Musician Deaths in 2012

As we plunge headfirst into 2013 and everything that comes with it, it seems necessary to take a moment and acknowledge the unusually high number of musical legends who left this word last year. The amount of talent that passed on in 2012 was indeed far above the tally for any given year. The worst of the bad news came during a particularly bad streak in April in May, punctuated, among others, by the deaths of The Band's Levon Helm and the Beastie Boys' own Adam Yauch, both from throat cancer.

Here now is a list of legends who were with us the beginning of last year, and now are not. Click each name to see a reason why the world is now a better place because of their life and legacy.

• Johnny Otis – 1/17/12
• Etta James – 1/20/12
• Don Cornelius – 2/1/12
• Whitney Houston - 2/11/12
• Davy Jones – 2/29/12
• Ronnie Montrose – 3/3/12 (guitarist for Van Morrison, Edgar Winter, Herbie Hancock and more)
• Earl Scruggs – 3/28/12 (the banjo in Flatt & Scruggs)
• Jim Marshall – 4/5/12 (creator of Marshall amps)
• Dick Clark – 4/18/12
• Levon Helm – 4/19/12
• Adam Yauch – 5/4/12
• Donald “Duck” Dunn – 5/13/12 (Stax bass player, Booker T and the M.G.s, Blues Brothers)
• Chuck Brown – 5/16/12 (godfather of D.C. A-Go-Go)
• Donna Summer – 5/17/12
• Robin Gibb – 5/20/12
• Doc Watson – 5/29/12
• Bob Babbitt – 7/16/12 (bassist on countless Motown recordings)
• Dave Brubeck – 12/5/12
• Ravi Shankar – 12/11/12

All I can say is, Thank God For YouTube!