Architects of funk, an infamous rock 'n' roller, and a couple of
the greatest modern rock drummers are among the unforgettable musicians we lost in 2022.
Born in 1942, Calvin Simon's journey as a funk godfather started early
in his life. In the late '50s, he joined forces with vocalists Fuzzy
Haskins and Grady Thomas in George Clinton's R&B group the Parliaments,
which eventually merged with Funkadelic to form Parliament-Funkadelic. But this
wasn't an easy journey, as Simon was struggling with trauma the whole time. As he once said,
As the situation in Parliament-Funkadelic grew tense in the late '70s, Simon left the band.
He went on to have a prolific solo career as a gospel musician. Before releasing his 2016
album It's Not Too Late, Simon was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He received treatment
and seemed to be doing fine, when his wife succumbed to cancer herself. Then on January 6,
2022, Simon died at the age of 79. The cause of death has not been made public.
Miami-based rapper Wavy Navy Pooh was born Shandler Beaubien in 1994. He was sadly all
too familiar with gun violence, and his songs were reflections of his own life. During one incident
in May 2020, he was shot twice in his legs while driving, and he fired back at the attacker.
The rapper was also reportedly involved in several shootings in 2021. Then on January 14,
2022, he was in his car with a woman and two young children. While he was stopped at a light,
their car was ambushed, and he was fatally shot. News of Wavy Navy Pooh's
untimely death surfaced on the internet before police confirmed his identity.
"In the front seat there was a one-year-old child in a car
seat that easily could've been struck by gunfire."
Meat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas,
and he had a pretty rough start in life. He lived on and off with his grandmother,
while his father's alcoholism took a violent turn. The budding singer purposely gained 60
pounds to escape being drafted, though he still received a notice. That's when he ran off to Los
Angeles and got work as a bouncer. Soon enough, he had his own band, called Meat Loaf Soul. But
it was while performing in the musical Hair that he really got his first significant recognition.
In 1975, Meat Loaf starred in The Rocky Horror Picture Show,
a cult film that has spawned a series of raucous midnight screenings. Then in 1977,
he released the iconic hit album Bat Out of Hell, which featured the classic songs
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad."
In November 2021, Meat Loaf spoke out about his
struggle with back pain and multiple surgeries, revealing on Facebook,
He urged others not to get back surgery themselves, as it had only made things worse
for him. Two months later, he died at the age of 74, surrounded by his wife and two daughters.
Syl Johnson was part of the groundbreaking wave of Black musicians who moved from the
South to Chicago in the mid-20th century. He was born in 1936 in Mississippi,
and then in 1959, he released his first song.
In 1975, he debuted "Take Me to the River," which was written by Al Green.
Johnson's fame and influence increased from there, as the developing hip-hop
scene sampled several of his songs. Johnson is recognized not just for his musicianship,
but also for his politically engaged lyrics. For example, his song "Is It
Because I'm Black?" contains social commentary from the civil rights era that's still relevant
today. On February 6 2022, Johnson died at the age of 85, with his family announcing,
"And Syl Johnson's passing comes less than a week after his brother,
blues Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson, who died at the age of 93."
Rolling Stone remembered Betty Davis as "the trailblazing queen of funk," as she started
recording songs in the genre as early as 1964. During this time, she was a model going by her
birth name, Betty Mabry. Four years later, she married jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and took his
name. Their marriage ended after just one year, but each left their musical mark on the other.
Davis was primarily known for her raw, powerful voice and her openly sexual lyrics,
which was quite groundbreaking in the early '70s. Janelle Monáe once said of Davis,
Davis left the music scene in the '70s, but in 2019, she released "A Little Bit Hot Tonight," her
first new song in over 40 years. On February 9, 2022, she died of natural causes at the age of 77.
Taylor Hawkins joined the Foo Fighters at a time when David Grohl was already an illustrious
drummer, and he felt intimidated by Grohl's talent. As he admitted to Rolling Stone in 2021,
But Grohl and Hawkins became very good friends, and Hawkins soon proved his talent and raw power
to his bandmate and fans alike. But his last days were sadly much grimmer than that. Hawkins
was reportedly increasingly exhausted from Foo Fighters' constant touring. Before a show in
Bogota, Colombia on March 25, 2022, emergency responders were called to Hawkins' hotel,
as he was experiencing chest pain. When the paramedics arrived, he was already dead.
Several drugs were found in his system, though the cause of death has not been made public.
Foo Fighters immediately canceled their tour, and Grohl went on to organize a tribute concert
for Hawkins that summer that included musical legends like Paul McCartney, and many more.
"All of these amazing people came here tonight for one reason:
to celebrate the life of Taylor Hawkins."
