Although we didn’t lose as many musical heavy weights in 2017 as we did in 2016. This year there were still significant losses in the music industry.
Especially the alternative rock scene had to bear the brunt of the losses, Below is a list of some of those losses, the ones who exchanged day for night.
Mott the Hoople
Pete Overend Watts, the original bassist for Mott the Hoople, died on January 22nd. The bass guitarist (originally guitarist) appeared with singer Stan Tippins on The Doc Thomas Group, before using the Mott the Hoople name, with new singer Ian Hunter. Watts became the staple of Mott the Hoople’s lineup throughout the years, even appearing as late as 2013 when they went on a reunion tour.
Al Jarreau
Legendary Jazz singer Al Jarreau passed away at the age of 76, following hospitalization for exhaustion, on the 12th of February.
Y&T
On 12 Mar 2017: Singer, songwriter and lead guitarist for Y&T (originally named Yesterday & Today), Dave Meniketti, broke the news just hours ago that, their original rhythm guitarist, Joey Alves, passed away that morning.
Allan Holdsworth
16 Apr 2017: One of the most influential guitarist, Allan Holdsworth, died. The news came out on Easter Sunday, April 16th, from his family. Holdsworth inspired a generation of guitarists, including Frank Zappa, Eddie Van Halen, and Joe Satriani.
Soundgarden
18 May 2017: Chris Cornell, lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave, died at the age of 52. On June 2, 2017, the Wayne County Medical Examiner released its autopsy and toxicology report in the death of Cornell. The coroner confirming that the manner of death was suicide by hanging and that “drugs did not contribute” to the cause of death.
Afghan Whigs
27 Jun 2017: Guitarist Dave Rosser from the Afghan Whigs died after a battle with cancer.
In July 2 members of some of my favourite bands died on the same day, however one only made the news.
The Jayhawks
20 Jul 2017: Jayhawks co-founder Caleb Palmiter died at the age of 53, Palmiter suffered heart failure after some years of poor health.
Linkin Park
20 Jul 2017: Singer Chester Bennington committed suicide , just before 9am. Bennington was 41. tmz.com broke the news, stated that it was suicide by hanging. This was only two months after his close friend Chris Cornell … who also hung himself. July 20th would have been Cornell’s 53rd birthday.
Glen Campbell
In June 2011, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six months earlier.He became a patient at an Alzheimer’s long-term care and treatment facility in 2014.Glen Campbell died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 8, 2017 at the age of 81 and was buried in the Campbell family cemetery at Billstown, Arkansas.
Hüsker Dü
Grant Hart ofHüsker Dü died on September 13, 2017, at 9:02 PM., at Fairview University of Minnesota Hospital of complications from liver cancer and Hepatitis C. He was 56 years old. He is survived by his wife Brigid McGough Hart, son Karl Turbenson, granddaughter Grace, siblings Nett Hart, Roxanne Hart and Craig Hart.
Tragically Hip
Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the lead singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from their formation in 1984 until his death in 2017.
Downie died of glioblastoma on October 17, 2017, at the age of 53 in Toronto
Fats Domino
Domino died on October 24, 2017, at his home in Harvey, Louisiana, at the age of 89, from natural causes.
AC/DC
Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was a Scottish musician and songwriter, best known as a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the hard rock band AC/DC.In April 2014, Malcolm Young became seriously ill and was unable to continue performing.
Young died on 18 November 2017 at the age of 64,at Lulworth House in Elizabeth Bay.His funeral was held at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney on 28 November.Young’s elder brother George Young died a few weeks before him, on 22 October 2017.
Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday, the “French Elvis” died on December 6. The 74-year-old had battled lung cancer.
Born Jean-Philippe Smet, Hallyday decided he wanted to be a performer after watching Elvis Presley. He was credited with introducing rock ‘n’ roll to France in the ’60s, and enjoyed enormous success there. However, Hallyday never really broke through in the United States.
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We are near to the end of 2017, a great time to have a pictorial review of the turbulent 17th year of the 21st century.
January
January 20 – Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
February
February 12-The 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Adele wins the Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Hello” and Album of the Year for 25.
March
March 30 – SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.
April
April 13 – In the 2017 Nangarhar airstrike the U.S. drops the GBU-43/B MOAB, the world’s largest non-nuclear weapon, at an ISIL base in Afghanistan.
May
May 22 – A terrorist bombing attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England kills 22 people and injures over 100
June
June 12 – American student Otto Warmbier returns home in a coma after spending 17 months in a North Korean prison and dies a week later.
