Musicians Who've Passed Away In 2023

For those who eat, breathe, and sleep music, each year brings joy and sadness in equal measure. Just as fans can always count on music industry vets and newbies alike to provide a steady flow of dope new music, they can also count on the Grim Reaper to take away some of our most beloved musicians. You can't really fault the guy for doing his job, but that doesn't make it any less painful when one of our musical heroes goes off to the Great Gig in the Sky.

Among the musicians who left us in 2022 were legends like the inimitable Meat Loaf, tragic gone-too-soon figures like Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, and multi-talented cultural icons like singer and actress Olivia Newton-John. A young 2023 has already brought with it a number of our favorite musicians who have departed from this mortal coil, but there is solace in the fact that they won't be forgotten — because unlike our physical bodies, music is immortal.

Three 6 Mafia are bona fide hip-hop legends. Their 1995 debut LP, "Mystic Stylez," is a Southern-fried, underground lo-fi classic. Their legendary run from 1998 to 2006 saw them release two gold and two platinum albums (per RIAA), and at the tail end of it, they even scored an Oscar for contributing the stone-cold classic "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" to the 2005 drama "Hustle and Flow."

While they haven't released a proper album since 2008's "Last 2 Walk," their impact on Rap music and pop culture in general has been indelible — which made it particularly shocking when Lola "Gangsta Boo" Mitchell, who joined the group in 1995 and carved out a successful solo career in the late '90s and early '00s, passed away unexpectedly on New Year's Day.

According to NPR, Gangsta Boo was a sought-after vocalist, having appeared on tracks by such luminaries as OutKast, Eminem, and E-40, and at the time of her death on January 1 she had just completed a video for "Imma Mack," a single from upcoming fourth album "The BooPrint." At the time of this writing, her cause of death has yet to be established; Gangsta Boo was only 43 years old.

As musical pedigrees go, one could do a whole lot worse than "former member of The Yardbirds." According to Brittanica, that legendary '60s outfit has produced more insanely talented guitarists than any one band has a reasonable right to, which is to say three: Jimmy Page, who would later set the world on fire with Led Zeppelin; Eric Clapton, who would front supergroup Cream before going on to a stellar solo career; and Jeff Beck, a square peg who never found a round hole he couldn't fit into. 

Beck's time in bands not named after himself may very well have been short simply because his innovations were too much for his bandmates to keep up with. Per The Guardian, he was a pioneer of jazz-rock fusion, did things with distortion and fuzz boxes that none of his peers at the time were doing (and which helped pave the way for hard rock and heavy metal). His work earned him acclaim: He was an eight-time Grammy winner and double-inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (both as a solo artist and as a member of The Yardbirds).

Beck passed away on January 10 from bacterial meningitis, leaving a smoking, guitar-shaped crater in the world of music, and among those to pay tribute was his former bandmate Page. On Twitter, Page wrote, "The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions. Jeff could channel music from the ethereal."

Bachman-Turner Overdrive was a Canadian band that had a pretty stellar run in the '70s. Formed by former Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman, the outfit made a splash with its 1973 sophomore effort "Bachman-Turner Overdrive II" and its driving single "Takin' Care of Business," and an even bigger one with 1974's "Not Fragile," which scored them a No. 1 hit single with "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," per AllMusic. Randy left the group in 1977, but it carried on without him — with no name change, as it had another Bachman in stock, Randy's brother Robin "Robbie" Bachman on drums.

Robbie kept the band's torch burning into the early '90s, and it's safe to say that its legacy is strong. Bachman-Turner Overdrive was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2014 (via CNN), and if you'd like to hear one of their classic hits, go ahead and tune into literally any classic rock radio station and wait about 15 minutes. 

Unfortunately, there will be no getting the band back together. On January 12, Robbie Bachman passed away at the age of 69 from undisclosed causes. Randy Bachman took to Twitter to mourn his brother, saying, "He was an integral cog in our rock 'n roll machine and we rocked the world together," and astutely speculating that perhaps Jeff Beck, who had died just two days before, had been in need of a good drummer.

