Claydes Charles Smith (September 6, 1948 – June 20, 2006) was an American musician best known as co-founder and lead guitarist of the group Kool & the Gang.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was introduced to jazz guitar by his father in the early 1960s.
Later in that decade he was in a group of New Jersey jazz musicians, including Ronald Bell (later Khalis Bayyan), Robert "Kool" Bell, George Brown, Dennis Thomas and Robert "Spike" Mickens, who became Kool & the Gang. Other members would include lead singer James "JT" Taylor.
Kool & the Gang grew from jazz roots in the 1960s to become one of the major groups of the 1970s, blending jazz, funk, R&B, and pop. Despite their popularity waning briefly, the group enjoyed a return to stardom during the 1980s.[1]
Illness forced Smith to stop touring with the group in January 2006. He died in Maplewood, New Jersey.
Smith, who was known professionally as Charles Smith, wrote the hits "Joanna" and "Take My Heart," and was a co-writer of others, including "Celebration," "Hollywood Swinging," and "Jungle Boogie."
Smith is survived by his six children — Claydes A. Smith, Justin Smith, Aaron Corbin, August Williams, Uranus Guray, and Tyteen Humes — and nine grandchildren.
Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 – June 23, 2006) was an American film and television producer. As of 2007, Spelling holds the record for most prolific television producer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits
Illness, lawsuit, and death In 2001, Spelling was diagnosed with oral cancer.
On January 28, 2006, Spelling was sued by his former nurse, who sought unspecified damages for 10 claims, including sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, sexual battery, assault, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
On June 18, 2006, Spelling suffered a severe stroke at his estate in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California. He died there on June 23, 2006, from complications of the stroke, at the age of 83. A private funeral was held several days later, and Spelling was entombed in a mausoleum in Culver City’s Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
Notable productions Spelling worked in some capacity on almost 200 productions beginning with the Zane Grey Theatre in 1956. His most recognizable contributions to television include Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty, Starsky and Hutch, Family, Hotel, The Rookies, Beverly Hills 90210 and its adult spin-off Melrose Place, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Vega$, Hart to Hart, The Colbys, T.J. Hooker, Nightingales, Kindred: The Embraced, 7th Heaven, Charmed, Burke’s Law, Honey West, The Mod Squad, and S.W.A.T.. His company also co-produced the David Lynch series Twin Peaks (although Spelling himself was not directly involved in its production).
He also produced the HBO miniseries And the Band Played On, based on Randy Shilts’s bestseller. The miniseries won an Emmy Award, Spelling’s first.
William Everett "Billy" Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American soul musician from Houston, Texas, raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his successful, Grammy-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Richie Sambora, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969.
Preston is the only non-Beatle to receiving billing as an artist alongside the Beatles (as distinct from receiving credit as a session musician on album packaging) on an official Beatles record release. The label of the Get Back single credits the artists on the record as "The Beatles with Billy Preston".
Death of Billy Preston Billy Preston had battled kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died on June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. He had voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, Calif., and suffered pericarditis there, leading to respiratory failure that left him in a coma since November 21, 2005.[5] His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California. Preston was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.
Billy Preston – Nothing from nothing 1975
Billy Preston’s discography on next page
Billy Preston Discography
Albums (1965) The Most Exciting Organ Ever (1965) Early Hits of’65 (1966) The Wildest Organ in Town (1967) Club Meeting (1969) That’s The Way God Planned It (1970) Encouraging Words (1971) I Wrote a Simple Song (1972) Music Is My Life (1973) Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music (1974) Live European Tour 1973 featuring Mick Taylor on guitar (CD release A&M, 2002) (1974) The Kids and Me (1975) It’s My Pleasure (1976) Billy Preston (1977) A Whole New Thing (1979) Late At Night (1981) The Way I Am (1982) Pressin’ On (1984) On the Air (1986) You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down (2001) You and I (featuring the Italian band "Novecento") (2004) The Wildest Organ in Town (Re-released on Stateside Records)
