In 2024, we've experienced the loss of several luminaries in the world of entertainment. These beloved figures—actors, comedians, musicians, singers, and coaches—have touched our lives with their talent, passion, and dedication. They've left an indelible mark on our hearts and shaped the world of entertainment in ways that will continue to inspire and influence generations to come.
Among the incredible actors who bid farewell this year, we mourn the loss of a true chameleon who effortlessly.
She was born Chilton Searcy near Fern Creek, Kentucky, the daughter of Chesley Hunter Searcy, a lawyer, and Lillian Searcy, a pianist. At the age of 5 she was taught a couple of piano chords by her father, who was an amateur musician who played by ear. She studied music appreciation at the University of Louisville. During the 1930s and 1940s she played violin for the Louisville Orchestra. She got a job as a music librarian at the Louisvilleradio station WAVE, where country music performers Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart were regular performers. She showed them some songs she had written, and they convinced her to publish them; since she had little experience in the commercial music world, she gave them partial credit, and so the songs "Slow Poke" and "You Belong to Me" were published with credits given as King/Stewart/Price. The former became a big hit for King, with a vocal by Stewart; the latter was a major hit for Jo Stafford, and later was covered by The Duprees. She was said to be happy with the arrangement, even though she had to share credit for songs she wrote herself, being grateful for the break she got in this way. Subsequently, she wrote other songs under her name only, including "Never Look Back" in 1954.
She was married for 65 years to Louisville businessman Robert L. Price, and had a daughter, two grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Robert Price died in 2000.
Price died in her home town of Louisville on January 14, 2010. She was 96 years of age.
, and guesting on other radio station, Carl performed on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1950, he signed with Columbia Records and with WSM radio. Carl became one of the most recognizable country singers of the 1950s. He charted 30 Top 10 singles in that decade, including “Loose Talk,” “Wicked Lies,” and “You Are the One.”
Smith had 41 chart singles during the 1950s, including the hits "Are You Teasing Me," "Back Up Buddy," and "Hey Joe!"
Smith was a member of the Grand Ole Opry but left in 1956 to try his hand at acting. He appeared in two westerns, "The Badge of Marshal Brennan" and "Buffalo Gun." From 1964 to 1969, he hosted 190 episodes of "Carl Smith's Country Music Hall" on Canadian television. In the late 1970s, he retired from the music business, but later recorded for the Gusto label in 1983. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2003.
June Carter (who later married Johnny Cash). The couple had a daughter in 1955, Rebecca Smith, who later became known as country singer Carlene Carter. She died in 2005.
In 1956, Carl Smith quit the Grand Ole Opry and focused on an acting career
. He joined the Philip Morris Country Music Show and began touring the United States. He also made regular appearances on the Ozark Jubilee.
In 1957, Carl and June Carter divorced. The same year, Carl married Goldie Hill. Throughout the 1960s, Carl’s career began to slow, though he did chart several Top 10 singles, including “Take My Ring Off Your Finger,” and “Deep Water".
WHAS-AM morning talk show host Francene Cucinello died Friday after suffering a brain aneurysm earlier in the week.
According to WHAS-AM’s Web site, www.84whas.com, Cucinello, 43, suffered a heart attack Monday, followed by the aneurysm Wednesday. She died at 3:15 p.m. Friday at Norton Hospital.
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., a regular guest on Cucinello’s show, released a statement Friday saying that the radio host was “driven by compassion for those around her.”
“She woke up every morning excited to use her position to help make people’s lives better,” Yarmuth said in the statement. “And that’s exactly what she did — entertaining and informing us, always giving back, personally helping people find jobs, and so much more. The more time I spent with her, the more I respected her intellect and admired her generosity. I am devastated for the loss to this community and heartbroken for the loss of my friend. My thoughts and prayers are with her mother and all of her friends.”
Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson released a separate statement about Cucinello’s death.
“While we didn’t always agree on the issues, Francene had a special way of spurring people to talk about subjects important to our community and our state,” Abramson said in the statement.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear also issued a statement: "I considered her a friend, despite her tough questions, and I enjoyed our frequent interviews on her show. People felt like they knew Francene because she was so open and honest, and her death is a terrible blow to the community."