The Screaming Trees may have had the misfortune of arriving just a tad too early to participate fully in one of the major musical movements of the late 20th century. They were formed in 1984 in Ellensburg, Washington, about a hundred miles from Seattle, by brothers Gary Lee Conner and Van Conner on guitar and bass, respectively, and vocalist Mark Lanegan, later adding drummer Mark Pickerel. The released their first album in 1986 after being signed to tiny label Velvetone Records on the strength of their very first demo. A couple label changes and two more albums did little to raise their profile, but after briefly going their separate ways to work on side projects, the band signed to Epic Records and released their breakthrough album "Uncle Anesthesia" — co-produced by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell — in 1991.

This, of course, is the year that Nirvana's "Nevermind" exploded across the pop culture landscape, and while peers such as Cornell's Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains rode the grunge wave to success and acclaim, the Screaming Trees fielded just one major hit in "Nearly Lost You." Infighting, side projects, and Lanegan's struggles with addiction conspired to keep the band from achieving the stratospheric levels of success enjoyed by many of their contemporaries, but the Trees' unique, almost-grunge sound and commitment to their craft earned them the admiration of their more successful peers. On January 17, Van Conner died at the age of 55 after a protracted illness.

Great composers of popular music have become enough of a rarity so as to be virtually nonexistent in the modern age, and in the '60s — even as the famed composers of New York's Brill Building were still cranking out hits — they were already on the decline, ready to give way to the singer-songwriters of the '70s. That storied structure, which launched the careers of such famed songwriting teams as Gerry Goffin and Carole King, gave us one composer whose reach and influence would extend into the '80s and beyond: Burt Bacharach, who teamed with lyricist Hal David (among others) to give us some of the most iconic tunes of the last six decades.

Bacharach launched his career by penning tunes for the uber-talented vocalist Dionne Warwick, such as "Don't Make Me Over" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose." He would go on to write iconic song after iconic song: "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" by B.J. Thomas, "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by the Carpenters, "A House is Not a Home" by Luther Vandross, "Walk on By" by Isaac Hayes, and Warwick's "That's What Friends Are For," to name just a few. His storied career included six Grammy wins, an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress; perhaps having simply accomplished all that he possibly could, Bacharach passed away on February 8 at the age of 94.

Southern-fried rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd were one of the more successful bands of the '70s, scoring four successful studio albums and a live recording before tragedy struck in 1977. That year, just days after the release of their fifth studio album "Street Survivors," the band's chartered plane went down in a wooded area outside Gillsburg, Mississippi. The crash took the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines, forever altering the band's lineup and career trajectory.

The band continued, with Ronnie Van Zant's brother Johnny Van Zant taking over front man duties, in various configurations over the years. The death of original drummer Bob Burns in 2015 left the band with only one founding member remaining: guitarist Gary Rossington, who ironically had inspired the band's cautionary rocker "That Smell" (with its lyric "The smell of death surrounds you") after surviving a car crash while under the influence of alcohol and drugs in 1976. Rossington had been dealing with heart problems for some time — and on March 5, the last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd passed away from undisclosed causes at the age of 71.

Few Golden Age hip-hop outfits have put together careers with the kind of longevity that De La Soul have. The trio — composed of Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer, Dave "Trugoy the Dove" Jolicoeur, and Vincent Lamont "Pasemaster Mase" Mason Jr. — arrived on the scene in 1989, immediately positioning themselves as an alternative to the hard-edged, braggadocious rappers of the day with their humble, hippie-esque fashion sense and a musical aesthetic they dubbed "D.A.I.S.Y." ("Da Inner Sound, Y'All"). Their classic debut album "3 Feet High and Rising" broke new ground in sampling, and the band's adventurous production and deft lyricism remained consistent throughout four separate decades with releases like "Buhloone Mindstate" (1993), "The Grind Date" (2004), and "And the Anonymous Nobody" (2016).

Unfortunately, that legendary run came to an end with the death of Jolicoeur, who had in the past discussed medical issues related to congestive heart failure, on February 12. His passing came just weeks before De La Soul's catalog, which for years had been absent from streaming services due to legalities involving sample clearances, finally made its digital debut on March 3. In a statement on Instagram, Mercer penned a heartfelt tribute to his friend, which read in part: "Your passing is a great loss not only to us, but also to the entire hip-hop community. You were a true artist who used music to inspire and uplift others, and you will be deeply missed by all who knew you."