Gospel albums (1962) Sixteen Years Old Soul (1965) Hymns Speak from the Organ (1973) Gospel In My Soul (Re-edition of Hymns Speak from the organ) (1978) Behold! (1980) Universal Love (1994) Ministry of Music (1995) Minister of Music (1996) Words and Music (2001) Music From My Heart
Singles 1969: "That’s the Way God Planned It" – US Pop #62, UK #11 1971: "My Sweet Lord" – US Pop #90, US R&B #23 1972: "I Wrote a Simple Song" – US Pop #77 1972: "Outa-Space" – US Pop #2, US R&B #1, UK #44 1972: "That’s the Way God Planned It" (re-release) – US Pop #65 1972: "Slaughter" – US Pop #50, US R&B #17 1973: "Will It Go Round in Circles" – US Pop #1, US R&B #10 1973: "Space Race" – US Pop #4, US R&B #1 1974: "You’re So Unique" – US Pop #48, US R&B #11 1974: "Nothing from Nothing" – US Pop #1, US R&B #8 1974" "Struttin’" – US Pop #22, US R&B #11 1975: "Fancy Lady" – US Pop #71, US R&B #11 1977: "Wide Stride" – US R&B #33 1978: "Get Back" – US Pop #86 1979: "With You I’m Born Again" (with Syreeta Wright) – US Pop #4, UK #2 1980: "One More Time for Love" (with Syreeta Wright) – US Pop #52 1982: "I’m Never Gonna Say Goodbye" – US Pop #88
As a guest/session performer (1963) Night Beat (Sam Cooke) (1969) Get Back and Don’t Let Me Down (The Beatles) (1970) All Things Must Pass (George Harrison) (1970) John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, piano on "God" (John Lennon) (1971) Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones) (1971) The Concert for Bangla Desh (George Harrison And Friends) (1971) There’s a Riot Goin’ On (Sly & the Family Stone) (1971) Live at Fillmore West (King Curtis & Aretha Franklin) (1971) Barbara Joan Streisand, Billy plays keyboards, drums (1972) Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones) (1972) Wind of Change, Billy plays piano, keyboards, harpsichord, accordion (Peter Frampton) (1973) Ringo, organ on "I’m The Greatest" (1973) Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones) (1974) Goodnight Vienna, clavinet on the title track, electric piano on "Only You (And You Alone)" (1974) It’s Only Rock’n Roll (Rolling Stones) (1975) "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker’s biggest hit) (1975) "Blood on the Tracks" (Bob Dylan) (1976) Thirty Three & 1/3 (George Harrison) (1976) Black and Blue (Rolling Stones) (1978) Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (also acted the part "Sgt. Pepper" in the film) (1981) Tattoo You (Rolling Stones) (1986) "Great Gosh A’Mighty (Been A Long Time Comin’)" (co-written with Little Richard – from the hit motion picture ‘Down And Out in Beverly Hills’. Little Richard – vocal.) (1990) Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (Billy plays keyboards and vocals) (1990) Giovani Jovanotti (Jovanotti) (Billy plays keyboards & Fender Rhodes) (1991) …E La Vita Continua (Nino D’Angelo) (1996) "Voyage of Dreams" – Jephté Guillaume and the Tet Kale Orkestra (Billy plays Organ, Strings on Al Di Yo, Go Tell Them, Kanpe, Get Up) (1997) Bridges to Babylon (Rolling Stones) (1998) Undiscovered Soul (Richie Sambora) (2000) The Harsh Light of Day (Fastball) (Billy played keyboards on "You’re An Ocean") (2001) Songs From The West Coast – Elton John ("Electric organ" on "I Want Love", "The Wasteland"; "Love Her Like Me") (2001) Reptile (Eric Clapton) (2001) One More Car, One More Rider (Eric Clapton, live) –DVD includes live performance of Will It Go Round in Circles (2003) The Colored Section (Donnie) (Billy plays Hammond B3 on the last track: "The Colored Section") (2003) Concert for George — including Isn’t It a Pity and My Sweet Lord (2003) Get Born (Jet) (2004) Me and Mr. Johnson (Eric Clapton) (also appears in the DVD companion Sessions for Robert J) (2004) Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival (Eric Clapton) (2004) Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles) (2005) 12 Songs (Neil Diamond) (2005) Back Home (Eric Clapton) (2005) Choose Love (Ringo Starr) (2005) The Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison and Friends) (Re-mastered version & video) (2006) Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (on "Warlocks") (2006) The Road to Escondido (J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton)
Paul Xavier Gleason (May 4, 1939 – May 27, 2006) was an American film and television actor.
Death of Paul Gleason Gleason died on May 27, 2006 at a Burbank, California hospital from mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer connected with asbestos, which he is thought to have contracted from asbestos exposure on building sites while working for his father as a teenager
Career Gleason starred in many movies, and became well-known initially as Dr. David Thornton on All My Children, playing the role from 1976 to 1978. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Richard Vernon, the gruff disciplinary principal in the seminal 1985 movie The Breakfast Club. He reprised versions of that character several times, including in an A*Teens music video, on the television show Boy Meets World (although he was a dean on BMW) and in the films Johnny Be Good and Not Another Teen Movie. As a bookend to his modern fame as strict disciplinarian, Gleason played a tough yet forgiving and nurturing professor to the lead character in Van Wilder.
