Obituary
R.I.P. Dustin Diamond, Saved by the Bell’s “Screech” Dead at 44
Dustin Diamond, the actor who famously played Screech on Saved by the Bell, has died at the age of 44. Last month, Diamond was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. TMZ reports that he passed away early Monday (February 1st). Born January 7th, 1977, Diamond said goodbye to a normal childhood at the age of 11, when he appeared in the first non-pilot episode of the Disney Channel original series Good Morning, Miss Bliss. That show transferred to NBC in 1989, in the process moving from John F. Kennedy Junior High to Bayside High School and acquiring the new name Saved by the Bell. Diamond played the role of Samuel “Screech” Powers throughout the show’s initial run (1989-93), plus the TV movie Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style (1992), the sequel series The College Years (1993-94), the two-h...
R.I.P. Double K, People Under the Stairs Rapper Dead at 43
Double K, the rapper best known for his work as one half of the Los Angeles hip-hop duo People Under the Stairs, has died at the age of 43. On Sunday morning, close friends and collaborators confirmed he passed away, though no cause of death has been revealed. Double K, who was born under the name Michael Turner, grew up sampling music in his free time to create “beat tapes” that he would use while DJing local events. In high school, he went on to join the Log Cabin Crew, a hip-hop collective that included several members of Living Legends, where he further honed his skills as an artist. As a teenager, Double K met his soon-to-be bandmate Christopher “Thes One” Portugal while searching for sample material in the now-defunct record store Martin’s. The two decided to spin their beat tapes fo...
R.I.P. SOPHIE, Futuristic Pop Producer Dead at 34
Futuristic pop producer SOPHIE tragically died Saturday in an accidental fall. She was 34 years old. According to a statement issued by SOPHIE’s record label, the producer “climbed up to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell.” The accident occurred in Athens, Greece, where SOPHIE had been living. A native of the UK, SOPHIE first made a name for herself in the early 2010s with a series of bubbly, surrealist singles, including “Nothing More to Say”, “Bipp”/”Elle”, “QT”, and “Lemonade”/”Hard”. During this time, she also became a close associate of PC Music, collaborating with label figurehead A.G. Cook as well as with GFOTY and Danny L Harle. SOPHIE’s early success ultimately led to more high-profile collaborations. In 2016, she teamed with the then-budding...
Sophie, Electronic and Experimental Pop Great, Dies at 34
Sophie, one of the most important figures in the last decade of underground pop and dance music, has died. A statement tweeted by her Future Classic label on Saturday morning (Jan. 30) confirms the artist’s passing, explaining “Our beautiful Sophie passed away this morning after a terrible accident. True to her spirituality she had climbed up to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell.” She was 34. Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Sophie Xeon inherited an interest in dance and electronic music from her father, and started recording her own music at a young age. In the early ’10s, she struck up an association with a few artists on the PC Music label, soon to be at the experimental pop vanguard, and released her debut single “Nothing More to S...
R.I.P. Hilton Valentine, Guitarist of The Animals Dead at 77
Hilton Valentine, guitarist and founding member of The Animals, has died at the age of 77. A representative for ABKCO Records announced Valentine’s passing on behalf of his wife, Germaine Valentine. A cause of death was not immediately made available. In 1963, Valentine was recruited by Eric Burdon, Chas Chandler, and Alan Price to join what would become The Animals. The UK band quickly made a name for themselves thanks to their high-energy concerts and rock ‘n’ roll covers of Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, and John Lee Hooker. They achieved their first No. 1 single in 1964 with “House of the Rising Sun”, on which Valentine is credited with playing the song’s iconic arpeggio introduction. The Animals’ early success culminated in visit to America in October 1964. As was the case for The Beatles mo...
R.I.P. Cloris Leachman, Emmy and Oscar-Winning Actress Dead at 94
Cloris Leachman, one of the most decorated actresses in history, has died at the age of 94. According to a representative, Leachman died Tuesday (January 26th) from natural causes at her home in Encinitas, California. Over the course of her career, Leachman won eight Primetime Emmy Awards, tying her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most all time. She also nabbed an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Leachman famously played Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series Phyllis. She also starred in several major motion pictures, including Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show and Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 30th, 1926, Leachman studied at Northwestern University and competed in the 1946 Miss America Pageant. As the runner-up...
