Of R2-D2”

 

[Auld Phart]

Marion Berry Jr
Son of former Mayor Marion Berry

Marion Barry’s Son Dies Of Apparent Drug Overdose

Possible drug overdose

 

[waltky]

Matt Roberts, former guitarist of 3 Doors Down, dies of apparent overdose...

Founder and former guitarist of 3 Doors Down dies at 38
Sunday 21st August, 2016. - Former 3 Doors Down guitarist, Matt Roberts, has died of an apparent drug overdose, reports TMZ.

Roberts, aged 38, was found dead in a hotel at Wisconsin on early Saturday morning. The guitarist was scheduled to perform at a charity event this weekend. His father Darell, who stayed with him in the hotel room next to the guitarist, told TMZ that his son was rehearsing until 1 a.m. on the previous night and then headed to his hotel room. Darell was woken up by detectives the next morning informing him of his son’s death. He reportedly said that prescription drugs were involved, which could have led to an accidental overdose.

Roberts founded the Mississippi rock band 3 Doors Down with lead singer Brad Arnold and bassist Todd Harell in 1996. In 2012, he amicably parted way due to health concerns. Roberts had announced his decision on the band’s website saying, “3 Doors Down will always have a special place in my heart, and it saddens me to take this time off. But my health has to be my priority.”

During his time with the band, 3 Doors Down had sold nearly 20 million albums with hits such as Here Without You and Kryptonite. Guitarist Chet Roberts replaced him. The band is currently touring through the U.S. The music industry took to Twitter to offer their condolences. iHeart Radio posted, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Matt Roberts’ family & friends.”

Founder and former guitarist of 3 Doors Down dies at 38

 

[waltky]

Pioneer in fight against smallpox passes away...

Researcher Who Led Fight to Eradicate Smallpox Dies at 87
August 22, 2016 - The American epidemiologist who led the World Health Organization's vaccination effort that in 1977 wiped out smallpox, one of the world's most feared contagious diseases, has died.

Dr. Donald "D.A.'' Henderson was 87 when he died Friday at a hospice care facility in Towson, Maryland, from complications following a hip fracture, Johns Hopkins University said in a statement. Henderson was a former dean of the school's Bloomberg School of Public Health. "D.A. was a force of nature who, until relatively recently, seemed invulnerable. Public health has lost a hero," wrote Michael Klag, current dean of the Bloomberg School.

Donald A. Henderson receives a smallpox vaccination in Atlanta.​

When Henderson, then a 39-year-old epidemiologist, became the first chief of the World Health Organization's smallpox eradication unit in 1967, the virus killed an estimated 2 million people every year on three continents. By the end of his tenure there 10 years later, the disease was all but wiped out worldwide. The WHO certified in 1980 that smallpox had been completely eradicated — a first in human history.

After his work for the WHO, Henderson went on to serve as science and bioterrorism adviser to three U.S. presidents, as well as holding other academic and medical posts. He most recently was employed as a distinguished scholar at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Maryland.

Researcher Who Led Fight to Eradicate Smallpox Dies at 87

 

[JustAnotherNut]

Gene Wilder, star of Mel Brooks movies, dies at 83

 

[waltky]

WWII kiss lady dies...

Woman in iconic WWII Times Square kiss photograph dies at 92
September 10, 2016 — The woman kissed by an ecstatic sailor in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died.

Greta Zimmer Friedman’s son says his mother died Thursday at a Richmond, Virginia, hospital of what he called complications from old age. She was 92. Friedman was a 21-year-old dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform on Aug. 14, 1945. She went to Times Square amid reports that the war had ended. That’s when she was kissed by George Mendonsa celebrating Japan’s surrender.

The woman kissed by an ecstatic sailor in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died. Greta Zimmer Friedman’s son says his mother died Thursday at a Richmond, Virginia, hospital of what he called complications from old age. Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the moment​

Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the moment. It became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century. Joshua Friedman says his mother recalled it all happening in an instant. She will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, next to her late husband, Dr. Misha Friedman.

Woman in iconic WWII Times Square kiss photograph dies at 92

 

[waltky]

Was Virginia Woolf about his mother?...

Renowned US playwright Edward Albee dies aged 88
Saturday 17th September, 2016 | Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, who challenged theatrical convention in masterworks such as Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? has died. He was 88.

