obituaries

Music & Culture

Betty Davis, funk pioneer and fashion icon, dies at 77

6:47pm February 09, 2022

by Andrew Limbong

The incandescent, influential funk musician Betty Davis died on Wednesday. She made a string of albums in the mid-1970s that helped to shape stylish, Afrofuturist strains of funk and hip-hop.

Queue Listen Now

Josh Neuman had filmed videos for YouTube since he was 12, according to his website, and has nearly 1.2 million subscribers on the platform.

Arts

Josh Neuman, popular YouTuber and skateboarder, dies in a plane crash in Iceland

11:20am February 08, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Neuman and three others were killed during a sightseeing flight to create commercial content for the Belgian streetwear brand Suspicious Antwerp. Neuman was 22.

Music & Culture

George Crumb, an influential and deeply American composer, has died at age 92

2:35pm February 07, 2022

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The Pulitzer Prize winner, whose music enveloped everything from the horrors of the Vietnam War to the calls of humpback whales, died Sunday.

Music & Culture

Popular Bollywood singer, Lata Mangeshkar, dies at 92

7:21am February 07, 2022

by Sushmita Pathak

Lata Mangeshkar recorded more than 25,000 songs for Indian movie musicals. She died in Mumbai, where she had been hospitalized with pneumonia and COVID-19.

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Syl Johnson performs at the 32nd Annual Chicago Blues Festival in 2015.

Music & Culture

Syl Johnson, Chicago soul singer widely sampled in hip-hop, is dead at 85

6:24pm February 06, 2022

by Hazel Cills

The singer's 1968 hit "Different Strokes" became a popular hip-hop sample used by artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Kanye West.

Reflecting on the legacy of colleague Victor Holliday

11:56am February 06, 2022

NPR's Michel Martin remembers the much-loved Holliday, who died this week at 61. His lifelong friend said Holliday's goal was to leave everything he touched a little better.

Indian Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar in 2013.

Music & Culture

Lata Mangeshkar, the sweetheart of Bollywood, dies at 92

10:30am February 06, 2022

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

She was one of the most famous and beloved playback singers. She recorded songs used in movie soundtracks, which generations of actresses would then lip-sync onscreen.

Children's author and illustrator Ashley Bryan has died at age 98.

Books
Arts

Ashley Bryan, children's illustrator and author, has died at 98

5:01pm February 05, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

He created stories centered on African and African American folk tales and his vibrantly colored collage and paper-cut illustrations adorned the pages of some 50 books.

Books

Jason Epstein, founder of 'The New York Review of Books,' dies at 93

9:11am February 05, 2022

by Scott Simon

Jason Epstein, a towering figure in the New York City's intellectual scene who co-founded "The New York Review of Books" as well as the Library of America series, died this week at 93.

The reporter who broke the gender barrier in NHL locker rooms has died at age 70

7:19pm February 03, 2022

by The Associated Press

Herman hoped her "mini sports history" moment would go quietly unnoticed. Instead, the locker room quickly devolved into a "circus scene."