In Memoriam 2023: The Musicians We Lost

When you read these names of musicians, producers, visual artists and writers who died in 2023, your heart may be filled with sorrow and sadness. After all, music offers us opportunities to both dream outside of and root yourself in reality. When we lose artists who reflect and refract myriad versions of ourselves and the world we know and aspire to be, it can feel impossible to imagine a world without their musical guidance.

Yet it’s also a moment to celebrate — not just their impact on culture writ large but also inside ourselves. This year, we lost icons, rock pioneers, hip-hop trailblazers, jazz legends and prolific composers across pop and classical music. Lift up their names and play their music or remember their contributions to our daily lives. (Our colleagues at NPR’s Culture Desk also offer up their own tribute.) What follows is a memorial to them, listed below in chronological order by the date they left us.

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Gangsta Boo

One of the South’s premiere crunk MCs, who got her start in Three 6 Mafia and collaborated with OutKast, Run the Jewels and Blood Orange

Aug. 7, 1979 — Jan. 1, 2023

Fred White

Drummer for the era-defining, genre-defying band Earth, Wind & Fire

Jan. 13, 1955 — Jan. 1, 2023

Alan Rankine

Scottish musician who co-founded The Associates and produced records for Cocteau Twins and Paul Haig

May 17, 1958 — Jan. 3, 2023

Justin Bartlett

Illustrator of metal album covers, whose pen favored intricately grotesque terror

May 27, 1977 — Jan. 9, 2023

Jeff Beck

Guitar virtuoso unlimited by genre who nevertheless always sounded like himself

June 24, 1944 — Jan. 10, 2023

Yukihiro Takahashi

Drummer and singer for the trailblazing synth-pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra

June 6, 1952 — Jan. 11, 2023

Lisa Marie Presley

Daughter of Elvis Presley, caretaker of his legacy and a singer-songwriter in her own right

Feb. 1, 1968 — Jan. 12, 2023

Robbie Bachman

Drummer and co-founder of Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Feb. 18, 1953 — Jan. 12, 2023

Bruce Gowers

TV director whose credits include American Idol, the MTV Video Music Awards and the music video for Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Dec. 21, 1940 — Jan. 15, 2023

David Crosby

A prominent figure of the free-spirited 1970s Laurel Canyon scene and co-founder of Crosby, Stills & Nash

Aug. 14, 1941 — Jan. 18, 2023

Van Conner

Bassist and co-founder of the grunge luminaries Screaming Trees

March 17, 1967 — Jan. 18, 2023

Tom Verlaine

Television’s restlessly innovative guitarist and a founding father of American punk

Dec. 13, 1949 — Jan. 28, 2023

Barrett Strong

Motown songwriter behind “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” plus the singer of the label’s very first hit, “Money (That’s What I Want)”

Feb. 5, 1941 — Jan. 29, 2023

Charlie Thomas

Member of The Drifters, an R&B group known for hits “Under the Boardwalk” and “Save the Last Dance for Me”

April 7, 1937 — Jan. 31, 2023

Steve Sostak

Saxophonist, singer and co-founder of the art-punk band Sweep the Leg Johnny

May 18, 1973 — Feb. 4, 2023

Burt Bacharach

Visionary pop composer behind an astonishing catalog of hit songs

May 12, 1928 — Feb. 8, 2023

Lewis Spratlan

American composer who won the Pulitzer Prize in music for a concert version of the opera Life is a Dream

Sept. 5, 1940 — Feb. 9, 2023

Trugoy the Dove

The irrepressible id of De La Soul

Sept. 21, 1968 — Feb. 12, 2023

Huey “Piano” Smith

New Orleans R&B pianist and songwriter who influenced early rock and roll

Jan. 26, 1934 — Feb. 13, 2023

Tim Aymar

Heavy metal singer for Pharaoh and Chuck Schuldiner’s Control Denied

Sept. 4, 1963 — Feb. 13, 2023

Tom Whitlock

Co-writer of Top Gun‘s inescapable soundtrack hits “Danger Zone” and “Take My Breath Away”

