Carlos Torres Vila
November 9, 1946 – July 16, 2010
Carlos Torres Vila was a popular Argentinine folk singer whose career exploded during the ’70s thanks to his good looks and romantic folk songs. He released around two dozen albums over the course of his career. Carlos Torres Vila was 63 when he passed away following a long illness.
Garland “Hank” Cochran
August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010
Hank Cochran was a successful country singer as well as one of the genre’s most respected songwriters. Besides charting several singles himself as a performer, Cochran penned countless hits as performed by the likes of Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Norah Jones, George Strait, Ella Fitzgerald, George Jones, Brad Paisley, Elvis Costello, and Merle Haggard, to name a few. After a rough childhood in and out of orphanages, Cochran migrated to California while still a teenager to work in the fields. It was there that he met Eddie Cochran and formed the Cochran Brothers even though they weren’t related. By his mid ’20s, he was living and writing in Nashville. Teaming up with Harlan Howard, the pair wrote “I Fall To Pieces” which became a #1 hit for Patsy Cline in 1960. While working for a publishing company, Cochran reportedly helped Willie Nelson get signed on, thus giving Nelson’s early career a significant boost. Cochran’s final years were riddled with significant health issues. In 2008, he had cancerous tumors removed from his lymph node and pancreas, and in early 2010, he had an aortic aneurysm. Hank Cochran was 74 when he passed away on July 15, 2010. Actual cause of death was not immediately released.
Kelly Johnson
June 20, 1958 – July 15, 2007
Kelly Johnson was, most famously, lead guitarist and sometime lead singer for Girlschool, arguably the first major all-female heavy metal band. Formed in 1977 out of the ashes of London’s Painted Lady, Girlschool released a series of classic metal albums and played in front of huge crowds alongside the likes of Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Saxon and the Scorpions. Having recorded on four albums, Johnson left Girlschool in 1983 to move to Los Angeles. She reunited with the band in 1993 and stayed through 2000, around the time she learned she had spinal cancer, of which she died in 2007.
Malcolm Owen
DOB Unknown – July 14, 1980
Malcolm Owen was the lead singer for British band, the Ruts, who scored a UK Top 10 hit with “Babylon’s Burning.” The reggae influenced punk band was part of an organization called the People Unite Collective and therefore very active in anti-racist causes. And although several of their songs had an anti-drug message, Owen died of a heroin overdose on July 14, 1980 at the age of 26.
Philippe Wynne
April 3, 1941 – July 13, 1984
Philippe Wynne is best remembered as a one-time lead singer for the Spinners during the band’s hit-making years of the ’70s. Prior to the Spinners, Wynne briefly sang in Bootsy Collins’ Pacesetters and James Brown’s JBs. With the Spinners, Wynne sang lead on such hits as “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” “One Of A Kind Love Affair,” and “The Rubberband Man.” Wynne left the group in 1977 and briefly sang in George Clinton’s Parliament. Phillipe Wynne died the day after he suffered a heart attack while performing on stage in Oakland, California. He was 43.
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