Musicians and singers who died in March 2020

Rafael Berrio, a member of groups such as UHF, Amor A Traición and Deriva and author of a fruitful solo career that was at its best, died this Tuesday in San Sebastián at the age of 56, due to the serious illness
… via diariovasco.com

Zoltán Peskó died at the age of 83 after a long illness on March 31 – the artist’s family informed us.
Born into a church musician family, his father, id. Zoltán Peskó and his brother György Peskó are organists.
… via fidelio.hu

Wallace Roney, the legendary jazz trumpeter and protege of Miles Davis, has died at the age of 59. Roney’s cause of death was as a result of coronavirus complications.
… via heavy.com

Bill Withers, who wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean on Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” has died from heart complications
… via carlyleobserver.com

Los Angeles Azules confirmed the death of Martha Avante Barrón, mother of the Mejía Avante brothers and founder of the group.
… via eluniversal.com

In 2006, she participated and sang for Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs. Ebrel was 87 when she died
… via francetvinfo.fr

Samba singer Riachão died of natural causes in Salvador, on the dawn of this Monday (30). Riachão was 98 years old.
During the wake, some relatives of the singer sang some of Riachão’s songs, such as “Cada Macaco na seu Galo”, the most famous composition.
… via globo.com

Grammy-winning Country artist Joe Diffie passed away today (3/29) from complications of Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the age of 61. Diffie is best known for his string of #1 hits that include “Home,” “If The Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Third Rock From The Sun,” “Pickup Man,” and “Bigger Than The Beatles.”
… via allaccess.com

Alan Merrill, the lead singer of Arrows, and co-writer of the first recorded version of “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” in 1975, died today (March 29), a victim of the Covid-19 virus. In 1982, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts scored a #1 single with their version
… via bestclassicbands.com

Folk singer and actress Paravai Muniyamma died in Madurai on Sunday. The octogenarian had been suffering from age-related ailments for a few years now.
She shot to fame in 2003 with her role in the film Dhool, in which she starred alongside actors Vikram and Jyothika. Her song Madurai veeran became a huge hit
… via thehindu.com

Radio Kraków was the first to inform about the composer’s death, citing the musician’s family. Krzysztof Penderecki turned 86 in November.
… via gazeta.pl

Nicolás “Colacho” Brizuela, a musician from La Rioja, who was known in the popular music scene for having accompanied Mercedes Sosa for more than two decades, died on Saturday afternoon, due to kidney cancer.
… via lanacion.com.ar

In the 1960s Frank White toured Europe with another local hero, The Crying Game pop star Dave Berry and the Cruisers.
He played with Carl Perkins, Albert Lee and The Crickets.
… via thestar.co.uk, thanks to Andy

Sergei Rainchik played keyboards for Верасы (Verasy), worked as a sound engineer at the Youth Variety Theater, and also the music director of the revived Verasa project. At various times, he wrote music and arrangements for songs performed by Irina Dorofeeva, Angelika Agurbash (at that time Lika Yalinskaya), Victoria Aleshko
… via tut.by

Original Riot guitarist Lou “L.A.” Kouvaris had died at the age of 66, according to the band. No cause of death has been revealed, but Riot’s manager Giles Lavery said Lou developed symptoms of COVID-19
… via antimusic.com

Jan Howard, a 49-year-old member of the Grand Ole Opry and a top country singer, died Saturday in Gallatin, Tennessee, according to an Opry statement.
… via mashviral.com

Former Sveriges Radio (Sweden’s Radio) music programmer and editor, Kerstin Behrendtz, had died on Saturday after falling victim to Covid-19.
… via expressen.se

Wayman Henry died after a week-long battle with COVID-19, the first victim in Mobile County.
… via fox10tv.com

Reggae icon Bob Andy, one of Jamaica’s most celebrated songwriters, has died. Andy had his first solo hit record in 1967, “I’ve Got to Go Back Home”, which was followed by “Desperate Lover”, “Feeling Soul”, “Unchained”, and “Too Experienced”.
… via loopjamaica.com

Delroy Washington, one of the first artists to be signed to major record companies such CBS, Island and Virgin, has passed away in London on Friday, March 27 after a short illness.
He was also the founder and CEO of the Federation of Reggae Music UK, the Reggae Trade and Development association
… via voice-online.co.uk

Mirna Doris, 77 years old will always remain “the girl of Marechiaro”. The news of her death was given this morning on her Facebook page
… via ilmattino.it

Conrad Buchanan died on March 26 at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, less than two weeks after he first showed symptoms of the novel coronavirus, according to the Fort Myers News-Press.
The 39-year-old father, who was known professionally as DJ Griff Gotti, started to feel ill on March 14 but his wife Nicole, 37, said he struggled for days to get tested.
… via people.com, thanks to Grimble

Bill Martin wrote Eurovision hits such as ‘Puppet on a String’ (The first UK Winner of the Eurovision in 1967) and ‘Congratulations’ (Coming 2nd the following year at the 1968 Eurovision) alongside his songwriting partner Phil Coulter (You can see these below).
… via escbubble.com

