English guitarist and singer/songwriter Wilko Johnson, a member of the 1970s pub band Dr. Feelgood, passed away this week. The New Cue paid a tribute to the musician revisiting Johnson's list of records that shaped him. There are a few famous ones, like The Doors' 'LA Woman', or Bob Dylan's 'Highway 61 Revisited', but also some lesser known, like Sir Douglas Quintet' 'Mendocino', and Mickey Jupp’s Legend's 'Legend (aka Red Boot)'.

“Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but she passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours-” Low's Twitter reads after the passing of drummer Mimi Parker. She had been living with ovarian cancer since 2020, the Guardian reports. She was 55 years old. Parker met her future husband and bandmate Alan Sparhawk in grade school. Low were pioneers of a genre categorized as “slowcore".

American pop singer and actor Aaron Carter was found dead on Saturday (November 5) in his home in Lancaster, California, TMZ reports. Police arrived at the scene after a 911 call was made claiming that the musician had drowned in the bathtub. Carter claimed he had been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, and acute anxiety. Aaron Carter was the younger brother of Nick Carter, a member of boy band Backstreet Boys.

Atlanta rap star Takeoff, a member of the Migos, has been shot and killed in a Houston bowling alley called Billiards & Bowling around 2:30 AM Tuesday, TMZ reports. The shooting reportedly happened during a dice game, when a fight broke out and someone opened fire. Two people were hospitalized, and Takeoff was pronounced dead on the scene. Takeoff's uncle and fellow Migos member Quavo was present during the shooting but was not injured. Takeoff was 28. Pierre "Pee" Thomas, CEO of Migos' label Quality Control shared a plea for peace following the fatal shooting: "I want our community to remember that we don’t have to continue to result to violence every time there is a disagreement. It’s ok to love your brother and sister."

Russian soldiers have shot dead Ukrainian conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko in his home in Kherson after he refused to take part in a concert in the occupied city, Classic FM reports. The concert on 1 October was intended to feature the Gileya chamber orchestra, of which Kerpatenko was the principal conductor. “The tragic irony of this is that talk about the superiority of Russian culture, its humanism. And here they murdered someone who is actually bringing beauty to people’s lives. It is sickening" - said the conductor Semyon Bychkov from Paris, where he was performing as music director of the Czech Philharmonic. The St Petersburg-born conductor left Russia as a young man in the 1970s. Kherson is a port city in Ukraine, and was the first to fall to Russian troops at the beginning of the war. Kerpatenko was one of the city’s residents who refused to leave. From February to May 2022, the conductor posted public messages on his Facebook profile, speaking out against the Russian invasion.

Radio pioneer Art Laboe, who spent seven decades behind a microphone, brought rock 'n roll to the West Coast and coined the phrase "Oldies but Goodies", died at age 97 on Friday at his home in Palm Springs. The radio legend is credited with pioneering industry standards such as audience requests and song dedications, and he is believed to be the first DJ to play rock 'n roll tunes on Los Angeles radio. He was also among the first DJs to play music by both Black and white artists, and he built a major following among Latino communities across the region. Laboe’s last show was produced last week and broadcast on Sunday night, two days after he died. LA Times shares a lovely story about their co-citizen.

"When we try to define what country music is, what could possibly tie together a genre with such wide aesthetic variance and complex history, those two occasionally contradictory arcs—nostalgia for some mythic, bygone rural idyll paired with unapologetic candor and sharp observation—more or less sum it up. When we’re looking at Loretta, we are indeed looking at country" - Esquire writes after the passing of Loretta Lynn. Vulture goes deeper:  "She wrote true stories ripped from real rural life about what it meant to be a woman".

Oud is a guitar-like stringed instrument popular in the Arab world, popularized in the Western world by Yemeni-American musician Ahmed Alshaiba who produced renditions of some of popular culture's most recognisable sounds on the instrument. The 32-year-old died in a car accident in New York in late September. His music will, however, live forever. Middle East Eye selected five of his most recognizable covers.

Pitchfork shared a lovely read about jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders who died at 81 this weekend - "a guy who saw music as a means to keep food on the table, as well as a route toward holiness... For Sanders, transcendence didn’t exist only in some rarefied other realm; it was something you worked at here on Earth, with your lungs, and your lips, and a good reed if you could find one". Sanders belonged, the P points out, "to a cohort of musicians who, in the middle 20th Century, threw open the doors of jazz to allow for fierce dissonances, extended instrumental techniques, and a new style of improvisation oriented toward freeform collective expression rather than individual solos". Vulture also shares a beautiful read about the saxophonist: "Sanders not only represented the heart and hustle of New York City, he embodied its communal spirit as well. Be it the volcanic peaks or meditative valleys of his work, Sanders always spoke a very clear message: Love is everywhere, and it always finds a way".

