Author: John

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2011) was an American singer whose style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Starting her career in the mid 1950s, she gained fame with hits such as “Dance With Me, Henry”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind” for which she claimed she wrote the lyrics. She faced a number of personal problems including drug addiction before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album, The Seven Year Itch.

She is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008. Rolling Stone ranked James number twenty-two on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number sixty-two on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.

Etta James cause of death
Etta James died of Cancer (Leukemia). Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow,
Etta James was 73 years old at the time of her death

Related Blog:
Singer Etta James terminally ill with Cancer (Leukemia) (December 18, 2011)

Related Death:
Etta James was discovered by Johnny Otis. He died a day before Etta James’ death

Recent quote from Etta James on Beyonce (when Beyonce sang ‘At Last’ for president Obama on February 2009)
“I can’t stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day … singing my song that I’ve been singing forever.”

At Last – Etta James

At Last – Studio Version

Sarah Burke (September 3, 1982 – January 19, 2012) was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a four-time Winter X Games gold medalist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was considered a medal favourite in the event. 

Sarah Burke cause of death
Sarah Burkedied following a training accident in Utah.
Sarah Burke was 29 years old at the time of her death.

Accident
On January 10, 2012 Burke was seriously injured while training on the Park City Mountain Resort Eagle superpipe in Park City, Utah. This is the same superpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce was seriously injured in 2009. Onlookers reported that Burke had completed a trick fairly well yet fell onto her head, and the accident did not appear to be very severe. Moments later, however, she went into cardiac arrest while still on the ski slope, making her chance of survival extremely low. She was resuscitated and airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she was reported to be in a coma. The following day, she underwent neurosurgery to repair a tear in a vertebral artery. She succumbed to her injuries on January 19, 2012. Per her publicist’s words, Burke’s injuries had resulted in “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest.” Her organs and tissues were donated as she requested before her death.

etalk Sarah Burke at Whistler World Ski Fest

Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes (December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012), better known as Johnny Otis, was an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario. Born in Vallejo, California, he is commonly referred to as the “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues”.

Johnny Otis cause of death
Cause of death is not released yet.
Johnny Otis was 90 years old at the time of his death

Hand Jive – The Johnny Otis Show

Bob Anderson (September 15, 1922 – January 1, 2012) was an English actor and fencer. Anderson also owns a claim to fame for being a swordfighting trainer for several films, as well as a stunt double for Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He is one of seven people to have played that character. He was born in Hampshire.

Anderson did not receive much recognition for his role in the Star Wars films for years after their initial release, in part because David Prowse was so lauded for his portrayal that director George Lucas did not want to detract from the boost it gave the actor’s career. In a 1983 interview, however, Mark Hamill paid homage to Anderson’s contribution, saying: “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn’t think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by one man.”

As a competitive fencer, he represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in 1952 and the World Championships in 1950 and 1953 in the sabre event. He finished tied for fifth in the team sabre event at Helsinki in 1952.

After his retirement from fencing competition, Anderson emigrated to Canada, where he went on to become technical director of the Canadian Fencing Association. Anderson died on New Year’s Day 2012 in a West Sussex hospital. He was 89.

Happy New Year everyone.

Below is my top 10 celebrity deaths in 2011. 
(* I didn’t count Steve Jobs as “Hollywood” celebrity)

As always, my list will be different than yours.
It’s not easy to trim a long list down to just 10.

1. Elizabeth Taylor (79)
2. Jane Russell (89)
3. Amy Winehouse (27)
4. Peter Falk (83)
5. Jackie Cooper (88)
6. Roger Williams (87)
7. Joe Willie ‘Pinetop’ Perkins (97)
8. Anne Francis (80)
9. Harry Morgan (96)
10. Jack LaLanne (96)

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5 celebrities who didn’t make top 10

• Andrew Gold, singer ‘Lonely Boy’, ‘Thank you for being a friend’, died 59
• Phoebe Snow, Singer “Poetry Man”, Died 60
• Andy Rooney, ’60 Minutes’ commentator, dies 92
• Soul singer Dobie Gray, ‘Drift Away’, dies 71
• Gerry Rafferty, Singer ‘Baker Street’, dies 63

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• Top 10 Deaths – 2008
  
• Top 10 Deaths – 2009
  
• Top 10 Deaths – 2010
  

Robert Dickey (Bobby Purify) died December 29, 2011

James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were “I’m Your Puppet” in 1966, which reached #6 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version #12 in the UK Singles Chart (in April 1966), and “Let Love Come Between Us” in 1967, which reached #23 in the U.S.

