Obituary
James Levine, Former Met Opera Conductor, Dies at 77
Levine became music director emeritus and remained head of its young artists program but was suspended on Dec. 3, 2017, the day after conducting a Verdi “Requiem” in what turned out to be his final performance, after accounts in the New York Post and The New York Times of sexual misconduct dating to the 1960s. He was fired the following March 12 and never conducted again. He had been scheduled to make comeback performances of Brahms’ ”Ein Deutsches Requiem” this Jan. 17 and 21 in Florence, Italy, but the concerts were canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. “No artist in the 137 year history of the Met had as profound an impact as James Levine,” Gelb said in a statement. “He raised the Met’s musical standards to new and greater heights.” Known for bushy hair an an ever-present towe...
R.I.P. Yaphet Kotto, Homicide: Life on the Street and Alien Actor Dead at 81
Yaphet Kotto, an Emmy Award-nominated actor best known for his role in the TV police procedural drama Homicide: Life on the Street, as well as in films like Alien, The Running Man, Live and Let Die, has died at the age of 81. According to his wife of 24 years, Tessie Sinahon, Kotto passed away Monday, March 15th. A cause of death was not immediately made public. The Harlem native portrayed police lieutenant Alphonse “Gee” Giardello throughout Homicide’s seven season run from 1993 to 2000, appearing in a total of 122 episodes. The NBC drama received universal acclaim, winning multiple Emmys, Peabodys, and Television Critics Association Awards. Kotto will also be remembered for on-screen roles in Alien, where he played the space traveler Parker; in the James Bond film Live and Let ...
Doug Parkinson, Soulful Australian Singer, Dies at 74
Doug Parkinson, the hirsute Australian singer and bandleader whose distinctive, soulful vocals powered a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, died Monday (March 15) at the age of 74. Parkinson’s publicist Lionel Midford broke the news, announcing “the legendary Australian recording artist with a powerful and soulful voice, passed away suddenly at home.” Parkinson, he continued, was widely considered one of the “most unusual and influential singer-songwriters in the history of contemporary music” in Australia. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and ...
Chucky Trill Dead: Rapper Dies After Highway Shooting
Flynn said the suspect fled and a motive in the slaying was unknown. Police gave no immediate description of the suspect’s vehicle and have made no arrest. On Saturday, a man was grazed by a bullet on I-285 in DeKalb County when another driver pulled alongside him and opened fire, DeKalb police spokeswoman Officer Elise Wells said. Officers were called to a gas station about 4 a.m. after the man, who was in his 40s, pulled over and called 911, Wells said. “It appears that the victim was traveling down 285 when an unknown vehicle pulled up next to him and fired several rounds into the victim’s car,” Wells said in an emailed statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It’s unclear what prompted the shooting. The man was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover, authoriti...
Bhaskar Menon, Legendary EMI and Capitol Records Head, Dies at 86
In the 2003 documentary The Making of the Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason acknowledged Menon’s outsized influence on the album’s success. “The story in America was a disaster, in that we really hadn’t sold records,” he said at the time. “And so they brought in a man called Bhaskar Menon who was absolutely terrific. He decided he was going to make this work, and make the American company sell [Dark Side of the Moon]. And he did.” Born Vijaya Bhaskar Menon in Thiruvanthapuram, India, on May 29, 1934, to father KRK — a notable civil servant who would go on to serve as India’s first Finance Minister — and mother Saraswathi, Menon would form a love of music via the Indian ragas his mother played in their home growing up. After earning his master’s degree f...
Josh Humiston, APA Partner and Music Agent, Dies at 48
Born in Santa Monica on March 18, 1972, Humiston graduated from Beverly Hills High School and then Boston University. He joined APA in 1995 and was upped to vp concerts in 2001, responsible for developing and overseeing the agency’s modern rock department. According to APA, Humiston was a passionate golfer, an ardent Los Angeles Kings, Lakers and Dodgers fan and a “recurring, enthusiastic fixture” at their games. Survivors include his wife, Jaime, and their daughters, Isabella and Juliana; his parents, Jan and Robert; siblings Alison and Matthew; sister-in-law Lisa; and nieces Mila and Rachel. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a funeral for immediate family only will be held Sunday at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles, with a celebration of his life to be sch...
