2021 - In Memoriam

Before we leave 2021 in the past, Susan Omand spares a thought for just a few of the arts and music people that we lost last year...

It's been a tough year for a lot of us but there is always time to spare a thought for those who are no longer with us. Some of these names will be more familiar than others as always but every one of them is important in their own way. This is by no means an exhaustive list - every year there seem to be always far too many - so these are just a few, in no particular order, that I thought were worth a mention. [if you want to find out more about them, they all have a wiki page - Ed]

In Memoriam...

Janice Long, 66, English disc jockey (BBC Radio 1) and television presenter (Top of the Pops)

Robin Le Mesurier, 68, British guitarist  with The Wombles

Paul Mitchell, American R&B singer for The Floaters

Ron Anderson, 75, American vocal coach for Axl Rose, Chris Cornell and Ozzy Osbourne

Richard Rogers, 88, Italian-born British architect who designed Centre Pompidou, Lloyd's building, Millennium Dome

Tam Harvey, Scottish folk guitarist (in The Humblebums with Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty)

John Morgan, 80, English drummer (The Wurzels)

Terry Uttley, 70, British bass guitarist (Smokie)

Ken Kragen, 85, American music manager and producer who organised the charity single We Are the World 

Michael Nesmith, 78, The Monkees

Chris Achilleos, 74, Cypriot-born British illustrator.

Robbie Shakespeare, 68, Jamaican bassist from Sly and Robbie

Ralph Tavares, 79, Tavares

Steve Bronski, 61, Scottish keyboardist and founder of Bronski Beat

John Miles, 72, British singer-songwriter and musician - Music was his first love

Sir Antony Sher, 72, South African-born British actor

Carlos Marín, 53, singer with Il Divo

Graeme Edge, 80, drummer with The Moody Blues

Tom Stoddart, 68, British photographer/photojournalist

Mick Rock, 72, British music photographer - Bowie’s official photographer

Stephen Sondheim, 91, American composer and lyricist (West Side Story, Company, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street among many many others)

Paddy Moloney, 83, of The Chieftains

Andrea Haugen, 52, German singer (Cradle of Filth)

Alan Hawkshaw, 84, British composer wrote the themes for Grange Hill, Countdown, Channel 4 News

Leslie Bricusse, 90, British composer (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), lyricist (Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice) 

Waldo Holmes, 92, American trumpeter and songwriter (Rock the Boat). 

Sarah Harding, 39, Girls Aloud

Alan Lancaster, 72, bassist  with Status Quo

Barry Ryan, 72, wrote and first sang Eloise

Les Vandyke, 90, English singer/songwriter (What Do You Want?, Poor Me, Well I Ask You)

Tom T. Hall, 85, American singer-songwriter (Harper Valley PTA).

Don Everly, 84, of The Everly Brothers

Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, 89, Scottish painter. 

Charlie Watts, 80, drummer with The Rolling Stones

Lee Scratch Perry, 85, Jamaican reggae musician and songwriter (Run for Cover, Police and Thieves) 

Stephen Hickman, 72, American illustrator. 

Joey Jordison, 46, co-founder of Slipknot 

Dusty Hill, 72, of ZZ Top

Johnny Solinger, 55, of Skid Row 

John Lawton, 74, singer with Uriah Heep

Lloyd Price, 88, American Hall of Fame R&B singer (Personality, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Stagger Lee)

Nick Kamen, 59, English model, singer and songwriter and that guy from the Levi’s ad

Spencer Silver, 80, American chemist, co-inventor of Post-it Notes.

Patsy Bruce, 81, and her ex Ed Bruce, 81, American singer-songwriter (Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys)

Freddy Marks, 71, English musician (Rod, Jane and Freddy)

John Davis, 66, singer with Milli Vanilli

B. J. Thomas, 78, American singer (Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, Hooked on a Feeling)

Alan Braden, 94, famous for being the TV orchestra director in things like The Sooty Show, The Two Ronnies and Name That Tune.

DMX, 50, American rapper (Party Up (Up in Here), X Gon' Give It to Ya)

Barry Mason, 85, English songwriter (Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), The Last Waltz, Delilah).

Jim Steinman, 73, American musician, composer and lyricist (Total Eclipse of the Heart, I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That), It's All Coming Back to Me Now)

Les McKeown, 65, of the Bay City Rollers

John Hinch, 73, Drummer with Judas Priest

Anthony Payne, 84, English composer who finished Elgar’s Symphony No. 3

Alan Cartwright, 75, bassist with Procol Harum

Lou Ottens, 94, Dutch engineer (Philips), inventor of the cassette tape

Jim Weatherly, 77, American Hall of Fame singer-songwriter (Midnight Train to Georgia, Neither One of Us, You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me)

Gil Saunders, 68, American soul singer (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes

Louis Clark, 73, English musical arranger (Electric Light Orchestra, Hooked on Classics)

Sydney Devine, 81, Scottish singer

Arturo Di Modica, 80, Italian-American sculptor who did the Charging Bull statue on Wall street

Gerry Marsden, 78, of Gerry and the Pacemakers

Mark Keds, 50, singer with Senseless Things

Siegfried Fischbacher, 81, of Siegfried & Roy

Sylvain Sylvain, 69, Egyptian-born American guitarist with New York Dolls

Phil Spector, 81, American Hall of Fame record producer 

Perry Botkin Jr., 87, American composer who wrote the music for, among others, Happy Days and Mork and Mindy