In 2015, legendary R&B and jazz vocalist Bobby Caldwell sat down with Red Bull Music Academy to recall his humble career beginnings in the late '70s, a time during which the smooth-voiced Miami-based singer struggled mightily to land a record deal. He finally struck gold with hometown label TK Records, home to disco outfit KC and the Sunshine band, which gave him all the creative freedom a young artist could ask for in producing his classic, self-titled debut album and its monster hit single, "What You Won't Do For Love." With the record in the can, though, Caldwell says there was only one problem: "We did a shoot for the album cover, and my hair was down to my shoulders and [it] was done on the beach," he said. "And for them, I guess they got skittish with going to Black radio with somebody who was whiter than a loaf of bread."

The label's solution was to shoot a new album cover with Caldwell in silhouette — and once R&B fans got a taste of his astonishingly soulful voice, they cared not one bit what color he was. Caldwell would go on to release over a dozen studio albums, with his awesomely-titled final release, "Cool Uncle" — featuring guest appearances from the likes of Deniece Williams, Jessie Ware, and Cee-Lo Green — coming in 2015. On March 14, after a protracted illness, Caldwell's wife shared that he passed away at his home in New Jersey; he was 71.

The late Tom Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, are rock and roll icons — but casual fans may not know that the outfit wasn't Petty's first band. In 1970, Petty, guitarist Tom Leadon (brother of the Eagles' Bernie Leadon), and drummer Randall Marsh — along with future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell on guitar and Benmont Tench on keyboards — formed Mudcrutch, a countrified rock band that labored on the bar scene in their native Florida for several years. After ditching the Everglades for Los Angeles in 1974, the band signed a contract with Shelter Records — and promptly broke up, leaving Petty free to go on to staggering success.

Astonishingly, decades later in 2007, the entire band reunited to record a self-titled album, following that up with a sophomore effort — succinctly titled "2" — in 2016. It was an interesting and rare second chance for a band that might have enjoyed superstardom if they had soldiered on throughout the '70s, but Petty's unexpected passing in 2017 cut their resurgence short. Unfortunately, on March 22, Leadon — who had remained friends with his Mudcrutch mates throughout their stellar careers as Heartbreakers — died at the age of 70 at his home in Gainesville. In the wake of his passing, Campbell took to Twitter to eloquently eulogize his "guitar soul brother," writing, "We spent countless hours playing acoustic guitars and teaching each other things. A kinder soul never walked the earth. ... Sleep peacefully my old friend."

Scottish guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Ian Bairnson would have an enviable music pedigree if he had quit after his first band. Pilot, the '70s rock act that scored hits with tunes such as 1974's "Magic" and 1975's "January." That band released four albums during the decade and reunited for a 2002 release — but it was Bairnson's side gigs that really showed off his blazing talent. He played guitar on Kate Bush's debut album "The Kick Inside" and its iconic first single, "Wuthering Heights," and was a rock-steady member of the Alan Parsons Project, the progressive rock outfit masterminded by the ace producer and engineer Parsons.

Bairnson had suffered from dementia in recent years, and on April 8, his wife Leila posted to Instagram to inform fans that he had passed away the day before. "Ian was the sweetest, kindest, loving husband I could ever have wished for and I take comfort that he is resting now up there in his very own piece of 'Blue Blue Sky,'" she wrote, referencing the tune from Parsons' 1996 solo effort "On Air," on which Bairnson played. 

Parsons also posted a lengthy tribute on Facebook, calling Bairnson a "genius" and a "true master of the guitar" who knew every chord in existence despite never learning how to read musical notation. Parsons also credited Bairnson with convincing him to record the 1982 single "Eye in the Sky," which turned out to be the Alan Parsons Project's only Top 10 hit.

Classic rockers Bachman-Turner Overdrive had already suffered a crushing blow when drummer Robbie Bachman passed away in January, and on April 28, they endured yet another one when his brother, guitarist Tim Bachman, died at the age of 71. Their brother Randy Bachman, formerly of the Guess Who, enlisted his siblings to join him in the new project upon leaving that outfit, and Tim — only 19 when he joined — manned his axe for their first two albums, 1973's "Bachman-Turner Overdrive" and 1974's "Bachman-Turner Overdrive II," which featured the signature tune "Takin' Care of Business." Tim left the band to focus on the production side of music shortly before the second album's release, right before the band became megastars on the strength of their 1974 album "Not Fragile" and its monster single "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."

