Influential German avant garde musician Holger Czukay has died at the age of 79. No cause of death has yet been announced. Born Holger Schüring in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) in 1938, Czukay was a student … read more
It was announced yesterday that The Beat’s venerable saxophonist Lionel “Saxa” Martin has died. Its w/ deep sadness at his passing & profound joy for having known him we mark the passing of the ❤️ of #TheBeat Lionel Augustus Martin/Saxa … read more
John Geils, the American guitarist best known for his hits Centrefold and Freeze Frame with the J. Geils Band, has died at home in Massachusetts. Born John Warren Geils Jr in New York, he formed the J. Geils Blues Band … read more
Joni Sledge, one of the four siblings who made up Sister Sledge, has died at the age of 60. In a statement released on Saturday, the Sledge family announced: “Yesterday, numbness fell upon our family. We are saddened to inform … read more
Former Bronski Beat keyboardist Larry Steinbachek has died from cancer at the age of 56, it was announced today. Steinbachek was a founding member of the group and played on all seven of their UK top forty hits between 1984 … read more
We’ve lost a lot of major figures in ’80s pop this terrible year, but George Michael was bigger than most. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in North London on 25 June 1963, the son of a Greek Cypriot father and English … read more
Rick Parfitt, guitarist with rock legends Status Quo for half a century, has died at the age of 68. Born in Woking, Surrey, Parfitt learned guitar at the age of 11 and entered showbusiness in the early 1960s, entertaining tourists … read more
Mark Fisher, one half of Matt Bianco’s line-up since 1985, has died at the age of 57. The news was announced via the band’s Facebook and Twitter accounts on 12 December. It is with deep sadness that we have to … read more
Colonel Abrams, best known for his 1985 top three hit Trapped, has died at the age of 67. Born in Detroit in May 1949, Abrams (whose real name really was Colonel) moved to Manhattan with his family where he took … read more
The sudden death of Pete Burns, at the age of just 57, robs us of yet another larger-than-life figure from pop’s shiniest decade. More than most, though, Burns’ eccentricities and unconventional – sometimes downright bizarre – behaviour made him a … read more
Rod Temperton, the Cleethorpes-born musician and songwriter behind some of Michael Jackson’s best known hits, has died at the age of 66. Beginning his career as keyboard player for Heatwave in 1970, Temperton also wrote the band’s biggest hit Boogie … read more
Like his contemporary Michael Jackson, Prince became such an eccentric figure in later life that his behaviour risked overshadowing his talent and his contribution to popular culture, but look beyond him changing his name to P, writing “SLAVE” on his … read more