July
July-13 Masked men attack a child’s birthday party in Tizayuca, Hidalgo, Mexicokilling 11 adults.
August
August 17 – The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars (GW170817) is hailed as a breakthrough in multi-messenger astronomy when both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from the event are detected.Data from the event provided confirmatory evidence for the r-process theory of the origin of heavy elements like gold.
September
September 15 North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the capital Pyongyang that has flown over northern Japan.
October
October 1 – Fifty-eight people are killed and 546 injured when Stephen Paddock opens fire on a crowd in Las Vegas
November
November 29-during the pronouncement of the appeal judgment against him,Slobodan Praljak addressed the judges, saying: “Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. With disdain, I reject your verdict!” He then drank what he said was poison, leading presiding judge Carmel Agius to suspend the hearings.ICTY medical staff transported Praljak to nearby HMC Hospital, where he died.
December
December 14 – The Walt Disney Company announces that it will acquire most of 20th Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox film studio, for $66 billion.
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This is a tribute to the musicians who left this place in 2017 to venture into the great wide open. Although 2017 was not as bad as 2016, we still have lost a great number of musical legends. In fact the numbers were so great that I won’t be able to mention all of them in this blog.
Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry, a pioneer of rock and roll, died at age 90 on March 18. Berry was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is often called the “father of rock and roll.”
Berry starting playing music when he was just a kid. When he was sent to a juvenile detention facility in high school, he formed a signing quartet. When he was released at 21, he began performing in clubs while working odd jobs. Eventually he catapulted to fame with his hit “Maybellene” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”
Known for his signature sound that mixed blues, jazz, and rhythm, Berry also personified what it meant to be a rock star. He received multiple music awards – including several grammys – and is considered one of the best musicians of all time.
Chris Cornell
Singer songwriter Chris Cornell – best known as the front man for Soundgarden and Audioslave – died unexpectedly after a concert in Detroit. He was 52.
Cornell was born and raised in Seattle. As a young musician, he performed with his siblings but suffered from severe depression which made it hard for him to leave his house. He eventually discovered music helped him cope and joined a local cover band before forming Soundgarden in 1984. The band became huge in the Seattle grunge alt-rock scene, writing hits like “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman.” The band broke up in 1997, but came back together in 2010 for a reunion tour, which included headlining Lollapalooza.
During Soundgarden’s hiatus, Cornell had a brief solo career before forming Audioslave. Audioslave was a huge success, and Cornell penned most of the band’s songs himself. Cornell left the band in 2006 to pursue a solo career, but habitually performed with the band – including at the Anti-Inaugural Ball to protest President Donald Trump.
Cornell was on tour at the time of his death. He had performed a show in Detroit before his death. The Wanye County Medical Examiner ruled Cornell’s death was a suicide by hanging.
Chester Bennington
Chester Bennington – the frontman for alt rock band Linkin Park – hung himself at a Los Angeles County home on July 20. He was 41.
Bennington was born in Arizona and struggled with drugs and alcohol most of his life. He also suffered from depression, a result of being sexually abused by an older boy as a kid. He didn’t address his abuse until he was an adult, and as a child channeled his emotions over it into poetry and songs.
After high school, he pursued a career in music. In 1993, he recorded several songs with a few bands in Arizona. His big break came in 1998 when he was asked to audition for Linkin Park – then called Xero. The group released several hit albums, including Hybrid Theory and Meteora.
Between his work with Linkin Park, Bennington worked with the Stone Temple Pilots, Death by Sunrise, and with musician Chris Cornell. Bennington and Cornell – who also committed suicide in 2017 – were very close friends.
Fats Domino
Singer and pianist Fats Domino died on October 24 at the age of 89. He made his mark on the music world with hits like “Ain’t It a Shame,” “Blueberry Hill,” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”
The New Orleans-born Antoine Domino began playing in local bars as a teenager, and soon dropped out of school to pursue his music career full time. His signature style went on to influence the burgeoning rock and roll scene; artists like Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney cited him as an influence. His nickname came from bandleader Billy Diamond, partly in reference to Fats Waller, and party as a joke about Domino’s appetite.
In his later years, Domino kept to himself more, but remained a beloved presence in New Orleans. He contributed greatly to the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Malcolm Young
AC/DC co-founder and guitarist Malcolm Young died on November 18 at the age of 64. He had been living with dementia; the condition forced him to retired from his band.
The Glasgow-born, Sydney-raised Young and his brother Angus founded AC/DC in 1973. The band is widely considered one of the greatest rock outfits of all time, and Young is frequently cited as the driving force behind its success.