Kentucky attorney general Jack Conway, in a statement, called Cucinello’s death a “terrible tragedy.”
He recalled seeing her at a play on the issue of cyber-safety that the two attended a few weeks ago at Fern Creek High School.
“She contributed greatly to the public discourse in Kentucky,” Conway said in the statement. “Her listeners were her cause, and I loved that passion. It was never a 9-to-12 radio job for her. … She carried her commitment with her at all times.”
Conway added that Cucinello frequently followed up with him after he was a guest on her show to “make certain we were taking action” on matters.
“When I was on her show talking about the issues, I knew she and her listeners were holding me accountable,” Conway added. “I always found her well-researched, and she will be missed.”
Cucinello came to Louisville in 2003, following the departure of controversial radio host John Ziegler.
She focused her show on state and local politics and hot-button issues affecting residents in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
Last year, as the economy soured, she opened up the airwaves on Fridays to companies that wanted to advertise job openings. In February 2009, she also partnered with Bellarmine University to produce “Job Jam,” a free seminar for people looking for work.
In addition to her work as a radio show host, Cucinello also was a columnist for LEO Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Louisville.
Robert “Bobby” Charles Guidry, the reclusive south Louisiana songwriter of hits for Fats Domino, Frogman Henry and Bill Haley & the Comets, died early Thursday after collapsing at home in Abbeville, his manager said. He was 71.
Known professionally as Bobby Charles, he wrote “Walking to New Orleans,” one of Domino's most beloved songs; “(I Don’t Know Why I Love You) But I Do,” an enduring classic by Henry; and “See You Later Alligator,” a smash for Haley at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll.
A reluctant performer, Mr. Charles largely disappeared after participating in the Band’s 1976 farewell concert The Last Waltz. He preferred to release the occasional album while living quietly, an enigma whose songs were more famous than he was. Along the way he dealt with a litany of personal disasters ranging from fires to floods to cancer.
Mr. Charles agreed to stage a “comeback” at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, only to back out at the last minute, citing health issues. Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack, Marcia Ball, guitarist Sonny Landreth and other admirers performed his songs in his absence.
"He was the champion south Louisiana songwriter," Landreth said. "Everybody had a favorite Bobby Charles song. He had the gift."
Mr. Charles grew up poor in Abbeville, the son of a gas company truck driver. At 14, he joined a band that entertained at high school dances.
“Nobody in my family wanted me to get into the music business, but I always loved it,” he said during a 2007 interview. “The first time I heard Hank Williams and Fats Domino, it just knocked me down. When I was a kid, I used to pray to be a songwriter like them. My prayers were answered, I guess.”
Leaving a cafe one night, Mr. Charles bid farewell to friends with “see you later, alligator.” As the cafe door closed behind him, a drunken stranger replied, “after ‘while, crocodile.” Not sure he heard correctly, he went back inside and asked the stranger to repeat it.
That couplet inspired him to write “See You Later Alligator.” He sang it over the phone and landed a recording contract, sight unseen, from Chicago blues and R&B label Chess Records. The company’s owners assumed he was black until he stepped off the plane in Chicago.
As a burgeoning teen idol, he hit the road with other Chess artists, the only white guy on the bus. Not all audiences appreciated such integration. The threats soured him on touring. So did the occasional bullet fired his way.
“I never wanted to be a star,” he said. “I’ve got enough problems, I promise you. If I could make it just writing, I’d be happy. Thank God I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of people do my songs.”
In the 1970s, Mr. Charles wrote a song called “The Jealous Kind.” Joe Cocker recorded it in 1976, followed by Ray Charles, Delbert McClinton, Etta James and Johnny Adams. Kris Kristofferson and Gatemouth Brown covered Mr. Charles’ “Tennessee Blues,” as did newcomer Shannon McNally. Muddy Waters recorded “Why Are People Like That”; so did Houma guitarist Tab Benoit on his Grammy-nominated 2006 album “Brother to the Blues.”
He could not play an instrument or read music. Songs popped into his head, fully formed. To capture them, he’d sing into the nearest answering machine; sometimes he’d call home from a convenience store pay phone.
“I can hear all the chords up here,” he said, pointing to his brain, “but I can’t tell you what they are.”
