In Memoriam: a tribute to the musicians who left us in 2025

In 2025, it felt like we were saying goodbye much too frequently.

We continuously lost pioneers, singers who defined a generation, musicians who have forever altered what we know as music today — as well as those whose influence left us far too soon.

As music fans, we're mostly mourning people we don't know personally, but that doesn't lessen the very real grief that goes along with losing an artist who means something to you. Music is so often where we find solace, and it’s where we turn to grieve the people who have given us those gifts. Some incredible musicians, composers, artists and industry people left us this year.

Let's stand still together for a little bit and be grateful for them. Let's pay tribute not just to what they gave us while they were here, but what they leave us to discover over and over and over again, every time we press play.

Wayne Osmond

Aug. 28, 1951, to Jan. 1, 2025
Singer, guitarist (the Osmonds)

Peter Yarrow

May 31, 1938, to Jan. 7, 2025
Singer-songwriter (Peter, Paul and Mary)

"Our fearless dragon is tired and has entered the last chapter of his magnificent life. The world knows Peter Yarrow the iconic folk activist, but the human being behind the legend is every bit as generous, creative, passionate, playful, and wise as his lyrics suggest." — Bethany Yarrow

Sam Moore

Oct. 12, 1935, to Jan. 10, 2025
Soul singer (Sam & Dave)

David Lynch

Jan. 20, 1946, to Jan. 15, 2025
Musician, actor, visual artist, filmmaker

“[He] was a singular genius in cinema, one of the greatest artists of this or any time. He was brave, brilliant, and a maverick with a joyful sense of humor. I never had more fun on a film set than working with David Lynch. He will always be solid gold.” — Nicolas Cage

Stéphane Venne

July 2, 1941, to Jan. 17, 2025
Singer-songwriter

Garth Hudson

Aug. 2, 1937, to Jan. 21, 2025
Musician (the Band), producer, recording engineer

Jane McGarrigle

April 26, 1941, to Jan. 24, 2025
Singer, songwriter

"Jane McGarrigle was one of my very best friends for the better part of four decades, and I loved her dearly. We also started a management company together, based on our rapport, contacts and love for adventure. We had a ball. Jane passed away on Friday which is hard to fathom, so full of life was this wonderful woman. We made each other laugh hysterically, and that alone is a friend to treasure. I could write a lot more about what made Jane special, and I will, soon. With love to all who knew and adored Jane." — Jean-Pierre Leduc, musician and agent

Kazuyoshi Akiyama

Jan. 2, 1941, to Jan. 26, 2025
Conductor (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra from 1972 until 1985)

"Every motion was thought out. The way that he moved from one beat to the next, it was this beautiful flow really. He was very, very poetic to watch. He conveyed the music through his body, and when things would reach big peaks, the small man would become very large, in both his expression and his gestures." — David Brown, member of the VSO

Marianne Faithfull

Dec. 29, 1946, to Jan. 30, 2025
Singer, songwriter, actress

Gwen McCrae

Dec. 21, 1943, to Feb. 21, 2025
Gospel/soul singer

Irv Gotti

June 26, 1970, to Feb. 5, 2025
Producer, co-founder of Murder, Inc.

Corey Crewe

June 7, 1944, to Feb. 8, 2025
Musician, comedian (Corey and Trina)

WATCH | CBC Interview with Corey Crewe:

Corey Crewe ‘always wanted to be an entertainer’

February 10, 2025|

Duration 2:50

For 30 years, Corey Crewe and his wife, Trina Fulford, played to packed clubs all over Newfoundland and Labrador. Crewe died on Saturday at the age of 80. In December, the musician sat down with Land and Sea’s Jane Adey and took a trip down memory lane.

Roberta Flack

Feb. 10, 1937, to Feb. 24, 2025
Singer, pianist

David Johansen

Jan. 9, 1950, to Feb. 28, 2025
Singer, songwriter (New York Dolls)

“David Johansen⁩ and the New York Dolls changed my life. Rock in peace all six of you: David, Sylvain Sylvain, Arthur ‘Killer’ Kane, Jerry Nolan, Johnny Thunders and Billy Murcia. The band is back together at last.” — Dee Snider, Twisted Sister

Angie Stone

Dec. 18, 1961, to March 1, 2025
Singer (the Sequence)

Roy Ayers

Sept. 10, 1940, to March 4, 2025
Vibraphonist, producer, composer

D’Wayne Wiggins 

Feb. 14, 1961, to March 7, 2025
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer (Tony! Toni! Toné!)

