By The Landlord
The year is almost over. Barring further catastrophe, no more famous musicians, heroes or heroines will pass away before midnight. That said, I'm not holding my breath. And as 2016 slips into 2017, it seems only fitting to pay tribute to them. So without further ado, I give you, as a bonus to the current weekly topic. It's The Song Bar's musical tribute to those who have passed away this year from the world of music.
We can't name everybody, of course, so this is a list, mainly of music artists, with a few notables thrown in, including Muhammad Ali, Fidel Castro Gene Wilder and Victoria Wood, but all as shown from a musical angle. And although he died right just a couple of days before 2016, I thought it would also be good to fit in Lemmy too. The song choices range from the serious to the silly, but overall, they try to reflect on life, death, and the best of those we have lost. The list, in alphabetical order by surname, follows the YouTube playlist below.
A huge thank you again to all you wonderful readers and contributors who have made The Song Bar such a special place to visit this year. Keep coming back. We're open all the time to everybody. I hope you'll enjoy this playlist to mark the passing of 2016, and to say farewell many people we've grown up admiring. And if you don't have time today, feel come back to it again in the weeks, months and years to come. We shall remember them.
Muhammad Ali
Mose Allison
Prince Be (PM Dawn)
David Bowie
Pete Burns
Prince Buster
Fidel Castro
Guy Clark
Leonard Cohen
Ronnie Corbett
Phife Dawg
Holly Dunn
Keith Emerson
Carrie Fisher
Pete Fountain
Glenn Frey
Juan Gabriel
Christina Grimmie
Merle Haggard
Sonny James
Sharon Jones
Paul Kantner (Jefferson Starship)
Lemmy
Jane Little (double bass and longest serving symphony player)
Greg Lake
David Mancuso (Club DJ pioneer)
Sir George Martin
Denise Katrina Matthews/Vanity
Nick Menza
George Michael
Chips Moman (writer/producer)
Scotty Moore
Emilio Navaira
Rick Parfitt
Prince
Lou Reed
Debbie Reynolds
Matt Roberts (3 Doors Down guitarist)
Leon Russell
Frank Sinatra Jr
Ralph Stanley
Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention fiddler)
Vi Subversa (Poison Girls)
Rod Temperton (Heatwave and Michael Jackson songwriter)
Toots Thielemans
Bobby Vee
Alan Vega
Colin Vearncombe aka Black
Viola Beach (the whole band)
Papa Wemba
Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire)
Gene Wilder
Terry Wogan
Victoria Wood
Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic)
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