Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones Died on May 1, 1965

The life of Spike Jones
(December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was a popular musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells and ridiculous vocals. Through the 1940s and early 1950s, the band recorded under the title Spike Jones and his City Slickers and toured the USA and Canada under the title The Musical Depreciation Revue.

Spike Jones's Record Hits:

Der Fuehrer's Face
In 1942, a strike by the American Federation of Musicians prevented Spike from making commercial recordings for over two years. He could, however, make records for radio broadcasts. These were released on the Standard Transcriptions label (1941–46) and have been reissued on a CD compilation called (Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection.
Recorded days before the record ban, Jones scored a huge broadcast hit late in 1942 with "Der Fuehrer's Face," a humorous attack on Adolf Hitler that followed every use of the word "Heil" with a razzberry (as in the repeated phrase "Sieg Heil, (razzberry), Heil (razzberry), right in Der Fuehrer's face!").

The song was originally written for Walt Disney's 1943 propaganda cartoon, first titled Donald Duck in Nutzi Land according to the Disney Archives. The success of the record prompted Disney to retitle the animated cartoon after the song. The song eventually reached number three on the charts, and it is said that even Hitler heard it. In fact, in the satirical magazine Cracked, in an article satirizing the fascination with Nazis, Hitler was depicted swinging a sledgehammer at a jukebox, from which a voice emanates singing "I went 'F-z-z-z-t-t-t!' right in Der Fuehrer's Face!".

More Satire
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccupping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink" (reissued in 1949 as "The Clink! Clink! Polka"). The romantic ballad "Cocktails for Two", originally written to evoke an intimate romantic rendezvous, was re-recorded by Spike Jones in 1944 as a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. The Jones version was a huge hit, much to the resentment of composer Sam Coslow. Other Jones satires followed: "Hawaiian War Chant," "Chloe," "Holiday for Strings," "You Always Hurt the One You Love," "My Old Flame," (referring to Peter Lorre's voice and eerie scenes in contemporary movies) and many more.

All I Want for Christmas
Spike's recording, "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," with a piping vocal by George Rock, was a number-one hit in 1948. (Dora Bryan recorded a 1963 variation, "All I Want For Christmas is a Beatle".)

The Death of Spike Jones
Jones was a lifelong smoker; he was once said to have gotten through the average workday on coffee and cigarettes. Smoking contributed to his contracting emphysema. His already thin frame deteriorated, to the point where he used an oxygen tank offstage, and onstage he was confined to a seat behind his drum set. He died at the age of 53, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California.

Guitarist Mick Ronson Died on April 29, 1993

The Life of Mick Ronson
Mick Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of Ziggy Stardust's Spiders from Mars band. "He provided this strong, earthy, simply-focussed idea of what a song was all about. And I would simply flutter all around him on the edges and decorate. I was sort of the interior decorator, ha ha", said David Bowie.

He also had a solo career, the most notable example of which was his "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" album, that reached No. 9 on the UK album charts. Ronson also guested on various different bands' releases after his time with Bowie. Some of those musicians and bands include Lou Reed, Ian Hunter, Bob Dylan, Morrissey, and Mott the Hoople. He was named the 64th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone.

Ronson was an important contributer to the development of rock n' roll in the 1970s, and his playing is what helped shape the genre now known as "Glam rock".

The Death of Mick Ronson
In August 1991 after visiting a doctor with severe back pain, Ronson was diagnosed as having inoperable liver cancer. Despite the diagnosis, he kept working, this time with Morrissey on his acclaimed album, "Your Arsenal". Ronson finally succumbed on 29 April 1993 in London at the age of 46 while completing his last solo album, "Heaven And Hull". The final song on that album - the live "All The Young Dudes" (from Ronson, Bowie, Hunter and Queen's performance at the Freddy Mercury tribute concert on 20 April 1992) brought Ronson's career around in a perfect circle - being a song written by Bowie and originally produced by both Bowie and Ronson for Mott The Hoople. Sadly, that concert was to be Ronson's final appearance on stage. He is survived by his wife Suzi Fussey Ronson and daughter Lisa.