Tina Turner
(Singer)
Wikimedia Commons / Iris Schneider
26 November 1939 – 24 May 2023 (Aged 83)
Tina Turner was an American-born singer, songwriter and actress, dubbed the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”.
Born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee, she grew up in the rural community of Nutbush and sang in church as a child.
She rose to fame in the 1960s as the dynamic lead vocalist of the Ike & Tina Turner duo, known for their explosive live shows. The duo scored hits such as “River Deep – Mountain High” and “Proud Mary”, the latter winning a Grammy Award.
After leaving her abusive marriage, she rebuilt her career and achieved one of the greatest comebacks in music history.
Her 1984 solo album Private Dancer, featuring “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, made her a global superstar. Celebrated for her raspy voice, energy and stage presence, she sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
She also acted, notably in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and her life inspired a film and a hit stage musical. She won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
Tina Turner died at her home near Zurich, Switzerland, on 24 May 2023, after a long illness.
Henry Kissinger
(Statesman)
U.S. Department of State / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
27 May 1923 – 29 November 2023 (Aged 100)
Henry Kissinger was an American diplomat and political scientist who was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century foreign policy.
Born in Germany to a Jewish family, he fled Nazi persecution and emigrated to the United States as a teenager.
He served in the US Army in the Second World War and went on to a distinguished academic career at Harvard. He served as National Security Adviser and then Secretary of State under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
He was a leading architect of détente with the Soviet Union and helped open diplomatic relations between the United States and China. He played a central role in negotiating the US withdrawal from the Vietnam War.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his part in the Paris Peace Accords, a decision that remains controversial.
A divisive figure, he was both praised and sharply criticised over aspects of his foreign policy. He remained a sought-after adviser and commentator on world affairs well into his later years.
Kissinger died at his home in Connecticut on 29 November 2023 at the age of 100.
Harry Belafonte
(Singer & Activist)
Wikimedia Commons / David Shankbone
1 March 1927 – 25 April 2023 (Aged 96)
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor and civil rights activist known as the “King of Calypso”.
Born in Harlem, New York, to Caribbean immigrant parents, he spent part of his childhood in Jamaica.
He popularised Caribbean music with international audiences, and his 1956 album Calypso became the first million-selling album by a solo artist.
His signature recording, “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”, made him a global star. He also became a pioneering film actor, appearing in Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun.
He was among the first Black performers to achieve major success across music, film and television.
He was a close friend and key financial supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and helped organise the 1963 March on Washington.
He devoted much of his life to humanitarian causes, helping to create the charity single “We Are the World”. He received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.
Belafonte died at his home in Manhattan on 25 April 2023 of congestive heart failure.
Tony Bennett
(Singer)
Wikimedia Commons / Kingkongphoto
3 August 1926 – 21 July 2023 (Aged 96)
Tony Bennett was an American singer whose devotion to classic American songs made him one of the most beloved performers of his era.
Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Queens, New York, he grew up in poverty and served in the US Army in the Second World War.
Discovered by the comedian Bob Hope, who gave him his stage name, he signed with Columbia Records and scored early hits such as “Because of You” and “Rags to Riches”.
His 1962 recording of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” became his signature song and won two Grammy Awards.
Over a career spanning some seven decades, he became a leading champion of the Great American Songbook. Frank Sinatra once called him “the best singer in the business”.
He won over new generations of fans, recording acclaimed duet albums with Lady Gaga late in his career.
He was also an accomplished painter and a longtime supporter of civil rights, having marched with Martin Luther King Jr. He won 20 Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement award.
Bennett died in New York on 21 July 2023, just short of his 97th birthday, having lived with Alzheimer’s disease.
Sinéad O’Connor
(Singer)
Wikimedia Commons / Bryan Ledgard
8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023 (Aged 56)
Sinéad O’Connor was an Irish singer-songwriter celebrated for her powerful, distinctive voice and fearless individuality.
Born in Dublin, she began her musical career performing on the city’s streets before signing a record deal. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra (1987), earned her critical acclaim.
She achieved global fame in 1990 with her haunting cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”, which topped charts around the world. The single came from her acclaimed album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, which won a Grammy Award.
Rolling Stone named her Artist of the Year in 1991. Known for her shaved head and outspoken views, she used her platform to campaign on social and religious issues.
She famously tore up a photograph of the Pope during a 1992 television appearance in protest against abuse in the Catholic Church. She released ten studio albums and published a bestselling memoir in 2021.
O’Connor died in London on 26 July 2023; her death was later confirmed to be from natural causes.
Matthew Perry
(Actor)
Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
19 August 1969 – 28 October 2023 (Aged 54)
Matthew Perry was an American-Canadian actor best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends.
Born in Massachusetts, he was raised largely in Ottawa, Canada, where his mother served as press secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
He moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue acting and appeared in television roles through the 1980s.
In 1994 he was cast as the sarcastic, quick-witted Chandler in Friends, which ran for ten hugely popular seasons. The role made him an international star and earned him an Emmy nomination.
He also appeared in films such as Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards and 17 Again. On television he earned further Emmy nominations for his dramatic work on The West Wing.
In 2022 he published a candid memoir and became an advocate for helping others struggling with addiction.
