They marked their time with their voice or their instrument, but we will now have to live without them. And how can we not begin our tribute to the music stars who breathed their last this year with one of the greatest voices of her century, namely Tina Turner. The one nicknamed the “Queen of Rock & Roll” passed away in May at the age of 83.
Jeff Beck marked his time with his guitar, and he continued to do so when he passed away last January following meningitis. He was 78 years old. Sinead O’Connor was just 56 when she closed her eyes for the last time at home in July. An essential voice of the 90s, the physical and psychological health of the Irish singer had deteriorated in recent years, until the tragic suicide of her 17-year-old son which, the previous year, had devastated her.
It was at the age of 71 and at the end of a career studded with around twenty studio albums where he knew how to mix poetry and melancholy that Jean-Louis Murat died at his home, in Auvergne.
The last of the crooners
It’s difficult not to mention the disappearance of Tony Bennett who bowed out at the age of 96 last July. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016, the man who was considered the last of the great American crooners continued to sing, and even found popular success thanks to his two duet albums with Lady Gaga.
If her brief musical career could only suffer from the imposing shadow of her father, America was still shocked by the disappearance of Lisa Marie Presley, the King’s only daughter, at the age of 54. But we must also deplore the loss of Shane McGowan, the singer of the Pogues, of Astrud Gilberto, the interpreter of Girl from Ipanemaby American composer Burt Bacharach as well as the legendary David Crosby.
Finally, let’s mention Fred White, drummer of Earth, Wind and Fire, Toto Cutugno, performer of The Italian and, for the French-speaking world, François Hadji-Lazaro, leader of the Garçons Bouchers, the Belgian singer Claude Barzotti and finally José Sébéloué, singer and founding member of the Compagnie Créole.