PlantChek
PlantChek

Pop, Hip-Hop and Rock Star Deaths in 2023

March

Orrin Bolton - older brother of Michael, also was a singer; 72

David Lindley -California born multi-instrumentalist, played with Jackson Browne and many others; long Covid; 78

Steve Mackey - bassist with Britpop band Pulp, also a producer; 58

Michael Rhodes - Nashville-based bassist, performed with Rodney Crowell and others; pancreatic cancer; 69

Gary Rossington - Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist, survived band plane crash in 1977; 71

Wayne Shorter - Newark-born jazz saxophonist known best for his work with Miles Davis and Weather Report; 89

 

February

RIP Buirt Bacharach and Chuck Jackson

• Burt Bacharach - singer-songwriter noted principally for his work with Dionne Warwick, winner of six Grammy Awards, including one for "That's What Friends Are For"; 94

Bruce Barthol - original bass player with Country Joe & the Fish; 75

Chuck Jackson - North Carolina born R&B singer has hit with "Any Day Now" in 1961; 85

Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur) - member of New York rap group De La Soul; 54

 

January

RIP Television’s Tom Verlaine and CSNY’s David Crosby (Croz photo by Henry Diltz)

Robbie Bachman - drummer with Canadian band Bachman-Turner Overdrive; 69

Jeff Beck - former guitarist with the Yardbirds and solo performer, eight-time Grammy winer and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee; bacterial meningitis; 78

Jeff Blackburn - singer-songwriter founded the Ducks that also included Neil Young in 1977 in Santa Cruz, CA; wrote "My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)"; 76

Alan Copeland - singer with the Modernaires, also wrote songs and arrangements for pop and jazz acts; 96

David Crosby - former member of the Byrds and Crosby, Still, Nash & Young as a singer-songwriter/guitarist and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee; 81

Dean Daughtry - co-founder/keyboard player with Atlanta Rhythm Section and before that with the Classics IV; 76

Gangsta Boo (Lola Mitchell) - member of Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia and solo recording artist; drug overdose; 43

Gordy Harmon - original member of L.A. R&B singing group the Whispers; 79

Curtis "CJ" Harris - Alabama singer appeared on American Idol; heart attack; 31

Barrett Strong - original Motown performer and co-songwriter of some of the R&B label's greatest hits; 81

Yukihiro Takahashi - co-founder, singer and drummer of Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra; brain tumor; 70

Anthony "Top" Topham - original guitarist with the Yardbirds; 75

Marshall Tucker - blind piano tuner from South Carolina whose name was used for the Marshall Tucker Band; 99

Tom Verlaine  (Thomas Miller) - co-founder and guitarist of seminal New York punk-rock band Television; 73

Fred White - drummer with Earth, Wind & Fire; 67

Total: 25

 

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Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom

Publisher of CelebStoner.com, former editor of High Times and Freedom Leaf and co-author of Pot Culture and Reefer Movie Madness.