Death

President William McKinley is shot by assassin Leon Czolgosz during a meet and greet session in The Temple Of Music, at The Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York State, USA. McKinley will die a few days later. McKinley's assassination will inspire the 1926 song White House Blues by Charlie Poole And The North Carolina Ramblers.

During a successful UK tour, most of the members of The Southern Syncopated Orchestra, a jazz ensemble from the USA, are sailing on the SS Rowan from Glasgow, Scotland, to Derry, Ireland. Eight members of the band are killed when the ship is struck by two others in a collision. Survivors include Sidney Bechet, Evelyn Dove and Cyril Blake.

Ragtime banjo virtuoso and pioneer recording artist Vess L. Ossman, known as 'The Banjo King' dies of a heart attack aged 55 in Fairmont, Minnesota, USA.

Patrick Conway, recording artist and founder of The Conway Band, dies following an operation.

Nineteen-year-old union organiser Harry Simms is shot near Brush Creek in Knox County, Kentucky, USA, by a sheriff's deputy who also worked as a mine guard for the local coal company. Simms will die of his wound at Barbourville Hospital the following day. Simms story is told in the song The Death of Harry Simms by Aunt Molly Jackson and Jim Garland, which is perhaps better known in a version by Pete Seeger.

Unemployed 22-year-old waitress Elizabeth 'Betty' Short, soon to become known as The Black Dahlia, is last seen alive. Her body will be found mutilated and sliced in half at the waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California, USA. Her killer will never be caught. This gruesome murder will inspire books, films and several songs including The Black Dahlia by Lamb of God [2000]; The Black Dahlia a Grammy Award-winning jazz orchestral composition by Bob Belden [2001]; Black Dahlia by Anthrax [2003]; My Black Dahlia by Hollywood Undead [2008] and Black Dahlia by Porcupine Tree [2009]. It's worth mentioning that there's also a 'melodic death metal' band called The Black Dahlia Murder.

Hank Williams releases a new single The Funeral, under the pseudonym of Luke The Drifter, on MGM Records, in the USA.

Popular Algerian singer and orchestra leader Khelifa Belkacem is shot dead aged 44 after a brawl in the Casbah near his home in Algiers, Algeria, Africa.

Jazz saxophone giant Charlie 'Bird' Parker dies of drug-related problems in Baroness Nica De Koenigswarter's apatment in New York City, USA.

Ragtime composer Harry Kelly dies aged 75 of complications from kidney disease, in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. His best-remembered composition is perhaps the slow drag Peaceful Henry.

Blues pianist and recording artist Cripple Clarence Lofton dies in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is often cited as an influence on Meade Lux Lewis and John Mayall.

Actor, singer and director Sonnie Hale dies in London, UK. He appeared mainly in London musical productions and some UK films.

Elvis Presley is in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, re-shooting the ending of Wild In The Country, because pre-release screening audiences did not like the original ending in which Hope Lange committed suicide.

Jazz clarinetist and tenor sax player Cecil Scott dies aged 58 in New York City, USA. Age: 58.

Don Drummond, saxophonist with influential ska/reggae band The Skatalites, is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, the exotic dancer Marguerita Mahfood, who has been found dead of multiple stab wounds in Drummond's home in Jamaica.

While playing golf in Long Island, New York State, USA, James Brown's manager, Ben Bart collapses and dies from a heart attack. Bart was also the founder of the agency Universal Attractions in 1949.

Chicago-born music promoter Husk O'Hare dies in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Although O'Hare's name appeared on several recordings and concert posters, he is not thought to have been a musician, merely an astute promoter who knew how to publicise himself.

Brian Cole, bass-player with The Association, dies of a heroin overdose at home in Los Angeles, California. On the same day, The Beach Boys come to the end of recording material for their album Holland in their studio at Baambrugge, just outside Amsterdam, Holland.

