Chris Thurston, an up-and-coming rapper who went by the stage name Jax of the Atlanta indie rap group Binkis Recs, passed out on stage during a show during his second verse of a song. The Queens, NY native was rushed to the hospital, and pronounced deceased some hours later due to cardiac arrest. He was 32. Funeral services for Jax were held on November 15 in his native Queens, NY. His mother, a brother, and his newlywed wife Lisa Thurston, whom he married a month prior to his death, survive him. (more…)

John “Mitch” Mitchell was an English drummer, best known for his work in The Jimi Hendrix Experience. After completing the Experience Hendrix tour in Portland with one-time bandmate Billy Cox and a multitude of noteworthy musicians (Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Cesar Rosas, David Hidalgo, Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, Hubert Sumlin, Chris Layton as well as Eric Gales and Mato Nanji) on November 7, Mitchell was spending some down time in the city before returning to his native England. He likely died on the morning of November 12 in a Portland, Oregon hotel room of natural causes, according to the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s office. His mother, his wife, a daughter, and two grandchildren survive him. (more…)

Jimmy Carl Black (born James Inkanish, Jr.) was a drummer, vocalist, and the self-anointed “Indian of the group” of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2008, and he died on November 1, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Monika, whom he married in 1995 following the death of his second wife; three sons and three daughters. A benefit was held on November 9, 2008 at the Bridgehouse II in London. (more…)

Nathaniel Mayer was a rhythm & blues singer who started his career in the early 1960s at Fortune Records, a Detroit record label owned by Jack and Devora Brown, where he would stay for six years, recording a handful of records. Within a year after completing his first European tour, Mayer suffered multiple strokes. After months of hospitalization, Mayer died on November 1, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. (more…)

November has been an unfortunate month for record producers: Vice President of Def Jam Recordings Shakir Stewart, Dynamic Sounds founder Byron Lee, and ex-Motown CEO and President of Def Soul Classics Jheryl Busby. (more…)