Complications

Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. Beginning her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve, Funicello rose to prominence as one of the most popular "Mouseketeers" on the original Mickey Mouse Club. As a teenager, she transitioned to a successful career as a singer with the pop singles "O Dio Mio," "Tall Paul" and "Pineapple Princess", as well as establishing herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful "Beach Party" genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s.

Annette Funicello Cause of Death

In 1992, Funicello announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She died from complications of the disease on April 8, 2013.  Annette Funicello was 70 years old at the time of her death

Annette Funicello - Blame It On The Bossa Nova

Richard Griffiths, OBE (July 31, 1947 – March 28, 2013) was an English actor of stage, film and television. He received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, all for his role in the play The History Boys. He was also known for his portrayal of Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, Uncle Monty in Withnail and I, Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky, and King George II in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He also appeared in Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning 1982 film Gandhi portraying the role of a British journalist.

Griffiths' film roles were in both contemporary and period pieces such as Gorky Park (1983), Withnail and I (1987), King Ralph (1991), The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), Guarding Tess (1994) and Sleepy Hollow (1999). Later, he was seen as Harry Potter's cruel uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter series.

Richard Griffiths cause of death

Richard Griffiths died at the University Hospital Coventry on 28 March 2013 from complications following heart surgery.  Richard Griffiths was 65 years old at the time of his death.

Alvin Lee (born Graham Alvin Barnes, December 19, 1944 – March 6, 2013) was an English rock guitarist and singer, known as the lead guitarist and singer with the blues-rock band Ten Years After.

Alvin Lee's performance at the Woodstock Festival was captured on film in the documentary of the event, and his playing helped catapult him to stardom.  Soon the band was playing arenas and stadiums around the globe. The film brought Lee's music to a worldwide audience

Alvin Lee cause of death

Alvin Lee died on 6 March 2013 in Spain, from "unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure". Alvin lee was 68 years old at the time of his death.

Woodstock - Ten Years After - I'm Going Home(Live)

Alvin Lee on guitar and vocal

Jewel Eugene Akens (September 12, 1933, Houston, Texas – March 1, 2013, Inglewood, California) was an American singer and record producer.

One-hit-wonder singer Jewel Eugene Akens recorded "The Birds And The Bees" in 1965, on the Era Records label. The single went to Number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year, and Number 2 on the Cash Box chart. It reached Number 29 in the UK Singles Chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. But the follow-up, "Georgie Porgie" only reached Number 68.

Jewel Akens cause of death

Jewel Akens died from complications of back surgery.  Jewel Akens was 79 years old at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife, Eddie Mae.

Jewel Akens - The Birds & The Bees

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon.

Neil Armstrong cause of death
Neil Armstrong died from complications following a surgery.
Armstrong, who had just turned 82, underwent surgery on August 7, 2012, to relieve blocked coronary arteries.  He died at 2:45pm on August 25, 2012, at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Neil Armstrong was 82 years old at the time of his death

Neil Armstrong One Small Step first moon landing

Jerry Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and various Muppet movies and specials.

Jerry Nelson cause of death
Jerry Nelson died on August 23, 2012, of complications from the various cancers and respiratory diseases from which he suffered in his final years.  He had suffered from emphysema for years.

Sesame Street - Counting is Wonderful

The Platters was also known as "Herb Reed's Platters"

Herb Reed (August 7, 1928 – June 4, 2012) was an American musician, vocalist and founding member of The Platters, who were known for their hits during the 1950s and 1960s. Reed, who was the last surviving original member of the group, which he co-founded with four other musicians in 1953, is credited with creating The Platters' name. Reed thought of the group's name after noticing that DJs in the 1950s called their records, "platters."

Herb Reed cause of death
Reed toured throughout his career. He performed as many as 200 concerts per year until 2012, when he stopped due to declining health. He died from complications from several ailments, including heart disease, at a hospice in Boston on June 4, 2012.  Herb Reed was 83 year old at the time of his death.

The Platters were one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre. The act went through several personnel changes, with the most successful incarnation comprising lead tenor Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor. The group had 40 charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1955 and 1967, including four # 1 hits.

Herb Reed Tells the Platters Story

The Platters and the voice of Herb Reed in ''Blues in the night''

Chuck Brown (August 22, 1936 – May 16, 2012) was a guitarist and singer who is affectionately called "the Godfather of Go-go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed in and around Washington, D.C. in the mid- and late-1970s. While its musical classification, influences, and origins are debated, Brown is regarded as the fundamental force behind the creation of go-go music.

Chuck Brown cause of death
Chuck Brown died at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital of multiple organ failure including heart failure or heart problems.
Chuck Brown was 75 years old at the time of his death

Several weeks prior to his death, he had postponed and canceled shows due to hospitalization for pneumonia.

Bustin' Loose - Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers (1978)

Andrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer. He was most notable for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program 60 Minutes from 1978 to 2011. His final regular appearance on 60 Minutes aired October 2, 2011.

