History DiedDuringProduction / Music

* '''Akira Complex''' committed suicide before "Lucid Traveler", their collaboration with [=3R2=], was released in ''VideoGame/{{Arcaea}}'' and ''VideoGame/CytusII''. According to their record label, Attack the Music, they were also working on an album which will be released posthumously.

# Died in before going on a scheduled performance. This can happen during the planning stage, the rehearsal, or even en route to the performance.

* '''Chester Bennington''' committed suicide in his home in California seven days before ''Music/LinkinPark'''s North American leg for the ''One More Light World Tour''. Because of this, the rest of the tour was canceled and the remaining band members held a memorial concert in Los Angeles. According to Mike Shinoda, the band is on hiatus as he is uncertain on their future.

* On October 19, 2023, '''Atsushi Sakurai''', the lead singer of the VisualKei J-rock band ''Music/BuckTick'', was rushed into the hospital as he was not feeling well when he performed in a concert in Yokohama. Later, he died of a brainstem hemorrhage. The rest of the

* Chester Bennington committed suicide in his home in California seven days before ''Music/LinkinPark'''s North American leg for the ''One More Light World Tour''. Because of this, the rest of the tour was canceled and the remaining band members held a memorial concert in Los Angeles. According to Mike Shinoda, the band is on hiatus as he is uncertain on their future.

* '''Yasuko Endo''' would've began a pop idol career in May 1986 with her debut single ''In the Distance'' with ''Telephone'' as the B-Side, but tragically, she took her own life by jumping off a building just two months prior. Despite having been completed, [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment the single itself never got to see the light of day]][[note]]Tetsuo Sakurai did a cover of ''In the Distance'' albeit with slightly different lyrics[[/note]], as her death led to her now-defunct label Riv.Star Records destroying most existing copies of it at the time. Endo's death is widely believed to be the catalyst of similar suicides involving young people jumping off of buildings in Japan, known as the "Yukko Syndrome" after '''Music/YukikoOkada's''' own death, which followed just a few days later. That death even led to Creator/PonyCanyon shelving her ninth single ''Hana no Image'' (Which was completed at the time) out of concern that releasing it [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents would've led to more suicides]]. ''Hana no Image'' was later included in a posthumous album named ''Memorial Box'', released in 1999.

* In 1989, '''Music/LeonardBernstein''' began a series of audio and video recordings of Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's five piano concerti with Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman and the Vienna Philharmonic. However, after recording Nos.3-5, Bernstein was forced to announce his retirement from conducting due to declining health; he died five days later. Zimerman completed both the audio and video cycles in 1991 by conducting Nos.1 and 2 from the piano.

* Seattle-based alt-rock singer '''Shawn Smith''', of the bands Brad, Satchel, and Pigeonhed, died of an aortic tear brought on by high blood pressure on April 5th, 2019, the anniversary of the deaths of fellow Seattle rockers Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley. At the time of his passing, Smith was contributing to a new Brad album.

* '''Mark E. Smith''', the leader of prolific post-punk group Music/TheFall, died of cancer in the middle of their 2017-18 tour. Several shows on that tour - including what would have been the band's first American tour dates in a decade - postponed or canceled due to Smith's rapidly deteriorating health. Although he performed his final few shows from a wheelchair and was [[{{Determinator}} still as lively and full of venom as ever]], video footage of those concerts show him to be exhausted, frequently out of breath or difficult to understand. Ultimately his health got so bad that the group had to scuttle several shows just before they were due to go on, including what would have been their final show on 17 November 2017. Mark had also hinted at an eventual second album for Von Südenfed, his electronic music collaboration with Music/MouseOnMars - with no indication of what, if any, material was completed before Mark's death, 2007's ''Tromatic Reflexxions'' is likely to remain the project's only release.

* Grunge band The Gits were working on their second album when their frontwoman Music/MiaZapata was slain on the Seattle streets. The killer wouldn't be found for a decade.

* Music/FooFighters drummer '''Taylor Hawkins''' died suddenly on March 25, 2022, only hours before the band was scheduled to perform at the Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogota, Colombia. They cancelled the remainder of their 2022 world tour. They were also expected to perform at the 2022 Grammy Awards the week after that before bowing out, although the Grammys announced that their slot would serve as a tribute to Hawkins, instead. On June 8, 2022, the group's surviving members announced plans for two Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts: one on September 3, 2022 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, and another on September 27, 2022 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California. On December 31, 2022, the group issued a statement saying that they would go on without Taylor, saying "Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were – and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward. We know that when we see you again – and we will soon – he'll be there in spirit with all of us every night." A new album, ''But Here We Are'', was released in 2023.