He died at his home in Montauk, east of New York, on Friday, his personal assistant Jackob Holder said. No cause of death was immediately given, although he had suffered from diabetes. With the deaths of Arthur Miller and August Wilson in 2005, he was arguably America's greatest living playwright. Several years ago, before undergoing extensive surgery, Albee penned a note to be issued at the time of his death: "To all of you who have made my being alive so wonderful, so exciting and so full, my thanks and all my love." Albee was proclaimed the playwright of his generation after his blistering Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? opened on Broadway in 1962. The Tony-winning play, still widely considered Albee's finest, was made into an award-winning 1966 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The play's sharp-tongued humour and dark themes were the hallmarks of Albee's style. In more than 30 plays, he skewered such mainstays of American culture as marriage, child-rearing, religion and upper-class comforts. "It's just a quirk of the brain that makes one a playwright," Albee said in 2008. "I have the same experiences that everybody else does, but ... I feel the need to translate a lot of what happens to me, a lot of what I think, into a play." Praise for the playwright came from far and wide on Twitter after his death. Mia Farrow, who was in a staged reading of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? called Albee one of the great playwrights of our time. Michael McKean wrote: "There was only one Edward Albee. #Irreplaceable." Playwright Lynn Nottage wrote: "I will miss his wit, irreverence & wisdom. He enlivened the theatre landscape."

Edward Albee in New York in 2008 - the renowned playwright has died aged 88​

Albee's unconventional style won him great acclaim but also led to a nearly 20-year drought of critical and commercial recognition before his 1994 play, Three Tall Women, garnered his third Pulitzer Prize. His other Pulitzers were for A Delicate Balance (1967) and Seascape (1975). Many of his productions in the years after Seascape were savaged by the press as inconsequential trickery, a shadow of his former works. But after Three Tall Women, a play he called an "exorcising of demons," he had several major productions, including The Play About The Baby and The Goat Or Who Is Sylvia? which won him his second Tony for best play in 2002. In interviews, Albee recoiled at the idea of drawing parallels between his works or between his cynical outlook and his unhappy childhood. "Each play of mine has a distinctive story to tell," he told The Santa Fe New Mexican in 2001.

Albee was born in 1928 and was adopted by a wealthy suburban New York couple. His father, Reed Albee, ran the Keith-Albee chain of vaudeville theatres. His mother, Frances Albee, was a socialite and a commanding presence who kept a hold on him for much of his life. Estranged from his parents, Albee moved to New York and worked as a messenger for Western Union before gaining notice with The Zoo Story, a one-act play written in 1958 about two strangers meeting on a bench in Central Park. With Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and 1964's Tiny Alice, Albee shook up a Broadway that had been dominated by Tennessee Williams, Miller and their intellectual disciples. Albee also directed the American premieres of many of his plays, starting with Seascape in 1975. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was revived on Broadway in 2013. A Delicate Balance was revived a year later, starring Glenn Close. Into his 70s, Albee continued to write provocative and unconventional plays. In The Goat Or Who Is Sylvia? the main character falls in love with a goat. Albee's long-time companion, sculptor Jonathan Thomas, died in 2005.

Renowned US playwright Edward Albee dies aged 88 - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

 

[waltky]

Another of the Greatest Generation passes on...

Bataan Death March Survivor, Artist Ben Steele Dies at 98
Sep 27, 2016 — Ben Steele's hold on his sanity as a prisoner of war after surviving the Bataan Death March relied on hidden scraps of paper, stolen pieces of charcoal and his artist's memory of scenes from his home in Montana.

"I used to dream about Montana more than anything else, more than I did food — and I used to dream about food all the time," Steele once said. "I was awful sick and I thought I was going crazy, so I had to do something to occupy my mind," he said. Steele, a former art professor, died Sunday in Billings with his wife Shirley and daughters Julie Jorgenson and Rosemarie Steele at his side. He had been in hospice care for more than a year and succumbed to an infection, Julie Jorgenson said. He was 98. Many people knew Steele's stories from World War II and what he endured as a prisoner, but "it's his personality, his warm caring personality that made people love him," Jorgenson said. "His students would come up to me and say, 'Ben and I have a special bond.' But he made everyone feel special."

In this 2015 photo, Bataan Death March survivor, artist and educator Ben Steele poses for a photo.​

During the war, other prisoners saw what he was doing and suggested he draw what he saw around him. He created depictions of life in the camp in charcoal on the floor, and then with pencils and paper that other prisoners smuggled to him. "I kept little scraps of paper, the inside of cigarette packages, that kind of thing," Steele said in a 2004 interview with The Billings Gazette. His original sketches were lost. After his liberation in 1945 and during his long recovery, he re-created sketches and made paintings depicting the march and his 3 ½ years as a prisoner of war in the Philippines and Japan.

He said the artwork helped him deal with the suffering he endured and the faces of the dead and dying he saw in his mind's eye. Steele was bayoneted, starved and beaten and suffered dysentery, malaria, pneumonia and septicemia. He lost 80 pounds. "I had lots of problems to work through," he said in 2004, "and the doctors thought the art was a good idea." Steele became an art professor at Eastern Montana College, which later became Montana State University-Billings.

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[waltky]

USS Arizona Survivor of Pearl Harbor Attack Dies...

One of Last USS Arizona Survivors of Pearl Harbor Attack Dies
Oct 07, 2016 -- One of six remaining crew members who served on board the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has died.

Raymond Haerry was 94. His son said the Navy veteran died Sept. 27 in Rhode Island. He was one of six remaining survivors from the battleship that took direct bomb and torpedo hits from Japanese warplanes on Dec. 7, 1941. The surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet plunged America into World War II. The day after Pearl Harbor was struck, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war against the Japanese empire. Raymond Haerry Jr. told The Associated Press on Friday that his father ran to an anti-aircraft gun when the Japanese attacked, but its ammunition was in storage. As he tried to get the ammo, a bomb exploded on deck. Haerry Jr. said his father jumped into flaming waters, swam to shore, and fired at enemy aircraft from there.

The battleship USS Arizona burns in the aftermath of Japan's surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. More than 1,000 crew members were killed.​

The Arizona arrived at Pearl Harbor the day before the attack, on Dec. 6, 1941. Out of eight battleships attacked by the Japanese, it received the most serious damage. Enemy bomb explosions detonated ammunition and fuel stored below deck, demolishing the ship's forward section and killing most of the ship's complement. The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, nearly four-fifths of its crew. Haerry Jr. says when he can afford it, he'll take his father's ashes to be interred inside the battleship. A total of 334 crew members survived the USS Arizona sinking; they are the only World War II veterans who may be interred inside the warship. Other survivors of the Japanese attack may have their ashes scattered over the Pearl Harbor naval base.

The memorial service and interment of deceased USS Arizona survivors is conducted on the memorial moored over the sunken battleship. The ceremony includes a committal service, interment, a rifle salute, the playing of "Taps", and the presentation of a flag and plaque to the surviving spouse or relatives. The urns that hold ashes of the deceased shipmates are placed in the well of Barbette No. 4, a circular armored structure that once supported a gun turret.

One of Last USS Arizona Survivors of Pearl Harbor Attack Dies | Military.com

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75 Years Later, Seaman Killed in Pearl Harbor to Return Home
Oct 07, 2016 — Three-quarters of a century after he was killed during the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of a young Navy sailor finally are heading home to Kansas.

Lewis Lowell Wagoner was a 20-year-old Navy seaman second class when he perished and was declared missing after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that propelled the United States into World War II. Wagoner was aboard the USS Oklahoma when that battleship, along with other U.S. warships, was doomed by torpedoes while helplessly moored in Pearl Harbor. Wagoner's body, unidentified at the time, eventually was recovered, along with several hundred fellow shipmates. All of them were buried as "unknowns" in a Hawaii cemetery. But last year, the U.S. military dug up the mass graves and began a painstaking push by special military laboratories to put names to the remains, using pre-war dental records and modern advances in DNA testing.

Wagoner's remains are to be flown Friday to Wichita, Kansas, a day before a memorial service and interment with military honors at a family plot in Harvey County's Whitewater Cemetery. A bronze grave marker — noting the Missouri-born serviceman's status as a Purple Heart recipient — already awaits him in a row of final resting places for three of his seven brothers. Just one brother, 87-year-old Carl Wagoner of Syracuse, Utah, is still living. While saying "it's a joy that we're finally able to bring Uncle Lewis home," 70-year-old Wichita niece Linda Guinn called it bittersweet in that only one sibling is able see it happen. "When his brothers all were younger, they were always talking about Lewis and wondering if he could ever be brought home," said Doris Wagoner, Lewis Wagoner's sister-in-law. Her husband — Merle Wagoner, a Navy veteran of the Korean War — died three years ago at the age of 79.