Perry died at his home in Los Angeles on 28 October 2023 at the age of 54.
Silvio Berlusconi
(Italian Prime Minister)
Wikimedia Commons / European People’s Party
29 September 1936 – 12 June 2023 (Aged 86)
Silvio Berlusconi was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served three times as prime minister of Italy.
Born in Milan, he made his first fortune in property and construction before building a vast media empire.
His company Mediaset became Italy’s largest private broadcaster, and he also owned publishing houses and newspapers.
In 1986 he bought the football club AC Milan, leading it to major domestic and European success over three decades.
He entered politics in 1994, founding the party Forza Italia and winning his first election that year. He was Italy’s longest-serving post-war prime minister, holding office in 1994–1995, 2001–2006 and 2008–2011.
A charismatic but deeply divisive figure, he dominated Italian public life for decades. His career was also marked by numerous legal battles and personal scandals.
Berlusconi died in Milan on 12 June 2023 after suffering from leukaemia.
Bobby Charlton
(Footballer)
Wikimedia Commons / The Centre for School Design
11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023 (Aged 86)
Sir Bobby Charlton was an English footballer regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
Born in the coal-mining town of Ashington, he joined Manchester United as a schoolboy and made his debut in 1956.
In 1958 he survived the Munich air disaster, in which eight of his teammates were killed. He recovered to become the heart of the Manchester United team, helping it become the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968.
An elegant midfielder famed for his powerful shooting, he won three league titles and an FA Cup with United. He was a key member of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup on home soil.
He was named European Footballer of the Year, winning the Ballon d’Or, in 1966. He was for many years the record goalscorer for both Manchester United and England.
Knighted for his services to football, he remained a revered ambassador for the game and his club.
Charlton died on 21 October 2023 at the age of 86.
Sandra Day O’Connor
(Supreme Court Justice)
Supreme Court of the United States / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
26 March 1930 – 1 December 2023 (Aged 93)
Sandra Day O’Connor was an American jurist who became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Born in El Paso, Texas, she grew up on her family’s remote Arizona cattle ranch.
She graduated near the top of her class at Stanford Law School but initially struggled to find work as a lawyer because she was a woman.
She entered politics in Arizona, becoming the first woman to serve as majority leader of a state senate.
After serving as a state judge, she was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate, ending 191 years of an all-male court.
Over 24 years on the bench she was a moderate conservative and often the decisive swing vote on divisive issues.
She retired in 2006 and later became a prominent advocate for civics education. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
O’Connor died in Phoenix, Arizona, on 1 December 2023 of complications from dementia.
Michael Gambon
(Actor)
19 October 1940 – 27 September 2023 (Aged 82)
Sir Michael Gambon was an Irish-English actor acclaimed as one of the finest performers of his generation.
Born in Dublin, he trained as an engineer before turning to the stage in the early 1960s.
He was one of the original members of Britain’s Royal National Theatre under Laurence Olivier. Over a long stage career he won three Olivier Awards and was celebrated for roles across the Shakespearean canon.
On television he won four BAFTA awards, most memorably for the 1986 series The Singing Detective.
He reached a new, worldwide audience as Professor Albus Dumbledore in six of the Harry Potter films, a role he took over from Richard Harris.
His many films included Gosford Park, The King’s Speech and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. He was knighted for his services to drama in 1998.
Gambon died in hospital on 27 September 2023 following a bout of pneumonia; he was 82.
Cormac McCarthy
(Author)
Wikimedia Commons / David Styles
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20 July 1933 – 13 June 2023 (Aged 89)
Cormac McCarthy was an American novelist widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of his generation.
Born in Rhode Island and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, he served in the US Air Force before devoting himself to writing.
Known for his spare, powerful prose and often bleak, violent themes, he was frequently compared to William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway.
He remained little known to the public for decades before breaking through commercially in 1992 with All the Pretty Horses, which won the National Book Award.
His epic Western Blood Meridian is regarded by many critics as a masterpiece of American literature.
His novel No Country for Old Men was adapted by the Coen brothers into a film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. His post-apocalyptic novel The Road won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007.
An intensely private man, he rarely gave interviews and shunned publicity. He wrote his novels on the same manual typewriter for decades.
McCarthy died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 13 June 2023 of natural causes.
Rosalynn Carter
(Former U.S. First Lady)
White House / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
18 August 1927 – 19 November 2023 (Aged 96)
Rosalynn Carter was an American humanitarian and mental health advocate who served as First Lady of the United States.
Born in the small town of Plains, Georgia, she married Jimmy Carter in 1946.
Their marriage of 77 years was the longest of any presidential couple in American history. She was First Lady from 1977 to 1981, during her husband’s term as the 39th president.
She was an unusually active and influential First Lady, serving as a close political and policy adviser to her husband.
Her signature cause was mental health, and she campaigned for decades to reduce its stigma and improve care. She helped establish the President’s Commission on Mental Health, which led to major reforms.
After leaving the White House, she co-founded the Carter Center to promote peace, health and human rights. She and her husband were long associated with the charity Habitat for Humanity.
Rosalynn Carter died at her home in Plains on 19 November 2023 at the age of 96.
Honourable mentions…