Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Frank Sinatra died at 10:50 pm on May 14, 1998 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, with his wife Barbara by his side. He was 82 years old. Sinatra's final words, spoken as attempts were made to stabilize him, were "I'm losing." His death was confirmed by the Sinatra family on their website with a statement accompanied by a recording of the singer's version of "Softly As I Leave You." The next night the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor. President Bill Clinton led tributes to Sinatra, stating that he had managed "to appreciate on a personal level what millions of people had appreciated from afar." Elton John stated that Sinatra, "was simply the best - no one else even comes close."

On May 20, 1998 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, Sinatra's funeral was held, with 400 mourners in attendance and hundreds of fans outside. Gregory Peck, Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra, Jr. addressed the mourners, among whom were Jill St. John, Tom Selleck, Joey Bishop, Faye Dunaway, Tony Curtis, Liza Minnelli, Kirk Douglas, Robert Wagner Don Rickles,  Nancy Reagan, Angie Dickinson, Sophia Loren, Bob Newhart, Mia Farrow, and Jack Nicholson. A private ceremony was held later that day at St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Palm Springs. The eulogy was given by lifelong spiritual adviser and minister Jairus Bellamy. Sinatra was buried following the ceremony next to his parents in section B-8 of Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, a quiet cemetery on Ramon Road at the border of Cathedral City and Rancho Mirage, near his famous Rancho Mirage compound, located on tree-lined Frank Sinatra Drive. His close friend Jilly Rizzo is buried nearby in the same cemetery. The words "The Best Is Yet to Come" are imprinted on Sinatra's grave marker.

He is buried alongside his father Anthony, mother Dolly and wife Barbara.

 

Edith Piaf (1915-1963)

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Édith Piaf, born Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 - 10 October 1963), was a French singer and cultural icon of partly Algerian and Italian descent who "is almost universally regarded as France's greatest popular singer." Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads. Among her songs are "La vie en rose" (1946), "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960), "l'Accordéoniste" (1941), "Padam...Padam", and "La Foule".

Piaf died of liver cancer at Plascassier, on the French Riviera, on 10 October 1963, but only publicly disclosed on the 11th, the same day that Cocteau died. She slipped in and out of consciousness for the last months of her life. It is said that Sarapo drove her body back to Paris secretly so that fans would think she had died in her hometown. She is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris, where her grave is among the most visited.

Although she was denied a funeral mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris because of her lifestyle, her funeral procession drew tens of thousands of mourners onto the streets of Paris and the ceremony at the cemetery was attended by more than 100,000 fans. Charles Aznavour recalled that Piaf's funeral procession was the only time since the end of World War II that he saw Parisian traffic come to a complete stop. (Source)

 

Bessie Smith (1895-1937)

Bessie (Elizabeth) Smith (July 9, 1892 or April 15, 1894 — September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer. Sometimes referred to as "The Empress of the Blues", Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s . She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.

On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her lover (and Lionel Hampton's uncle), Richard Morgan, was driving; it is thought that he may have fallen asleep at the wheel or that he misjudged the speed of a slow-moving truck ahead of him. Tire marks at the scene suggested that Morgan tried to avoid the truck by driving around its left side but he hit the rear of the truck side-on at high speed. The tailgate of the truck sheared off the wooden roof of Smith's old Packard. Smith, who was in the passenger seat—probably with her right arm or elbow out the window—took the full brunt of the impact. Morgan escaped with no major injuries.

Bessie Smith was taken to Clarksdale's Afro-American Hospital where her right arm was amputated. She did not regain consciousness, and died that morning. Smith's funeral was held in Philadelphia on Monday October 4, 1937. Her body was originally laid out at Upshur's funeral home, but as word of her death spread through Philadelphia's black community the body had to be moved to the O.V. Catto Elks Lodge to accommodate the estimated 10,000 mourners who filed past her coffin on Sunday October 3.  It was attended by about seven thousand people, according to contemporary newspaper reports. Far fewer mourners attended the burial at Mount Lawn Cemetery, in nearby Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. The grave remained unmarked until August 7, 1970, when a new tombstone was placed, paid for by singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who, as a child, had done housework for Smith.

The Afro-American Hospital, now the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, was the site of the dedication of the fourth historic marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. (Source)

 

Andy Gibb (1958-1988)

Andrew Roy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer , teen idol, and the youngest brother of Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, also known as the Bee Gees.

In March 1988, Andy celebrated his 30th birthday in London while working on a new album. Soon after, he entered John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, complaining of chest pains. He died on March 10 1988, just five days after his 30th birthday as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle attributed partly to a recent viral infection. And just like that, Andy was done Shadow Dancing.

His brothers acknowledge that Andy's past drug and alcohol use probably made his heart more susceptible to the ailment. Just before Andy's death, it was decided by the group that Andy would join them, which would have made the group a quartet. This did not come to pass, however. The Bee Gees' following album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here".

He is entombed at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. His father, Hugh, died four years later and was also entombed there. (Source)