This undated family photo provided by Ron Wagoner shows Lewis Wagoner. Seventy-five years after Lewis Wagoner was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy seaman’s remains are returning to Kansas.​

Japanese planes hit the Oklahoma with a blitz of torpedoes, quickly capsizing the battleship. Thirty-two men were rescued via holes cut through the hull, but 415 sailors and 14 Marines didn't make it. All told, more than 2,400 sailors, Marines and soldiers died in the Pearl Harbor attack that sank or damaged 21 U.S. vessels. The Oklahoma's casualties were second only to the USS Arizona, which lost 1,177 men. The Pentagon has offered no public account about how Wagoner died, though Guinn said a shipmate friend of Wagoner's has said the two men dove off the torpedo-ravaged ship into the water ablaze with leaking oil and fuel. The friend survived and since has died; Wagoner was "not a good swimmer" and was never seen alive again, Guinn said.

The Navy spent more than two years recovering remains from the Oklahoma, eventually laying them to rest in mass graves in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in an extinct volcanic crater known as Punchbowl. But last year, the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began unearthing the remains from 45 gravesites, disinterring 61 caskets, many containing comingled remains of multiple people.

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[waltky]

Chess Records co-founder Phil Chess dies at 95...

Phil Chess, Pioneering Blues and Rock Exec, Dead at 95
20 Oct.`16 - Prolific record producer and Chess Records co-founder helped introduced Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Etta James to world

Phil Chess, who co-founded the legendary label Chess Records with his brother Leonard and helped make Chicago the epicenter of the blues, died Wednesday at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He was 95. Chess' nephew Craig Glicken confirmed his uncle's death to the Chicago Sun-Times, adding that the former record label executive was in good health. Born Fiszel Czyż in Poland in 1921, Chess' family immigrated to Chicago – and changed their last name to Chess – in 1928. ("We came from Poland in 1928. That was blues all the time," Chess once told Vanity Fair.) After a stint in the army, in 1950, Chess joined his brother Leonard – who purchased a stake of Aristocrat Records – in the music business. Their label was eventually renamed Chess Records.

The Chess brothers' specialty was blues and R&B – "race music" as it was called at the time – with Chess Records signing legendary artists like Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Sonny Boy Williamson, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Buddy Guy. The Chess brothers often served as producers for their artists' recordings. Following news of Phil Chess' death, Guy told the Sun-Times, "Phil and Leonard Chess were cuttin' the type of music nobody else was paying attention to – Muddy, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy, Jimmy Rogers, I could go on and on – and now you can take a walk down State Street today and see a portrait of Muddy that’s 10 stories tall. The Chess Brothers had a lot to do with that. They started Chess Records and made Chicago what it is today, the Blues capital of the world. I'll always be grateful for that."

The music that was released through Chess Records – Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" and "Roll Over Beethoven," Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' Ike Turner-penned "Rocket 88," Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" and "Rollin' Stone," Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" and "I'm a Man" (released on the Chess brothers' Checker Records), Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" and countless more blues classics – became the backbone of what would eventually become rock and roll. "The Blues had a baby, and they named it rock and roll," Waters once said. In 1963, the Chess brothers purchased WVON, a Chicago radio station dedicated to African-Americans, to get more airplay for their label's songs.

Chess Records' catalog also had a crucial impact on the other side of the Atlantic. The Rolling Stones, named after that Waters track, would cover many of the Chess artists' tracks over their career, and named their instrumental "2120 S. Michigan Avenue" after Chess Records' Chicago headquarters; the location has since been registered as a Chicago landmark. In 1970, the Rolling Stones would launch their own label – Rolling Stone Records – with Leonard Chess' son Marshall at the helm. "I think that the Stones understood a certain sexual energy that was in Chess Records music and amplified that into their own music and turned it into their own music," Marshall Chess told WGBH in 1995. "To me, that was the essence of Chess that I got from the Stones. There was something, there was a certain kind of Chess music that was sexy. 'I'm A Man' you know and those kind of things. And I think the Stones definitely picked up to that and built on it and made it into their own sound and took it beyond it."

The story behind the Chess brothers' label inspired the film Cadillac Records, with Adrien Brody playing Leonard Chess in the film. Leonard died in 1969 at the age of 52, just months after Chess Records was sold to General Recorded Tape. In 1972, three years after Leonard Chess' death, the label scored their first Hot 100 Number One single with Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-Ling." Soon after, Phil Chess retired from the music industry. For their contributions to the genre, the Chess brothers were inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1995. Phil Chess was also the recipient of the Recording Academy's Trustees Award in 2013.

