Jeff Tamarkin

Mar 5, 2025 | bestclassicbands.com | Jeff Tamarkin

Herb Greene, a photographer best known for chronicling the nascent San Francisco rock scene of the ’60s and early ’70s, died at his home in Maynard, Mass., on March 3, 2025, following a long illness. He was 82. Greene’s subjects included bands such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and, later, Santana, Led Zeppelin, Sly Stone, Bob Dylan and others. He often photographed his subjects in front of a wall sporting hieroglyphic-like figures, which stood at his Baker Street home in San Francisco.

Feb 21, 2025 | bestclassicbands.com | Jeff Tamarkin

Jerry Butler, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted R&B singer who began his career with the Impressions, then scored numerous hits as a solo act, before going on to a successful political career, died Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. Going by the nickname “The Iceman,” Butler was 85. Butler died in his hometown of Chicago; the cause was unspecified but Butler was known to have Parkinson’s disease. Butler’s death was confirmed in a social media post by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Feb 11, 2025 | bestclassicbands.com | Jeff Tamarkin

Today it’s inconceivable that a jazz song could be released as a single and somehow find its way to the Top 40. For one thing, jazz is almost entirely an album-oriented genre, and for another, it just doesn’t sell in large quantities to the mainstream audience.

Jan 3, 2025 | bestclassicbands.com | Jeff Tamarkin

Brenton Wood, the rhythm and blues singer best known for the consecutive 1967 hits “The Oogum Boogum Song” and “Gimme Little Sign,” died today (Jan. 3, 2025). His death, at 83, was confirmed by several major media outlets, including Variety and the Los Angeles Times.

Nov 26, 2024 | bestclassicbands.com | Jeff Tamarkin

Peggy Caserta, whose candid 1973 biography of Janis Joplin revealed the singer’s romantic relationship with the author, died of natural causes Nov. 21, 2025, in Oregon. She was 84. The book, titled Going Down With Janis, was considered controversial at the time of publication due to the public’s lack of awareness of Joplin—who died Oct. 4, 1970, in Los Angeles, of a drug overdose—having had a same-sex relationship.