Obituary
Joanna Simon, Acclaimed Singer, TV Correspondent and Carly’s Sister, Dies at 85
Joanna Simon, an acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Emmy-winning TV correspondent and one of the three singing Simon sisters who include pop star Carly Simon, has died at age 85. Simon, the eldest of four, died Wednesday (Oct. 19), just a day before her sister Lucy died, according to Lucy’s daughter, Julie Simon. Their brother Peter, a photographer, died in 2018 at 71. All three had cancer. “In the last 2 days, I’ve been by the side of both my mother and my aunt, Joanna, and watched them pass into the next world. I can’t truly comprehend this,” Julie wrote on Facebook. Joanna Simon, who died of thyroid cancer, rose to fame in the opera world and as a concert performer in the 1960s. She was a frequent guest on TV talk shows. After her retirement from singing, she became an arts correspondent for PBS’...
Carly Simon Loses Both Sisters to Cancer a Day Apart
Joanna Simon and Lucy Simon, Carly Simon’s two older sisters, passed away a day apart this week following their respective battles with cancer. Joanna, a former opera singer, died October 19th at age 85 of thyroid cancer, while Lucy, a Broadway composer, died October 20th at age 82 of breast cancer. The daughters of Simon & Schuster co-founder Richard Simon, all three of the Simon sisters worked in the entertainment industry from a young age. Lucy and Carly performed as the folk duo The Simon Sisters in the 1960s before Carly’s pop career took off in the ’70s. Lucy continued her own solo career and even won two Grammy Awards for In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record and In Harmony 2, children’s music albums she produced with her husband, David Levine. In 1991, Lucy composed the Tony-nomin...
Mexican Woman Who Reportedly Inspired Pixar’s Mama Coco Dead at 109
María Salud Ramírez Caballero, who reportedly inspired Pixar’s character of Mama Coco in the animated film Coco, has died at the age of 109. Her death was confirmed on Sunday, October 16th by Roberto Monroy, the Secretary of Tourism in the Mexican state of Michoacán. No official cause of death was revealed. In a statement posted on Twitter, Monroy remembered the ceramic potter as “the inspiration” for the “beloved character” of Mama Coco. Released in 2017, Coco was inspired by the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) and stars a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who ends up in the Land of the Dead after strumming a guitar that once belonged to a famous musician. Mama Coco is Miguel’s great-grandmother in the movie and was voiced by Ana Ofelia Murguía. Advertisement Related...
Robbie Coltrane, Comic Performer Who Played Hagrid in ‘Harry Potter’ Movies, Dies at 72
Robbie Coltrane, the veteran comic and actor known for his star turns in the British crime series Cracker and the Harry Potter movie franchise, died Friday (Oct. 14), The Hollywood Reporter has learned. He was 72. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Coltrane’s agent Belinda Wright called him a “unique talent,” whom she’ll remember as “an abidingly loyal client.” “As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent and brilliantly witty, and after 40 years of being proud to be to called his agent, I shall miss him,” Wright added of Coltrane in a statement. The boisterous and decidedly eccentric Scotsman, who began his career in comedy and theater, also commanded the screen in two James Bond films during an illustrious career ...
R.I.P. Mike Schank, Unlikely Star of Award-Winning Documentary American Movie Dead 56
Mike Schank, who was immortalized as a good guy and a great friend in the award-winning documentary American Movie, has died at the age of 56. His passing was announced by his friend Jackie Bogenberger on social media and confirmed by the Milwaukee Record. On October 13th, she wrote that he “passed away early this morning in his mother’s arms. He immediately went on to meet his father and sister who he has missed for a very long time. He was very uncomfortable these last few days, and is in a much better place now.” She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Related Video Schank became an unlikely icon after American Movie premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for documentary. The fi...
Greg Epler, Longtime Fuel Manager, Dies at 64
Greg Epler, the veteran music manager and booking agent who worked closely with Fuel, Lisa Simone and others, has died at the age of 64. Epler began his career in the music business in the late 1980s and found his niche in 1994, with the launch of Greg Epler Management, which he built with an ethos of championing up-and-coming bands. One of those acts was Fuel, the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania rockers which he co-managed with Dave Sestak at Media Five. Epler worked with the group since its inception and was instrumental in getting Fuel signed to Epic Records in the 1990s, an alliance that delivered a string of platinum and double platinum recordings. The band has five career appearances on the Billboard 200, including a No. 15 for 2003’s Natural Selection; and a No. 17 peak for 2000’s Somethin...