“We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member, and bandmate Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher” Depeche Mode announced in a statement today regarding the passing of their founding member and keyboardist. Fletcher served many roles for Depeche Mode behind the scenes, including acting as the band’s de facto manager, and spokesperson (Rolling Stone).

Ricky Gardiner, a guitarist for Iggy Pop and David Bowie, has died aged 73, Pitchfork reports. Gardiner is best known for his close collaboration with Iggy Pop, with whom he co-wrote 'The Passenger'. In addition to Iggy Pop’s 'Lust for Life', Gardiner was a significant presence on David Bowie’s Low and Tonight.

Regine, who claimed to have invented the term “discotheque” as she ran a nightclub empire that stretched from Paris to Los Angeles, died Sunday at 92, Vulture reports. Regine opened her first nightclub in Paris’s Latin Quarter in the 1950s, installing turntables and disc jockeys instead of the usual juke boxes. Thus was born a new format, she claimed, the “discotheque.” Her venues included “Regine’s” in New York in the 1970s, and others in Miami, Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles. At its height, her nightlife empire had 22 venues.

"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever"- the Foo Fighters said in a statement. Foo Fighters drummer Hawkins has died aged 50. Watch Foo Fighters play ‘Everlong’ at their final gig with Hawkins, at Lollapalooza Argentina on March 20th, the last song the drummer played before his death five days later.

The powerful force behind Screaming Trees who was also known for his work in Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins, the unique Mark Lanegan has died at the age of 57, the New York Times reports. Lanegan was a pioneer of the grunge scene, fronting Screaming Trees from 1985 until their breakup […]

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ian McDonald, best known for his co-founding roles in both King Crimson and Foreigner, died Wednesday at the age of 75. McDonald was known as one of the key architects of progressive rock, playing both saxophone and keyboards in King Crimson and co-writing its iconic 1969 debut, 'In the Court of the Crimson King'. The record’s opening track, '21st Century Schizoid Man', featured McDonald’s wild double-tracked alto-sax solo. Guardian describes him as "a galvanising force in the group’s potent mix". McDonald also co-founded rock outfit Foreigner with guitarist Mick Jones.

Matty Karas wrote a lovely short obituary to Betty Davis - "the 1970s funk queen who wrote for the Commodores and the Chambers Brothers, was married to Miles Davis just long enough to turn him on to psychedelic rock, released three albums of raw, unbridled, sexually and musically liberated soul so far ahead of their time that we might not be there yet, and then, having failed to find an audience for her music, walked away".

Syl Johnson, Chicago soul and blues singer, has died aged 85, Pitchfork reports. His 1967 song 'Different Strokes' would go on to be sampled by Public Enemy ('Fight the Power'), Wu-Tang Clan ('Shame on a N---a') Eric B. & Rakim ('I Know You Got Soul'), Jay-Z and Kanye West ('The Joy'), De La Soul ('The Magic Number'), and countless others. WhoSampled cites over 300 songs that utilize portions of Johnson’s original, making it one of the most influential pieces of music in hip-hop.

Don Wilson, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of surf rock legends The Ventures, has died of natural causes at age 88, Ultimate Classic Rock reports. The Ventures had massive hits with their rendition of Johnny Smith's 'Walk, Don't Run' and the 'Hawaii Five-O' theme. They've been cited as an influence by The Beatles' George Harrison, The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty and others.

US singer and actor Meat Loaf has died aged 74, with unconfirmed reports suggesting he had died of Covid-19, Rolling Stone reports. Meat Loaf’s 1977 debut album 'Bat Out of Hell' remains one of the biggest-selling albums in history, whereas his 1993 album 'Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell' produced the global hit single 'I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)'. He completed the 'Bat Out of Hell' trilogy with 'The Monster Is Loose' in 2006. The three albums have sold more than 65m copies worldwide. Meat Loaf appeared in more than 50 films and TV shows, among them 'Fight Club', 'Wayne’s World' and 'Spiceworld the Movie'.

Ronnie Spector, who rose to fame as the leader of 1960s girl group the Ronettes and emerged as one of pop music’s first female stars, has died at the age of 78. "With her towering beehive hairdo and powerfully melancholic, melodramatic voice, Spector is among the most distinctive figures in American pop" - Guardian points out.