Tim Bachman passed away after a battle with cancer, and the news of his passing was broken on Facebook by his son Ryder, who posted, "Grateful I got to spend some time with him at the end. Grab [your] loved ones and hug [them] close, ya never know how long you have."

Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Rob Laakso put in time with a number of indie bands during the '00s, including The Swirlies and Mice Parade. But the following decade, he landed where he belonged — with former War on Drugs guitarist Kurt Vile, as a member of his backing band The Violators. Laakso found a kindred musical spirit in Vile, and after making contributions to Vile's 2009 effort "God is Saying This To You..." and 2011's "Smoke Ring For My Halo," Laakso became a full-time member of the band in 2011. A man of many talents, Laakso notched credits on multiple instruments — not to mention as a producer and recording engineer — on projects for The Violators and his other bands, but his promising career came to an end on May 4 after a battle with a rare form of bile duct cancer; he was only 44 years old. His wife, Mamie-Claire Cornelius, confirmed his passing on Instagram.

In a sprawling post, also on Instagram, Vile thanked his friend and collaborator for believing in him and his music when they were both young, green, and awkward. "Tributes are never easy but this one is just too close to the bone I guess," he wrote. "He was quiet but there was so much to him. Musical genius. Recording whizz. Best husband and father." Sadly, Laakso leaves behind two small children — but also, a formidable musical legacy that his many friends and family can be proud of.

When they arrived with their self-titled debut album in 1984, The Smiths immediately positioned themselves as a rebuttal to the U.K.'s then-current domination by synth-driven bands. Dominated by the layered, dense guitar work of Johnny Marr and the disaffected crooning of lead singer Morrissey, The Smiths served as a bridge between New Wave and the guitar work that would come to define British pop in the '90s — and while the band's career was relatively short, comprised of five albums only over four years, their influence has been felt ever since.

Key to their musical secret sauce was the melodic, driving bass work of Andy Rourke, who continued to work with Morrissey after the band's dissolution. Rourke also played in the supergroup Freebass, and recorded with other legends like Sinead O'Connor and The Pretenders; unfortunately, his life and career came to a premature end on May 19, when he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 59. Marr announced his passing on Twitter, writing, "Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans." In a statement on his website, Morrissey also paid tribute to his bandmate, writing, "He didn't ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else ... I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that."

There have been few bands in the annals of rock as singularly weird as San Antonio outfit Butthole Surfers. Bursting onto the scene in the early '80s with a moniker that made them near-impossible to promote, the band built their reputation through their chaotic live shows, a genre-defying style that incorporated elements of punk, garage rock, and psychedelia, and song titles like "Sweat Loaf," "Eye of the Chicken," and "Whirling Hall of Knives." They seemed downright designed for cult stardom only — but the band improbably achieved commercial success in the '90s with their major label debut LP "Independent Worm Saloon" (produced by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones), and their 1996 platter "Electric Larryland" notched them a gold record.

Throughout their history, the band's often-fluid lineup included four mainstays: singer Gibby Haynes, guitarist Paul Leary, and drummers King Coffey and Teresa Taylor, also known as Teresa Nervosa. In 1990, Taylor etched herself into the pages of Gen X lore with a role in iconoclastic director Richard Linklater's "Slacker," perhaps the ultimate document of that generation. A longtime smoker, Taylor had for some time been battling an undisclosed lung condition, and on June 19, the band disclosed on social media that she had passed away the Sunday prior, at the age of 60. The post read simply, "She will live in our hearts forever. RIP, dear friend."