Prominent jazz saxophonist Ben Webster dies aged 64, in Amsterdam, Holland, Europe.

Acclaimed rock journalist Lester Bangs is found dead in his apartment in New York City, USA. His heart had stopped after an overdose of stimulants.

Rebop Kwaku Baah, former percussionist for Traffic, dies of a brain haemorrhage in Stockholm, Sweden.

You're Only Human (Second Wind) by Billy Joel peaks at No9 in the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in the USA. All royalties from the single are donated to The American National Committee For Youth Suicide Prevention. Joel himself had attempted suicide in 1970 by drinking furniture polish.

Blues pianist/guitarist Baby Doo Caston, who often worked with Willie Dixon, dies aged 70 of heart disease at Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Composer and lyricist Sammy Lerner dies of cancer, aged 86, in a nursing home in Los Angeles, California, USA. His best-remembered songs include Is It True What They Say About Dixie, Falling In Love Again and I'm Popeye The Sailor Man.

Record producer Gary U sher dies aged 51, of cancer, in Los Angeles, California, USA. In a highly respected career, he produced records with The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, The Hondells and others.

Popular singer, guitarist and songwriter Rosa Balistreri dies aged 63 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Europe.

Lorayn Brox of The Brox Sisters, stars of Vaudeville, Broadway, films and radio, dies of natural causes in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Acclaimed jazz-pop interpretative vocalist Susannah McCorkle commits suicide by jumping from the window of her New York City apartment, after penning a suicide note.

Celebrated musicologist Alan Lomax dies in Mease Countryside Hospital, Safety Harbor, Florida, USA, aged 87. From the 1930's onward, Lomax preserved and documented America's musical heritage by making thousands of location and studio recordings of folk, blues and jazz musicians.

Early sixties hitmaker Skeeter Davis, best-known for her hit single The End Of The World, dies, aged 72, of breast cancer in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Donahue, sister of rapper Nelly, dies of leukaemia, in hospital in St Louis, Missouri, USA.

Hardcore punk pioneer Randy Turner is found dead from complications of hepatitis C in his home in South Austin, Texas, USA. Nicknamed Biscuit, he was best-known as vocalist and leader of the seminal hardcore punk band Big Boys.

Bob Weinstock, founder of the famed and acclaimed jazz label Prestige Records, dies in Boca Raton, Florida, aged 77.

A newly published Russian study finds that roughly 50% of heavy metal songs are about murder, while another 35% dabble in Satanic content. Fyodor Kondratyev, a professor at the Serbsky State Research Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry, states that he listened to 700 heavy metal songs before coming to his conclusions.

Opal Courtney, Jr, tenor vocalist of 50s doo-wop hitmakers The Spaniels, dies aged 71 of a heart attack, at home in Gary, Indiana, USA.

Heinz Edelmann, art director for The Beatles' 1968 animated movie Yellow Submarine, dies aged 75, in Stuttgart, Germany, Europe.

Jet Harris, best-remembered as bassist with The Shadows, dies at his partner's home in Winchester, England, UK, Europe, two years after being diagnosed with cancer.

A service of Thanksgiving for the life and work of Sir Terry Wogan KBE is held in Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK, Europe.

Ronald 'Bingo' Mundy, tenor vocalist of The Marcels dies of pneumonia, aged 76, at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Mundy was a founder-member of the hit-making group with his high school friends in 1959.

John Lever, drummer of Manchester-based post-punk band The Chameleons, dies aged 55 after a short illness.

Ray Thomas, flautist, singer, founding member and songwriter with The Moody Blues, dies aged 76 in Surrey, England, UK, Europe, after years of living with prostate cancer.

Gerry Stickells, a renowned tour manager who worked mostly with Jimi Hendrix and Queen, plus a star-studded cadre of other artists, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Abba, Fleetwood Mac, Bette Midler and Madonna, dies from complications of a brain tumour, aged 76, at his home in Los Angeles, California, USA.