Donna Summer    1948-2012

The disco queen's family is speaking out, shooting down reports that her death at age 63 from lung cancer was related to smoking.

"Although she lost her battle to lung cancer at the age of 63, it was not related to smoking. Ms. Summer was a non-smoker."

Chuck Brown | 1936-2012   The gravelly voiced bandleader who capitalized on funk’s percussive pulse to create go-go, the genre of music that has soundtracked life in black Washington DC for more than three decades, died May 16 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was 75.

Known as the “Godfather of Go-Go,” Mr. Brown used nonstop percussion to stitch songs together and keep the crowd on the dance floor, resulting in marathon performances that went deep into the night. Mr. Brown said the style got its name because “the music just goes and goes.”