Every year media publications run recaps of celebrities that passed away the previous year. I’ve always found those lists informative and am usually saddened by the loss of certain people as they had an impact on my life.

For example, there were about thirty professional musicians that passed in 2024, but there were four I found to be particularly poignant:

Mike Pinder passed away in April. Pinder was the last living founding member of the Moody Blues. The entire original five man band, Pinder, Graeme Edge, Denny Laine, Ray Thomas and Clint Warwick are now gone. That’s saddening for a group that did so much for rock music. Their early album, A Question of Balance is one of my all-time favorites.

Phil Lesh died last October. The bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead,  he is the third of the five original band members to pass, joining Jerry Garcia and “Pigpen” McKernan in that Great Gig in the Sky. That’s tough on us Deadheads.

Songwriter Kris Kristofferson passed in September. A favorite of mine, (I wrote about him in a short story called Paul and Kris), he wrote the song Me and Bobby McGee. While considered a singer, songwriter, and an actor, other than A Star Is Born, his acting wasn’t anywhere near his songwriting abilities.

This next one, Dickie Betts, was particularly hard for me.  Betts was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, playing guitar. When Duane Allman died, Betts respectably took over lead guitar responsibilities for the next thirty-two years. Betts wrote the classic songs Ramblin Man, Jessica, and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. When he left ABB, he formed the southern rock band called Great Southern.

Blues giant, John Mayall with his band, the Bluesbreakers was my entryway into blues music, a favorite genre. The guitarists that played in Mayall’s band was a virtual who’s-who of greats: Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Eric Clapton, the late Jack Bruce (Cream) John McVie (Fleetwood Mac), the late Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), and the late Paul Butterfield were all Bluesbreakers at one time.  Mayall ‘s dedication to the blues was legendary. He was still writing songs and performing right up to his death at 90 years old.

Other notable musicians passing were Melanie, the gal with a “brand new pair of roller skates;” Toby Keith who would “discount bungee jump before smoking weed with Willie again,” and Eric “All By Myself”  Carmen. Trivia question – before going solo, what band was Carmen with? Answer below. *

But a list of people that died this past year that really got my attention was in baseball. That list has 25 great Major League’s players – names that could have appeared on any All-Star lineup.

Order         Position        Name                               All Star years

1                 LF               Ricky Henderson                            10

2                 2B               Pete Rose                                       17

3                 CF              Willy Mays                                      24

4                 RF              Rocky Colavito                                9

5                 1B              Orlando Cepeda                             11

6                 DH             Rico Carty                                        1

7                 C                Jerry Grote                                       2

8                 3B              Bill Melton                                       1

9                 SS               Bud Harrelson                                 0

As formidable as that lineup might be, their pitching staff might have been even better. Consider these All Star arms: Fernando Valenzuela, Ken Holtzman, Don Gullet, and Carl Erskine. 

They were all amazing players in their prime and I watched all of them play except for Erskine.

There were a few acting celebrities passing that bears mentioning.  I have a general disdain for Hollywood, but there were two actors of note. Donald Sutherland, in my opinion, was a great actor, particularly in M*A*S*H. Then the comedian/actor Bob Newhart also passed. My late father, one tough hard-working hombre, would burst out laughing at Newhart’s comedy – he loved the guy.

In the NBA – which I watched until Jordan left Chicago – Bob “Butterbeans” Love, an early Chicago Bull, scored 12,623 points, long before the 3-point shot. That is the third highest points in Bulls history. Jerry West from the Los Angeles Lakers died too. West is considered one of basketball’s greatest players, whom the NBA modeled their logo after. And fellow Dead-Head, Bill Walton, who played for the Portland Trailblazers and Boston Celtics died. At 6’11” he must have been the tallest person at Dead concerts.

I almost forgot Doug Ingle with the band Iron Butterfly, who penned the song In The Garden of Eden. You may not recognize those names, but I would bet you’re aware of him somewhere in the recesses of your memory. The song, all seventeen minutes, became known as In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida after Ingle drank a gallon of wine and was unable to verbalize the title of In the Garden of Eden to band mates, uttering instead In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.  

• Trivia answer – Carmen was with the Raspberries and wrote the hit single Go All the Way.