The main conductor of the Paulistano Choir, Naomi Munakata, died at the age of 64 on Thursday (26) in São Paulo. According to the German Hospital Oswaldo Cruz, she died as a result of complications from infection caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19).
… via globo.com

A saxophone player who was a well-known figure in Denver’s live jazz scene has passed away from what his family says were complications from coronavirus. Freddy Rodriguez Sr. frequently performed at the El Chapultepec nightclub.
… via cbslocal.com

Olle Holmquist worked as a musician all his life and traveled around the world for his performances. He played the trombone behind Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones and ABBA, among others.
When Olle Holmquist was infected by the corona virus at the nursing home he lived in, he was ill with Alzheimer’s disease
… via expressen.se

List began her career in 1962 with appearances in different television shows. She drew this to the attention of the lead singer Ramses Shaffy, which is the beginning of a long-standing relationship
… via globaldomainsnews.com

Jennifer Bate has died at the age of 75. Her father was HA Bates, organist of St James Muswell Hill (1927-78).
… via gramophone.co.uk

Donatien Laurent grew up mainly in Paris. After a car accident, Donatien Laurent devoted himself only to what he is passionate about: popular and music culture of Britania.
… via letelegramme.fr

Musician Cy Tucker, who previously played with The Beatles, has passed from coronavirus.
The Liverpool Echo reports that the rocker fell ill with COVID-1 symptoms a week ago before dying at the Royal Liverpool Hospital
… via khaleejtimes.com

Landon Spradlin, 66, was on his way back to Virginia following a trip to New Orleans with his wife, Jean, when he began feeling ill.
… via wbtv.com

Detto Mariano was hospitalized fifteen days ago for the consequences of the coronavirus
… via repubblica.it

Bill Rieflin, a remarkably versatile drummer whose work over the past 30 years spanned Ministry, R.E.M., Swans, Nine Inch Nails and King Crimson, among many others, has died after a battle with cancer
… via pitchfork.com

Manu Dibango – best known for his 1972 hit Soul Makossa – is one of the first global stars to die from Covid-19.
… via bbc.com

Ukrainian singer Anatoly Mokrenko passed away after a serious illness on March 24
… via radiosvoboda.org

Tres Warren, the lead vocalist and guitarist of New York experimental group Psychic Ills, has died. Warren was 41 years old
… via pitchfork.com

Gabi Delgado singer of the German band Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (or DAF for short) has died
… via musikexpress.de

Peter Stapleton, drummer, lyricist and improvisor, for the Victor Dimisich Band, The Terminals, Scorched Earth Policy, Pin Group, Dadamah, EYE, etc., is dead
… via audiofoundation.org.nz

Julie Felix rose to fame as the resident singer on Sir David Frost’s show The Frost Report and also hosted her own programme on the BBC titled Once More With Felix
… via dunfermlinepress.com

Mike Longo, who led a distinguished jazz career as a pianist, composer and educator, notably as longtime musical director for Dizzy Gillespie, died on Sunday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
… via wbgo.org

Multi-instrumentalist Eric Weissberg, half of the duo (along with Steve Mandell) that scored an unlikely #2 hit in 1973 with “Dueling Banjos,” popularized in the hit film Deliverance, has died
… via bestclassicbands.com

Survivor of Holocaust, Hellmut Stern’s family (who are also musicians), escaped to China in 1938 in Manchuria. He worked as a violinist at weddings and in the railway club; at a street vendor in Harbin
… via tagesspiegel.de

Rod Powell, who delighted apres-ski crowds for decades in Vail with his musical talents, has died from COVID-19
… via denverpost.com

Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on records and on TV, died Friday night.
… via msn.com

The tenor and actor Enrique del Portal has died this Friday at his home in Madrid at the age of 87 due to gastroenteritis… caused by the coronavirus.
… via abc.es

The wife of Müslüm Gürses, Muhterem Nur, has been under treatment in the hospital for some time due to kidney failure. Nur died on March 20
… via milliyet.com.tr

Jerry Slick, a drummer turned cinematographer whose mid-’60s San Francisco band the Great Society, has died.
… via bestclassicbands.com

With a sudden illness, Maestro Gino Volpe passed away. The Lucanian musician would have felt ill at his home in Villa D’Agri.
… via basilicata24.it

Go DJ Black N Mild aka Oliver Stokes Jr. has died at the age of 44 following his coronavirus diagnosis.
… via heavy.com

Joey Bautista, lead singer of classic pop-rock band Mulatto, has died due to COVID-19, according to his wife.
… via inquirer.net

Congolese music star Aurlus Mabele has died.
He checked into a hospital in Paris, France, and died later that night.
… via newtimes.co.rw

Ghanaian Choral Composer, Ken Kafui has died.
He was known for his composition ‘Mida akpe na Mawu, Dzidom among others.
… via classfmonline.com

Thai Thanh – the “first name” of the new Vietnamese music industry – died on March 17, aged 86, from an announcement from actor Duc Tien.
… via vnexpress.net