Feb. 20, 1954 — Feb. 28, 2023

Steve Mackey

Pulp bassist who produced music for the likes of M.I.A., Florence + the Machine and Marianne Faithfull

Nov. 10, 1966 — March 2, 2023

Wayne Shorter

Saxophonist, composer and creator of one of the singular sounds in the last century of jazz

Aug. 25, 1933 — March 2, 2023

David Lindley

Los Angeles session guitarist and musician’s musician who played with Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and Rod Stewart

March 21, 1944 — March 3, 2023

Glen “Spot” Lockett

Black Flag, Minutemen and Hüsker Dü trusted the record producer to capture their punk rock intensity and urgency

July 1, 1951 — March 4, 2023

Gary Rossington

The last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Dec. 4, 1951 — March 5, 2023

Topol

Israeli singer and actor who mastered the role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof on stage and screen

Sept. 9, 1935 — March 8, 2023

Jerry Samuels

Singer and songwriter behind Napoleon XIV’s novelty hit “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!”

May 3, 1938 — March 10, 2023

Jim Gordon

Session drummer for Eric Clapton and The Beach Boys, later convicted of killing his mother

July 14, 1945 — March 13, 2023

Bobby Caldwell

R&B singer-songwriter who gave us the deeply soulful “What You Won’t Do for Love”

Aug. 15, 1951 — March 14, 2023

Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins

Singer in George Clinton’s doo-wop group The Parliaments, which mutated into the innovative Parliament-Funkadelic

June 8, 1941 — March 16, 2023

Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou

Nonagenarian nun who composed beautifully complex music for piano that drew on honky tonk, classical music and her own Ethiopian heritage

Dec. 12, 1923 — March 25, 2023

Ryuichi Sakamoto

From synth-pop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra to high-profile film scores and ambient masterpieces, a sophisticated curiosity elevated everything in the Japanese composer’s work

Jan. 17, 1952 — March 28, 2023

Brian “Brizz” Gillis

Singer for late-’90s pop group LFO

Jan. 19, 1975 — March 29, 2023

Seymour Stein

Famed music executive and tastemaker who co-founded Sire Records

April 18, 1942 — April 2, 2023

Vivian Trimble

Keyboardist and founding member of the irrepressibly cool Luscious Jackson

May 24, 1963 — April 4, 2023

Paul Cattermole

Singer for British pop group S Club 7

March 7, 1977 — April 6, 2023

Lasse Wellander

Guitarist for Swedish pop group ABBA

June 18, 1952 — April 7, 2023

Kidd Jordan

Avant-garde jazz saxophonist, educator and patriarch of New Orleans music

May 5, 1935 — April 7, 2023

Karl Berger

German-born musician whose vibraphone and piano explored American free jazz with Don Cherry, Dave Holland and Ornette Coleman

March 30, 1935 — April 9, 2023

Jah Shaka

Jamaican dub and reggae pioneer who brought soundsystem culture to London

c. 1948-1954 — April 12, 2023

Ahmad Jamal

A measured maestro of the jazz piano

July 2, 1930 — April 16, 2023

Ivan Conti

Brazilian percussionist and co-founder of the jazz-funk band Azymuth

Aug. 16, 1946 — April 17, 2023

Mark Stewart

Singer for the experimental English post-punk band The Pop Group

Aug. 10, 1960 — April 21, 2023

Harry Belafonte

Singer and actor who broke racial barriers and balanced activism with artistry in ways that made people around the world listen

March 1, 1927 — April 25, 2023

Billy “The Kid” Emerson

Early rock and roll singer

Dec. 21, 1925 — April 25, 2023

Don Sebesky

Composer and arranger who worked with Wes Montgomery, Frank Sinatra and Cyndi Lauper