Phil Chess, Pioneering Blues and Rock Exec, Dead at 95

 

[waltky]

`60's Singer Bobby Vee passes at 73...

Bobby Vee: 1960s pop singer dies aged 73
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 - Bobby Vee, best known for 1960s hits including Rubber Ball and Take Good Care of my Baby, dies at the age of 73.

Vee released more than 25 albums during his career, retiring in 2011 after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Vee's son Jeff Velline said the singer died peacefully surrounded by family on Monday. It was "the end of a long hard road", Mr Velline said. He described his father as "a person who brought joy all over the world", adding: "That was his job." Vee's big break came about in 1959 at the age of 15 when he filled in for Buddy Holly after the singer's death in a plane crash. Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were also killed in the accident in Iowa, along with the pilot, Roger Peterson.

A call went out for local acts to replace Holly at his scheduled show at the Moorhead National Guard Armory. Vee and his band, which had only formed two weeks previously, volunteered. Vee, born Robert Velline, also gave a young Bob Dylan his start. Dylan played briefly with Vee's band and he was the one who suggested Velline change his last name to Vee. Bobby Vee and the Shadows were signed in autumn 1959 and Vee had his first hit in the Billboard charts in 1960 with Devil or Angel.

A string of hits followed, including The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Come Back When You Grow Up, Please Don't Ask about Barbara and Punish Her. Vee and his wife Karen were married for more than 50 years and had four children. She died of kidney failure in 2015, aged 71. Vee had been in a care home near Minneapolis for just over a year and had been receiving hospice care before his death, Mr Velline said.

Bobby Vee: 1960s pop singer dies aged 73 - BBC News

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Pete Burns: Dead or Alive singer dies aged 57
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 - Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns dies aged 57 after suffering a cardiac arrest, his management says.

A statement on Twitter said it was with "greatest sadness" that it had to break the "tragic news" that Burns died suddenly on Sunday. Burns had a hit with You Spin Me Round in 1985 and appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006. The management statement said: "All of his family and friends are devastated by the loss of our special star." It continued: "He was a true visionary, a beautiful talented soul, and he will be missed by all who loved and appreciated everything he was and all of the wonderful memories he has left us with."

'Great true eccentric'

Burns appeared on reality television shows Celebrity Wife Swap and The Body Shocking Show in recent years. Politician George Galloway, who was on Celebrity Big Brother with Burns, tweeted: "Sad to hear of the demise of Pete Burns. He was a cross between Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker. You don't get more brilliant than that. RIP". Stars paid tribute to the singer on Twitter, with Boy George saying: "Tearful about the passing of @PeteBurnsICON he was one of our great true eccentrics and such a big part of my life! Wow. Hard to believe!"

Celebrity Big Brother presenter Davina McCall said: "So so sad to hear about Pete Burns... we partied hard in the 90s... RIP Pete x" Soft Cell musician Marc Almond tweeted: "We've had some mad times with Pete but he was a one off creation, a fabulous, fantastic, brilliant creature and always sweet to me." Ordinary Boys frontman Preston, who also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother with Burns, said: "Heartbroken to hear about Pete Burns. He was a true punk rocker and one of the kindest hearts I've ever know. Gutted."

Pete Burns: Dead or Alive singer dies aged 57 - BBC News

 

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Another of the 'Greatest Generation' passes on...

Audley Coulthurst of Famed Tuskegee Airmen Dies in NYC at 92
Oct 31, 2016 — A former member of the pioneering black aviation group the Tuskegee Airmen has died. Audley Coulthurst was 92.

Audra Coulthurst says her father died Thursday at a Veterans Affairs facility in Brooklyn after suffering a cardiac arrest. Coulthurst enlisted in the Army in 1942 and became one of the first black military pilots in the U.S. Although Tuskegee Airmen faced discrimination in a segregated military, the fighter squadrons were among the most respected in World War II.

Tuskegee Airmen, including Audley Coulthurst pictured left, are honored by the New York Assembly during a ceremony in the Assembly Chamber at the Capitol on June 16, 2016, in Albany, N.Y.​

Audra Coulthurst says after the war her father became a certified public account and served as controller of the National Urban League. He also is survived by his wife, Matilda Coulthurst, and a son, Jeffrey Coulthurst.

Audley Coulthurst of Famed Tuskegee Airmen Dies in NYC at 92 | Military.com