He counted Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson and James Taylor among his friends and fans. Mickey Raphael, the longtime harmonica player in Willie Nelson's band, appears on Mr. Charles' forthcoming CD. He once encountered Mr. Charles at Nelson's studio outside Austin, Tex.
"He said he wanted to record some music, and he was bringing some musicians," Raphael recalled. "He said, 'This is my guitar player, Neil.' And it was Neil Young.
"He was so unpretentious and laid-back. On further investigation, you'd find out he wrote all these incredible songs."
In his younger years, Mr. Charles raised all kinds of hell. His rogue’s resume included scrapes with the law, a busted marriage, and general excess. “To love and lose -- I know that pain,” he said. “And cocaine killed so many of my friends.”
For a time in the 1970s, he laid low in Woodstock, N.Y. But mostly Mr. Charles holed up in the bosom of south Louisiana, waiting for the next song to come along. Or the next calamity.
For years, he lived on the Vermilion River outside Maurice, La. In the mid-’90s, his house burned down. He moved into a trailer on the grounds of Dockside Studios in Maurice, a favorite haunt. Despondent, he hit the road with one of his four sons and washed up at Holly Beach, a hamlet with 300 permanent residents on the Gulf of Mexico southwest of Lake Charles.
“I’m a Pisces. I love water,” he said. “There’s nothing like a wave to wash away your problems and clean out your mind.”
In Holly Beach, Mr. Charles disappeared for a decade. But in the summer of 2005, Hurricane Rita found him. He escaped just ahead of the storm, then later returned to find his house had washed away.
David Grunfeld / The Times-PicayuneBobby Charles on the grounds of his property outside Abbeville, La., in 2007. The reclusive songwriter preferred to live quietly, out of the limelight.He moved to a two-bedroom trailer amid the grand oaks of an eight acre property outside Abbeville. He kept his address and phone number secret, and cast a wary eye toward strangers and acquaintances alike.
“They all want to meet Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson. They say, ‘Man, I got a song for Bob Dylan.’ I think Bob Dylan writes most of his own. So does Willie. I don’t even sing any of mine to them.
“Some people have to depend on somebody else to make a living. And that gets tiresome, man, carrying a load like that. It gets to the point where you’re afraid to open your mouth in front of anybody.”
Despite being swindled out of some publishing rights and songwriting credits along the way, his annual royalties afforded him a comfortable living. When, for instance, Frogman Henry’s version of “But I Do” landed on the “Forrest Gump” soundtrack, Mr. Charles received a royalty check.
Mr. Charles was happiest in the studio. He often scheduled recording sessions to coincide with the full moon. "His approach was unorthodox," said Sonny Landreth, who often recorded with Mr. Charles at Dockside. "It wasn't like recording in Nashville, which is very organized, with musical charts."
Recent compositions occasionally contained ecological messages. The issue of clean water was especially important to him, Raphael said. "He'd call me up and say, 'I'm so mad about this, I had to write a song,'" Raphael said. "You'd listen to the song, and know he was mad as hell, but he always put a positive spin on it."
In 2003, Mr. Charles and Jim Bateman, his manager for the past three decades, gathered recordings spanning 20 years for the double-CD “Last Train to Memphis,” released via Charles’ own Rice ‘n Gravy Records. Guest musicians included Neil Young, Fats Domino, Willie Nelson, Delbert McClinton and Maria Muldaur.
Mr. Charles’ voice, graced with a slight, Randy Newman-esque drawl, remained strong in his later years, as did his gift for pairing lyrics and melody. He was due to release a new album, "Timeless," next month. Co-produced by Mr. Charles and Rebennack, it contains mostly new songs, and is dedicated to Domino. While recording, "he had lots of energy, and was very productive," Landreth said. Rebennack "had that affect on him."
Mr. Charles recently injured his back in a fall, but remained intensely focused on finishing "Timeless." "He kept saying, 'I've got to get this out. I want to hold it in my hands,'" Bateman said. "It's like he had a premonition."
Mr. Charles saw the final design for the album's artwork, but died weeks before its scheduled Feb. 23 release.
Had he lived, he was unlikely to hit the road to promote his new CD. In recent years, he tended to keep to himself. Most days, he ate alone at an Abbeville seafood joint where the waitress mixed his preferred cocktail -- a Grey Goose martini on the rocks -- as he parked his car.