Michael Lang, famed co-creator of the Woodstock music festival, died Saturday aged 77, Fox News reports. Lang was just 24 years old when Woodstock took place in August 1969 in New York's Catskill Mountains. Officially billed The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, An Aquarian Exposition, the festival staged on a dairy farm in White Lake became a seminal moment in music history.

MusicREDEF compiled a list of more than 600 people from the music world who died this year - "men and women who deeply enriched our musical lives—and who continue to live through the music they made or helped make possible". A few of them are Lee "Scratch" Perry, DMX, Charlie Watts, Chick Corea, Vicente Fernández, Drakeo the Ruler, Sophie, Lou Ottens, Joey Jordison...

Rapper Drakeo the Ruler was fatally stabbed backstage at the Once Upon a Time in L.A. Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday night, TMZ reports. The 28-year-old rapper was stabbed with a knife during an altercation that took place around 8:30 p.m. local time. He was taken to an area hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Following the incident, the remainder of Once Upon a Time in L.A. was canceled, including headlining sets from 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. LA Times reports about LA's hip-hop community mourning the loss of the rapper.

Longtime member of the Roots, Leonard Nelson “Hub” Hubbard, has died at age 62 from multiple myeloma, The Philadelphia Enquirer reports. Hub joined the Roots in 1992, has played on a string of early Roots albums, and had left the Roots following his 2007 cancer diagnosis. Hub co-wrote and arranged a number of Roots compositions, and performed as a member of the live band during his 15-year tenure. He also played with the Roots in 2001, when they supported Jay-Z during his MTV Unplugged concert, which was later released as a live album.

"Tate was celebrated for his work analyzing Black artistry and influence, and he was at the front of the first wave of journalism documenting the birth of hip-hop. While working at The Village Voice from 1987 to 2003, Tate explored the burgeoning aesthetics, influences, and values of hip-hop, contextualizing it within both Black creative lineages and white-dominated spaces of popular culture" - Pitchfork wrote after the news of Greg Tate's passing at 64. Greg kick-started a band as a music critic - "I invented a band I wanted to hear but could not find. Three guitars two drummers two basses a flute one trumpet one alto two cellos one violin three singers acoustic piano synths turntables triangles laptops optional and a partridge family in a pear tree. Five years later this band still follows the teachings of Shelley Manne: never play anything the same way once".

One of Broadway’s most renowned and prolific songwriters, Stephen Sondheim has died aged 91, CNN reports. Sondheim is perhaps best known for writing the lyrics to legendary Broadway musicals 'West Side Story' and 'Gypsy'. Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics to a slew of musicals, and has over the course of his long career, won eight Tony awards, eight Grammys, and an Oscar.

Celebrated rock photographer Mick Rock, once known as "The Man Who Shot the Seventies", has dies aged 72, NME reports. He worked as David Bowie's official photographer during Bowie's glam-rock years, and also shot Ozzy Osbourne, Pink Floyd and their former singer Syd Barrett, T-Rex's Marc Bolan and the Sex Pistols. Rock's famous album covers included a shot of Queen with their faces lit up against a black background for 'Queen II'; the stark black-and-white photo for Reed's Transformer'; and a shirtless Iggy Pop for The Stooges' 'Raw Power'.

Indie rap star Young Dolph was shot and killed Wednesday in his hometown of Memphis while buying cookies, when a gunman drove up and shot him through the window, the New York Times reports. He was 36 years old. Stereogum insists "Dolph always rapped in a booming, authoritative, no-nonsense style. He was slick and funny, and he recalled earlier generations of street-rap".

Andy Barker, the longtime member of Manchester electronic music group 808 State, has died at the age of 53, NME reports. The band confirmed the news on social media, saying he died “after a short period of illness”. 808 State achieved commercial success when their song 'Pacific State' was played on BBC Radio One. 808 State continued their music career by releasing five more studio LPs, collaborating with numerous artists like Guy Garvey, Bernard Sumner, James Dean Bradfield, and Björk. Adding to that, the group is also renowned for hits including 'In Yer Face', and 'The Only Rhyme That Bites'.

Terence “Astro” Wilson, longtime member and “toaster” in the British reggae band UB40, has died at the age of 64, Brookly Vegan reports. Wilson joined UB40 shortly after the band’s formation in late-1978; with the group, Astro served as their “toaster”, delivering spoken word or rap-style vocals over the band’s brand of reggae music. UB40 had the biggest hits with 'Red Red Wine', '(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You', and 'Kingston Town'.