Died On This Date (May 26, 2011) Oneil Edwards / Jamaican Dancehall Singer
themusicsover Oneil Edwards
DOB Unknown – May 26, 2010
Oneil Edwards was one-third of the popular Jamaican dancehall group, Voicemail. Brought together at a local talent show in 1999, the group initially included five members, but eventually morphed into a trio which included Edwards, Craig Jackson and Kevin Blaire. Voicemail began making records around 2003, eventually releasing their debut album, Hey on VP Records. The group quickly built a loyal following thanks in part to their upbeat and catchy dance tunes. On May 10, 2010, Oneil Edwards entered his home to find gunmen who shot him and fled. One suspect was later found dead of a gunshot wound, while a second suspect was apprehended by police. Edwards was taken to a local hospital where, on May 26, he passed away from his wounds.
What You Should Own
Brad Nowell was the guitarist and lead singer for Southern California punk band, Sublime. In a sad twist of fate, Nowell’s death from a heroin overdose on the eve of the release of their major label debut helped it become one of the most successful albums of the year. By the time Nowell was eleven, his parents were divorced, perhaps leading him to the local sounds of punk and hip-hop for an escape. It was at this age that Nowell’s father took him to the Virgin Islands where he was introduced to a heavy dose of reggae music which would become the integral part of the music he would go on to make. After returning home, Nowell was given his first guitar, and never looked back. At twenty, he co-founded Sublime along with fellow Cal State Long Beach students, Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh. With a sound that was equal parts punk, ska, reggae and hip-hop, the band quickly became the local rage often playing at bars and parties in exchange for alcohol. The band soon recorded and released 40 Oz to Freedom on their own Skunk Records. That album contained a song called “Date Rape” which found its way to Los Angeles powerhouse alternative station, KROQ who added it into rotation, causing the request lines to explode. The song quickly became one of the most popular songs at KROQ that summer and grabbed the attention of executives at MCA Records who snapped the band up and put them into the studio to record their follow-up album. It was around this time that Nowell began to descend into the depths of substance abuse. Upon the completion of Sublime, the band embarked on a west coast run of dates in preparation of their first European tour. On May 25, 1996, as the band was checking out of their San Francisco hotel, Gaugh went to fetch Nowell only to find him face down in his room, dead of a heroin overdose. MCA Records and the surviving members debated whether to still release Sublime but ultimately decided to go ahead so that potential profits could go to help raise the one-year-old son Nowell left behind. The album went on to sell over 5 million copies.
David Gahr was a rock and folk photographer whose pictures are some of the most iconic in music history. Bursting on the scene to document the folk revival of the late ’50s to early ’60s, Gahr captured the true essence of such performers as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and 
Eric Gale was a jazz guitarist whose skills made him one of the most in-demand session players, appearing on some 500 albums. Those he recorded with include Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, 