Died On This Date (December 15, 1979) Jackie Brenston / Had Hit With “Rocket 88”
themusicsover Jackie Brenston
August 15, 1930 – December 15, 1979
Jackie Brenston was an R&B singer and musician whose biggest claim to fame was, as part of Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, wrote and sang lead on “Rocket 88,” considered by many to be the very first rock ‘n roll song. The record, credited to Jackie Brenston & His Rhythm Cats was released on Chess Records and quickly reached the top of the R&B singles chart where it stayed for over a month. In later years, Bernston worked with Lowell Fulson and Earl Hooker. Jackie Bernston, 49, died of a heart attack on December 15, 1979.
Dinah Washington was one of popular music’s most influential R&B, jazz and blues singers. Over a career that spanned just 20 years, she charted over 30 records in the U.S. and U.K. Washington learned to play the piano as a child, and by her teens, she was singing in local gospel groups. By eighteen, she was singing with 
Chuck Schuldiner was a rock singer, songwriter and guitarist who has been called the “father of death metal” for creating a genre by marrying the best elements of British metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest with those of thrash bands like Slayer and Mercyful Fate. Schuldiner began learning the acoustic guitar before he was ten-year old, but soon grew tired of it, so his parents bought him an electric guitar and amps which he took too with a vengeance. In 1983, he formed his first band, Mantas who eventually morphed into Death, a band that would define the death metal genre, much in the same way 
Zal Yanovsky is best remembered as the lead guitarist for the Lovin’ Spoonful. He was with the band from its inception in 1964 until he was asked to leave following a marijuana bust in 1967. He played on such rock classics as “Summer in the City” and “Do You Believe in Magic.” Following his run in Lovin’ Spoonful, Yanovsky released a solo album and appeared in the theater presentation of National Lampoon’s Lemmings. Later in life, he became a successful restauranteur. On December 13, 2002, Zal Yanovsky died of heart failure at the age of 57.