We note with sadness the following contributors to rock and pop music of the 50s through the 80s – the BEST music ever made! – who passed on last month:
July 03
● Mark Snow / (Martin Fulterman) → Drummer for 60s-70s classical/baroque rock quintet The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, the group performed rock music with classical instruments while wearing white ties and tails, following break-up in 1972 pursued a career as an L.A.-based film and TV composer, becoming a prolific and acclaimed writer best known for composing the music to 217 episodes of the TV series The X-Files in two stints from 1993 to 2002 and 2016 to 2018, before, during and after composing music for over 140 other TV series and over 25 theatrical films, including Falcon Crest (40 episodes, 1986-1987), Smallville (132, 2001-2007) and Blue Bloods (287, 2010-2024), died at home from a form of blood cancer on 7/3/2025, age 78.
July 04
● Luís Jardim / (Luís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim) → Portuguese music producer, session musician and collaborator on tours and in the studio, played multiple instruments on hundreds of songs and scores of albums for a broad range of top artists in varying genres, toured with Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, George Michael and others, collaborated extensively with Trevor Horn and worked with Asia, Ray Charles and Bryan Ferry, among others, and appeared in Portuguese TV variety shows from time to time, died from a heart attack on 7/4/2025, his 75th birthday.
July 08
● Carter “Jimmy Zoppi” Cathcart / (Jsmes Carter Cathcart) → Guitar, keyboards and vocals in New York punk rock/post-punk The Laughing Dogs, the band released two albums and several CDs, and appeared on the Live at CBGB’s: The Home of Underground Rock (1976) compilation LP and the docu-movie CBGB (2013), best known for his later work as a voice artist for several important and recurrent characters in the Pokémon franchise of children’s games, videos, and Japanese “anime” cartoons, appearing in fifteen films and over 700 episodes of the TV series, as well as in several other popular animated series over a two-and-a-half decade career, retired in 2023 with throat cancer and died in hospice care on 7/8/2025, age 71.
● Tim Cronin → Founding member, drummer and vocals in 80s New Jersey stoner rock/hard rock Monster Magnet (“Space Lord,” Mainstream #3, 1998), stepped away from performing in 1990 but continued to support the band as sound engineer, light technician and stage manager, spent three decades in a Red Bank, NJ, record shop as an amiable, locally-beloved music aficionado until contracting ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), died from the disease on 7/8/2025, age 63.
July 11
● David Kaff / (David Kaffinetti) → Brit keyboardist and actor best known for portraying the character of Viv Savage in the Rob Reiner-produced film mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and appeared with the group for a time after the film’s release in 1984, previously played with prog-rock Rare Bird on five albums fin 1969 to 1977 and the lone hit “Sympathy” (UK #27, 1976), most recently fronted metal group Mutual of Alameda’s Wild Kingdom, was not scheduled to appear in the Spinal Tap sequel due out in late 2025, died in his sleep from undisclosed causes on 7/11/2025, age 79.
July 13
● Dave Cousins / (David Joseph Hindson) → Founder, lead guitarist and chief songwriter for renowned Brit folk-prog-rock The Strawbs, the band started life as a bluegrass outfit and morphed into a folk-rock band with one big novelty hit, “Part Of The Union” (UK #21, 1973), reorganized The Strawbs in 1973 with a prog-rock sound and enjoyed a side career as a radio executive and music producer during the 80s and 90s, returned to performing and recording in the 00s with seven solo albums through 2015 and an Acoustic Strawbs project, in the 10s found time to helm a music publishing company, own a record label and write an autobiography, retired in 2023 and died following a long illness on 7/13/2025, age 85.
July 16
● Connie Francis / (Conetta Rosa Maria Franconera) → Hugely successful 50s and 60s pop singer, one of the top selling female pop artists of all time and the first to have a #1 hit in the U.S. (“Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” #1, 1960), released 22 US Top 20 hits from 1957-1966, including the movie title song “Where The Boys Are” (#4, 1961), issued singles in multiple foreign language and scored thirteen Top 10 hits in Germany alone, sang voice-over in three 50s feature films and starred in four others in the mid-60s, went into seclusion after a 1974 rape incident and the 1981 murder of her brother but returned to recording after 1989, issued several more albums and performed on stage in Las Vegas and elsewhere in the 00s and 10s, suffered a hip fracture in early 2025 and was in recovery but contracted pneumonia and died on 7/16/2025, age 87.
