Bobby Hebb, ‘Sunny’ singer-songwriter dies 72

Bobby Hebb (Robert Von Hebb, July 26, 1938 – August 3, 2010) was an African American singer and songwriter, best known for his writing and recording of "Sunny".

"Sunny" has been recorded by, among others, Cher, Boney M, Georgie Fame, Johnny Rivers, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, the Electric Flag, The Four Seasons, two different versions from Frankie Valli, the Four Tops, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery, Dusty Springfield, and Classics IV.[1] One re-recording, a disco version called "Sunny ’76" was a hit for Hebb in that year. In 2000, Musiq did an updated dance version retitled "Just Friends (Sunny)," which went to #31 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Hebb also had hits with his "A Satisfied Mind" in 1966 and "Love Me" in 1967, and has written many other songs, including Lou Rawls’ 1971 hit "A Natural Man." Six years prior to "Sunny", he reached the New York Top 50 with a remake of Roy Acuff’s "Night Train To Memphis".

Death of Bobby Hebb
Bobby Hebb died of lung cancer.
Bobby Hebb was 72 years old at the time of his death

Bobby Hebb – Sunny

Mitch Miller, record executive and ‘Sing Along’ star, dies 99


Star Location: 7001 Hollywood Blvd

Mitchell William "Mitch" Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive. One of the most influential figures in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of Artists & Repertoire at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist, he is sometimes thought of as the creator of what would become karaoke with his NBC-TV series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as an accomplished player of the oboe and English horn, and recorded several highly regarded classical albums featuring his instrumental work. But he is best remembered as a conductor, choral director, television performer and recording executive.

Death of Mitch Miller
Mitch Miller died of complications from surgery
Mitch Miller was 99 years old at the time of his death

Mitch Miller – Santa Claus is comin’ to Town

Hank Cochran, country music songwriter, dies 74

Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting in the 1960s, Cochran has been a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold and others. Cochran was also a recording artist between 1962 and 1980, charting seven times on the Billboard country charts, with his highest solo peak being the #20 "Sally Was a Good Old Girl."

Rough Childhood
Born during the Great Depression in Isola, Mississippi, he contracted pneumonia, whooping cough, measles and mumps all about the same time at age 2. The doctor didn’t think that he would survive. His parents divorced when he was 9, he moved with his father to Memphis, Tennessee, but then went to an orphanage. He was sent to live with his grandparents, in Waynesboro, Mississippi, after he had run away from the orphanage twice.  He started to work at the oil rig when he was 16.

Then he quickly took over the County Music scene and became a legend.
Hank Cochran wrote a lot of songs for many artists.

Death of Hank Cochran
He had cancerous tumors surgically removed from his pancreas and lymph node at a Nashville Hospital in July 2008. Cochran had a grapefruit-sized aortic aneurysm removed at a Nashville hospital in April 2010. He passed away on July 15, 2010.

 THE LEGEND HANK COCHRAN

 
 Notable artists who have recorded his songs include:
 
    * Eddy Arnold
    * Patsy Cline
    * Natalie Cole
    * Elvis Costello
    * Bing Crosby
    * Ella Fitzgerald
    * Mickey Gilley
    * Vern Gosdin
    * Merle Haggard
    * Emmylou Harris   
    * Rebecca Lynn Howard
    * Burl Ives
    * George Jones
    * Norah Jones
    * Loretta Lynn
    * Henry Mancini
    * Dean Martin
    * Reba McEntire
    * Ronnie Milsap
    * Brad Paisley
    * Johnny Paycheck
    * Elvis Presley
    * Ray Price
    * Jim Reeves
    * Linda Ronstadt
    * Dinah Shore
    * Nancy Sinatra
    * George Strait
    * Hank Williams Jr
    * Lee Ann Womack

George Steinbrenner, Yankees owner, died of heart attack, 80

George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930 – July 13, 2010) is a businessman and owner and former principal executive of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees. His outspokenness and role in driving up player salaries have made him one of the sport’s most controversial figures.

