Slim Harpo - Heart Attack

His inexplicable, untimely death from a heart attack at forty six saddened many.

Slim Harpo born January 11, 1924, died January 31, 1970

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Luigi Tenco - Suicide

By 2.15 am Dalida, who had attended the celebrations, returned, concerned that she was unable to summon her lover. She found Tenco splayed out across the floor, with a gun at his side. An almost illegible note explained his frustration at the world and his desire to show them all, but Dalida wasn’t convinced by the handwriting.

Luigi Tenco born March 21, 1938, died January 27, 1967

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James Sheppard - Robbery Homicide

The singer was discovered robbed, stabbed and bludgeoned to death in his car on the Long Island Expressway. Sheppard was known to be heavily in debt at the time, and his killers were most likely loan sharks who had been tailing him for months.

James Sheppard born September 24 1935, died January 24, 1970

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Alan Freed - Cirrhosis of the Liver

Virtually bankrupted by his legal debts and drinking heavily, he checked into a hospital in Palm Springs on 15 January 1965, just as charges of tax evasion were levied against him. Freed died five days later from uraemia and cirrhosis of the liver before he could answer any of those charges.

Alan Freed born December 15, 1921, died January 20, 1965

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Billy Stewart - Car Crash

But popular music suffered its second major band wipe out when Stewart’s brand new Ford Thunderbird developed a wheel lock fault as he and his band travelled towards Smithfield, North Carolina, on Interstate 95. Hitting a bridge, the vehicle careered down a bank, coming to rest in the Neuse River, all four band members, Stewart, William Cathey, Rico Hightower and Norman P Rich, were killed.

Billy Stewart born March 24, 1937, died January 17, 1970

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Hank Williams - Heart Failure

Hank Williams travelled to the gig in a chauffeured Cadillac and attempted to sleep off the effects of alcohol, wrongly prescribed tablets and two shots of morphine.

Hank Williams born September 17, 1923, died January 1, 1953