R.I.P. Angela Lansbury, Golden Age Hollywood Star Dead at 96
Dame Angela Lansbury, the acclaimed British-American actress and one of the last surviving film stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died at 96. “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11th, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement. Angela Brigid Lansbury was born in London to an English father and Northern Irish mother. After her father died from stomach cancer when Lansbury was nine years old, she coped by throwing herself into films and acting. The onset of the Blitz during World War II prompted Lansbury and her mother to relocate to the United States, where Lansbury began her stage acting career in New York City. Advertisement ...
Brooks Arthur, Grammy-Winning Producer and Engineer, Has Died
Brooks Arthur, the multiple Grammy Award-winning record producer and engineer who worked on hits by Leiber and Stoller, The Grateful Dead, Burt Bacharach, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison and many more, died Sunday (Oct. 9). Born Arnold Brodsky in New York City back in 1936, the music man cut his teeth in the industry while still in high school, scoring a part-time job in the Decca Records mailroom. From there, he could see how the entire business in action. Several years later, he was tapped by Aldon Music as a songwriter and demo singer, along with the likes of Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. There, he wrote “At the Edge of Tears,” recorded by a young Tony Orlando, who would introduce Arthur to his engineering mentor. The hits would roll on at Associated Studios, wh...
Art Laboe, DJ Known for Playing ‘Oldies but Goodies,’ Dies at 97
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/art-laboe-dead-oldies-but-goodies-1235238488/ Art Laboe, the DJ and music promoter who spent 79 continuous years on the radio, was an innovator of the compilation album and coined and trademarked the term “Oldies but Goodies,” has died. He was 97. Laboe died peacefully Friday at his home in Palm Springs after a brief bout with pneumonia, Joanna Morones, a spokesperson for his production company, Dart Entertainment, announced. He was on the air as recently as Sunday night with his pre-recorded The Art Laboe Connection, the syndicated program that he launched in 1991. “My favorite place to be is behind that microphone,” Laboe said. “I have one of the best jobs in the world, playing the music, interacting with our listeners, doing their dedica...
Toshi Ichiyanagi, Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneer Composer, Dies at 89
Avant-garde pianist and composer Toshi Ichiyanagi, who studied with John Cage and went on to lead Japan’s advances in experimental modern music, has died. He was 89. Ichiyanagi, who was married to Yoko Ono before she married John Lennon, died Friday (Oct. 7), according to the Kanagawa Arts Foundation, where Ichiyanagi had served as general artistic director. The cause of death was not given. “We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all those who loved him during his lifetime,” the foundation’s chairman, Kazumi Tamamura, said in a statement Saturday. Ichiyanagi studied at The Juilliard School in New York and emerged a pioneer, using free-spirited compositional techniques that left much to chance, incorporating not only traditional Japanese elements and instruments but also elect...
Loretta Lynn’s 20 Biggest Billboard Hits
Country music legend Loretta Lynn passed away today, Oct. 4 at age 90. The beloved artist died in her sleep from natural causes at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. Lynn, who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983, followed by her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008, was born April 14, 1932, in Butcher Holler, Ky., and blazed a trail for myriad successful female artists on Billboard‘s country charts and beyond. Her audience widened to the masses following the film that chronicled her story: 1980’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek, as Lynn, Tommy Lee Jones as her husband of 48 years, Doolittle, and Levon Helm as her father. Lynn rolled up 16 No. 1s on Billboar...
Sacheen Littlefeather, Who Stood in for Marlon Brando at 1973 Oscars, Dead at 75
Sacheen Littlefeather, who endured racist mockery and threats of arrest and violence when she appeared on Marlon Brando’s behalf at the 1973 Oscars and declined his award for Best Actor, has died at the age of 75. According to Variety, Littlefeather passed away Sunday, October 2nd, following a battle with breast cancer. As president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee, Littlefeather stood in for Brando to protest the mistreatment of American Indians in the film industry. Moments before she took the stage, ceremony producer Howard Koch told her that she would be arrested if she talked for longer than 60 seconds. During her speech, she was mocked with tomahawk chops and ululation, and John Wayne reportedly had to be restrained from charging the podium and attack...
