Sean Finnegan
1965 – January 30, 2008
Sean Finnegan was the hard pounding drummer for the early ’80s hardcore band, Void. Formed in 1980, Void was there for the early days of legendary Dischord label. He died of a heart attack at the age of 43. At the time of his death, Finnegan was working on the HBO series, The Wire.
Willie Dixon
July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992
Willie Dixon is best remembered as one of the few main architects of the Chicago blues sound. As a singer, bassist and prolific songwriter, Dixon was one of themost influential figures of the era. He was also considered one of the key bridges between blues and rock ‘n roll. Dixon wrote such blues staples as “Little Red Rooster,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” and “I Ain’t Superstitious” and has been covered by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Cream, the Faces, Bob Dylan, Queen, the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones. In later years, Dixon worked to secure royalties and copyrights for blues artists who had been exploited int the past. He suffered from diabetes for many years and succumbed to heart failure at the age of 76.
Ken Jensen
DOB Unknown – January 29, 1995
Ken Jensen was a drummer for Vancouver’s D.O.A., considered by many as one of the founders of hardcore punk. He was killed in a house fire on January 29, 1995. Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery and Simon “Stubby Pecker” Wilde were also one-time members of D.O.A. who died too soon.
John Martyn (Born Iain McGeachy)
September 11, 1948 – January 29, 2009
John Martyn was a Scottish folk singer-songwriter and guitarist whose career spanned the better part of four decades. With a sound that was equal parts folk, blues, jazz and rock played acoustically through a fuzzbox, Martyn was without peer in the British folk and blues scene of the ’60s and ’70s. Over the course of his career, he has played with the likes of Phil Collins, David Gilmour and Eric Clapton. John Martyn died of double pneumonia in an Ireland hospital. He was 60 years old.
Jimmy Durante
February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980
Jimmy Durante was a curiously popular singer and actor of the 1920s through the 1970s. Not known for having a traditional singing voice or leading-man good looks, Durante nonetheless became one of entertainments most popular fixtures during his career. After learning to play ragtime piano, Durante dropped out of school while still in his early teens to pursue a career in music. He began by playing in several ragtime and New Orleans jazz bands. He scored his first hit with “Inka Dinka Do” in 1934, and soon went on to become a popular draw on Broadway. Durante started appearing in popular films during the early ’30s, and would do so until 1963’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. And of course, Durante also conquered radio and television throughout his career. His face that only a mother could love was very familiar on TV through most of his later career. He was also the narrator for the wildly popular Frosty The Snowman cartoon special that has aired every year since 1969. In ailing health during his final years, Jimmy Durante passed away from pneumonia on January 29, 1980. He was 86 years old.
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