“I don’t really have anybody,” Mr. Charles said in 2007. “I just don’t have a whole lot in common with the people I went to school with. I still love them as my friends, but I don’t have anything to say to ‘em. They wouldn’t believe half the (stuff) that happened to me anyway.
“But when I get around Mac Rebennack or Fats or somebody like that, then I’m in my world.”
Teddy Pendergrass died he was 59. He was born Theodore Pendergrass on March 26, 1950, in Philadelphia, PA; married Karen Still, in June of 1987; children: Theodore Jr., Tamon, Tisha Lazette, and LaDonna. Teddy Pendergrass started singing gospel music in Philadelphia churches, becoming an ordained minister at ten years old. While attending public school, he sang in the citywide McIntyre Elementary School Choir and in the All-City Stetson Junior High School Choir. A self-taught drummer, Pendergrass had a teen pop vocal group when he was 15.
By his late teens, Pendergrass was a drummer for local vocal group the Cadillacs. In the late '60s, the Cadillacs merged with another more-established group, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. In 1970, when the Blue Notes broke up, Melvin, now aware of Pendergrass' vocal prowess, asked him to take the lead singer spot. It's no secret that Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff wanted Marvin Junior of the Dells for their Philadelphia International Records roster. Since the Dells were signed to Chess, they were unavailable. When the gruff'n'ready vocals of Pendergrass came their way, they eagerly signed the group.
Beginning with "I Miss You," a steady stream of hit singles flowed from the collaboration of Pendergrass and Gamble & Huff: "If You Don't Know Me By Now," "The Love I Lost," "Bad Luck," "Wake Up Everybody" (number one R&B for two weeks in 1976), and two gold albums, To Be True and Wake Up Everybody.
Unfortunately, the more success the group had, the more friction developed between Melvin and Pendergrass. Despite the revised billing of the group, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Theodore Pendergrass, Pendergrass felt that he wasn't getting enough recognition. Around 1976, Pendergrass left Melvin's Blue Notes and formed his own Blue Notes, featuring Teddy Pendergrass. Briefly, there was some confusion as to which Blue Notes were which. The resolution came when Pendergrass disbanded his Blue Notes in favor of a solo career and Melvin's group signed a recording contract with Source Records, distributed through ABC Records, scoring a hit with "I Want to Be Your Lover."
Pendergrass signed a new contract with Philadelphia International Records in late 1976/early 1977. He burst back on the scene with Teddy Pendergrass, a platinum solo debut that included the top-notch singles "I Don't Love You Anymore," "You Can't Hide From Yourself," and "The More I Get the More I Want." Around this time, Pendergrass began to institute his infamous "Ladies Only" concerts. His next three albums went gold or platinum: Life Is a Song Worth Singing (1978), Teddy (1979), and Teddy Live (Coast to Coast). The hit single "Close the Door" was used in the film Soup for One, where Pendergrass had a small role.
The singer received several Grammy nominations during 1977 and 1978, Billboard's 1977 Pop Album New Artist Award, an American Music Award for best R&B performer of 1978, and awards from Ebony magazine and the NAACP. He was also in consideration for the lead in the movie biopic The Otis Redding Story. The '70s ended, but Pendergrass kept racking up the hits. TP, his fifth solo album, went platinum in the summer of 1980 off the singles "Turn Off the Lights," "Come Go With Me," "Shout and Scream," "It's You I Love," and "Can't We Try." It's Time for Love gave Pendergrass another gold album in summer 1981, which included the hit singles "Love TKO" and "I Can't Live Without Your Love."
A 1982 car accident left Pendergrass paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair bound. After almost a year of physical therapy and counseling, Pendergrass returned to the recording scene, signing a contract with Elektra/Asylum in 1983. His ninth solo album, his Elektra/Asylum debut, Love Language went gold the spring of 1984. Philadelphia International issued two albums of unreleased tracks, This One's for You (1982) and Heaven Only Knows (1983). Other albums included Workin' It Back (1985), Joy (1988, whose title track went to number one R&B for two weeks), and Little More Magic (1993). The latter half of '90s found Pendergrass recording for the Surefire/Wind Up label. Truly Blessed (the name of an 1991 Elektra album) is the title of the autobiography Pendergrass co-authored with Patricia Romanowski. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide
Amir Vahedi was an Iranian professional poker player born in Tehran, Iran died he was 58.