July 17
● Alan Bergman → Along with his wife and writing partner, Marilyn, acclaimed lyricist with hundreds of credits across stage, film and TV, Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, winner of four Emmys. three Oscars, and two Grammys – including Song of the Year for Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” (#1, AC #1, 1973 ) from the 1974 movie of the same name – the duo’s lyrics were often set to music by Lew Spence, Marvin Hamlisch and Michel Legrand, among their works are the Oscar-winning “The Windmills of Your Mind” (from The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968), the movie score to Yentl (1983) and the words to theme songs to hit TV sitcoms Maude (1972), Good Times (1974) and Alice (1976), compilations of their songs include Streisand‘s What Matters Most (2011) and Sinatra Sings Alan & Marilyn Bergman (2019), served on the boards of the Artists’ Rights Foundation and the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, died at home from natural causes on 7/17/2022, age 99.
July 18
● Helen Cornelius / (Helen Lorene Johnson) → Country music singer and songwriter with a mediocre solo career but eleven Country Top 20 duets in the late 70s/early 80s with country legend Jim Ed Brown, including “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You” (Country #1, 1976), the highest charting single for both, left the singing partnership in the early 80s and toured with the Statler Brothers and performed in the road show version of the Broadway show Annie Get Your Gun, in the 90s opened the Nashville South venue in eastern Tennessee and performed there with the house band, appeared on TV variety shows in the 00s, died from undisclosed causes on 7/18/2025, age 83.
July 19
● Vince Calandra / (Vincent Leonard Calandra Sr.) → CBS mailroom clerk and cue card guy turned talent manager for The Ed Sullivan Show from 1963 through the final episode in 1971, booked and managed performances by The Beatles, The Doors, The Rolling Stones and dozens of other top acts, co-produced The Beatles’ 1966 concert at New York’s Shea Stadium and later worked booking celebrities for talk shows and music variety programs, including Solid Gold and Entertainment Tonight, died from natural causes on 7/19/2025, age 91.
● Frank Maffei / (Frank Maffei, Sr.) → Founding member and baritone/second tenor vocalist for legendary 50s-60s doo wop/rock ’n’ roll Danny & The Juniors, the group released two enduring early rock anthems, “At the Hop” (#1, 1957) and the follow-on single “Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay” (#19, 1958), toured extensively on the oldies circuit over the decades and was the last surviving member of the group at his death from natural causes on 7/19/2025, age 85.
July 21
● John “Poli” Palmer / (John Michael Palmer) → Member of several English rock groups in the 60s, including The Hellions alongside future Traffic members Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason, then joined prog-rock Family (“In My Own Time,” UK #4, 1971) in 1969 on keyboards, flute and drums and helped re-write the group’s in-progress third album, A Song For Me (1970) to include his arrangements of previously finished material, left the group in 1972 for a long career as a collaborator, producer, session musician, and computer music designer, joined his Family bandmates for a reunion of touring from 2013 to 2016, died from undisclosed causes on 7/21/2025, age 82.
July 22
● George Kooymans → Thirteen-year-old founding member, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter in 60-year Dutch rock band Golden Earring, wrote or co-wrote the band’s two big US hits, “Radar Love” (#13, UK #7, 1972) and “Twilight Zone” (#10, Main #1, 1982) among 30 Top 10 singles on the Dutch charts from 25 studio albums, wrote music for others over the decades and formed the supergroup Vreemde Kostgangers (Strange Boarders) in 2017, retired from music in 2021 after contracting ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), died from the disease on 7/22/2025, age 77.
● Chuck Mangione / (Charles Frank Mangione) → Flugelhorn player and trumpeter with brother and pianist, Gap, as co-leader of Jazz Brothers with three albums by 1961, joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers for the mid-60s and embarked on a jazz-pop instrumental career as a solo artist in the late 60s, issued 25 studio albums, won two Grammy awards, released the huge crossover hit “Feels So Good” (#4, AC #1, 1978), had a recurrent voice-over role on the animated TV show King of the Hill (1997-2009), and taught at the Eastman School of Music in his lifelong hometown Rochester, NY, until retiring in 2015, died at home in his sleep on 7/22/2025, age 84.
● Ozzy Osbourne / (John Michael Osbourne) → “The Prince of Darkness” and the “Godfather of Hard Rock,” founder and frontman for enduring gloom metal quartet Black Sabbath (“Paranoid,” #61, 1970) and a major force in the development of heavy metal music, started a solo career in the 80s and released thirteen albums – the first seven of them multi-platinum – and several dozen charting singles, including “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (#28, Main #2, 1992), created the Ozzfest with his wife and manager, Sharon, and welcomed millions of metal fans to the annual music festivals from 1996 through 2018, took to reality TV in 2002 and achieved celebrity status with Sharon and their children living their home life for three seasons in front of the camera, suffered from Parkinson’s disease in his last years and lost the ability to walk, joined his original Black Sabbath bandmates for a reunion charity concert with and died from a heart attack just 17 days later on 7/22/2025, age 76.
