An alphabetical list of musicians and music industry figures who died in 2018.

• José Antonio Abreu (Venezuelan conductor and educator)
• Xiomara Alfaro (Cuban singer)
• Barbara Ann Alston (the Crystals)
• Paul Trouble Anderson (British DJ)
• Khaira Arby (Malian singer)
• Avicii (Swedish DJ)
• Charles Aznavour (French chanteur)
• Terry Bassett (pioneering concert promoter, Concerts West)
• Cody Belgard (Salt Lake City rapper shot by police)
• Delia Bell (bluegrass pioneer)
• Babs Beverley (the Beverley Sisters)
• Franz Beyer (classical violist/musicologist)
• Big T (Houston rapper)
• Bob “Roberto Bianco” Biles (Bluebird Cafe fixture)
• Judy Blame (punk/new-wave fashion designer and stylist)
• Hamiet Bluiett (World Saxophone Quartet)
• Inge Borkh (opera diva)
• Glenn Branca (guitarist/composer)
• Nick Breed (Baltimore rapper; murdered)
• Allan Bregman (booking agent, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson)
• Gary Burden (album cover designer)
• Roger V. Burton (jazz trombonist/actor)
• Blanche Burton-Lyles (classical pianist)
• Henry Butler (New Orleans pianist)
• Montserrat Caballé (Spanish opera singer)
• Tim Calvert (meta guitarist, Forbidden, Nevermore)
• Eddie C. Campbell (Chicago blues singer/guitarist)
• Ace Cannon (rock and soul saxophonist)
• Roy Carr (music journalist, NME)
• David Cavanagh (music journalist, Sounds, Select, Q, others)
• Leon “Ndugu” Chancler (drummer for Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Michael Jackson, countless others)
• Kak Channthy (Cambodian Space Project singer)
• Jerry Chesnut (country songwriter, “A Good Year for the Roses”)
• Roger Clark (Muscle Shoals drummer)
• Roy Clark (country singer and multi-instrumentalist, “Hee Haw” host)
• Fast Eddie Clarke (Motörhead guitarist)
• Eddy Clearwater (Chicago bluesman)
• Angelica Cob-Baehler (music publicist)
• Jesús López-Cobos (conductor)
• Lorrie Collins (the Collins Kids)
• Jack “Mr. Bongo” Costanzo (Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist)
• Adrian Cronauer (“Good Morning, Vietnam” DJ)
• Paul Curcio (Metallica producer)
• Vic Damone (pop crooner)
• Mike Denneen (Boston rock producer & studio owner)
• Annapurna Devi (Indian classical surbahar player)
• Ted “The Godfather” Devoux (Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.)
• Tom Diaz (singer, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die)
• David Dichiera (Detroit opera promoter)
• Matt Dike (Delicious Vinyl founder)
• DJ Ready Red (Geto Boys)
• Bob Dorough (jazz pianist/composer, “Schoolhouse Rock!”)
• Patrick Doyle (Veronica Falls, Boys Forever drummer)
• Oliver Dragojevic (Yugoslavian singer)
• Ronald Dunbar (soul songwriter/producer)
• Eastside Snoop (Detroit rapper)
• Dennis Edwards (Temptations singer)
• Liz Edwards (UK dance promoter/DJ)
• Nokie Edwards (Ventures guitarist)
• Geoff Emerick (Beatles engineer)
• Phil Emmanuel (Australian guitarist)
• EOM (hip-hop producer)
• Yvonne Ervin (jazz promoter)
• Josh Fauver (Deerhunter bassist)
• Mark Fossum (American Primitive guitarist)
• Aretha Franklin (Queen of Soul)
• DJ Fontana (Elvis Presley drummer)
• Sonny Fortune (jazz saxophonist)
• Clarence Fountain (Blind Boys of Alabama singer)
• Hardy Fox (the Residents)
• Chuck Freeze (Jazzy Five)
• Andrew Frierson (pioneering black opera singer)
• France Gall (French yé-yé singer)
• Lucho Gatica (Chilean singer; “King of Bolero”)
• Ghalib Ghallab (jazz/soul keyboardist)
• Norman Gimbel (pop lyricist)
• Jonathan Gold (food & music critic)
• Jerry González (Latin jazz trumpeter)
• Jimmy Gonzalez (Grupo Mazz)
• Lorraine Gordon (Village Vanguard owner)
• Gretchen (Venezuelan singer)
• Gary Haisman (acid house singer & promoter, D Mob)
• Sean Haley (Chicago DJ)
• Carol Hall (“Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” composer)
• Rick Hall (Muscle Shoals producer & studio owner)