(December. 1952 – January 8, 2010)
After owning several businesses in the U.S., Vahedi took on poker as a full-time profession, rising to prominence in 2003 when he won his first and only World Series of Poker bracelet and finished sixth in the Main Event.
Vahedi’s career tournament earnings totaled more than $3.3 million and he once famously tutored actor Ben Affleck when Affleck caught the poker bug.
Vahedi was named no limit Texas hold 'em player of the year in 2001 and was second to Men Nguyen for Card Player Magazine's 2003 player of the year. In 2003 he made the final table of the main event of the World Series of Poker and finished sixth, netting a $250,000 prize. Earlier in the series he won his first WSOP bracelet and $270,000 in a separate no limit Texas hold 'em event.
Vahedi was also the season three champion of the Ultimate Poker Challenge.
Vahedi won over $3,250,000 in live tournament play.[2] His 9 cashes at the WSOP account for $671,216 of those winnings.[3]
However, the Sherman Oaks, California resident was perhaps most famous for constantly chomping on an unlit cigar at the poker table.
Vahedi died due to complications with his diabetes on January 8, 2010.[4]
Jayne Walton Rosen has died she was 92. Rosen didn't know the middle-aged man who asked to see her at Morningside Ministries at the Meadows last year. The man introduced himself, reached into his backpack and pulled out an 8-by-10 photograph of a young woman.
“I paid $40 for your picture on eBay,” he told the puzzled nursing home resident, asking for her autograph. Then he showed other residents the picture.
Jayne Walton Rosen, the second singer to dubbed the "Champagne Lady," holds a 1940s photo of herself.
It was from the era of baton-waving bandleaders and dancers whirling across ballroom floors. And the woman, so young in the photo and now 92, is forever linked to that era.
At birth, her name was Flanagan. On the stage, it was Walton. In the '50s, it became Rosen.
But in the end, Jayne Walton Rosen may be best remembered as “the Champagne Lady” who sang with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra during World War II, performing ballads in ballrooms throughout the Midwest and in New York.
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Rosen, who set out to become a professional singer as soon as she graduated from Brackenridge High School, died Sunday. She was 92.
As a child, she lived in Torreón, in Mexico's Coahuila state, where her father worked for a silver mining company.
Daniel Rosen, a law professor in Tokyo, said his mother was highly influenced by living in post-revolution Mexico. In addition to learning and singing in Spanish, she became aware of Mexico's wealth, poverty and “profound social divisions.”
“It created (in her) a sense of empathy for people,” he said.
But her life was most influenced by music. Her sister was a dancer. Their mother played piano, and an aunt was an organist at downtown San Antonio's Texas Theater.
Rosen won talent shows at the Majestic Theatre and around town, Daniel Rosen said.
Jayne Walton, as she was known, often sang on local radio stations, then on stations in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Chicago, as well as with bands elsewhere, her son said.
Welk heard her voice on the radio and asked her to join his band. She became a friend of the Welk family.
Rosen wasn't the first to be dubbed his “Champagne Lady,” but she sang with that billing for six years. Welk regarded her ability to sing in Spanish as “exotic,” Daniel Rosen said.
“The biggest record she had was ‘Maria Elena.' She recorded it with him and had a gold record.”
Rosen left the orchestra to become a solo performer, and, her son said, “she had considerable success in New York and Chicago” in the mid- to late '40s.
She married in 1952 and put her career on hold.
“She was an inspirational woman to have as a mother,” he said.
Rosen made guest appearances on Welk's long-running television show from time to time.
Later, Rosen worked as a saleswoman at the old Rhodes department store at Wonderland and Dillard's at Central Park Mall.
Retired for 20 years, Rosen enjoyed good health until recent years. She was on dialysis, had heart disease, then fell and broke her hip.
“She recovered to a remarkable extent,” her son said of her hip injury.
“She had a margarita every night over the holidays,” he said.
Chilton Price died he 96. Price was a songwriter, primarily known for 
Subsequently, she wrote other songs under her name only, including "Never Look Back" in 1954.