* '''Mark Linkous''', leader/only constant member of cult indie rock band Music/{{Sparklehorse}}, had dealt with depression for most of his life and had notably attempted suicide in 1996 while his band was touring as Music/{{Radiohead}}'s opening act. It caused damage to his legs which never fully healed. Linkous eventually took his own life in 2010, shortly before the wide release of his ''Dark Night of the Soul'' collaboration with Danger Mouse and Creator/DavidLynch. Another project, Sparklehorse's fifth album, was left in a near-complete state. The recordings for the album were inherited Linkous' brother and sister-in-law, who will be releasing it under the title ''Bird Machine'' in September 2023.

* '''Music/MichaelJackson''' died in 2009, weeks before the scheduled start of his planned ''This Is It'' concerts in London. He had been working on new songs in the last few years of his life as well; some were completed posthumously (with infamous [[FakeShemp Michael soundalike Jason Malachi reportedly handling vocals on several tracks]]), bundled together with unused songs from older albums, and released as ''Michael'' in 2010. Most of Jackson's unused material was released in his lifetime to fill out reissues and a box set; as of April 2015 the only post-''Michael'' releases with more "vault" stuff were the ''Music/{{Bad}}'' reissue in 2012, ''Music/{{Xscape|MichaelJacksonAlbum}}'' in 2014 and a 40th anniversary reissue of ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' in 2022. ''Xscape'' is comprised entirely of previously-unreleased tracks, some having been recorded long before Michael's death[[note]]the regular edition of the album contains the remastered versions of the songs, while the deluxe edition adds the original versions[[/note]]. The title track was first created during the recording of Michael's 2001 album ''Music/{{Invincible}}'', and "Love Never Felt So Good" (a duet with Music/JustinTimberlake) came from a demo made with Paul Anka in the early 1980s. Michael was known for having an impressive amount of artistic input during album recording sessions and due to his efforts, it is believed that there are dozens (possibly hundreds) of unreleased/unfinished tracks recorded throughout his career, including songs given to other artists and early versions of other Michael Jackson songs. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unreleased_songs_recorded_by_Michael_Jackson The Other Wiki has a running list of the known tracks and their fates.]]

* '''Music/GeorgeHarrison''' died while working on the album ''Brainwashed''; it was completed by his son Dhani Harrison and former Travelling Wilbury bandmate Jeff Lynne. They made it considerably more lavish than George would have if he had lived -- we have WordOfGod on that; Lynne felt that doing otherwise would've dishonored his memory. George Harrison was also one of the producers of Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''Love''; in the making-of special his wife and son are seen watching the troupe's dress rehearsal some months after George died, and it's eerie seeing Dhani (with [[WhatBeautifulEyes wide, bright eyes]]) looking through a giant projection of [[StrongFamilyResemblance his nearly-identical father.]]

* Grunge band The Gits were working on their second album when their frontwoman '''Mia Zapata''' was slain on the Seattle streets. The killer wouldn't be found for a decade.

* '''Music/MichaelJackson''' died in 2009, weeks before the scheduled start of his planned ''This Is It'' concerts in London. He had been working on new songs in the last few years of his life as well; some were completed posthumously (with infamous [[FakeShemp Michael soundalike Jason Malachi reportedly handling vocals on several tracks]]), bundled together with unused songs from older albums, and released as ''Michael'' in 2010. Most of Jackson's unused material was released in his lifetime to fill out reissues and a box set; as of April 2015 the only post-''Michael'' releases with more "vault" stuff were the ''Music/{{Bad}}'' reissue in 2012, ''[[Music/XscapeMichaelJacksonAlbum Xscape]]'' in 2014 and a 40th anniversary reissue of '''Music/{{Thriller}}'' in 2022. ''Xscape'' is comprised entirely of previously-unreleased tracks, some having been recorded long before Michael's death[[note]]the regular edition of the album contains the remastered versions of the songs, while the deluxe edition adds the original versions[[/note]]. The title track was first created during the recording of Michael's 2001 album ''Music/{{Invincible}}'', and "Love Never Felt So Good" (a duet with Music/JustinTimberlake) came from a demo made with Paul Anka in the early 1980s. Michael was known for having an impressive amount of artistic input during album recording sessions and due to his efforts, it is believed that there are dozens (possibly hundreds) of unreleased/unfinished tracks recorded throughout his career, including songs given to other artists and early versions of other Michael Jackson songs. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unreleased_songs_recorded_by_Michael_Jackson The Other Wiki has a running list of the known tracks and their fates.]]