Paul Bellemare (Polo)

Sept. 21, 1956, to March 17, 2025
Singer, songwriter (Les Frères à ch’val)

Kevan Staples 

Jan. 23, 1951, to March 23, 2025
Musician, songwriter (Rough Trade)

Bishop Brigante

May 11, 1978, to March 30, 2025
Battle rapper

“He was just authentic to who he was, you know? He rapped how we rap, he respected the rap culture and the talent of doing it…. And the best part about everything is just him as a person. Because we would be in studios and on the road and everything like that, he always helped make me better as a person, but also made music better, because it'd be like, ‘I don't know about that line, Chocs. You need to change that line,’ or whatever…. People don't even realize some of the times where he was in studio with me and was writing music and we would work it out. So it's his authenticity and his friendship, his brotherliness towards me. Just overall a great person.” — Choclair

Amadou Bagayoko 

Oct. 24, 1954, to April 4, 2025
Musician, singer (Amadou & Miriam)

Clem Burke

Nov. 24, 1954, to April 6, 2025
Drummer (Blondie)

Rubby Pérez

March 8, 1956, to April 8, 2025
Merengue singer

“I am devastated. The best singer the genre has ever produced, the highest voice of merengue. The friend and idol of our genre, has just left us. I have no more words. This is very deep, deeper than what you can feel even in the most terrible of dreams. Farewell Rubby Pérez.” — Wilfrido Vargas, musician and composer

Barrie Cabena

Aug. 12, 1933, to April 24, 2025
Composer

"I remember how thrilled I was to meet Barrie during my interview to join the faculty of music in 1987. I had been an organ major as an undergrad and had played many of his compositions. His good humour, his love of limericks, and the unforgettable repartee between him and Jan Overduin during auditions and juries have always stayed with me. Barrie was a wonderful colleague who contributed mightily to the collegiality and musical quality of the faculty." — Charles Morrison, former dean of the faculty of music at Wilfred Laurier University

Andy Bey

Oct. 28, 1939, to April 26, 2025
Jazz singer

“A lot of men don’t want to sing ballads because it exposes your vulnerability. It seems like male singers are not supposed to show that side a female singer can show. But as a singer you have to be willing to take it. For me it’s like a cleanser.” — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jill Sobule

Jan. 16, 1959, to May 1, 2025
Singer, songwriter

Charles Strouse

June 7, 1928, to May 15, 2025
Broadway composer

Dave Shapiro

Jan. 2, 1947, to May 22, 2025
Music executive

John Perry 

1935 to May 22, 2025
Pianist, educator

“John Perry was a pianist and pedagogue of extraordinary depth and integrity. His presence brought global prestige to The Glenn Gould School and nurtured a culture of excellence that continues to define our institution today. His legacy is etched not only in his recordings and accolades, but in the generations of pianists he inspired with his wisdom, warmth, and uncompromising musical standards. He will be deeply missed by all of us.” — Peter Simon, president emeritus at the Royal Conservatory

Rick Derringer

Aug. 5, 1947, to May 26, 2025
Guitarist, singer (the McCoys), producer (Weird Al)

Per Nørgård 

July 13, 1932, to May 28, 2025
Composer, music theorist

“From the beginning of my career as a composer, I have been preoccupied with the special kind of depth that lies in the melodic possibilities — the inner being of the melody. You can say that melodies open up a landscape without borders; an endless landscape of possible continuations. You could argue that sound can be borderless too, and certainly rhythm! But in all my existence, I have always had an almost mystical experience of the infinity of melody. It is as if a melody can open door after door, after door. It is audible in my music from the very beginning. My very early works in fact were characterized by a melodic universe to a much higher degree than by sound or rhythm.” — Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Juliette Powell

June 22, 1970, to June 3, 2025
Former MuchMusic host

Sly Stone

March 15, 1943, to June 9, 2025
Musician, songwriter (Sly and the Family Stone)

Brian Wilson

June 20, 1942, to June 11, 2025
Musician, singer (the Beach Boys)

“I wanted to grow musically, so I experimented. I wasn’t the type to sit around and be satisfied with an accomplishment, especially not in the studio. And I had ideas coming into my head all the time. Many had to do with using instruments as voices and voices as instruments. I would put sounds together to create something new. Some ideas didn’t work, because they were too difficult to achieve at the time. But most did. And then I immediately moved to the next thing.” — The Harvard Business Review

James Fankhauser

Aug. 26, 1939, to June 13, 2025
Choral conductor

Alfred Brendel 

Jan. 5, 1931, to June 17, 2025
Classical pianist

“I don’t feel guilty about being ‘intellectual’ if that means thinking about the structure and character and humour in a piece of music. But I’m not talking about dry analysis, which is relatively easy if you know how. I do the opposite. I familiarise myself with a piece and wait for it to tell me what it’s about, and what makes it a masterpiece. That’s what fascinates.” — The Guardian

Serge Fiori

March 4, 1952, to June 24, 2025
Musician, singer (Harmonium)