Dec. 10, 1937 — April 29, 2023

Gordon Lightfoot

Canadian folk-rock songwriter who explored loss, longing and nostalgia in songs like “If You Could Read My Mind” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Nov. 11, 1938 — May 1, 2023

Linda Lewis

British soul singer who also worked as a backing vocalist for David Bowie

Sept. 27, 1950 — May 3, 2023

Rob Laakso

Guitarist for Swirlies and Kurt Vile & The Violators

1979 — May 4, 2023

Chris Strachwitz

Founder of the regional and roots music label Arhoolie Records

July 1, 1931 — May 5, 2023

Menahem Pressler

Pianist and co-founder of the Beaux Arts Trio

Dec. 16, 1923 — May 6, 2023

Frank Kozik

Darkly funny illustrator whose work was plastered on concert posters and album covers for Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age and The Offspring

Jan. 9, 1962 — May 6, 2023

Grace Bumbry

Trailblazing opera star who broke the color barrier as the first Black artist to perform at Germany’s Bayreuth Festival

Jan 4, 1937 — May 7, 2023

Rita Lee

Brazil’s Queen of Rock was the madcap element in Os Mutantes and an essential character in the Tropicália movement

Dec. 31, 1947 — May 8, 2023

Andy Rourke

The bassist crafted propulsive lines that brimmed with melody in The Smiths

Jan. 17, 1964 — May 19, 2023

Pete Brown

British Beat poet who wrote lyrics for Cream

Dec. 25, 1940 — May 19, 2023

Chas Newby

Bassist who played — briefly — with The Beatles

June 18, 1941 — May 22, 2023

Tina Turner

A soul and rock icon known for her octave-defying voice and mesmerizing stage moves

Nov. 26, 1939 — May 24, 2023

Bill Lee

Bassist and composer who scored his son Spike Lee’s early films

July 23, 1928 — May 24, 2023

Jack Lee

Frontman for power-pop band The Nerves who wrote “Hanging on the Telephone,” popularized by Blondie

March 25, 1952 — May 26, 2023

Reuben Wilson

Organist who helped usher in soul jazz

April 9, 1935 — May 26, 2023

Cynthia Weil

Brill Building lyricist who helped write “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “On Broadway”

Oct. 18, 1940 — June 1, 2023

Kaija Saariaho

Finnish composer who offered a dazzling palette of colors in her music

Oct. 14, 1952 — June 2, 2023

George Winston

Pianist of pastoral scenes whose albums with Windham Hill Records helped popularize new age music

Feb. 11, 1949 — June 4, 2023

Astrud Gilberto

Breathy Brazilian singer who turned “The Girl from Ipanema” into a global sensation

March 29, 1940 — June 5, 2023

Blackie Onassis

Drummer for the punked-up stadium rockers Urge Overkill

Aug. 27, 1965 — June 13, 2023

Big Pokey

Rapper and member of Houston’s Screwed Up Click

Nov. 29, 1974 — June 18, 2023

Teresa Taylor

Drummer for Butthole Surfers who had a memorable role in Richard Linklater’s 1990 film Slackers

Nov. 10, 1962 — June 18, 2023

John Waddington

Co-founding guitarist of The Pop Group

Jan. 1, 1960 — June 20, 2023

Peter Brötzmann

German saxophonist whose brash, tempestuous outpourings set an imposing standard for free improvisation

March 6, 1941 — June 22, 2023

Sheldon Harnick

Broadway lyricist who wrote Fiddler on the Roof

April 30, 1924 — June 23, 2023

Bobby Osborne

Mandolinist who expanded the idea of bluegrass in the Osborne Brothers

Dec. 7, 1931 — June 27, 2023

Rick Froberg

Snarling vocalist and guitarist of beloved punk bands Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes and Pitchfork

Jan. 19, 1968 — June 30, 2023

CoCo Lee

Chinese pop star, the lead in the Mandarin version of Disney’s Mulan and singer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘s soaring love theme