Robert Dickey cause of death
Robert Dickey’s Cause of death was not released.
Robert Dickey was 72 uears old at the time of his death.

I’m Your Puppet – James & Bobby Purify

Catherine Louise “Kaye” Stevens (July 21, 1932 – December 28, 2011) was an American singer and actress.

Stevens’s big break in show business came at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, when the headliner for the night, Debbie Reynolds, became ill and Stevens filled in for the night. She then went on to do small shows at the Plaza Hotel’s Persian Room, New York’s Waldorf Astoria, and Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip near Las Vegas, Nevada. One of these shows includes the Frank Sinatra Spectacular TV Show. She went on to appear on such television game shows as Match Game, Hollywood Squares, Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Price is Right, and Password.

Stevens went on a USO tour with Bob Hope in 1965. She traveled to Vietnam with Hope and a group of fellow entertainers in the hopes of boosting the morale of thousands of American soldiers. She was quoted as saying “I came back in 1965 and my life was in shambles because of what I saw.”

Kaye Stevens cause of death
Kaye Stevens lived in retirement in Summerfield, Florida. She died of breast cancer and blood clots. She left no immediate survivors.
Kaye Stevens was 79 years old at the time of her death

Sammy Davis Jr. hosts Hollywood Palace 2-11-67 with Liberace
Kaye Stevens is the third act.  Kaye Stevens comes after Sammy Davis Jr. and roller skate stunt.

Samuel Carthorne Rivers (September 25, 1923 – December 26, 2011), was an American jazz musician and composer. He performed on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano.

Rivers was born in Enid, Oklahoma. Active in jazz since the early 1950s, he earned wider attention during the mid-1960s spread of free jazz. With a thorough command of music theory, orchestration and composition, Rivers was an influential and prominent artist in jazz music.

Sam Rivers cause of death
Sam Rivers died from pneumonia in Orlando, Florida
Sam Rivers was 88 years old at the time of his death.

Sam Rivers Trio 1979 – Sam Rivers on Sax

Updated December 29, 2011: There is a controversy.  Many people are skeptical.  Experts say Chimpanzees live to early 70’s max.  Living 80 years is unheard of.  So, the chimp cannot be authenticated.  And there are people who vouch for Cheetah’s identity.

Cheeta (c1931 – December 24, 2011) (sometimes billed as Cheetah, Cheta and Chita) was a chimpanzee character appearing in numerous Hollywood Tarzan movies of the 1930s–1960s as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan. Cheeta’s role in these films is to provide comic relief, convey messages between Tarzan and his allies, and occasionally lead Tarzan’s other animal friends to the ape-man’s rescue. Cheeta Chap has usually been characterized as male, but sometimes as female, and has been portrayed by chimpanzees of both sexes.

Cheeta Cause of Death
Cheeta died in Palm Harbor, Florida, of kidney failure.
Cheeta was 80 years old at the time of his death.

Cheetah The Chimp, Drunk

Ralph MacDonald (March 15, 1944 Harlem, New York – December 18, 2011 Stamford, Connecticut) was an American percussionist and song-writer. He joined Harry Belafonte’s band at age 17. He wrote the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song “Where is the Love” with songwriting partner William Salter. Probably his best-known composition is the Grover Washington, Jr. – Bill Withers hit “Just the Two of Us”, which has since been covered by many artists, including Will Smith.

His recording credits number in the hundreds and include George Benson, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Art Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Miriam Makeba, David Sanborn, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Luther Vandross, Amy Winehouse, and Jimmy Buffett, whose Coral Reefer Band has featured MacDonald as member since the late 1990s.

Ralph MacDonald cause of death
Ralph MacDonald died after a long illness.
Ralph MacDonald was 67 years old at the time of his death.

Grover Washington Jr. Featuring Bill Withers – Just the Two of Us

Roberta Flack / Donny Hathaway – Where Is The Love (1972)