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Greg Kihn, the singer and songwriter of behind 1980s hits “Jeopardy” and “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em),” died Tuesday of Alzheimer’s complications. He was 75.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Greg Kihn, an iconic figure in the realm of rock music,” Kihn’s management said in a statement posted on his website.

“Known for his magnetic stage presence and unique storytelling that captivated audiences around the globe. He was not merely a musician but a cultural phenomenon whose influence will resonate for generations to come.”

Kihn was born on July 10, 1949, in Baltimore. His management describes his songwriting style as a “unique” blend of folk, classic rock, blues, and pop, adding, “his sound helped define a rich musical legacy in the San Francisco Bay Area scene.”

His biggest hit was “Jeopardy,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, just behind Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.

Like their unlikely namesake, the Zombies have had several lives since being formed by keyboardist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone in St. Albans in Hertfordshire U.K. in the early 1960s. The first British Invasion act after the Beatles to score a chart-topping U.S. hit, with “She’s Not There,” the guys disbanded shortly before their 1968 soon-to-be-cult album, “Odessey and Oracle,” was released. That collection produced another stateside smash in “Time of the Season,” which Al Kooper belatedly convinced Columbia’s Clive Davis to put out.

Since Argent and Blunstone reunited as the Zombies in 2004, the group has released four albums, the latest being the Covid-delayed “Different Game,” on the indie Cooking Vinyl, which serves as the follow-up to 2015’s aptly titled “Still Got That Hunger.”

The duo is fresh back from an acclaimed trip to Austin for South by Southwest, where they were honored with the Grulke Prize for Career Act,...

The year of 1969 saw the moon landing of the Apollo 11’s Eagle module, Richard Nixon sworn in as the 37th president of the United States, the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village ushering in the gay rights movement, the Tate-La Bianca murders by the Manson Family, the landmark Woodstock Music and Arts Fair which attracts 400,000, the tragic and violent Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway and even Tiny Tim marrying Miss Vicki on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

But one major event was basically ignored by the mainstream media: the Harlem Cultural Arts Festival which took place June 29-August 24 at the Mount Morris Park. Founded by Tony Lawrence, the festival celebrating Black pride, music and culture features such landmark performers as Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, The Fifth Dimension and Mahalia Jackson. And when the NYPD refused to supply security,...

Ed Bruce, a singer/songwriter and actor who had his own run of hits on the country charts but was best known for co-writing Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” has died at age 81. He died in Clarksville, Tenn. and the cause of death was given as natural causes.

Bruce was also recognized for playing the second lead to James Garner on NBC’s 1981-82 “Bret Maverick,” a one-season reboot of “Maverick,” as well as writing and singing the show’s theme song.

Of “Mammas,” one of the most iconic country hits of all time, Bruce said in a 2012 interview, “It was a top 15 record for me. And actually when I finished writing it, there was a question of whether I was gonna record it or whether I wanted pitch it to Waylon. There was no doubt in my mind it was a No.

Ed Bruce, the country singer-songwriter behind hits including “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” died Friday, January 8th in Clarksville, Tennessee, from natural causes, according to his publicist. He was 81.

William Edwin Bruce Jr. was born December 29th, 1939, in Keiser, Arkansas, and raised in nearby Memphis, Tennessee. That put him in close proximity to Sun Records engineer Jack Clement and owner Sam Phillips, who signed him at 17 to release the 1957 rockabilly side “Rock Boppin’ Baby.”

Bruce would later record with RCA and Wand/Scepter, but...

Ed Bruce, the singer and songwriter who got his start during the Sun Records rockabilly era and went on to write or record a long string of country chart-makers, died of natural causes today in Clarksville, Tennessee. Bruce, who sidelined as an actor on such TV series as James Garner’s 1981 Maverick sequel and 1980’s The Chisholms, was 81.

His death was announced by publicist Jeremy Westby.

A cowriter of the country classic “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” Bruce was only 17 when he worked as a recording engineer for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records, where he’d soon writer and record “Rock Boppin’ Baby.” Through the mid-1960s he wrote songs for pop star Tommy Roe, country singer Charlie Louvin, and, later in the decade, charted himself with minor hits “Walker’s Woods” and a cover version of The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville.”

Bigger hits came in the 1970s,...

Alabama musician, songwriter, and actor Donnie Fritts, an architect of Southern soul music whose songs were covered by dozens of artists from Waylon Jennings to Dusty Springfield, died Tuesday night. His publicist confirmed Fritts’ death at the age of 76.

Fritts’ friend and fellow songwriter Gary Nicholson posted a tribute to Fritts on Facebook early Wednesday morning, writing in part, “There aren’t words to describe what his loving friendship has meant to me through the years, so many songs and stories, it’s gonna take awhile to process this one.

Joe Osborn, the bassist in the famed Wrecking Crew, the group of studio musicians who performed on tracks like Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and the Mamas & the Papas’ “California Dreamin’,” has died at the age of 81.

Denny Tedesco, the director of the 2008 documentary The Wrecking Crew, confirmed to Rolling Stone that Osborn died December 14th following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The Louisiana-born Osborn entered the music business as a member of Ricky Nelson’s backing band and appeared on the pop singer’s 1961 hit “Travelin...