Lalo Schifrin

June 21, 1932, to June 26, 2025
Film composer

"The [Mission: Impossible] producer called me and told me, 'You're going to have to write something exciting, almost like a logo, something that will be a signature, and it's going to start with a fuse.' So I did it, and there was nothing on the screen. And maybe the fact that I was so free and I had no images to catch, maybe that's why this thing has become so successful — because I wrote something that came from inside me." — The Associated Press

Norman Marshall Villeneuve

May 28, 1938, to July 9, 2025
Jazz drummer

Connie Francis

Dec. 12, 1937, to July 16, 2025
Singer, actress

“I had very dear friends of mine who came to every opening of my show in Las Vegas. And I opened Las Vegas and they weren’t there. I sent them a telegram, where were you? My friend called me the next day and he said, the Beatles have invaded! I said, well, call an exterminator.” — Interview with Edgar Street Books

Ozzy Osbourne

Dec. 3, 1948, to July 22, 2025
Singer, songwriter (Black Sabbath)

Ziad Rahbani

Jan. 1, 1956, to July 26, 2025
Composer, pianist, playwright

“I admire the music of composers like Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. But my music is not Western, it’s Lebanese, with a different way of expression.” — Aljazeera

Gavin Walker

February 1941 to July 2025
Alto saxophonist, fixture on Vancouver’s jazz scene

“He was an absolute legend and I learned so much about jazz from listening to his show. Such a huge loss. If not for Gavin I would know so much less. He was so good at what he did. He got people (like me!) to listen to jazz that they may not have otherwise!” — Nardwuar the Human Serviette

Roger Norrington

March 16, 1934, to July 18, 2025
Conductor

Nancy King

June 15, 1940, to Aug. 5, 2025
Jazz singer

“Nancy was widely celebrated for her formidable vocal chops and astonishing soloing ability. But her real mastery was in her gift for drawing out the emotional core of a lyric. Through her phrasing, her nuanced melodic variations and her fearless musicality, she could bring a song’s meaning into sharp, undeniable focus.” — Neil Mattson, executive director of Portland’s Montavilla Jazz Festival

Rick Davies 

July 22, 1944, to Sept. 6, 2025
Vocalist, keyboardist (Supertramp)

Bobby Hart 

Feb. 18, 1939, to Sept. 10. 2025
Songwriter, producer (the Monkees)

“I always credit [Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce] not only with writing many of our biggest hits, but, as producers, being instrumental in creating the unique Monkee sound we all know and love.” — Micky Dolenz, the Monkees 

Sonny Curtis

May 9, 1937, to Sept. 19, 2025
Singer, songwriter (the Crickets)

Jack DeJohnette

Aug. 9, 1942, to Oct. 26, 2025
Drummer, pianist, composer (Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Betty Carter)

“My music is informed by the environment we live in, the musicians who inspire me, and also the musicians in the group, the personalities. I hear the way the musicians play, and I write things around those concepts. When I put together a band, I just try to find people I like, people whose playing resonates with the way I like to write. I like to get people of what I consider high quality, whose playing will keep my music at a high standard.” — The Jaded Cynic

D’Angelo

Feb. 11, 1974, to Oct. 14, 2025
Singer, songwriter

Ace Frehley

April 27, 1951, to Oct. 16, 2025
Guitarist, singer, founding member of Kiss

David Ball

May 3, 1959, to Oct. 22, 2025
Producer, musician (Soft Cell)

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay

Aug. 22, 1947, to Nov. 2, 2025
Singer (Grateful Dead)

Jellybean Johnson

Nov. 19, 1956, to Nov. 21, 2025
Drummer, guitarist, songwriter, producer (Flyte Time/the Time with Prince)

“I started playing drums at age 11 or 12 and my mom bought me a set I couldn’t tear up at age 13. My cousin left his guitar at my house when I was about 15 and I started fooling around with it and played it ‘til he took it back. I love both equally. The drums are physical and violent for me while the guitar is spiritual and emotional.” — Australian Musician

Jimmy Cliff

July 30, 1944, to Nov. 24, 2025
Reggae, soul musician

Steve Cropper

Oct. 21, 1941, to Dec. 3, 2025
Songwriter, producer, guitarist (Booker T. and the M.G.'s)

Rafael Ithier

Aug. 29, 1926, to Dec. 6, 2025
Salsa musician (El Gran Combo)

Raul Malo

Aug. 7, 1965, to Dec. 8, 2025
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer (the Mavericks)

“I don't consider myself a country music artist. I just consider myself a singer-songwriter and who every once in a while writes a country song and does the Grand Ole Opry, which I love doing every once in a while.” — NPR

Jubilant Sykes

1954 to Dec. 8, 2025
Opera singer

“There is no difference between singing spirituals and Schubert lieder. They are songs, and what makes them so relatable is they are folk songs. Some make use of old poetry, and others are simply talking to your neighbor by singing across a field during a day’s work. They have the same colours and the same passions because they come from the heart.’’ — The Florida Orchestra