8 January 2012

Alexis Weissenberg, 82, a Bulgarian-born pianist whose love of music from the age of 3 saved him and his mother in a German-guaarded camp and carried him to the heights of 20th century performances with Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein, in Lugano, Switzerland, after a long illness.

17 January 2012

Jimmy Castor, 71, a New York funk and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter whose tune, "It's Just Begun," morphed over 40 years into an anthem for generations of hip-hoppers and mainstream musical acts, in Los Vegas, Nevada of apparent heart failure.

20 January 2012

Etta James, 73, a singer whose performance of the enduring classic "At Last" was the embodiment of refined soul but who had tempestuous relationships with her family, her men and the music industry, in Los Angeles, of complications from leukemia.
 

25 January 2012

Paavo Berglund, 82, one of Finland's most prominent conductors internationally known for numerous recordings of works by Jean Sibelius, in Helsinki after a long illness.

9 February 2012

Whitney Houston, 48, who ruled as pop music's queen until her majestic voice was ravaged by drug use and her regal image was tarnished by erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, California. The cause of death was not immediately known.

14 February 2012

Dory Previn Shannon, 86 an award-winning composer who helped write the score for the film "Valley of the Dolls" and the theme for "Last Tango in Paris," in Springfield, Massachusetts of natural causes.
 

29 February 2012

Davy Jones, 66, the diminutive heartthrob who rocketed to the top of the 1960s music charts by beckoning millions of adoring fans with the catchy refrains of The Monkees,in Indiantown, Florida, of a heart attack.

1 March 2012

Lucio Dalla, 68, one of Italy's most prolific singer-songwriters whose music ranged from folk to pop to classical to opera, creating a soundtrack beloved by generations of Italians, in Montreux, Switzerland of an apparent heart attack.
 

28 March 2012

Earl Scruggs, 88, a bluegrass legend and banjo pioneer, who helped profoundly change 20th century country music whose string-bending, mind-blowing way of picking produced an instantly recognizable sound, in Nashville, Tennessee of natural causes.

3 May 2012

Lloyd Brevett, 80, a renowned double bassist who helped carry ska music from Jamaica to the world as a founding member of the hugely influential band the Skalites, in Kingston of complications from a stroke.

17 May 2012

Warda, 72, the Algerian singer whose sultry voice and range helped make her one of the giants of Arab song along with Lebanon's Fayrouz and Egypt's late Umm Kalthoum, in Cairo. No cause of death was given.

17 May 2012

Donna Summer, 63, who was bestowed a title fitting of musical royalty — the Queen of Disco — as she became the voice and face of the genre with pulsating hits like " I Feel Love" in Naples, Florida of cancer.
 

29 May 2012

Doc Watson, 89, the blind, award winning folk musician whose mountain-rooted sound was embraced by generations and whose lightning-fast style of flatpicking influenced guitarists around the world, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina after undergoing abdominal surgery.

13 June 2012

Mehdi Hassan, 85, a Pakistani singer loved by millions across South Asia and known for his mastery of the ghazal, a traditional love poem put to music, in Karachi after a long illness.

27 October 2012

Hans Werner Henze, 86, a German composer whose prolific and wide-ranging work included a wealth of operas and 10 symphonies, in Dresden. The cause of death was not disclosed.
 

5 November 2012

Elliott Carter, 103, a classical composer whose challenging, rhythmically complex works earned him widespread admiration and two Pulitzer Prizes, in New York. No cause of death was given.
 

9 November 2012

Major Harris, 65, a former member of the "Philadelphia sound" soul group the Delfonics and singer of the 1975 hit "Love Won't Let Me Wait," in Richmond, Virginia, from congestive heart and lung failure.

8 December 2012

Ammar Al-Sherei, 64, Egyptian composer, songwriter and performer; Ammar was born blind on 16 April 1948 in the village of Samalot, Upper Egypt. He composed over 150 pieces for television and radio, as well as concerto for oud and orchestra. He suffered from a long history of cardiac problems.

9 December 2012

Jenni Rivera, 43, the California-born singer with a powerful and soulful voice who rose through personal adversity to become a superstar adored by millions in a male-dominated genre of Mexican-American music, in northern Mexico in a plane crash.
 

24 December 2012

Richard Rodney Bennett, 76, a British composer, pianist and arranger with a long distinguished career moving among classical music, jazz and film score, in New York after a brief illness.
 

26 December 2012

Fontella Bass, 72, a soul singer who hit the top of the American rhythm and blues charts with "Rescue Me" in 1965, in St. Louis of complications from a heart attack.