Before they were gazillion-selling arena rock heroes, San Francisco's Journey were just your average jazz-rock fusion band, peddling mostly instrumental jams over the course of three oft-overlooked albums released between 1975 and 1977. The band's original four-piece lineup looked very different from the one that would garner massive commercial success in the late '70s, '80s, and beyond, with lead guitarist Neal Schon and bassist Ross Valory being the only two holdovers from the early years to remain with the outfit through the era of powerhouse lead vocalist Steve Perry, who joined the group beginning with their fourth album, 1978's "Infinity." Original drummer Prairie Prince would go on to record and tour with The Tubes and Todd Rundgren, while guitarist George Tickner — who departed after the band's self-titled 1975 debut album — opted to check out of rock and roll in favor of pursuing a medical career.

Over the years, Tickner (pictured above, second from right) remained friendly with his former bandmates; he founded recording studio The Hive with Valory while well into his career as a physician, and he even reunited with his old friends in 2005 when Journey received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On July 4, Schon announced via Facebook that Tickner had died at the age of 76, acknowledging his formative influence on Journey with a reference to a Tickner-penned song on that first album. "Dear George," he wrote, "'Of a Lifetime' is still one of my favorite songs ever. RIP brother God Speed."

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor first came to the music world's attention via her 1987 debut LP, "The Lion and the Cobra," which peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard chart. While it lacked a hit single, there was no denying the compelling power of O'Connor's voice — capable of extreme tenderness, raw power, and everything in between — and the potency of her songwriting. It seemed a matter of time before she broke through to major stardom, and indeed, her 1990 release "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" did that trick — thanks to lead single "Nothing Compares 2 U," a tune originally recorded by little-remembered R&B outfit The Family, which happened to be penned by some dude by the name of Prince. The song rocketed to No.1 on the pop chart, thanks partly to its video — a static, close-up shot of O'Connor's face as she sang the heartbreakingly beautiful tune.

In later years, O'Connor became perhaps more well-known for her activism than for her music; during a legendarily shocking appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992, she sang a wrenching a capella rendition of Bob Marley's "War," before producing a picture of Pope John Paul II, ripping the photo to pieces, and proclaiming, "Fight the real enemy." While she was uncompromising in her beliefs and unwavering in her dedication to her craft, O'Connor was famously troubled in recent years, and suffered the devastating loss of her 17-year-old son in 2022. On July 26, O'Connor's family announced in a statement that she had passed away of undisclosed causes; she was 56 years old.

Legendary Virginia producer Timbaland is a household name; after making his bona fides in hip-hop and R&B, he crossed on over to produce pop tunes for the likes of Justin Timberlake, Sam Smith, Rihanna, and Beyoncé, to name a few. But longtime hip-hop heads will remember that, when he was up and coming in the mid-'90s, his career really began to take off when he formed a duo with Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff, releasing the LP "Welcome to Our World" in 1997. The album spawned the No. 12 hit "Up Jumps Da Boogie" and went platinum, and two more successful releases followed: "Indecent Proposal" in 2001 and "Under Construction, Pt. 2" in 2003.

Together, the pair helped put Virginia on the popular music map, along with contemporaries and sometime collaborators Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott (who credits Magoo with coming up with her nickname) and Pharrell Williams, whose production team The Neptunes came to rival Timbaland in pop ubiquity. Magoo's output dwindled in the latter half of the '00s, and while he essentially retired after that decade, his contribution to hip-hop can't be denied. Magoo's death from undisclosed causes, at the age of 50, was reported on August 13. On Instagram, his former partner Timbaland wrote, "This one hits different ... Tim and Magoo forever ... rest easy my king."

Toronto native Robbie Robertson was never terribly interested in pop stardom, and it may have been that lack of interest that allowed him to have one of the more intriguing careers that any musician has ever carved out. He began with the band The Hawks, who quickly made the jump from backing up rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins to a slightly more high-profile gig with folk superstar Bob Dylan. The band didn't stay in the shadow of Dylan for long, however — or rather, The Band didn't, as the outfit renamed themselves for their inaugural LP, 1968's "Music from the Big Pink." While they never sold truckloads of records, The Band cultivated a loyal following, and were critically well-regarded enough to receive lifetime achievement awards from both the Grammys and their Canadian equivalent, the Junos.