Former Sacred Reich guitarist Jason Rainey died Monday night (March 16) of an apparent heart attack. His death was confirmed by his wife Renee Novak
… via blabbermouth.net

Fans “digitally cry” on social networks when they learned that Italian folk singer/songwriter Sergio Bassi, aka Bassi, has died on Monday due to the Coronavirus
… via ilgiornale.it

Founder of Гражданская оборона (Grazhdanskaya Oborona), Konstantin Ryabinov, has died at the age of 55.
… via rbc.ru

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, avant garde icon and founding member of cult experimental bands Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, has died
… via pitchfork.com

Eva Pilarová devoted herself to singing, at the beginning she studied opera singing at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, but she did not stay with the opera.
… via novinky.cz

Singer Richenel, best known for the song Dance Around The World, died in the night from Thursday to Friday.
The Amsterdammer was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago.
… via archyde.com

Jazz musician and flautist, Don Burrows, has died at the age of 91. Don Burrows became a music teacher and flautist in Sydney in 1937.
… via noise11.com

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Charles Wuorinen has died at age 81.
Wuorinen won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in Music for “Time’s Encomium,” a four-channel work for synthesized sound
… via kswo.com

Argentine saxophonist Marcelo Peralta died Tuesday in Madrid because of the coronavirus. Last Thursday, just on his birthday, he had been hospitalized for pneumonia and then they detected that he was infected with Covid-19
… via cienradios.com

Singer Izeta Beba Selimovic, who was considered one of the best interpreters of traditional Bosnian Sevdalinka songs, has died in Sarajevo at the age of 82
… via blic.rs

“And he didn’t make the next show,” Powers said Tuesday about Doug Rice, who collapsed and died at home Monday after a short bicycle ride. He was 72.
… via southbendtribune.com, thanks to TheShowWontGoOn.com

Eric Taylor — who bridged a songwriting scene from old masters like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark to younger writers like Lovett and Steve Earle — died Monday after months of poor health.
… via houstonchronicle.com

The renowned producer and sound engineer Keith Olsen has died, who has worked with a long list of bands; Whitesnake, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner, Magnum, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, Saga, Santana, Heart, Rick Springfield, etc
… via metaljournal.net

Martin Davorin-Jagodić, in the 90’s, has worked with Elisabeth Son, an artist whose specialty is electronic and multimedia installations. Together they presented at the Media-Scape Symposium 1999 in Zagreb
… via hds.hr

According to Branson entertainers and friends, Jim Owen passed away Saturday at the age of 78.
Owen had a love of country music that began with Hank, Sr. that grew during his youth…
… via ozarksindependent.com

One of the Blues world’s greatest guitarists Charlie Baty has sadly passed away at age 66.
Charlie Baty was born in Alabama in 1953, moved to California at the age of 8
… via bluesmatters.com

Laura Smith, a prominent performer on Canada’s folk music scene since the late 1980s, both as a singer with a robust and unforgettable whiskey-tinged voice and as a songwriter of painstaking and heartrending honesty
… via thechronicleherald.cacom

Houshang Zarif, a renowned and influential Iranian musician, bid farewell on Saturday night.
The artist died of heart failure.
… via navatv.com

The American soprano Elinor Ross died yesterday, March 6 at 93 years old. Ross made his debut at the Chicago Opera in 1958, as Leonora de Il trovatore, with a cast of bells: Jussi Björling, Giulietta Simionato and Ettore Bastianini.
… via plateamagazine.com

McCoy Tyner, a famous jazz pianist, and longtime member of John Coltrane’s quartet died on March 6, according to his nephew Colby
… via heavy.com

Ejiro Emokinovo, lead vocalist of music group, Veentage Band, has died in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
… via saharareporters.com, thanks to TheShowWontGoOn.com

Barbara Martin, who was in the 60s Motown band from 1960 to 1962, has passed away at the age of 76, the band has confirmed on their Facebook page.
… via mirror.co.uk

This Wednesday morning, singer and accordionist Adelaide Chiozzo died in a hospital in Tijuca, in the North Zone of Rio. She’s famous for her song “Beijinho doce”.
… via globo.com

Alf Cranner was a poet, cartoonist and singer. He was regarded as one of the most important driving forces behind the Norwegian wisdom / folk wave in the 1960s and 1970s
… via nettavisen.no

Susan Weinert, the guitarist from Neunkirchen died on Monday. Weinert would have been 55 in June. The guitarist was married to bassist Martin Weinert for 34 years, with whom she has released numerous albums in her 30-year musical career.
… via saarbruecker-zeitung.de

Lance James – known as ‘Big Daddy’ – had fallen and broken his hip earlier this year during a hospital visit, and had been in Intensive Care ever since.
His PR agent Lydia Winchester confirmed that James passed away Monday morning.
… via sapeople.com

The former GDR pop star and actor Peter Wieland died on the night of Monday at the age of 89. This was announced by the artist agency Show Express Könnern, which represented the artist.
… via tagesspiegel.de

Cartoonist and founder of country group Greenhorns, has died at the age of 77… just shy of his 78th birthday the next week.
… via novinky.cz