Joe Sample, who became a jazz star in the 1960s as the pianist with the Jazz Crusaders and an even bigger star a decade later when he began playing electric keyboards and the group simplified its name to the Crusaders, died on Friday in Houston. He was 75.

The cause was mesothelioma, said his manager, Patrick Rains.

The Jazz Crusaders, who played the muscular, bluesy variation on bebop known as hard bop, had their roots in Houston, where Mr. Sample, the tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder and the drummer Nesbert Hooper (better known by the self-explanatory first name Stix) began performing…

Bobby Womack, a colorful and highly influential R&B singer-songwriter who influenced artists from the Rolling Stones to Damon Albarn, has died. He was 70.

Womack's publicist Sonya Kolowrat said Friday that the singer had died, but she could provide no other details. Womack was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago and overcame addiction and multiple health issues, including prostate cancer, to pull off a second act in his career.

Womack performed recently at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and seemed in good health and spirits. He had been scheduled to perform at multiple events across Europe in July…

Here is a Q&A from Bruce Sudano, singer-songwriter, producer and arranger who was married to the late Donna Summer.

Here he discusses his contribution to Love To Love You Donna—the new remix album on Verve Records which celebrates the life and voice of the “queen of disco” and recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

MAGNETIC RECOMMENDS: Verve Announces Love To Love You Donna Remix LP

LET’S TALK ABOUT DONNA’S LEGACY AND HOW YOU CHOSE TO HONOR HER WORK?

Soon after Donna passed away, I began to recognize the desire and responsibility of caring for Donna’s legacy.

My kids…

Robert Calvin "Bobby" Bland (January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), né Brooks, also known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American singer of blues and soul.

Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B.

He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music… created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed."

He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues"; his music was also influenced by Nat King Cole.…

His husky, mahogany instrument was the inspiration for Teddy Pendergrass and countless other male singers who emulated his grit, power and conviction, the very personification of a masculine voiced soul singer. When baritone Marvin Junior sang, you believed every word. As one of two long-time lead singers for the Dells (we lost the falsetto lead Johnny Carter in 2009), Marvin helped define for a generation what a male soul singer was expected to be, soulful, declarative, unwaveringly sure in his desires and love, the kind women wanted and men respected.

An inductee in both The Rock and Roll Hall of…

Ray Manzarek, the founding keyboardist of the Los Angeles rock band The Doors, died in a clinic in Germany on Monday after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer, according to his publicist. He was 74.

Born Raymond Daniel Manczarek Jr. and raised on the south side of Chicago, he resisted piano lessons when he was young, until he heard Chicago blues and jazz on the radio. In 1965, he formed The Doors after moving to Los Angeles and meeting Jim Morrison. "We were aware of Muddy Waters. We were aware of Howlin' Wolf and John Coltrane and Miles Davis,"…

As reported below from CNN.com

(CNN) – George Jones, the country music legend whose graceful, evocative voice gave depth to some of the greatest songs in country music – including "She Thinks I Still Care," "The Grand Tour" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" – has died, according to his public relations firm.

Jones, 81, died Friday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, the public relations firm said. He had been hospitalized since April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure.

Jones' career was marked by a tumultuous marriage to Tammy Wynette and bouts with alcoholism that led to…

From Google Internet News…

If you were curious about the basis for Thursday's Google Doodle, look no farther than the Queen of Jazz. April 25 would have been Ella Fitzgerald's 96th birthday if she had not passed away in 1996.

During her lengthy career, Fitzgerald became one of the world's most renowned jazz singers.

Her career stretched over 59 years; she won a total of 13 Grammys, and she was even awarded a National Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Fitzgerald's life is now a part of America's history, as archival material from her career is housed…

the qhblend closes one chapter and opens another…

Kinda like Oprah (Say Amen Somebody)

One of our members of our group, who in my opinion writes one of the best music-based blogs on the entire World Wide Web has taken up new residence (so to speak), and I think it is really worth mentioning here, so that you, too, may keep up with his editorials.

Our Member and My Boy (I taught him everything he knows…LOL), Quentin (I believe he hails from Ohio), owner and proprietor of the qhblend, is now launching his new site at the following web…

Dr. Drew Pinsky, who treated Mindy McCready on his VH1 show "Celebrity Rehab" – which has now experienced five deaths among cast-members over the years – says he reached out to the country singer in the past month after hearing of her boyfriend's death.

"She was devastated," he says of her reaction to the Jan. 13 death of record producer David Wilson, the father of her now-orphaned son Zayne.

"Although she was fearful of stigma and ridicule she agreed with me that she needed to make her health and safety a priority," he says. "Unfortunately it seems that Mindy did…