Chuck Mosley
The original vocalist for Faith No More, Chuck Mosley, has died on November 9th at the age of 57. His family wrote, “After a long period of sobriety, Charles Henry Mosley III lost his life, on November 9th, 2017, due to the disease of addiction. We’re sharing the manner in which he passed, in the hopes that it might serve as a warning or wake up call or beacon to anyone else struggling to fight for sobriety. He is survived by long-term partner Pip Logan, two daughters, Erica and Sophie and his grandson Wolfgang Logan Mosley. The family will be accepting donations for funeral expenses.”
Grant Hart
Grant Hart, the drummer and singer of Hüsker Dü, died on September 13. The 56-year-old had been battling cancer.
Hart and Hüsker Dü rose to fame in the 1980s, and enjoyed success as part of the era’s wave of independent rock groups. The band had a bitter break up in 1988; Hart continued making music both solo and with groups like Sugar and Nova Mob.
Jessi Zazu
Jessi Zazu, the lead singer of the Nashville alt-rock group Those Darlins, died on September 13. The 28-year-old died of cervical cancer, which she had been fighting since 2016.
Those Darlins released three albums with Zazu since their 2009 debut. The band quickly won a following thanks to their one-of-a-kind blends of punk, garage rock, and country, but broke up in December 2015. Zazu was diagnosed with cancer a few months later.
Zazu’s bandmate Linwood Regensburg released a statement on her passing:
“She maintained a sense of humor and a commanding presence up until and through her final moments. She was in the company of those who cared deeply about her and who she cared deeply about.”
Glen Campbell
In June 2011, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six months earlier.According to his family, symptoms of the disease had been occurring for years, becoming increasingly evident as time progressed. “When you first begin to see signs, you just chalk things up to the normal aging process,” said his wife, Kim.
Campbell went on to perform at the 2012 Grammy Awards ceremony, and did a final “Goodbye Tour” in 2011 and 2012 with three of his children joining him in the backup band.
He became a patient at an Alzheimer’s long-term care and treatment facility in 2014.
On March 4, 2015, Associated Press reported that two of Campbell’s children, Debby and Travis, had sought legal action against Campbell’s wife Kim, with the assertion she “secluded” the singer and prevented them from “participating” in Campbell’s medical care.
On March 8, 2016, Rolling Stone reported that Campbell was in the “final stages” of his disease. He was unable to communicate with people or understand what people said to him. However, his family stated he was receiving good care and was “happy” and “cheerful”. In May 2016 his wife confirmed that Campbell was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
He died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 8, 2017 at the age of 81 and was buried in the Campbell family cemetery at Billstown, Arkansas.
Campbell excluded daughter Kelli and sons William and Wesley (from his second marriage) from receiving anything directly from his estate.
Gordon Downie
Gordon Downie, the lead singer of the Tragically Hip, died on October 17 at the age of 53. The musician had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2015.
The Tragically Hip was incredibly popular in their native Canada and beyond. The majority of their albums topped the charts, and they won 16 Juno awards, the most of any single band. After Downie’s diagnosis, the Hip went on one last tour to say farewell to their fans.
A statement released by his family read in part, “Gord knew this day was coming – his response was to spend this precious time as he always had – making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss… on the lips.”
Al Jarreau
Grammy award-winning Jazz musician Al Jarreau died on February 12 at a Los Angeles hopsital. The singer was 76.
On February 8, 2017, after being hospitalized for exhaustion in Los Angeles, Jarreau cancelled his remaining 2017 tour dates. On that date, the Montreux Jazz Academy, part of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, announced Jarreau would not return as a mentor to ten young artists, as he had done in 2015.
On February 12, 2017, Jarreau died of respiratory failure, at the age of 76, just two days after announcing his retirement.
He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).
Tom Petty
Singer Tom Petty died on October 2 after going into massive cardiac arrest. He was 66.
Petty was born in Gainsville, Florida where he met future bandmates Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. They formed a banged called Mudcrutch, and when the band dissolved, Petty went off to start a solo career. He reunited with Campbell and Tench – then called the Heartbreakers – and became Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976.
The group released several albums and hits before briefly disbanding again in 1988 to work on solo projects. Petty played with George Harrison’s band the Traveling Wilburys – which also featured Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison – and released several solo albums, most notably “Free Fallin'” and “I Won’t Back Down.”
The band reformed and continued recording and touring right until Petty’s death.
Ending this blog with one of Tom Petty’s classics and the title of this blog
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you.
To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.
History of Sorts 
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