Gleason is known to Star Wars fans for his role as Jeremitt Towani in the 1985 made-for-TV film The Battle for Endor. He played the villainous Clarence ‘Mr’ Beeks in the famous 1983 comedy Trading Places starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. He also played Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T Robinson, the blowhard police official in Die Hard.
June Antoinette Pointer Whitmore (November 30, 1953 – April 11, 2006) was an American Pop/R&B singer and was a founding member of the vocal group The Pointer Sisters.
Death of June Pointer June died at 1:10pm on April 11, 2006 at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from bone cancer, liver cancer, and lung cancer. She died in the arms of her older sisters and brothers Ruth, Anita, Aaron, and Fritz.
Struggling with drug addiction for much of her career, June was ousted from the Pointer Sisters by 2004 as her sisters hoped and waited for her to become drug-free. Ruth’s daughter filled in for June during stage performances.
Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger (August 18, 1917- March 28, 2006), was an American politician and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after Robert McNamara and Donald Rumsfeld. He is also known for his roles in the Strategic Defense Initiative program and the Iran-Contra Affair.
Death of Casper Weinberger While residing on Mount Desert Island, Maine, Weinberger was treated for and died from complications of pneumonia at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. He was eighty-eight years of age.
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens, Jr., (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006) was an American singer and guitarist, with 20 number-one hits on the Billboard country music charts. Both as a solo artist and with his legendary band, the Buckaroos. Buck Owens and the the Buckaroos pioneered what has come to be called the Bakersfield sound — a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American Music
Death of Buck Owens Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, including pneumonia and a minor stroke suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace.
Lois Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an Academy Award-, Emmy- and two-time Tony Award-winning American actress in film, theater and television. She was also elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Death of Maureen Stapleton Maureen Stapleton suffered from anxiety and alcoholism for many years and once told an interviewer, "The curtain came down and I went into the vodka." She also said that her unhappy childhood contributed to her insecurities. In 2006, Maureen Stapleton, who was a heavy smoker, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at her home in Lenox, Massachusetts, at the age of 80
A Tribute to Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton’s awards & filmography continues next page
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress 1981 Reds
BAFTA Awards Best Supporting Actress 1982 Reds
Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries/Movie 1968 Among the Paths to Eden
Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture 1971 Airport
Tony Awards Best Leading Actress in a Play 1971 The Gingerbread Lady Best Featured Actress in a Play 1951 The Rose Tattoo
Maureen Stapleton – Filmography
1958
All the King’s Men
TV; Nominated – Emmy Award
Lonelyhearts
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1959
The Fugitive Kind
1961
Vu du pont
aka A View from the Bridge
1963
Bye Bye Birdie
1967
Among the Paths to Eden
TV; Emmy Award
1969
Truman Capote’s Trilogy
Reprise of Emmy winning 1967 role
1970
Airport
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1971
Plaza Suite
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1979
The Runner Stumbles
Lost and Found
1981
Reds
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Slobodan Milosevic (August 29, 1941, Yugoslavia – March 11, 2006, The Hague, Netherlands) was President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000. He also led the Socialist Party of Serbia from its foundation in 1990.
Death of Slobodan Milosevic Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell on March 11, 2006, in the UN war crimes tribunal’s detention center, located in the Scheveningen section of The Hague.
Autopsies soon established that Slobodan Milosevic had died of a heart attack. He had been suffering from heart problems and high blood pressure. However, many suspicions were voiced to the effect that the heart attack had been caused or made possible deliberately.
Jack Wild (September 30, 1952 – March 2, 2006) was an English actor who achieved fame for his roles in both stage and screen productions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with Ron Moody, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed. For the latter performance (playing the Artful Dodger), he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16, but the Oscar went to Jack Albertson for his performance in The Subject Was Roses. Jack Wild appeared with actor Mark Lester in two films: Oliver! (1968) and Melody (1971).
Death of Jack Wild Wild died on 2 March, 2006, aged 53, after a long battle with oral cancer, which he claimed was caused by his alcoholism and smoking. Diagnosed with the disease in 2000, he underwent surgery in July 2004 and had part of his tongue and both vocal cords removed. Because of this surgery, he had lost his speech and had to communicate through his wife, Clare Harding, whom he had met in a stage production of Cinderella; Jack played one of the ugly stepsisters. He is buried in Toddington Parish Cemetery.
Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 – 
Paul Xavier Gleason (May 4, 1939 – 
Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger (August 18, 1917- 
Slobodan Milosevic (August 29, 1941, Yugoslavia – 
Jack Wild (September 30, 1952 –