Music Obituaries 2022: Remembering Those Who Sang Their Final Songs

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As 2023 dawns it’s time to take a moment to look back on the sadness of 2022 from the perspective of a music fan. As usual, the lists were long and many fans mourned. Here’s a review of some of the voices that fell silent last year. Biggest names: Every year I say the term “biggest names” is subjective, but most people have heard of these individuals because of their vast accomplishments in music: *Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters *Jerry Lee Lewis *Loretta Lynn *Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac *Meat Loaf (Marvin Aday) *Olivia Newton-John *Ronnie Spector Halls of Fame: Here are the major musical halls of fame and their losses of 2022. Bluegrass: Bluegrass only lost one inductee in 2022, the great Roland White of the Nashville Bluegrass Band. Country DJ: the Country Disc Jockey Hall of Fame said goodbye to Ralph Emery, Eddie Edwards, Bob Robbins, and “Mayor of Music Row” Charlie Monk in 2022. Country Music: ithe Country Music Hall of Fame suffered six losses in 2022: DJ legend Ralph Emery, Alabama lead guitarist/fiddler Jeff Cook, “A Team” session pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins, Judds mom Naomi Judd (who died the day before their formal induction), rocker-turned-country singer Jerry Lee Lewis (who died 12 days after his induction), and America’s “coal miner’s daughter,” Loretta Lynn. Musicians: the Musicians Hall of Fame (located in Nashville, if you’d like to visit) bade farewell to Jeff Cook from Alabama, the Crickets’ Jerry Allison, Pig Robbins, the Funk Brothers’ Joe Messina, and Bill Pitman from the Wrecking Crew. Nashville Songwriters: the great Dallas Frazier and Loretta Lynn both passed in 2022, leaving gaping holes in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Songwriters Hall of Fame: movie songwriter Marilyn Bergman, pop songwriter Bobby Weinstein, and country icon Loretta Lynn passed from their ranks. Rock and Roll: another difficult year for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying goodbye to 19 inductees: *Jerry Allison (Crickets) *Dino Danelli (Rascals) *Lamont Dozier (Holland/Dozier/Holland) *Tommy Facenda (Gene Vincent’s Blue Caps) *Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) *Sam Gooden (The Impressions) *Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) *Jerry Lee Lewis *Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) *Joe Messina (Funk Brothers) *Bill Pitman (Wrecking Crew) *Al Rupe (founder of Specialty Records) *Calvin Simon (Parliament-Funkadelic) *Ronnie Spector *Jim Stewart (founder of Stax Records) *Alec John Such (Bon Jovi) *Alan White (Yes) *Don Wilson (Ventures) *Andrew Woolfolk (Earth, Wind, and Fire) Families: Every year it seems that a music family will be hit more than once. As usual, that happened in 2022: *Carly Simon lost two sisters in 24 hours in November, both to cancer. Their deaths kept her from attending her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. *Jerry Lee Lewis and his cousin, Mickey Gilley, both passed in 2022. *Country singer Bobbi Staff and her former husband, Nashville Now musician Jerry Whitehurst, both died last year. *Alabama’s front man, Randy Owen, lost his mother as well has his bandmate and cousin, Jeff Cook. Bands: As with the families, it seems that bands will be mourning more than once in a year. The Crickets: Buddy Holly’s backing group said goodbye to final original member Jerry Allison as well as Sonny West. Mighty Diamonds: Donald “Tabby” Shaw was murdered three days before bandmate Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson died of cancer. Personal: most of us who have a deep love of music feel a personal loss at the death of someone who’s made music that has spoken to our hearts and souls. My personal blows this year: *Loretta Lynn: I can’t describe how overwhelmed I was when I saw her in 2015. All I could do was cry that I was in the same building as this legend. *Dallas Frazier: His songwriting was unmatched, and I’m furious that he wasn’t inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in his lifetime. From the silly (“Alley-Oop,” “Elvira”) to the gut-punching (“There Goes My Everything”), Frazier knew how to write ‘em. *Ian Tyson: One of Canada’s greatest songwriters who shared his magnificent songs like “Four Strong Winds” and “Someday Soon” with the world. *Joel Whitburn: The man whose name was a descriptor (“How many Whitburns do you have?”) because of his incredible research on Billboard music charts that resulted in the reference books to end all reference books for the music geeks. Farewell to the famous and the obscure alike that we lost in 2022, and thank you for the music. Loretta, one more time: