R.I.P. Richie Havens. Sigh.

Via Billboard (more at the link):

Havens, a protest music hero (“Handsome Johnny,” “No Opportunity Necessary…,” “Stop Pulling and Pushing Me”) and the man who opened the 1969 Woodstock festival, died on Monday morning from a sudden heart attack at his home in New Jersey, according to his publicist. He was 72. In March of 2012, Havens had announced an end to his 45-year touring career, citing health issues. [...]

He sang at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in January of 1993, and a decade later he received the American Eagle Award form the National Music Council. He collaborated with the electronic duo Groove Armada on “Hands in Time” for the “Collateral” film soundtrack, and he’s worked with Genesis members Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, blues artist Bill Perry and with David Letterman CBS Orchestra drummer Anton Fig. Havens published an autobiography, “They Can’t Hide Us Anymore,” in 2000 and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Link

Via TV Series Finale, where there is more on Frank Bank’s life and career:

Actor Frank Bank died this morning, one day after he turned 71. Today is his friend and former co-star Tony Dow’s 68th birthday. Bank was primarily know for his role as Clarence “Lumpy” Rutherford on the Leave It to Beaver sitcom in the 1950s and 60s.

RIP Lumpy.

Damn. She lived near me back in the day when I went to school with her brother. I used to see her driving around Encino in her T-bird, which was always such a treat.

R.I.P. Annette. Sigh.

Via an L.A. Times email alert:

Annette Funicello, who gained fame as a Mouseketeer on TV’s “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s, died today at 70.

Her status as a pop-culture icon was further cemented in the ’60s as she teamed with Frankie Avalon in a popular series of “beach” movies.

Funicello, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987 and became a spokeswoman for treatment of the disease, died at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, the Walt Disney Co. announced.