Died On This Date (July 26, 1995) Laurindo Almeida
themusicsover Laurindo Almeida
September 2, 1917 – July 26, 1995
Laurindo Almeido was a world-class Brazilian guitarist. Almeida was one of the most popular Spanish guitarist performing in and around Rio de Janeiro when he was invited to join Stan Kenton’s band in 1947. After he moved to America, Almeido played with Kenton and became an in-demand session player. Almeido’s guitar work can be heard in many classic films including The Godfather, Camelot, A Star Is Born, and The Old Man And The Sea. He recorded many albums throughout his career, with a handful of them winning him Grammy awards. Laurindo Almeido passed away on July 26, 1995 at the age of 77.
Ben Keith was a successful Nashville session player, producer, and singer-songwriter who is perhaps best remembered for his many collaborations with Neil Young. Keith first began making a name for himself in Nashville during the ’50s and ’60s when he played on numerous country and early rock ‘n roll hits. That list includes his steel guitar on 
Nicknamed “The Silver Fox,” Charlie Rich was a Grammy-winning country singer who had string of hits in the early ’70s. Although his career started back in the late ’50s, it wasn’t until 1973 that he scored his two huge country and pop chart-topping hits with “Behind Closed Doors,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.” Perhaps the reason for his “late-blooming” was that the world wasn’t quite ready for his eclectic sound until someone came up with the genre, “countrypolitan,” and suddenly he fit right in. But Rich’s popularity was short-lived partly due to his erratic behavior and problems in his personal life, likely due to his excessive drinking. He floundered through the next couple of decades, trying, but never being able to get anything substantial going again. In July of 1995, Rich was traveling home from his son’s concert in Mississippi when he came down with a severe cough. After a doctor sent him on his way with antibiotics, Rich continued the drive home until he found a place for he and his wife to spend the night. Rich died in his sleep that night of what was later determined to be a blood clot in his lung. He was 62.