When The Band broke up in the mid-'70s, they did so in style; their 1976 farewell concert at San Francisco's Winterland was filmed by a young Martin Scorsese and released in 1978 as "The Last Waltz," widely considered to be among the greatest concert films of all time. Robertson would go on to collaborate with the master filmmaker for the rest of his life, working on the scores for such classics as "Casino," "The Gangs of New York," and "The Wolf of Wall Street," while releasing music both as a solo artist and with The Band, who reformed in 1993. Robertson passed away on August 9 at the age of 80 after a protracted illness; his final work with Scorsese can be heard in 2023's "Killers of the Flower Moon."

Jimmy Buffett was a gifted singer and songwriter with an affinity for mashing up musical styles, but he certainly had his preference — countrified, often rocking, calypso-tinged island music of the sort that could transport fans away to the tropical locales that he was unabashedly in love with. Buffett released over two dozen studio albums in his storied career including a whopping 17 gold or platinum platters, with titles like "Havana Daydreamin'," "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," and "Coconut Telegraph" — with his singular brand of what The New York Times called "island escapism," which he developed after a move to Key West, Florida early in his career, embodied by iconic signature tunes like "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise." 

Buffett passed away on September 1 at the age of 76, after battling a rare form of skin cancer for half a decade; while he lived to a ripe old age and left behind an immortal musical legacy, his legions of beloved "Parrothead" fans were still sad to see him go. In an op-ed penned for Florida Keys News, his sister Lucy "LuLu" Buffett comforted them by relating that her brother had died comfortably surrounded by things he loved — family, dogs, music, and "water and sand from the Gulf of Mexico that gave him so much joy to touch and taste those elements that inspired his dreams as a child." His final words to her were, of course, "have fun" — and it's a safe bet that at this moment, he's bellied up to the bar in paradise, enjoying a cheeseburger. And a margarita.

Singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Gary Wright would have etched out an impressive musical legacy had he never even attempted a solo career. After a stint playing keys and writing tunes for the '70s hard rock outfit Spooky Tooth, he went on to play on ex-Beatle George Harrison's iconic solo release "All Things Must Pass," and also appeared on recordings by the likes of B.B. King, Harry Nilsson, and Ringo Starr while occasionally releasing little-heard solo LP's. In 1975, though, he broke through in a big way — with an LP crafted with a heavy dose of synthesizers, an extreme rarity at the time, which went platinum and produced two giant hit singles. That album's title: "The Dream Weaver."

One of those hits was, of course, the title track — an alternately ominous and plaintive ballad flush with piercing, fluttering, trickling synths that created a soundscape just as hypnotic and surreal as the title implies. That tune hit No. 2 on the pop chart, propelling the lead single "Love is Alive," a rollicking, funk-infused rocker (which was sampled to great effect by rap outfit 3rd Bass for their 1989 track "Wordz of Wisdom") onto the charts; it likewise reached No. 2. Wright never again approached that level of chart success, but it likely bothered him not at all — thanks to his close friendship with Harrison, he lived a life dedicated to the same Eastern mysticism that informed both of his monster hit singles, as his son Justin Wright explained to The New York Times. Wright passed away on September 4 at the age of 80.

Girl group 702 were one of many successful finds for producer Michael Bivins, whose own groups New Edition and Bell Biv Devoe are legendary. While 702 — composed of Kameelah Williams and sisters LeMisha and Irish Grinstead — didn't quite have their level of success, they did make a splash on the charts in the late '90s. The group fielded two top 10 singles in 1997's "Get It Together" and 1999's "Where My Girls At?," and their 1999 self-titled sophomore LP was a top 40 success.

The girls began a reunion tour in 2018, and in 2021, the Grinstead sisters took part in the reality series "BET Presents: The Encore," which challenged a slew of female '80s and '90s R&B stars to record an album as a supergroup in just 30 days. Behind the scenes, though, Irish Grinstead was apparently dealing with some major health issues — and in late 2022, 702 announced via social media that she would be taking a medical leave of absence from the group, one from which she unfortunately would not return. On September 16, 2023, LeMisha Grinstead offered fans on Instagram the most unwanted of updates. "It is with great sadness that I have to let you know that my beautiful sister and friend has passed away this evening," she wrote. "She has had a long battle and she is finally at peace." Cause of death was not provided; Irish was 43.

