Died On This Date (June 24, 2010) JoJo Billingsley / Back Up Singer For Lynyrd Skynyrd
themusicsover JoJo Billingsley (Born Deborah Jo White)
1952 – June 24, 2010
JoJo Billingsley was a songwriter and vocalist who is perhaps best remembered as a member of the “Honkettes,” the so-nicknamed back-up singers for Lynyrd Skynyrd for nearly four years. Billingsley joined the group in 1975, touring the world during their peak years. That all came to a tragic end on October 20, 1977 when she was the only member of the band not killed in a plane crash that took the lives of Ronnie Van Zant, Cassie Gaines, Steve Gaines, Dean Kilpatrick (the band’s road manager) the pilot and co-pilot. Billingsley has always maintained that she had a dream that the plane would crash just two nights prior and tried to stop the others from taking it. The accident lead her to devote her life to the Lord as both a singer and later, minister. In 2006, she reunited with the then-current members of Lynyrd Skynyrd at a their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also performed with members of the group at occasional charity or memorial events in recent years. Jojo Billingsley was 58 when she died of cancer on June 24, 2010.
Thanks to Craig Rosen of Number1Albums for the assist.
Judy Garland was a star of stage, screen and a record through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years. Starting out on vaudeville with her sister act, The Gumm Sisters (she was born Francis Gumm), would go on to win an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, an Emmy and several Grammys. Best known for her iconic role as Dorothy in 1939’s The Wizard Of Oz, Garland also wowed audiences with her standing-room-only concert performances. She was considered by many to be the greatest female entertainer the US had ever produced. Despite her years of success and respect, Garland lived in a personal hell, no thanks in part to studio executives who told her she was too fat or unattractive. That lead to an addiction to weight loss pills and other drugs. Garland also suffered through financial troubles, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She reportedly attempted suicide on more than one occasion but finally succumbed to an accidental overdose of barbiturates on June 22, 1969, leaving behind two daughters, Lorna Luft and Liza Minnelli, as well as son, Joey Luft.
Larry Jon Wilson was a country music singer, songwriter and guitarist who found some success during the ’70s when he released four albums. After teaching himself to play the guitar, Wilson didn’t get serious as a songwriter until the age of 30. Throughout his early career, he built himself a following throughout the clubs of Nashville. Wilson all but retired from the music industry during the ’80s, only to return for occasional shows during the latter years of the decade. In 2008, Wilson made a comeback with the release of Larry Jon Wilson, on hipster label, Drag City Records. Larry Jon Wilson died from a stroke on June 21, 2010. He was 69 years old.
Lawrence Payton had the tenor voice of the great soul group, the Four Tops. He also worked at times, as their producer. With the Tops, Payton was one of the Motown’s signature groups, recording hit after hit for the label beginning in 1964. Such hits included, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” “Standing In The Shadows Of Love,” and “I Can’t Help Myself.” The group and Motown parted ways in 1972, with the Tops signing to ABC Dunhill Records where they had a brief resurgence with “Keeper Of the Castle,” and “Aint No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got).” They continued to record moderately successful records through the ’70s and reunited with Motown in time to celebrate the label’s 25th anniversary in 1983 after which they recorded a few more albums and toured with the Temptations. The Four Tops continued touring and recording until the passing of Lawrence Payton in 1997. He died of cancer on June 20, 1997, but not before be elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.