Jan. 17, 1975 — July 5, 2023

Peter Nero

Concert pianist and conductor of the Philly Pops

May 22, 1934 — July 6, 2023

André Watts

Concert pianist with an old-school Romantic virtuosity who was a guiding light for young, Black classical musicians

June 20, 1946 — July 12, 2023

Jane Birkin

English born, French-raised actress, icon and singer whose breathy hit “Je t’aime… moi non plus” with Serge Gainsbourg was banned from radio play in several countries

Dec. 14, 1946 — July 16, 2023

João Donato

Brazilian pianist and early architect of bossa nova

Aug. 17, 1934 — July 17, 2023

Tony Bennett

Timeless crooner whose voice epitomized the American Songbook

Aug. 3, 1926 — July 21, 2023

Leny Andrade

The first lady of Brazilian jazz was a samba-driven improviser and a consummate nightclub artist

Jan. 25, 1943 — July 24, 2023

Sinéad O’Connor

Irish singer whose life and howling music were committed to dissent, discontent and refusal against establishment evils

Dec. 8, 1966 — July 26, 2023

Randy Meisner

Bassist and founding member of the Eagles

March 8, 1946 — July 25, 2023

Erkin Koray

Guitarist who blended psychedelic rock with Turkish melodies

June 24, 1941 — Aug. 7, 2023

DJ Casper

Creator of the “Cha Cha Slide“

May 31, 1965 — Aug. 7, 2023

Sixto Rodriguez

Detroit singer-songwriter catapulted to sudden fame late in life, first in South Africa, and then around the world following the documentary Searching for Sugar Man

July 10, 1942 — Aug. 8, 2023

Jamie Reid

Visual artist who designed iconic cover art for Sex Pistols records

Jan. 16, 1947 — Aug. 8, 2023

Robbie Robertson

Lead guitarist and the primary songwriter for The Band, who helped to establish the blueprint for Americana

July 5, 1943 — Aug. 9, 2023

Clarence Avant

Music executive and film producer who boosted the careers of Bill Withers and Michael Jackson and became a force in sports and politics

Feb. 25, 1931 — Aug. 13, 2023

Magoo

Rapper and Timbaland collaborator

July 12, 1973 — Aug. 13, 2023

Jerry Moss

Co-founder of A&M Records

May 8, 1935 — Aug. 15, 2023

Renata Scotto

Italian diva known for dozens of roles at the Metropolitan Opera

Feb. 24, 1934 — Aug. 16, 2023

Gary Young

Pavement’s original drummer

May 3, 1953 — Aug. 17, 2023

Gloria Coates

Prolific Wisconsin-born composer who made a name for herself in Europe

Oct. 10, 1933 — Aug. 19, 2023

Sakevi Yokoyama

Vocalist for Japanese hardcore punk and metal band G.I.S.M.

Unknown — Aug. 24, 2023

Brian McBride

One half of Stars of the Lid, a duo that warped and wondered at new pathways for ambient music

July 6, 1970 — Aug. 25, 2023

James Casey

Saxophonist known for his work with the Trey Anastasio Band

Feb. 4, 1983 — Aug. 28, 2023

Jack Sonni

Guitarist briefly in massively successful ’80s rock band Dire Straits

Dec. 9, 1954 — Aug. 30, 2023

Curtis Fowlkes

Trombonist who co-led The Jazz Passengers

March 19, 1950 — Aug. 31, 2023

Jimmy Buffett

Singer-songwriter and eternal (p)resident of “Margaritaville”

Dec. 25, 1946 — Sept. 1, 2023

Gary Wright

Founding member of blues rock band Spooky Tooth, in-demand session musician and singer of “Dream Weaver”

April 26, 1943 — Sept. 4, 2023

Steve Harwell

Lead singer of Smash Mouth and its highly meme-able self-esteem booster “All Star”

Jan. 9, 1967 — Sept. 4, 2023

Charles Gayle

New York saxophonist who embodied a radical yet humble expression of freedom

Feb. 28, 1939 — Sept. 5, 2023

Richard Davis

Versatile bassist heard on Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch!

