Diahann Carroll

Posted in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx) with tags , , on May 18, 2026 by Cade


July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019

Golden Globe and Tony winning actress, Diahann Carroll, likely didn’t intend to spend her career kicking down barriers, but that’s exactly what she did. Her 1962 Tony win for No Strings was the first time an African American actress had won the category. Her Golden Globe win in 1968 was for the title role in the television series, Julia, which was the first starring role for a black woman that was not a domestic worker or servant.

In 1963, Carroll received her first Emmy nomination (for Naked City) – again, one of the first for a black actress. And in 1996, she played the role of traditionally-white character, Norma Desmond, in a Toronto production of Sunset Boulevard.

And those are just the groundbreaking accolades.

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Ace Frehley

Posted in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx) with tags , , on May 11, 2026 by Cade

April 27, 1951 – October 16, 2025

Paul “Ace” Frehley was the lead guitarist and a founding member of the renowned rock band, KISS. Born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, Frehley came from a family of musicians and sought out rock and roll as an alternative to getting pulled into street gang life in his neighborhood. Frehley’s career in music started early as he joined his first band in high school. He played in a half dozen bands in New York City in the late 1960s and early ’70s. In 1972, he answered an ad in the Village Voice that was seeking  a guitarist for a new band. The audition went well and Frehley joined Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss on a new rock and roll endeavor. The foursome eventually settled on the name KISS.

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Tony Bennett

Posted in Calvary Cemetery (NY) with tags , on May 4, 2026 by Cade

August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023

In December of 2008, in a theater outside of Boston, an 82 year-old man stood on the stage – arms spread out almost as wide as the smile across his face – enwrapped in a moment and basking in the glow of…affection from the hundreds of fans surrounding him, yes, but also, what could only be described as “complete and absolute contentment.”

I only got to see Tony Bennett perform live that one time, but it was pure joy. He was clearly as happy to be there as we were to be there with him. The delight was palpable and contagious. Even if he never sang a note, we would have had an amazing night…just basking in his secondhand happiness.

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Louis Armstrong

Posted in Flushing Cemetery with tags , , on April 27, 2026 by Cade

August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971

An argument can be made – and made well – that Louis Armstrong is the single most important figure in American music. While the likes of Elvis, MJ and Aretha “merely” excelled at their respective genres, Armstrong introduced his to the world. Of course, no one person can be credited with creating jazz, but the uniquely American music genre  can certainly trace its roots to New Orleans…and Louis Armstrong was right there at the start.

Born and raised in poverty in the Big Easy, Armstrong’s early life was peppered with struggle. He was arrested at the age of 11 and sent to live in a reform school for black boys. While at the desolate school, Armstrong joined the band and learned to play the cornet.

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Robert Mitchum

Posted in Cremated, Sharon Hills Odd Fellows Cemetery with tags , on July 28, 2025 by Cade

August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum grew up on a farm in Delaware. A prankster and somewhat rebellious child, by the time Mitchum was 14 he had lived in South Carolina, Connecticut, Delaware, Philadelphia, and New York City with various parts of his family. He was expelled from at least 2 schools and ran away from home a number of times. He lived for a while hopping freight cars and was arrested for vagrancy and put on a chain-gang (from which he claims to have escaped). He worked his way across the country digging ditches, picking up odd jobs and boxing semi-professionally before suffering a career-ending facial injury. 

THEN he became one of Hollywood’s greatest antiheroes.

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Dave Peverett

Posted in Woodlawn Cemetery (FL) with tags , , on June 16, 2025 by Cade

April 16, 1943 – February 07, 2000

As legend would have it, young Dave Peverett and his brother, John, parlayed their active childhood imaginations into one of the best-selling rock groups of the 1970s. While playing a word game with John, Dave coined the nonsense word “foghat”. This led to an imaginary friend named “Junior Foghat” and the adoption of the personal persona of “Lonesome Dave.” Both would shape much of the rest of Peverett’s life.

Born in London, in 1943, Dave Peverett grew up idolizing blues musicians like Chuck Berry. He learned to play guitar and eventually joined the band, Savoy Brown, in the late 1960s. The band found some decent success, releasing 5 albums during Peverett’s tenure. By the early 1970s, Lonesome Dave wanted to embark on something new, so he and fellow Savoy bandmates Roger Earl and Tony Stevens teamed up with guitarist, Rod Price, and formed a new band…called Foghat.
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Pete Moore

Posted in Palm Memorial Park Northwest with tags , , , on May 19, 2025 by Cade

November 19, 1938 – November 19, 2017

When Motown records was founded in 1959, there was the Miracles.

The 5 Detroit performers were the first to catch producer Berry Gordy’s eye and convince him to start his own label. Founded by childhood friends, Smokey Robinson, Ronnie White and Pete Moore, the Miracles would become the prototype for all successful Motown acts to follow.

In addition to providing bass vocals for the group, Warren “Pete” Moore served as one of the talented songwriters for, not only the group, but also many of Motown’s biggest stars. Moore wrote the Miracles’ multi-platinum megahit, 1965’s “Tracks of My Tears” as well as their post-Smokey disco anthem, “Love Machine.” Over Moore’s prolific writing career, his songs were recorded by countless legends including Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and the Rolling Stones.

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Rudi Maugeri

Posted in Palm Memorial Park Northwest with tags , on May 12, 2025 by Cade

January 27, 1931 – May 7, 2004

Rudi Maugeri was a co-founder and lead/baritone singer for the Canadian doo-wop group, the Crew Cuts. Formed in school in Toronto, Rudi and his bandmates originally performed as the Candelaires around Ontario and New York. While appearing on a Cleveland radio program, the disc jockey referred to them as “the Crew Cuts” – citing their distinctive and uniform hairstyle – and the name stuck.

Maugeri wrote a number of songs for the Crew Cuts, including their first minor hit “Crazy ‘Bout You, Baby” which was later featured in the Off-Broadway hit, Forever Plaid. But, the Cuts’ biggest success came from pop covers of R&B songs like “Earth Angel” and “Sh-Boom”.  The latter becoming their biggest hit.

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Jimmy Ruffin

Posted in Palm Memorial Park Northwest with tags , , on April 28, 2025 by Cade

May 07, 1936 – November 17, 2014

Jimmy Ruffin was an R&B and soul singer who performed from a young age alongside his little brother, David. By the time he was 25, Jimmy found himself in Detroit and was a session singer in the Motown hit machine. He recorded his own stuff, too, though he was unable to find a hit. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Jimmy returned to Motown and was briefly considered as a replacement for the vacant lead singer role for the Temptations. That job eventually went to his brother, but Jimmy forged ahead as a solo artist.

In 1966, he recorded what would become his biggest hit. “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” became a Top 10 hit on both the R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts. It would remain his enduring signature song for decades.

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William Wilberforce

Posted in Westminster Abbey with tags on January 27, 2025 by Cade

August 24, 1759 – July 29, 1833

The OG social justice warrior, William Wilberforce was a British politician and social reformer whose religious conversion directed him toward causes to right injustice. He was most notably a staunch advocate and very public face for the campaign to abolish slavery in Britain.

Wilberforce was raised and educated in Yorkshire. He attended St. John’s College at Cambridge where he devoted more time to the typical extracurricular activities of the average college boy than to his studies. Despite his general lack of desire to be in school (he had inherited money from his family and didn’t necessarily need to go to university), he received a degree and embarked on a career in politics.

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