The Isley Brothers are absolute legends in the world of R&B; for over five decades and multiple generations, the vocal group has proven to be staggeringly influential, beginning with their beloved, oft-covered 1959 hit "Shout – Part 1." The group was founded in the early '50s by siblings Ronald, O'Kelly, Vernon, and Rudolph Isley (pictured far left), who became a trio after Vernon's untimely death in 1955; that outfit would field a slew of classic tunes in the late '60s and '70s, including "That Lady," "Fight the Power Part 1," "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)," "Twist and Shout" (which would get a massively popular cover by the Beatles), and the No. 2 smash "It's Your Thing."

The Isleys remained relevant through constant reinvention; one of Rudolph's rare lead vocal performances came on the 1979 hit "It's a Disco Night" during the group's dabbling in that genre, and from R&B to soul to funk, the brothers kept finding ways to score with listeners until O'Kelly's death from a heart attack in 1986. Rudolph departed in 1989 to become a Baptist minister, paving the way for younger brothers Ernie and Marvin to step into the spotlight. He appeared onstage only sporadically after that, although he did see fit to attend when the Isleys were inducted — by none other than Little Richard — into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Rudolph Isley passed away on October 11 at the age of 84.

Producer and DJ Mark "The 45 King" James came by that moniker due to his tendency to mine the heck out of old, little-known 45 records for his samples, creating a chunky, often horn-laden sound that was quite distinctive in rap's early Golden Age. After apprenticing under Bronx legend DJ Breakout and his Funky Four MCs, James spent some time on the New Jersey club circuit before moving into production, and an early effort under his own name — 1987's "The 900 Number" — served not only as an excellent calling card for his signature style, but later as the basis for a slew of other tracks via sampling (and, for those who remember "Yo! MTV Raps," as the soundtrack to the Ed Lover Dance). 

James went on to work extensively with the Flavor Unit collective, including Queen Latifah (on her debut album "All Hail the Queen") and Chill Rob G — and while his career cooled off a bit in the mid-'90s, it soon came roaring back with a vengeance. In 1998, he produced the title track to Jay-Z's six-times platinum album "Hard Knock Life," and in 2000, he made brilliant use of a sampled refrain from English songstress Dido to serve up perhaps his greatest achievement as a producer: "Stan," the iconic single from Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP," which has sold a staggering 32 million copies. James passed away from undisclosed causes in October, and he was memorialized on Instagram by fellow all-time great producer DJ Premier, who wrote, "His sound was unlike any other ... Sleep Peacefully Mark thank you for all that you've done."

X Japan is not quite a household name in the U.S., but in a just universe, they would be. Since their beginnings as a speed metal band in the '80s, their music has come to embrace pop, symphonic, and even classical elements; their smattering of stateside appearances, such as an appearance at Lollapalooza in 2010 and a Madison Square Garden event in 2014, have left attendees with their devil horns in the air and their jaws on the floor. They're a beloved Japanese institution, having sold a whopping 30 million records worldwide — and in 2023, they were struck with tragedy when bassist Hiroshi "Heath" Morie, just 55 years old, passed away from cancer after being diagnosed earlier this year. 

Heath had been with the band since 1992, and in a heart-wrenching statement posted to Instagram, drummer, keyboardist, and bandleader Yoshiki Hayashi expressed his gratitiude at having grown closer with the bassist over the last several years. "He was such a wonderful bass player, a band member, and a wonderful human being," he wrote. "I am so mentally and physically drained, so drenched in sorrow, I don't know what to say right now ... Thank you for everything, Heath. And may you rest in peace. I hope that someday we can play music together again." 

Drummer George Brown, for his entire professional career, was nicknamed "Funky" — and as a founding member of R&B and funk icons Kool & The Gang, he more than lived up to the moniker. Brown held down the rhythm for the band through all of its incarnations, first as a jazz band in the '60s (who went by the slightly clunky name of "The Jazziacs"), through their hard funk era in the early '70s, then as disco hitmakers late in that decade, and finally as rulers of the adult contemporary chart in the '80s. Brown's driving, swaggering rhythms powered all of the outfit's classic tracks — from "Jungle Boogie" to "Open Sesame" to "Too Hot" to "Celebration" — and he also has the distinction of being one of the most sampled drummers of all time. Kool & The Gang's 1974 track "Summer Madness" has been sampled over 200 times (notably for DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's classic "Summertime"), and one of Brown's slamming grooves from the track "N.T.," off the band's 1971 "Live at PJ's" album, is one of the most sampled break beats in history.

