Died On This Date (January 15, 2017) Greg Trooper / Acclaimed Singer-Songwriter
themusicsover Greg Trooper
January 13, 1956 – January 15, 2017
Greg Trooper was a singer-songwriter who, besides building up a hefty library of his own releases, had songs recorded by Vince Gill, Steve Earle, Maura O’Connell, Robert Earle Keen, and Billy Bragg, among others. Born in Neptune, New Jersey, Trooper spent much of his teenage years frequenting folk venues of Greenwich Village. It served him well. After a detour to Kansas for college, he settled in New York City where he spent more than a decade playing clubs, pitching his songs, and recording his first couple of albums. By the mid ’90s, Trooper was living in Nashville where he released several more albums, working with producers like Buddy Miller and Garry Tallent of the E Street Band. Throughout his career, he released more than a dozen albums – the studio albums at least, to critical acclaim. During the summer of 2015, Greg Trooper was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which took his life on January 15, 2017. He was 61.
What You Should Own
Buddy Greco was a popular jazz and traditional pop singer and pianist who first found fame during the 1960s. Born in Philadelphia, Greco began learning to play the piano at the age of four. Within just a few years, he was singing on local radio, and began performing on stage during his teen years. At just 16, Greco was hired by 
Debbie Reynolds was an internationally revered star of stage, film and television. She did however, make a mark on popular music as well. Born in El Paso, Texas, Reynolds moved with her family to Burbank, California as a child. By the early ’50s, she was under contract with Warner Bros. for whom she starred in several musicals. Her first hit record came in 1951 – “Aba Daba Honeymoon,” from the film, Two Weeks With Love. The record reached #3 on the Billboard pop charts. In 1957, Reynolds scored her biggest hit, “Tammy,” from Tammy and the Bachelor. It spent five weeks atop the pop charts and was the biggest-selling record by any female that year. It earned Reynolds her first gold record. In 1959, she signed to Dot Records in 1959 and continued to release hit records for the next couple of years. On December 28, 2016, Reynolds, was rushed to a hospital after a 911 caller reported that she was having trouble breathing. Debbie Reynolds passed away later that day of what initial reports were calling a stroke. She was 84. Her daughter, actress and author Carrie Fisher, passed away the day before at the age of 60.