Here is a list of musicians who died on stage.
1. Ty Longley
Ty Longley was the guitarist for the band, Great White, who died in The Station nightclub fire on February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, which claimed a total of 100 lives. It was the deadliest incident ever at a live musical performance. He re-entered the venue after escaping to help people escape the fire, and never back alive.
2. Dimebag Darrell
Dimebag Darrell was a guitarist of the heavy metal band Pantera, who was ranked at No. 92 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2011. He was murdered onstage while he was performing at a nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, with his new band Damageplan, by a deranged fan, Nathan Gale, who was former marine and upset about the breakup of Dimebag’s former band, Pantera, and held Dimebag responsible for the band’s breakup.
3. Johnny 'Guitar' Watson
Johnny was a flamboyant guitarist who influenced fellow musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Etta James, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Watson died of a heart attack, while performing at the Blues Café in Yokohama, Japan, on May 17, 1996. He was 61 years old.
4. Nick Menza
Nick Menza was the former drummer for thrash metal band Megadeth, who suffered a heart attack onstage and died on his way to the hospital, while performing with his new band, OHM, at The Baked Potato jazz club in Studio City, Los Angeles, on May 21, 2016. He was 51 years old.
5. Lil Hardin Armstrong
She was a musician and second wife/collaborator of Jazz legend Louis Armstrong. Hardin was performing at a televised memorial concert for Louis Armstrong in Chicago, on August 27, 1971, which was less than two months after Louis’ death, when she collapsed at the piano from a heart attack and fell to the floor and died on the way to the hospital. She was playing St. Louis Blues on piano at the time of her death.
6. Judge Dread
Judge Dread was a English reggae musician who was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica. He died from a heart attack as he walked off stage after performing at The Penny Theatre in Canterbury on 13 March, 1998. When he collapsed the audience thought it was part of the act.
7. Leonard Warren
Leonard Warren was a opera singer who collapsed and died on stage on March 4, 1960, at the Met, during a performance of La forza del destino. New York City suffered its worst blizzard in eleven years, the night of his death. He died a month before his 49th birthday.
8. Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy was a actor and baritone singer, famous for his roles in such movie musicals as Rose Marie (1936). He died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while performing on stage at the Sans Souci Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 5, 1967. Eddy was 65 years old.
9. Sib Hashian
Sib Hashian was the drummer for the rock band Boston and father-in-law, after his death, of actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He died of a heart attack on March 22, 2017, after collapsing on stage in the middle of a set while performing on board the Independence of the Seas, which is one of the largest cruise ships in the world.
10. Spade Cooley
Spade Cooley was a musicain who was convicted and sentenced to death, for the murder of his wife. He was on a 72-hour furlough from the prison, performing at a benefit concert in Oakland, California on 23 November, 1969, when he suffered a fatal heart attack backstage during the intermission. Spade was 58 years old at the time of his death and scheduled to be paroled three months later.