Brown had battled lung cancer in recent years, and while he was able to beat it into remission, it returned in 2023. He was active with his beloved band right up until the end, producing its LP "People Just Wanna Have Fun" in honor of its upcoming 60th anniversary. Brown passed away on November 16 in Long Beach, California; he was 74 years old.

New Orleans R&B singer Jean Knight was working as a baker's assistant in the late '60s and early '70s when she showed up for a session in Jackson, Mississippi, with producer Wardell Quezerque, who had made hit records for the likes of Fats Domino and Nawlins legend Dr. John. As Knight told the story at a festival in 2007 (via the New York Times), the song she had been given to record — a bouncy, funky rejection of the overtures of an arrogant rich dude — sported a melody that just wasn't quite sassy enough for her. "That ain't got no bite to it," she deadpanned — so one of the songwriters gave her permission to put her own sassy stamp on it. 

The result would become the only major hit of Knight's career, but what a hit it was: "Mr. Big Stuff," which was eventually picked up by Stax Records and rocketed to the top of the R&B charts, not to mention No. 2 on the Hot 100. Not only did the song pretty much take care of paying Knight's bills for the rest of her life ("All I have to do is sit at home and wait for the mailman" for the royalty checks, she quipped to a New Orleans audience in 2002), it also helped line the pockets of the slew of rap artists who have sampled it, including Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Queen Latifah, and Heavy D. Knight was known to take the stage well into her later years, always performing her signature tune; she passed away in November at the age of 80.

Fans of such Celtic punk bands as Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys likely know that the genre — which marries the traditional writing style of Irish and Scottish folk music with the sheer aggression of punk rock — may never have come into being without The Pogues. The band was formed in 1982 by vocalist Shane MacGowan and tin whistle player and sometime singer Spider Stacy, and their aesthetic — overtly political, blaringly loud, and angry as hell — is perhaps best explained by the fact that their name was shortened from "Pogue Mahone," an anglicization of a Gaelic term which basically means "kiss my" — well, you know. In the '80s, the band associated themselves with all manner of fellow iconoclasts, touring with The Clash, having their second album produced by Elvis Costello, and even opening for Bob Dylan.

MacGowan was not the only one to provide lead vocals for the band, but he was perhaps the most distinctive — with a slurred, shouted, aggressive style that could often conceal the complexity of his lyrics. The Pogues never ruled the Billboard charts, but their influence was towering — and the entirety of the Celtic punk genre owes a debt of gratitude to MacGowan, who deserves a large share of the credit for creating it. MacGowan had been ill in recent years, and on November 30, his wife Victoria Mary Clarke announced his passing on Instagram. "Thank you for your presence in this world, you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music," she wrote. "You will live in my heart forever."

In the early '90s, The Dixie Chicks — now known simply as The Chicks — had yet to infuse their country-bluegrass hybrid with the pop sensibility that would one day propel them to the top of the charts. At their inception, their lineup looked quite a bit different, consisting of two sisters, fiddle player Martie and banjoist Emily Maguire (now Strayer), guitarist Robin Lynn Macy, and Laura Lynch, who gave the Chicks' sound an old-timey low end with her upright bass. This lineup released two albums before Macy departed, and Lynch took over lead vocals for their third release "Shouldn't a Told You That," which saw them achieve some success — they played Bill Clinton's inaugural ball, and signed with a subsidiary of Sony in 1995. Soon after, though, the sisters decided to replace Lynch with young vocalist Natalie Maines, and this lineup would go on to stellar success in the late '90s and beyond.

In a 2003 conversation with the Associated Press, Lynch shared that she didn't regret missing out on the band's biggest period of success, but that of course it hadn't felt good to be replaced. After her departure, she moved to the tiny town of Mineral Wells, Texas, to raise her young daughter, got married, took up painting, and lived a quiet, small-town life; one would not have guessed she had once been the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world. 

She died on December 22, when her pickup truck, traveling on the highway, was struck head-on by another vehicle; she was 65.