Rooney's "end-of-show" segment on 60 Minutes, "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" (originally "Three Minutes or So With Andy Rooney"), began in 1978

In 1990, Rooney was suspended without pay for three months by then-CBS News President David Burke, due to the negative publicity around his saying that "too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes [are] all known to lead to premature death."

Andy Rooney Cause of Death
Aney Rooney was hospitalized on October 25, 2011 for developing postoperative complications, and died 10 days later (November 4, 2011).  He died about a month after his last appearance on 60 Minutes.
Aney Rooney was 92 years old at the time of his death.

Eugene "Gene" Colan (September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011) was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series. He co-created the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics.

Colan was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005.

Gene Colan cause of death
Gene Colan died, following complications from liver disease and a broken hip received in a fall.  Gene Colan was 84 years old at the time of his death.

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Gene Colan's Work in 1976

Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 12, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American female singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for her 1975 hit "Poetry Man."

Phoebe Snow has performed with a numerous artists including Lou Rawls, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dave Grusin, Avenue Blue with Jeff Golub, Garland Jeffreys, Jewel, Donald Fagen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Queen, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jackson Browne, Dave Mason, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Cyndi Lauper, Roger Daltrey, Chaka Khan, CeCe Peniston, Take 6, Michael Bolton, Thelma Houston, Mavis Staples, Laurie Anderson, Tracy Nelson, and The Sisters of Glory (with whom she performed at the second Woodstock festival), among others.

Phoebe Snow Cause of Death
Snow suffered a brain hemorrhage on January 19, 2010 and slipped into a coma, enduring bouts of blood clots, pneumonia, and congestive heart failure. Snow died on April 26, 2011.  Phoebe Snow was 60 years old at the time of her death.

In 1997, she sang the Roseanne theme song a cappella during the closing moments of the final episode.

Phoebe Snow Poetry Man

Phoebe Snow - Roseanne Finale Ending song

Phoebe Snow's Official Website

Geraldine Hoff Doyle (July 31, 1924 — December 26, 2010) was the real-life model for the World War II era We Can Do It posters, an embodiment of the iconic World War II character Rosie the Riveter.

Because the We Can Do It poster was created for an internal Westinghouse project, it did not become widely known until the 1980s, when it began to be used by advocates of women's equality in the workplace.

In 1942 Geraldine found work as a metal presser in a Michigan factory. (As men started enlisting and being drafted into military service for World War II, women began to support the war effort by taking on roles, including factory work, that were formerly considered "male only.")

Because she was a cello player, Geraldine feared a hand injury from the metal pressing machines and soon left the factory. During the brief time she worked there a wire photographer took a picture of her. That image - re-imagined by graphic artist J. Howard Miller while working for the Westinghouse Company's War Production Coordinating Committee -- became the basis for the poster Miller created during a Westinghouse anti-absenteeism and anti-strike campaign.

Doyle didn't know she was the model for We Can Do It until 1984, when she came across the original photograph in a 1940's back issue of Modern Maturity Magazine.

Death of Geraldine Doyle
Geraldine Doyle died in Lansing, Michigan, due to complications from arthritis.
Geraldine Hoff Doyle was 86 years old at the time of her death.

Neva Louise Patterson (February 10, 1920 – December 14, 2010) was an American character actress.

Her first feature movie was the 1953 film Taxi; other film credits include The Buddy Holly Story, All of Me, and as Cary Grant's fiancee in An Affair to Remember.

Her television credits included Nichols, The Governor & J.J., and as Eleanor Dupres in V, which she reprised in V: The Final Battle. She made guest appearances on The Defenders, Ironside, Barnaby Jones, The Dukes of Hazzard, and St. Elsewhere.

Patterson died from complications from a broken hip at age 90.

* Andy Irons is a surfing world's super star - equivalent to Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods.

Andy Irons (July 24,1978 – November 2, 2010) was a professional surfer. Irons learned to surf on the dangerous and shallow reefs of the North Shore in Kauai, Hawaii, and won three world titles (2002, 2003, 2004), three Quiksilver Pro France titles (2003, 2004, 2005), two Rip Curl Pro Search titles (2006 and 2007) and 19 elite tour victories. On September 3, 2010 he won the Billabong Pro in Tahiti.

Death of Andy Irons
Irons died on November 2, 2010; according to The Association of Surfing Professionals, "he had reportedly been battling with dengue fever, a viral disease." Professor Robert Booy, an infectious disease academic, was suspicious of this, saying that dengue fever deaths are rare. According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, in his hotel room was found the painkiller methadone and the sedative zolpidem. Investigators have ruled out foul play as a cause. He was found lying on the bed on his back by two hotel staff after he had failed to respond to knock on the door and they went in to investigate

Eddie Fisher is the father of actress Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia from Star Wars)

Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and entertainer, who was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and having his own TV show. He has the distinction of having been married to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, and Connie Stevens. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered scandalously unwelcome publicity at the time.

Fisher has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for Recording, at 6241 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for TV, at 1724 Vine Street.

Death of Eddie Fisher
Fisher died on September 22, 2010, of complications from hip surgery at a hospital in Berkeley, CA.  Eddie Fisher was 82 years old at the time of his death

Eddie Fisher - Oh My Papa [1954]