* Music/FooFighters drummer '''Taylor Hawkins''' died suddenly on March 25, 2022, only hours before the band was scheduled to perform at the Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogota, Colombia. They cancelled the remainder of their 2022 world tour. They were also expected to perform at the 2022 Grammy Awards the week after that before bowing out, although the Grammys announced that their slot would serve as a tribute to Hawkins, instead. On June 8, 2022, the group's surviving members announced plans for two Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts: one on September 3, 2022 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, and another on September 27, 2022 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California. On December 31, 2022, the group issued a statement saying that they would go on without Taylor, saying "Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were – and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward. We know that when we see you again – and we will soon – he'll be there in spirit with all of us every night.".

* '''Mark Linkous''', leader/only constant member of cult indie rock band Music/{{Sparklehorse}}, had dealt with depression for most of his life and had notably attempted suicide in 1996 while his band was touring as Music/{{Radiohead}}'s opening act. It caused damage to his legs which never fully healed. Linkous eventually took his own life in 2010, shortly before the wide release of his ''Dark Night of the Soul'' collaboration with Danger Mouse and Creator/DavidLynch. Another project, Sparklehorse's fifth album, was left in a near-complete state after his death and has not yet seen the light of day.

* '''Grant [=McLennan=]''', the co-lead singer and songwriter for the Australian indie rock band The Go-Betweens, died suddenly of a heart attack in 2006 on the night he was planning to propose to his girlfriend. At the time, the band had been in the early stages of putting together their tenth album and were also preparing a compilation of the solo music that both [=McLennan=] and the band's other singer-songwriter Robert Forster had put out between the band's break-up in 1989 and their reunion in 2000. Work on the compilation, ''Intermission'', was finished by Forster and was released in 2007. Some of the songs the two had written for a new album wound up on Forster's 2008 solo album ''The Evangelist''.

* '''Mark Linkous''', leader/only constant member of cult indie rock band Music/{{Sparklehorse}}, had dealt with depression for most of his life and had notably attempted suicide in 1996 while his band was touring as Music/{{Radiohead}}'s opening act. It caused damage to his legs which never quite healed. Linkous eventually took his own life in 2010, shortly before the wide release of his ''Dark Night of the Soul'' collaboration with Danger Mouse and Creator/DavidLynch. Another project, Sparklehorse's fifth album, was left in a near-complete state after his death and has not yet seen the light of day.

* '''Alban Berg''' left his opera ''Lulu'' unfinished due to violinist Louis Krasner commissioning him to compose a violin concerto.[[note]]That, and the tragic death of Manon Gropius, which was the reason Berg fully put Lulu aside completely to compose the concerto.[[/note]] Berg accepted the commission, since the $1,500 Krasner offered for the concerto was desperately needed at the time since performances of his works were quickly becoming scarce due to the Nazis. He composed the concerto rather quickly, but he died of blood poisoning on Christmas Eve 1935 with the orchestration of Act 3 still incomplete.[[note]]The parts of the third and final act that had been orchestrated were the first 268 bars, the instrumental interlude between scenes 1 and 2, and the opera's ending, starting with the monologue of Countess Geschwitz. The rest of the act was still in short score.[[/note]] Although little work was needed to be done to complete it, the composer's widow, Helene, successfully vetoed any attempts to do so until her death in 1976, after which the orchestration was successfully completed by Friedrich Cerha in 1979.

* '''Marc Blitzstein''' was working on the operas ''Idiots First'' and ''Sacco and Vanzetti'' when he was murdered. Both were subsequently completed by Leonard Lehrman.

* Detroit-based producer and rapper '''Music/JDilla''' suffered from lupus and an incurable blood disease in his final years, but continued producing music until literally hours before his death in 2006. While he managed to finish ''Music/{{Donuts}}'', and lived to see its release, Dilla eventually got too sick to finish his other album, ''The Shining'', which was 75% complete, and entrusted his longtime friend and fellow producer Karriem Riggings to finish it for him.

* It didn't take '''Music/LedZeppelin''' long to decide to break up after John Bonham died. Bonham's death was particularly ill-timed: it happened on the day Zep were rehearsing for a new US tour.

* '''Music/MacMiller''' died of a drug overdose in September 2018, while preparing for a tour to promote his then-recent album ''Swimming'', and while working on the followup to that album, which was finished and released as ''Circles'' in early 2020.

# Died in before going on a scheduled performance. This can be during the planning stage, the rehearsal, or even en route to the performance.

# Died in before going on a scheduled performance.

* '''Music/PeterGabriel''' took so long to finish ''Music/{{Up|PeterGabrielAlbum}}''[[note]]the album entered production in 1995 and didn't release until 2002, a full decade after [[Music/{{Us}} its predecessor]][[/note]] that the guest vocalist for "Signal to Noise", Pakistani Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, died before he could record his parts. Gabriel had to resort to sourcing Khan's vocals from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5KcEy3y23w an early live performance of the song]].