but the songs live on forever

Folk Musician Rock Singer Songwriter

Died On This Date (October 21, 2003) Elliott Smith / Indie Rock Pioneer

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Elliott Smith
August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003

Elliott Smith was a celebrated contemporary folk and indie rock singer-songwriter who quietly gained a legion of fans in the late ’90s.  After several years in a rock band, Smith went solo in 1994, first recording for hip indie labels, Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars, and then major, Dreamworks Records.  In 1997, his “Miss Misery” was nominated for an Academy Award after it appeared Good Will Hunting.    Elliott Smith died after being stabbed twice in the chest.  Initial reports indicated that he committed suicide, but autopsy reports were inconclusive and his case is still considered open by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums

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Either/Or - Elliott Smith

Musician Rock Singer Songwriter

Died On This Date (October 21, 1995) Shannon Hoon / Blind Melon

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Richard Shannon Hoon
September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995

Shannon Hoon was the lead singer of ’90s alternative rock band, Blind Melon.  The band formed in Los Angeles in 1991 and were quickly awarded a recording contract with Capitol Records.  Meanwhile, Hoon was raising his profile on the Los Angeles scene by befriending Axl Rose, and subsequently singing back up on Guns N Roses’ Use Your Illusion albums and making a cameo in their “Dont Cry” video.  This helped spark a frenzy for Blind Melon by the time their debut self-titled album dropped in September of 1992.  The album eventually became a hit thanks to the hit song “No Rain” and the video that made a pop icon out of its “Bee Girl” character.  The band were now touring with the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Soundgarden and Ozzy Osbourne while Blind Melon was on it’s way to multi-platinum status.  Unfortunately, Hoon’s actions were becoming more and more erratic  due to his heavy drug usage.  After the release of their second album, Soup, in 1995, Blind Melon once again,  hit the road.  Hoon had been attempting to rehab at that time, but fell beck into his bad habits while on the tour.  He died of a cocaine overdose on the band’s tour bus following a show in Houston.  He was 28 years old.

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Blind Melon - Blind Melon

Early Rock Musician Rock Singer Songwriter

Died On This Date (October 21, 1965) Bill Black / Played Bass For Elvis Presley

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Bill Black
September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965

At Right With Scotty Moore and Elvis Presley
At Right With Scotty Moore and Elvis Presley

As if Bill Black’s remarkable career as the leader of his own rockabilly band, the Bill Black Combo weren’t enough, he also played bass Elvis Presley’s original recording of “That’s Alright Mama” at Sun Studios.  Black’s stand-up bass can be heard on several of Presley’s records, such as “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Mystery Train,” and “Hound Dog.”  After parting ways with Presley in the late ’50s, Black joined a band that eventually evolved into his Bill Black Combo, with whom he’d score several pop and R&B hits that were described as “dancable shuffles” that were a “mix of pop, country, blues and rock.”  They were favored by jukebox operators as they kept the dance floors jumping.  Black learned he had a brain tumor in the early ’60s, and even though his band was chosen to open for the Beatles during their historic 1964 US tour, Black was too ill to take part.  He died of that tumor at the age of 39.  In the late ’70s, Linda McCartney acquired Bill Black’s stand-up bass and gave it to her husband, Paul McCartney for his birthday.

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Bill Black's Combo

Easy Listening Pop Singer

Died On This Date (October 21, 1995) Maxene Andrews / The Andrews Sisters

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Maxene Andrews
January 3, 1916 – October 21, 1995

Maxene Andrews at left

Maxene Andrews, along with her two younger sisters, LaVerne and Patty were better known as the Andrews Sisters, the best selling female vocal group in pop music history. Over their career, the Andrews’ recorded over 600 sides that sold over 75 million copies in all. They had 113 charted hits, 46 of which landing in the top 10, a feat that surpassed even Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Maxene died of  a heart attack on October 21, 1995.

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20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Andrews Sisters - The Andrews Sisters

Engineer Rock

Died On This Date (October 21, 2009) Walt Andrus / Engineer; Worked With 13th Floor Elevators

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Walt Andrus
February 1, 1937 – October 21, 2009

Walt Andrus was a recording engineer for Austin, Texas based label, International Artists.  While working with International Artists, Andrus engineered  numerous psychedelically charged groups as Red Krayola, Golden Dawn, and most famously, 13th Floor Elevators whose Andrus produced Easter Everywhere is considered by many to be the most truly psychedelic album ever recorded.  Walt Andrus, 72, died of melanoma.



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