Playing the drums in a progressive rock band is no easy feat. Playing the drums for Yes and two
Beatles is even more impressive, but such was the career of Alan White. According to White's
official website, he began playing the piano at age 6. His uncle, noticing his percussive style,
then bought him a drum kit. Then in 1969, when he was about 20 years old,
he received a call from John Lennon, who wanted White to play the drums with his Plastic Ono
Band. White reportedly thought it was a joke, so he hung up, but luckily Lennon called him back.
A year later, White played the drums on George Harrison's classic album All Things Must Pass.
Then in 1972, he replaced Yes' original drummer, Bill Bruford. The Yes line-up went
through a series of high-profile changes over the years, but White stuck through to the very end,
making him the band's longest-serving member. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame alongside his Yes bandmates. On May 26, 2022, White succumbed to a short illness
at the age of 72. The 2022 Yes tour would've marked his 50-year anniversary with the band.
Olivia Newton-John had a prolific career as a singer-songwriter and actress,
but she also had a pretty tragic personal life. She began singing as a teenager and landed her
big break in 1973 when she won a Grammy for Best Country Female Vocal Performance for the
title track on her third solo album, Let Me Be There. The following year,
she received another Grammy, this time for Record of the Year for "I Honestly Love You."
Newton-John then leapt into movie stardom in the classic 1978 musical Grease. During the early 80s,
she remained on the charts with the Xanadu soundtrack and the hit single "Physical"
from the album of the same name. But then in 1992, when she was only 44 years old, she was
diagnosed with breast cancer. What followed were decades of treatment, surgeries, and relentless
activism. She even built the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne,
Australia. In 2017, she spoke to Today after surviving cancer a second time. As she put it,
Alas, a year later, Newton-John was diagnosed with cancer for a third time. On August 8,
2022, she passed away at the age of 73.
"Every day is a gift now, you know, particularly now."
Ramsey Lewis was a world-renowned jazz and pop pianist. He earned his first Grammy in the
mid-'60s for best instrumental jazz performance for his Dobie Gray cover, "The In Crowd." He went
on to have a series of Top 10 songs, five gold records, and three Grammys. He was also a huge
influence on British musicians, including club DJs and rappers who sampled his tunes.
Lewis credited his parents with giving him a very early musical
sense. As he once told the Chicago Sun-Times,
During his career, Lewis released more than 80 albums. In 2007, he was honored
as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. He announced his retirement in 2019,
although he kept recording. He passed away on September 12, 2022 at the age of 87.
"Me and my brother, Frayne, you know, we'd travel with Dad a lot.
He was still Dad, you know. We'd still go and get hamburgers, sound check."
Coolio became a prominent figure of the West Coast rap scene in the late '80s,
although he was initially overshadowed by his L.A. neighbors Dr. Dre, Eazy-E,
and Ice Cube of N.W.A. But then in 1995, he achieved worldwide fame with "Gangsta's Paradise,"
which he wrote for the film Dangerous Minds. His first two albums sold millions of copies,
and when his musical career cooled down, he turned his eyes toward reality TV and movies. He was also
known for being kind and even heroic, as he was once a volunteer firefighter in San Jose.
In September 2022, Coolio was found unconscious on the bathroom floor
of a friend's house. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene,
possibly a result of cardiac arrest. He was 59 years old. Several friends and collaborators
remembered him fondly, with Dangerous Minds star Michelle Pfeiffer writing on Instagram,
Mark Lanegan lived quite the tumultuous life. He had a crippling alcohol addiction when
he was only 12, which he attempted to curb with heroin. Then in 1984,
the same year that he co-founded the grunge band Screaming Trees, he was hit by a tractor.
Screaming Trees released eight studio albums but split up in 2000 after several conflicts
within the band. Lanegan then became a vocalist for Queens of the Stone Age,
alongside frontman Josh Homme. He left that band after a few years,
and he went on to have an admirable solo career. During the final years of his life,
he also became a published author of poetry collections and two memoirs.
Lanegan's 2021 memoir Devil in a Coma describes his last few months,
during which his health was seriously affected by COVID-19. The virus made
him lose his hearing and then his ability to walk. He also spent time
in and out of comas. He was 57 on February 22, 2022 when he succumbed to the illness.
Jerry Lee Lewis was quite the controversial character. On the one hand, he was part of the
golden rock 'n' roll generation. On the other hand, he was a notorious addict and womanizer.
He also quite infamously married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, when he was 22. This was
outrageous even for the norms of the 1950s, and it seriously hindered Lewis' ascension in the
music world. At the age of 14, Brown became a mother, and at 17, she lost her child. Brown
has commented that Lewis was in fact the child in the marriage. As she reportedly once said,
Over the course of his life, Lewis married seven times,
accidentally shot a fellow musician, and once crashed his car into Elvis
Presley's gates. He was 87 years old when he died on October 28, 2022.