• Bill Hamel (dance/pop producer/DJ, Fatum)
• Roy Hargrove (jazz trumpeter)
• Freddie Hart (country singer/songwriter)
• Edwin Hawkins (gospel singer, “Oh Happy Day”)
• Oli Herbert (All That Remains guitarist)
• Jon Hiseman (Colosseum and Tempest drummer)
• Chas Hodges (Chas and Dave)
• Dave Holland (Judas Priest drummer)
• Brian Henry Hooper (Beasts of Bourbon, Kim Salmon & the Surrealists bassist)
• Katherine Hoover (classical flutist/composer)
• Jerry Hopkins (Doors biographer)
• Yvette Horner (French accordionist)
• Seth Howard (Yashira drummer)
• Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit)
• Dan Ingram (NY radio DJ)
• Navid Izadi (LA producer/DJ)
• Joe Jackson (manager & patriarch of the Jackson family)
• Al James (Showaddywaddy bassist)
• Jill Janus (Huntress singer)
• Boyd Jarvis (house music pioneer)
• Dwayne Jensen (Detroit house producer/DJ)
• Jóhann Jóhannsson (film composer, “Arrival,” “The Theory of Everything”)
• Nick John (Mastodon manager)
• JuiceTheGod (Seattle rapper, murdered)
• Mike Kennedy (George Strait drummer)
• Ras Kimono (Nigerian reggae star)
• Ed King (Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist)
• Tony Kinman (Rank and File, the Dils)
• Danny Kirwan (Fleetwood Mac guitarist)
• Nick Knox (Cramps drummer)
• Oliver Knussen (composer/conductor)
• Iosif Kobzon (Russia’s Frank Sinatra)
• Takehisa Kosugi (avant-garde composer)
• Bill Krasilovsky (songwriters lawyer)
• Francis Lai (film composer)
• Honey Lantree (Honeycombs drummer)
• Denise LaSalle (R&B/blues singer)
• LeekeLeek (drill producer)
• Les Lieber (ran the NY institution Jazz at Noon)
• Devin Lima (LFO singer)
• Erik Lindmark (metal guitarist and label owner)
• Alan Longmuir (Bay City Rollers bassist)
• Ellen Loo (Hong Kong singer)
• Lord Superb (Wu-Tang affiliate)
• Reggie Lucas (guitarist/producer/songwriter, Miles Davis, Madonna, many others)
• Stewart Lupton (Jonathan Fire*Eater singer)
• Galt MacDermot (“Hair” composer)
• Craig Mack (“Flava in Ya Ear” rapper)
• Robert Mann (violinist, Juilliard String Quartet)
• Ellie Mannette (father of modern steel drum)
• Angela Maria (Brazilian singer)
• Matt Marks (Alarm Will Sound)
• Marley G (Louisiana rapper; murdered)
• Josh Martin (Anal C*** guitarist)
• Vince Martin (folk-rock singer)
• Hugh Masekela (South African trumpeter, activist)
• Joseph Maus (John Maus brother and bandmate)
• Marin Mazzie (Broadway singer)
• MC ProKid (South African rapper)
• Hugh McDowell (ELO cellist)
• John Grady McElrath (Swingin’ Medallions founder)
• Beverly McClellan (“The Voice” season 1)
• Big Jay McNeely (R&B saxophonist)
• Sam Mehran (Test Icicles)
• Mac Miller (rapper)
• Ronnie Moipolai (Botswanan guitarist)
• Matt “Guitar” Murphy (blues guitarist)
• Janka Nabay (Sierra Leone bubu bandleader)
• Madeleine Yayodele Nelson (Women of the Calabash)
• Charles Neville (the Neville Brothers)
• Jalal Mansur Nuriddin (Last Poets)
• Queeneth Ndaba (South African jazz patron)
• Kenny O’Dell (“Behind Closed Doors” songwriter)
• Baba Oje (Arrested Development)
• Dolores O’Riordan (Cranberries singer)
• Joe Osborn (Wrecking Crew bassist)
• Carsten Otterbach (Morgoth guitarist)
• Cyril Pahinui (Hawaiian slack-key guitarist)
• Michael Panico (co-founder, Relative Pitch Records)
• Rebecca Parris (Boston jazz singer)
• Cameron Paul (San Francisco dance DJ)
• Vinnie Paul (Pantera, Damageplan drummer)
• Kyle Pavone (We Came As Romans singer)
• Danny Pearson (’70s R&B singer)
• Butch Pielka (Stone Pony co-founder)
• Eugene Pitt (the Jive Five)
• Robert “Bleecker Bob” Plotnik (Bleecker Bob’s Records)
• Anca Pop (Romanian singer-songwriter)
• Frank “Killjoy” Pucci (Necrophagia singer)
• Rico J. Puno (Filipino soul music pioneer)
• Awal “Bani” Purbani (Seventeen bassist, killed in Indonesia tsunami)
• Charlie Quintana (Social Distortion, Plugz, Cracker drummer)
• Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin (Motown guitarist)
• Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine frontman)
• Liza Redfield (first woman to conduct a Broadway show)
• Perry Robinson (free-jazz clarinetist/composer)
• Jim Rodford (Argent, Kinks bassist)
• Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Russian conductor)
• Otis Rush (Chicago blues singer/guitarist)
• Ira Sabin (JazzTimes magazine founder)
• Fredo Santana (Chicago rapper)
• Conway Savage (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds pianist)
• Ray Sawyer (Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show singer)
• Harvey Schmidt (“The Fantasticks” composer)
• Glenn Schwartz (James Gang guitarist)
• Caleb Scofield (Cave In singer/bassist)
• Elisa Serna (Spanish singer/songwriter)
• Shadow (Trinidadian calypso singer)
• Ian Shearn (produced “Midnight Train to Georgia”)
• Mark “The Shark” Shelton (Manilla Road singer/guitarist)
• Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks frontman, punk-pop godfather)
• Herman Sikumbang (Seventeen guitarist, killed in Indonesia tsunami)
• Greg Sill (music supervisor)
• Peter “Penny Reel” Simons (pioneering UK reggae journalist)
• Nancy Barbato Sinatra (Frank Sinatra’s first wife and lifelong confidante)
• Daryle Singletary (country singer)
• Mark E. Smith (The Fall frontman)
• Smoke Dawg (Toronto rapper, murdered)
• Glenn Snoddy (fuzz-box inventor)
• Russ Solomon (Tower Records founder)
• Scott Song (Chicago promoter/producer/DJ)
• Steve Soto (Adolescents and Agent Orange co-founder)
• Speakerfoxx (Atlanta DJ/producer)
• Spirit (drum & bass DJ)
• Tomasz Stanko (Polish jazz trumpeter)
• Yvonne Staples (the Staple Singers)
• John Jabo Starks (James Brown drummer)
• Lucas Starr (Terminal and Oh, Sleeper bassist)
• Lovebug Starski (pioneering rapper and DJ)
• Zachary “ZackTV1” Stoner (Chicago journalist)
• Stormin (grime MC)
• Johnny Strike (frontman of SF punk pioneers Crime)
• C Struggs (Dallas rapper)
• Richard Swift (indie-rock singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist)
• Rachid Taha (French-Alegerian rock-rai singer)
• DJ Tango (jungle pioneer)
• Cecil Taylor (free-jazz pianist)
• Mike “Beard Guy” Taylor (Walk Off the Earth keyboardist/singer)
• George Theiss (early Bruce Springsteen bandmate)
• Ray Thomas (Moody Blues co-founder and flutist)
• Michael Tree (violist, Guarneri String Quartet)
• Chris Tsangarides (British metal producer)
• Nitin Vadukul (hip-hop photographer)
• Jorge Valenzuela (regional Mexican singer)
• Donald “Jumbo” Vanrenen (world music promoter and founder, Earthworks Records)
• Marlene VerPlanck (jazz singer)
• George Walker (classical composer)
• Bill Watrous (jazz trombonist)
• Randy Weston (jazz pianist)
• Lari White (country singer, songwriter and producer)
• Tony Joe White (swamp-rock singer/songwriter, “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night in Georgia”)
• John Wicks (the Records singer/songwriter)
• Brendon Whitney (aka Alias, of Anticon)
• Jimmy Wilkins (trombonist, Count Basie’s original New Testament band)
• John Thomas Williams (jazz pianist)
• LaVell Williams (co-founder and president, Detroit Sound Conservancy)
• Eddie Willis (Motown funk brother)
• Jody Williams (Chicago blues guitarist)
• Patrick Williams (TV composer)
• Betty Jane Willis (’60s soul singer)
• James Calvin Wilsey (rock guitarist/bassist, Chris Isaak, the Avengers)
• Nancy Wilson (jazz-pop singer)
• Jimmy Wopo (Pittsburgh rapper, murdered)
• Jimmy Work (country songwriter, “Making Believe”)
• XXXTentacion (controversial hip-hop outlaw, murdered)
• Julia Yasuda (Antony & the Johnsons co-founder)
• Gary Young (’70s R&B singer, the New Birth)
• Young Greatness (Cash Money rapper, murdered)
• Todd Youth (guitarist, Warzone, Agnostic Front, Murphy’s Law, Danzig, D-Generation)