July 23
● Michael Ochs / (Michael Andrew Ochs) → Photographic archivist with a one-of-a-kind collection of millions of photographs of rock music people, places and events amassed over several decades using his own camera or through acquiring the collections of others, started as a staff photographer at Columbia Records in the mid-60s while managing the career of his brother, folk singer Phil Ochs, later headed the public relations departments at Columbia, Shelter and ABC Records, over the years authored several books and licensed the collection to many record and CD album issuers, sold the entire collection to Getty Images in 2007, suffered from Parkinson’s disease in later years and died from complications of heart, kidney and COPD diseases on 7/23/2025, age 82.
● Sally Tiven / (Sally Young Tiven) → Nashville-based singer and songwriter, and wife of bandleader/producer/songwriter Jon Tiven of power pop The Yankees, as a session musician played on albums by B. B. King, Wilson Pickett, Creed Bratton and many others, wrote songs recorded by Huey Lewis & The News (“He Don’t Know”), Buddy Guy (“Heavy Love”), Ian Moss (“Mr. Rain,” double platinum) as well as the double platinum “River of No Return” by the Jeff Healey Band, died in Nashville of complications from hip replacement surgery on 7/23/2025, age 68.
July 24
Cleo Laine / (Clementine Dinah Campbell) → Highly-regarded, Grammy-winning Brit jazz-pop and scat vocalist, first as a singer in future husband Johnny Dankworth‘s big bands in the 50s and, after singing lead on several 60s hits, including “You’ll Answer To Me” (UK #5, 1961), as a solo act with Dankworth’s band behind her, issued over 50 albums in every decade from 1957 to 2003 and performed worldwide from the 70s through the 00s, acted in musicals on stages from London to New York to Sydney in a parallel career performing the lead in numerous top-level shows from (1959) to A Little Night Music (1983) and at her own The Stables theater in London, continued to perform until the late 10s and died from unspecified causes on 7/24/2025, age 97.
Tommy McLain / (Thomas McLain) → Sometime radio DJ and multi-instrumentalist swamp-pop singer in two 50s-60s Louisiana bands, then scored a hit as a solo artist with a cover of country superstar Don Gibson’s “Sweet Dreams” (#15, UK #49, 1966), wrote Freddy Fender’s hit single “If You Don’t Love Me (Why Don’t You Just Leave Me Alone)” (Country #11, 1977), toured the southern US extensively over the years fronting his Mule Train Band, issued a final album I Ran Down Every Dream in 2022 with collaborations from multiple country and rock stars, including Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, died on 7/24/2025, age 85.
July 26
● Tom Lehrer / (Thomas Andrew Lehrer) → Harvard graduate with a degree in mathematics turned part-time musician with a bend toward dark comedy and political satire, witty tunes often in sardonic tones but having hints of Broadway and vaudeville, issued a debut album in 1953, Songs By Tom Lehrer, which included “The Old Dope Peddler” and “The Wiener Schnitzel Waltz,” the LP sold a half-million copies and led to tours of nightclubs nationwide, starting a side career in music against an ongoing, full-time career in industry and academia, left music entirely in the early 70s for a position teaching mathematics and music theater history at the University of California Santa Cruz until retiring in 2001, lived a quite life out of the limelight and died from natural causes on 7/26/2025, age 97.
July 29
● Paul Mario Day → Original lead vocalist for Brit heavy metal Iron Maiden (“Flight Of Icarus,” Main #8, 1983), was fired in late 1976 for lack of stage charisma, went on to perform and record with various hard rock bands, mostly in New South Wales, Australia, but appeared in an Iron Maiden reunion concert in London in 2019, died from cancer on 7/29/2025, age 69.
July 31
● Flaco Jiménez / (Leonardo Jiménez) → Tex-Mex country-rock (“Tejano” or “conjunto”) accordion virtuoso with a seven-decade career as a solo artist, session musician and bandmember, played in San Antonio, Texas, in the 60s with Doug Sahm (later of the Sir Douglas Quintet), relocated to New York City for the 80s and did session for Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Ry Cooder and others, played on “Streets Of Bakersfield” (County #1, 1988) by Dwight Yoakum and Buck Owens, co-founded Grammy-winning Tejano supergroup Texas Tornados (1989-2025) alongside Sahm, Augie Meyers and Freddy Fender, was guest musician on The Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge LP (1994), played on the debut album (1998) by the Los Super Seven supergroup collective of musicians, issued two dozen solo albums and received Billboard and Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards in 1999 and 2015, respectively, among many other prestigious music and culture recognitions, performed annually in a San Antonio festival until 2025 and died following a long, undisclosed illness on 7/31/2025, age 86.
