RIP

The youngest of the Everly Brothers, Phil, who has died aged 74. His wife Patti said the family were “absolutely heartbroken” as she revealed he had died from lung disease, the result of a lifetime of smoking. Phil and his brother Don, 75, made up the singing duo the Everly Brothers, one of the biggest pop acts of the 1950s and early 1960s. In their heyday they had 19 Top 40 hits, including Wake Up Little Suzie, Cathy’s Clown, Bye Bye Love and All I Have To Do Is Dream. Rolling Stone magazine called the Everly Brothers "the most important vocal duo in rock".

School Of Seven Bells guitarist Benjamin Curtis died at the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York on 29 Dec, aged 35. He had been diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in February 2013.

Frontman of 60s garage rock band The Monks, and mayor of Turtle River, Minnesota, Gary Burger died on Friday, aged 72. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer

The folk singer and activist Pete Seeger has died at the age of 94. Seeger gained fame in The Weavers, formed in 1948, and continued to perform in his own right in a career spanning six decades. Renowned for his protest songs, Seeger was blacklisted by the US Government in the 1950s for his left wing stance. US President Obama  paid tribute saying "Once called 'America's tuning fork', Pete Seeger believed deeply in the power of song" adding "But more importantly, he believed in the power of community .... to stand up for what's right, speak out against what's wrong, and move this country closer to the America he knew we could be."

The musician and director Roger Pomphrey has died aged just 60. A guitarist with the Eurythmics,  Roger went on  to direct a number of high profile music videos with artists including UB40 and George Harrison, and documentaries including seminal programmes on Jimi Hendrix and Damien Hirst.

Devo guitarist Bob Casale, a founder member of the new wave group, has died from heart failure aged 61. The news was announced by his brother and bandmate Gerald Casale on Facebook.

Iggy & The Stooges drummer Scott Asheton has died. The cause of death has not yet been announced. He was 64.

Mick Jagger's partner, designer L'Wren Scott, has died at the tragically young age of just 49.

GWAR frontman Dave Brockie, better known as Oderus Urungus, has died aged 50.

And very sadly, the co-founder of music company the SPZ Group, Jill Sinclair, wife if Trevor Horn, has died from cancer, aged 61.