April 15, 1930 — Sept. 6, 2023

Roger Whittaker

British balladeer and whistler known for “The Last Farewell”

March 22, 1936 — Sept. 13, 2023

Kent Stax

Drummer for D.C. hardcore band Scream

July 4, 1962 — Sept. 20, 2023

Terry Kirkman

Singer for The Association and songwriter for the pop group’s “Cherish”

Dec. 12, 1939 — Sept. 23, 2023

James Jorden

Founder of the opera zine and website Parterre Box

Aug. 6, 1954 — Oct. 2, 2023

Rudolph Isley

Founding member of The Isley Brothers

April 1, 1939 — Oct. 11, 2023

Carla Bley

Prolific and expansive jazz pianist who constantly evolved

May 11, 1936 — Oct. 17, 2023

Dwight Twilley

Power-pop singer-songwriter behind a series of minor ’70s and ’80s hits

June 6, 1951 — Oct. 21, 2023

Dusty Street

Pioneering female rock DJ for KROQ and, later, SiriusXM

Oct. 19, 1946 — Oct. 21, 2023

Steve Poponi

Guitarist for emo band Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start and co-owner of Philly’s beloved Gradwell House studio

June 17, 1976 — Oct. 31, 2023

Yuri Temirkanov

Controversial conductor for St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Dec. 10, 1938 — Nov. 2, 2023

R.L. Boyce

Mississippi blues guitarist who created his own Hill Country boogie style

Aug. 15, 1955 — Nov. 9, 2023

David Del Tredici

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who wrote pieces based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” stories

March 16, 1937 — Nov. 18, 2023

Catherine Christer Hennix

Composer who dreamed the infinite

Jan. 25, 1948 — Nov. 19, 2023

Mars Williams

Saxophonist for The Psychedelic Furs and The Waitresses

May 29, 1955 — Nov. 20, 2023

Chad Allan

Original singer for Canadian rock band The Guess Who

March 29, 1943 — Nov. 21, 2023

Jean Knight

Soul singer who made “Mr. Big Stuff” a hit

Jan. 26, 1943 — Nov. 22, 2023

Geordie Walker

Guitarist for post-punk band Killing Joke

Dec. 18, 1958 — Nov. 26, 2023

Scott Kempner

Guitarist for punk band The Dictators

Feb. 6, 1954 — Nov. 29, 2023

Shane MacGowan

Irascible frontman of The Pogues and co-writer of the devastatingly beautiful Christmas ballad “Fairytale of New York”

Dec. 25, 1957 — Nov. 30, 2023

Denny Laine

Co-founder of both The Moody Blues and Wings

Oct. 29, 1944 — Dec. 5, 2023

Martin Davidson

Founder of the free-improvisation label Emanem Records

Feb. 11, 1942 — Dec. 9, 2023

Essra Mohawk

Prolific songwriter and a familiar singing voice on Schoolhouse Rock!

April 23, 1948 — Dec. 11, 2023

Travis John Dopp

Guitarist for post-hardcore band Small Brown Bike

Oct. 23, 1975 — Dec. 13, 2023

Amp Fiddler

Detroit soul mainstay known for his work with George Clinton and Prince, a mentor to J Dilla

May 17, 1958 — Dec. 17, 2023

Craig Stewart

Founder of the independent label Emperor Jones, early home to The American Analog Set and The Mountain Goats

Oct. 27, 1970 — Dec. 19, 2023

Laura Lynch

Bassist, singer and founding member of The Dixie Chicks who appeared on the group’s first three albums

1958 — Dec. 22, 2023

TONY OXLEY

British percussionist foundational to free improvisation, co-founder of Incus Records

Jun. 15, 1938 — Dec. 26, 2023

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Will Chase, Candice Vo Kortkamp and Greta Pittenger contributed research to support this story. Phil Harrell produced the audio at the top of the page.