R.I.P. Larry King, Longtime TV Host Dead at 87
Larry King, the famously suspender-clad and bespectacled media personality who became a fixture on television screens and an enduring part of American popular culture, has died at the age of 87. According to a statement issued by his family, King passed away Saturday morning (January 23rd) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Earlier this month, King was hospitalized after contracting COVID-19. A two-time Peabody and Emmy Award winner, King’s career spanned across six decades and multiple mediums. He’s perhaps best remembered as the host of CNN’s Larry King Live, the interview-based program that he moderated for 25 years. Following his exit from CNN in the early 2010s, King launched a new program called Larry King Now on Hulu. All told, King was said to have conducted over 3...
Phil Spector Built a Wall of Sound That Couldn’t Contain the Monster Within Him
But Spector was different. At the start, on the Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him is To Love Him” — a rephrasing of the epitaph from his father’s gravestone that Spector turned into a Hot 100 No. 1 in 1958 — his sound was not so very far removed from the other recordings of the day, many of which carried the spacious aura of the rooms in which they were cut, investing early rock and pop with the mystical sense that new frontiers were being explored. Eventually though, he recognized how to make that aura the centerpiece of his records. You can hear how he did just that in the very first hit on Philles, the Crystals’ “There’s No Other Like My Baby” from 1962. Built like a rocket with three stages, it begins simply, with bass, guitar and voice rippling outward in stark echo before a piano...
Chris Murphy, Longtime Manager of INXS, Dies at 66
“CM celebrated an illustrious career over 40 years and made an incredible impact on the global music and entertainment industry,” the statement continued. “Best known for taking his ‘band of brothers’ INXS to worldwide stardom, CM Murphy influenced the lives of many around the globe with his endless passion and drive. He will be greatly missed.” Led by the late Michael Hutchence, INXS was one of the most successful groups to emerge from Australia in the late 1970s and sold approximately 70 million records worldwide during their career. The surviving band members wrote in a tribute to Murphy, “Without Chris’s vision, passion and hard work, the INXS story would be totally different. Chris’s star burned very bright and we celebrate a life well lived and send all ...
Lou Reed Keyboardist Michael Fonfara Dies at 74
In a lengthy, eclectic career that spanned more than 50 years, Fonfara performed with the 1960s rock bands The Electric Flag and Rhinoceros, Blackstone and Rough Trade, as well as adding “keyboard textures” on Foreigner’s multi-platinum 1981 4 album on the No. 4 hit “Urgent” and the track “Girl on the Moon.” Fonfara also recorded with the Everly Brothers, Grievous Angels, Cameo Blues Band and many others in a lauded career that included a 2000 Maple Blues Award honor for piano/keyboard player of the year. Fonfara’s final recording was Downchild’s Live at the Toronto Jazz Festival 50th anniversary performance in 2019, which featured guest appearances from Dan Akroyd, Paul Shaffer, Kenny Neal, Gene Taylor, Erja Lyytinen and David Wil...
Country Singer-Songwriter Ed Bruce Dies at 81
Country singer-songwriter Ed Bruce died Friday (Jan. 8) of natural causes in Clarksville, Tenn. He was 81. Born William Edwin Bruce Jr. on Dec. 29, 1939, Bruce met with Sun Records sound engineer Jack Clement and ended up writing and recording “Rock Boppin’ Baby” for Sun Records owner Sam Phillips when he was just 17 (under the name “Edwin Bruce”). He began writing country hits for other stars, such as “Save Your Kisses” for Tommy Roe, while recording his own material that grew popular with other stars’ versions. Charlie Louvin recorded Bruce’s 1963 pop-oriented song “See the Big Man Cry” two years later, which reached No. 7 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart in May 1965. Bruce tallied 35 t...
R.I.P. Alexi Laiho, Longtime Children of Bodom Frontman Dead at 41
Founding Children of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho has tragically died at the age of 41. The musician, considered one of metal’s best contemporary guitarists, passed away at his home in Helsinki, Finland, after suffering from “long-term health issues,” according to his label, Napalm Records. Laiho originally formed Children of Bodom as Inearth back in 1993 as a young teenager. He remained with the acclaimed Finnish melodic death metal act until the band decided to split up after playing a final show in December 2019. Laiho formed a new group, Bodom After Midnight, last year after giving up the rights to the Children of Bodom name to three of the band’s other longtime members. “We are crushed by the sudden passing of our dear friend and band member. Words cannot describe this shock and the pro...