Steinbrenner is known as a hands-on executive, earning the nickname "The Boss." His tendency to meddle in daily on-field decisions, and to hire and fire (and sometimes re-hire) managers led then-Yankees skipper Dallas Green to give him the derisive nickname "Manager George."

During Steinbrenner’s ownership since 1973, the longest in club history, the Yankees have earned 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles.

Death of George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner died of heart attack.
George Steinbrenner was 80 years old at the time of his death

Vonetta McGee, 1970’s blaxploitation actress (Blacula), dies 65

Lawrence Vonetta McGee (January 14, 1945 – July 9, 2010) was an American actress.

Vonenna McGee became well-known for her parts in the 1972 Blaxploitation films Melinda and Hammer.

In the action thriller Shaft in Africa (1973), McGee took the role of Aleme, the daughter of an emir, who teaches John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) Ethiopian  geography. She also starred alongside Clint Eastwood in the action thriller The Eiger Sanction (1975).

Death of Vonetta McGee
In 1987, McGee married the actor Carl Lumbly; they have one child. McGee passed away from a cardiac arrest on July 9, 2010.

Vonetta McGee on Soul Train (interview)

Ilene Woods, Voice of Cinderella, Dies 81

Jacqueline Ruth "Ilene" Woods (May 5, 1929 – July 1, 2010) was an American singer and actress who voiced Cinderella in the 1950 classic film.

Woods sang for President Roosevelt at his home in Hyde Park. She also sang at the White House for President Truman, after singing for the soldiers and sailors of war.

In 2003, she was awarded a Disney Legends award for her voicework on the film Cinderella. One of her last film appearances was in Touched By An Angel as night nurse Cassie.

Death of Ilene Woods
Woods died on July 1, 2010, at age 81, from causes related to Alzheimer’s disease at a nursing home in Canoga Park. She did not recognize a lot of what was going on around her, but the nurses found that she was most comforted by "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," so they played it for her as often as possible. Her husband, Ed Shaughnessy, told the Los Angeles Times. In addition to her husband of 47 years, she was survived by their son, a daughter from her first marriage, and three grandchildren.

Robert Byrd, longest serving senator, dies 92

Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a Senator from 1959 to 2010 and was the longest-serving senator and the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress.

On June 27, 2010, Byrd became ill and was admitted to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia, for what was assumed to be heat stroke and dehydration.  However, other medical conditions emerged and Byrd was described as "seriously ill."  Robert Byrd died at approximately 3 a.m. EDT the next day at age 92

* Comment disabled for political figure *

Corey Allen, TV director, gang leader in ‘Rebel Without a Cause’, dies 75

Corey Allen (June 29, 1934 – June 27, 2010) was an American  film and television  director, writer, producer, and actor. He began his career as an actor but eventually became a television director. He may be best known for playing the character Buzz Gunderson in Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955).  He was one of the last surviving cast members of the film.

Allen turned to directing starting in the 1960s, where he worked on such television programs as Hawaii Five-O, Hill Street Blues, Ironside, Mannix, Murder, She Wrote, Police Woman, The Rockford Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation  and The Streets of San Francisco.  He won an Emmy Award, in 1984, for directing an episode of Hill Street Blues.

Death of Corey Allen
He died due to complications of Parkinson’s disease on June 27, 2010, in Hollywood, California, just two days before his 76th birthday. He was survived by a daughter, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren

Character Actor O’brien Dies ?91

Vince O’Brien of Haworth, a character actor whose long career included memorable turns as a debauched businessman in the Broadway musical comedy “Promises, Promises” and an earnest hotel doctor in Woody Allen’s film classic, “Annie Hall,” died Saturday. He was 91.

O’Brien is perhaps most recognisable as the Shell Answer Man, in television and print ads for the petroleum company.

The cause was heart failure, said his son Liam.