Music Performers who died in 2009

Here is a list of the singers and musicians from the swing era and beyond who died this year;

Al Alberts, 87, who was a founding member of the singing group, The Four Aces, and a longtime TV talent show host in Philadelphia.

Yvonne King Burch, 89 who gained early fame as one of the singing King Sisters during the big band era before launching her entire extended musical clan into show business as the King Family.

Chris Connor, 81, who was a prominent big-band jazz singer of the 1940s, ‘50s and beyond, died  of cancer at a hospital in Toms River, N.J.  She sang with Claude Thornhill’s orchestra and other bands before joining the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1952.

Mary Travers, 72, who as one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary helped popularize such tunes as “Puff (The Magic Dragon)” and “If I Had a Hammer,” died Sept. 16 after battling leukemia for several years.

David ''Fathead'' Newman, 75. Jazz saxophonist; played with wide range of luminaries. Jan. 20.

Blossom Dearie, 84. Jazz singer with unique baby-doll voice. Feb. 7.

Louie Bellson, 84. Jazz drummer; performed with Duke Ellington, wife Pearl Bailey. Feb. 14.

Jimmy Boyd, 70, the child singer and actor best known for the original rendition of the Christmas novelty hit “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” in 1952, died of cancer March 7.

Art Ferrante, 88, the famed 1960s-era movie pianist, died Sept. 19 of natural causes. Along with partner Lou Teicher, Ferrante recorded themes to movies such as “The Apartment,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Cleopatra.”

Michael Jackson, 50, the gifted child star who rose to become the “King of Pop” and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died June 25. Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

Al Martino, 82, the singer who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in “The Godfather” and recorded hits including “Spanish Eyes” and the Italian ballad “Volare” in a 50-year musical career, died Oct. 13.

Les Paul, 94, who invented the solid-body electric guitar later wielded by a legion of rock ’n’ roll greats, died Aug. 13 of complications from pneumonia. As an inventor, Paul also helped bring about the rise of rock ’n’ roll with multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording.

Harve Presnell, 75, whose booming baritone graced such Broadway musicals as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “Annie,” died June 30 of pancreatic cancer.

Kenny Rankin, 69, a pop vocalist and highly regarded musician-songwriter whose stylings ranged from jazz to pop to the world music influences he picked up as a child in New York, died of complications related to lung cancer on June 7.

George Russell, 86, a jazz composer and a MacArthur fellow whose theories influenced the modal music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, died July 27 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.