A: Richard Adler (Broadway composer & lyricist), Toni Arden (singer, "Kiss of Fire")
B: Fontella Bass (singer, "Rescue Me"), Bob Birch (session musician and touring member of Iron Butterfly), Chuck Brown (known as "the Godfather of Go-Go"), Dave Brubeck (jazz pianist, "Take Five")
C: Earl Carroll (Cadillacs, Coasters), Elliott Carter (composer), Ed Cassidy (Spirit), Jimmy Castor (The Jimmy Castor Bunch), Dick Clark (American Bandstand), Ray Collins (singer, Mothers of Invention), Don Cornelius (Soul Train), Pete Cosey (guitarist, session musician, played with Miles Davis), Lol Coxhill (saxophonist)
D: Hal David (lyricist), Kay Davis (a singer for Duke Ellington), Michael Davis (bassist, MC5), William Duckworth (composer), Donald "Duck" Dunn (studio musician, Booker T & the MGs, the Blues Brothers)
F: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (opera singer)
G: Robin Gibb (Bee Gees)
H: Greg Ham (saxophonist, flautist, Men at Work), Marvin Hamlisch (composer, conductor), Major Harris (Delfonics), Levon Helm (The Band), Hans Werner Henze (composer), Whitney Houston (singer, actress)
J: Etta James (singer, "At Last"), Davy Jones (Monkees), Jimmy Jones (singer, "Handy Man", "Good Timin'")
L: Jon Lord (keyboardist, Deep Purple, Whitesnake), Louisiana Red (bluesman)
M: Tony Martin (singer), Dorothy McGuire (McGuire Sisters), Ilhan Mimaroglu (composer)
O: Johnny Otis (band leader, composer, multifaceted entertainer)
R: Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt (Iron Butterfly), Herb Reed (a founder of the Platters)
S: Earl Scruggs (Flatt & Scruggs), Ravi Shankar (sitarist), Donna Summer (singer, known as "the Queen of Disco")
W: Doc Watson (guitarist, songwriter), Bob Welch (Fleetwood Mac), Bert Weedon (guitarist, awarded the OBE), Kitty Wells (singer), Andy Williams (singer)
Some other notable decedents in 2012 included:
Actors & Entertainers Ernest Borgnine, Frank Cady, Harry Carey Jr, Richard Dawson, Phyllis Diller, Michael Clarke Duncan, Gary Collins, Charles Durning, Chad Everett, Ben Gazzara, Don Grady, Andy Griffith, Larry Hagman, Sherman Hemsley, Caroline John, Kathryn Joosten, Jack Klugman, George Lindsey, Herbert Lom, Jerry Nelson, Ron Palillo, Elizabeth Sladen, Victor Spinetti, Mary Tamm, William Windom
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride
Athletes Hector "Macho" Camacho (boxer), Gary Carter (Hall of Fame MLB catcher), Paul Cyr (NHL left wing), Alex Karras (NFL defensive tackle, wrestler, actor)
Authors Ray Bradbury, Steven Covey, Art "Mr Food" Ginsburg (author, TV chef), Maurice Sendak, Gore Vidal
Journalists Andrew Breitbart, Dan Dorfman
Politicians Daniel Inouye, George McGovern, Warren Rudman, Yitzhak Shamir, Arlen Specter
Others involved with sports include Ron Caron (NHL GM), Lee MacPhail (AL President), Marvin Miller (MLBPA union head), Steve Sabol (NFL Films producer), Carroll Shelby (race car driver, sports car designer), Bert Sugar (boxing writer & historian)
And these folks: Robert Bork (jurist), Helen Gurley Brown (publisher), Judith Crist (film critic), Rodney King (attacked during LA riots), Sun Myung Moon (religious leader), Joseph Murray (surgeon who performed the first successful kidney transplant), LeRoy Neiman (artist), Eugene Polley (inventor of the wireless TV remote), "Stormin'" Norman Schwartzkopf (general), Tony Scott (director), Zig Zigler (motivational speaker)
As I reviewed this list a few things jumped out at me. The list includes:
Three actresses who played the role of "companion" in the classic Doctor Who TV series: Caroline John ("Susan", first Doctor), Mary Tamm ("Romana I", fourth Doctor), and Elizabeth Sladen ("Sarah Jane", third and fourth Doctors).
Two people who were involved with the song "Rescue Me" - the singer Fontella Bass and the guitarist Pete Cosey.
Two members of Iron Butterfly, Larry Reinhardt and Bob Birch.
Two members of the Andy Griffith Show cast, Andy Griffith and George Lindsey ("Goober").
Two TV music greats, Dick Clark and Don Cornelius.
Marvin Hamlisch, who deserves special mention as the only person besides Richard Rodgers to have won the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. Hamlisch also won two Golden Globes.