R.I.P. Bunny Wailer, Founding Member of The Wailers Dead at 73
Bunny Wailer, a founding member of The Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, has died at the age of 73. According to the Jamaica Observer, Wailer died Tuesday, March 2nd in Kingston, Jamaica. No cause of death was given, but Wailer had been in and out of the hospital since suffering a stroke last year. Wailer was born Neville Livingston on April 10th, 1947. As a child living in Jamaica’s St. Ann Parish, he befriended Bob Marley. The boys grew even closer when, following the death of Marley’s father in 1955, Marley’s mother moved in with Livingston’s father. In 1963, Livingston and Marley, along with their friend Peter Tosh, moved to Kingston and formed a reggae group called The Wailing Wailers (later shortened to The Wailers). The trio saw almost immediate success, topping the...
R.I.P. Prince Markie Dee, Rapper in The Fat Boys Dead at 52
Mark “Prince Markie Dee” Morales, whose swagger and humor with The Fat Boys helped define early hip-hop, has died at 52. The news was first announced by the SiriusXM radio channel Rock the Bells, where Morales hosted The Prince Markie Dee Show, and later confirmed by his longtime friend Louis “Uncle Louis” Gregory. AllHipHop reports the cause of death was congestive heart failure. Morales was born on on Feb. 19th, 1968 in New York City. He formed The Fat Boys in the early eighties with Darren Robinson, aka The Human Beat Box, and Damon “Kool Rock Ski” Wimbley. Alongside fellow Golden Age pioneers like Doug E. Fresh, The Fat Boys brought beatboxing to mainstream audiences, piling up the hits with self-deprecating humor and riotous party anthems. The trio put out seven albums between 19...
R.I.P. Elliot Mazer, Legendary Engineer-Producer of Neil Young and The Band Dead at 79
Elliot Mazer, the legendary engineer and producer who worked on iconic albums by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, Linda Ronstadt and many others, has died at the age of 79. As Rolling Stone reports, Mazer’s daughter Alison confirmed that he passed away in his San Francisco home on Sunday, citing that the cause of death was a heart attack. He had also been battling dementia for years. “Elliot loved music,” his sister, Bonnie Murray, also told Rolling Stone. “He loved what he did; he was a perfectionist. Everybody has so much respect for him, and he’s been suffering for a couple years.” Born on September 5th, 1941 in New York City, Mazer cut his teeth in his twenties working at jazz label Prestige Records, where he helped deliver myriad records to various radio stations. By the end of t...
R.I.P. Mary Wilson, Founding Member of The Supremes Dead at 76
Mary Wilson, founding member of the trailblazing Motown group The Supremes, has died at the age of 76. According to her publicist, Wilson passed away suddenly on Monday evening (February 8th) at her home in Henderson, Nevada. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed. In 1959, Wilson auditioned and was accepted into a singing group called The Primettes, pairing with three other then-unknown vocalists: Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown. By 1962, the group had downsized to a trio (McGlown left to get married), signed with Motown Records, and changed their name to The Supremes. Within a year, they scored their first No. 1 hit with “Where Did Our Love Go” Between 1964 and 1969, The Supremes earned 12 No. 1 singles in total — a record for the most chart-topping songs among Am...
Mary Wilson, Original Supremes Member, Dies at 76
After The Supremes disbanded in 1977, Wilson continued on as a solo artist. She was rarely far from the spotlight. In 2019, she competed in Dancing With The Stars and published Supreme Glamour, her fourth book. Outside of music, she threw her energies into numerous social and civic causes. Jan. 21 of this year marked the 60th anniversary of the day The Supremes signed with Motown in 1961. Wilson was front and center in the celebrations. The legendary artist never gave up hope of getting the band back together, in the right circumstances. “Well, let’s put it this way: It’s really up to Diana,” she told THR in January. “I don’t think she wants to do that. It doesn’t make sense unless you come together lovingly. Or at least have an understanding. It can be an understanding, that’s ...
R.I.P. Ricky Powell, Iconic Hip-Hop Photographer and Honorary Beastie Boy Dead at 59
Ricky Powell, the celebrated hip-hop photographer who was known as the honorary fourth member of the Beastie Boys, has died at age 59. Powell’s manager and business partner Tono Radvany confirmed that his client had passed away on the night of February 1st. No cause of death has yet to be revealed. “I just want to let everyone know he was a very special man, and he will be sorely missed,” Radvany told Complex. A New York City native through and through, the Brooklyn-born Powell entered photography mainly to stick it to an ex-girlfriend. He discovered a camera she’d left behind and determined to use it to make a name for himself. After photographing art galleries in Greenwich Village and hip-hop shows in downtown Manhattan for a year, he was able to quit his job selling lemon ices to head o...
