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Final Exit: Music’s Casualty List 2017

 

As rock/pop music’s elite musicians of the 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s enter the twilight of their lives, it’s inevitable that many top artists take their final bow. Last year’s casualties may not have been as shocking as the previous year’s losses (Prince, David Bowie, Glenn Frey, George Michael) but we still lost some major talent.

Classic 50’s artists like Chuck Berry and Fats Domino may not have come as a surprise but the shocking suicides of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington reverberated around the music world. Then there was the stunning loss of Tom Petty who passed away literally three weeks after concluding a national tour at Hollywood’s National Bowl.

In Canada, the loss of Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie (53) from glioblastoma was inevitable but still came as a shock to an entire nation while Streetheart lead vocalist Kenny Shields, former April Wine guitarist Steve Lang and ex Lighthouse drummer Skip Prokop all just list of 2017 music casualties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following is a list of notable 2017 musician casualties.

Jan. 22: Peter (Overend) Watts – 65- Mott The Hoople bassist – throat cancer.

Jan. 31: John Wetton – 67 – Asia/King Crimson vocalist – colorectal cancer.

Steve Lang
Steve Lang

Feb.04: Steve Lang -67- April Wine bassist – Parkinson’s Disease

Feb.12: Al Jarreau – 76 – exhaustion.

Feb.19: Larry Coryell – 73 – jazz guitarist – cardiac arrest.

March 10: Joni Sledge – 60 – Sister Sledge vocalist – unknown causes.

March 18: Chuck Berry – 90 – cardiac arrest.

Mar.22: Sib Hashian – 67 – Boston drummer – cardiac arrest.

 

 

 

 

 

J. Geils
J. Geils

April 11:  John Warren Geils Jr – 71 – J.Geils guitarist – natural causes.

April 16: Allan Holdsworth – 70- UK/Soft Machine guitarist – heart disease.

May 18: Chris Cornell – 52 – Soundgarden/Audioslave vocalist – suicide.

May 27: Gregg Allman – 69 – Allman Brothers vocalist/keyboardist – lung cancer.

June 20: Prodigy (Albert Johnson) – 42 – sickle cell anemia.

July 13: Christopher Wing Won – 53 – 2 Live Crew vocalist – cardiac arrest

July 20: Chester Bennington – 41 – Linkin Park vocalist – suicide.

July 21: Kenny Shields – 69 – Streetheart vocalist – cardiac arrest.

 

 

 

 

Aug.08: Glen Campbell – 81- Alzheimer’s Disease

Skip Prokop
Skip Prokop

Aug.30: Skip Prokop – 74 – Lighthouse drummer – cardiac arrest.

Sept. 03: Dave Hlubek – 66 – Molly Hatchet guitarist– cardiac arrest.

Sept. 03: Walter Becker – 67 – Steely Dan bassist/guitarist- esophageal cancer.

Sept.14: Grant Hart – 56 – Husker Du guitarist – cancer.

Oct.02: Tom Petty – 66 – cardiac arrest.

Oct.17: Gord Downie – 53 – The Tragically Hip lead vocalist – glioblastoma.

Oct.24: Fats Domino – 89 – cardiac arrest.

Nov.09 – Chuck Mosley – 57 – Former Faith No More lead vocalist –liver failure.

Nov.15 – Lil Peep – 21 – drug overdose.

Malcolm Young
Malcolm Young

Nov.18 – Malcolm Young – 69 – AC/DC lead guitarist – dementia

Nov.19: Della Reese – 86 – Type 2 diabetes.

Nov.19: Mel Tillis – 85 – respiratory failure.

Nov.21: David Cassidy – 67 Partridge Family/solo vocalist – multiple organ failure.

Dec.06: Johnny Hallyday – 74- lung cancer.

 

 

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