George Weiss, who was responsible for writing a string of hits in the 40s, 50s and 60s, has died of natural causes, his wife Claire announced earlier this week. He was 89.

Born in New York in 1921, Weiss earned a bachelor's degree in music theory from the Juilliard School and served as a military bandleader during the Second World War before becoming a professional songwriter. As well as writing songs for the pop and jazz stars of the day, he also worked on a number of musicals, most famously 'Mr Wonderful' in 1956, which starred Sammy Davis Jr.

His best known songs were 'Can't Help Falling In Love', recorded by Elvis Presley for his 1961 film 'Blue Hawaii', 'What A Wonderful World', recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967, and The Tokens' 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', a reworking of a South African Zulu song first recorded in the 1930s.
 
He was also president of the Songwriters Guild of America from 1982 to 2000, and spoke widely on the subject of copyright.

Weiss is survived by his third wife, Claire, his sister, three sons and a daughter from his first two marriages and eight grandchildren.

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool frontman Charles Haddon committed suicide at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium last week. He was 22.

The news was confirmed by Eddy Temple-Morris during his Xfm show on Friday night. As rumours of Haddon's death began to fly on Twitter, Temple-Morris sent a text message to the band's Joe Hutchinson, hoping to put an end to a hoax, but received the reply: "He killed himself early this evening after playing the best gig of his life to 5000 people".

An official statement published on the band's MySpace page the following day officially confirmed the news to fans, saying: "We are all so deeply saddened to confirm that our friend Charlie Haddon passed away yesterday, Friday 20 Aug".

According to reports, after the band's Friday afternoon performance, Haddon jumped from a satellite communications mast in the artists' parking area of the festival.

A statement on the Pukkelpop website reads: "After performing with his band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, singer Charles Haddon decided to take his own life. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and friends".

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool formed in 2009 in Camden and have released three singles to date, including their popular debut 'Dance The Way I Feel'. Following a number of festival dates and an Australian tour, the band were due to release their debut album, 'The Golden Years', and tour the UK in October. You can read CMU's Same Six Questions interview with Charles Haddon here.

Former frontman of 80s band The Call, Michael Been, also died at the festival. The father of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club frontman Robert Levon Been and a sound engineer for the band, he died after suffering a heart attack at the festival on Thursday.

The Call formed in 1980 and released eight albums between 1982 and 2000, before going on hiatus. Been also released a solo album in 1994 and appeared in a number of films, including Martin Scorsese's 'The Last Temptation Of Christ'.

Parliament and Funkadelic guitarist Phelps 'Catfish' Collins has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 66.

Collins and his younger brother William (better known as Bootsy Collins) first became known when their band The Pacemakers were hired as James Brown's backing band. They changed their name to The JBs and appeared on many of Brown's biggest hits, including 'Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine'. In 1972 the brothers joined George Clinton's Funkadelic and Parliament funk bands. Phelps also played in a number of other bands and contributed to various musical projects both with and without his brother.

Bootsy Collins' wife Patti told the Cincinnati Enquirer: "He was a father figure to my husband. He's the reason why Bootsy is who he is".

Meanwhile, Bootsy himself said in a statement: "Catfish was my brother, my father and most of all my best friend. My world will never be the same without him. Be happy for him, he certainly is now and always has been the happiest young fella I ever met on this planet".

Phelps Collins is survived by two children, Carmen and Phelps The Third, his brother Bootsy and sister Brenda.

Jazz drummer and band leader Jack Parnell has died after losing his fight with cancer, he was 87. Having first performed as part of an RAF band in the Second World War, Parnell was part of the legendary fifties British jazz ensemble The Ted Heath Band. He also led his own jazz groups, though it was as a drummer he became best known, winning the Best Drummer category in an annual Melody Maker reader's poll seven years running during the 1950s.

He also won acclaim as a TV theme composer, and subsequently became Musical Director for ITV company ATV, and as such led the bands on various television shows of the era, including 'Sunday Night At The London Palladium', 'The Benny Hill Show' and 'The Muppet Show'.

In the seventies he formed the Best Of British Jazz outfit who performed and recorded together on and off for much of the next two decades.

He is survived by his wife and five children, among them drummer Ric Parnell, who, despite having drummed with various bands, is probably best known for playing drummer Mick Shrimpton in 'This Is Spinal Tap'.

Al Goodman, one third of R&B trio Ray, Goodman & Brown, has died aged 67.

Goodman originally rose to fame as one third of Moments, a trio which also included Billy Brown and Johnny Moore and scored a hit in 1969 with 'Love On A Two-Way Street'. Moore was soon replaced in the trio by Harry Ray, and they went on to enjoy a number of other hits throughout the seventies in both the pop and R&B charts.

Moments had been created by R&B mogul Sylvia Robinson, who is perhaps better known now as the woman behind one of the earliest commercial hip hop ventures in the form of Sugar Hill Records and the Sugar Hill Gang.

When, in the late seventies, the three members of Moments started to fall out with Robinson and her team at the Stang record label they decided to go their own way but, with Robinson owning the rights in the Moments name, they needed a new moniker. Onwards they were known as Ray, Goodman & Brown and they enjoyed further hits under that name, in particular 'Special Lady', their first single release after signing to Polydor in 1979.

Goodman is survived by his son James and second wife Henrietta.

Robert Sandall, a much respected music journalist and one time EMI executive, has died after losing a battle with prostate cancer.
 
The London-born Oxford-educated writer worked as a rock critic for various newspapers and magazines, including the Sunday Times, Q and GQ. But he was possibly best known as the co-host of BBC Radio 3's 'Mixing It' show, a programme described by the Beeb as an "eclectic mix of rare, strange and beautiful sounds". As well as his radio work, Sandall also dabbled in further presenting projects with Anglia TV and VH1.
 
Having spent a long career writing about music, he crossed the fence to take a job in the music industry in 1996 when he joined EMI's Virgin Records - then on a Spice Girls fuelled pop high - as Director Of Communications. However, he continued to write as well, albeit constrained by a contractual commitment to not review EMI artists while working for the major.
 
Much respected across the industry and especially by his fellow music journalists, a Radio 3 spokesman paid tribute to Sandall yesterday saying: "Robert's musical knowledge was encyclopaedic and he was a fine wordsmith. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues".

Former Big Star bassist Andy Hummel, a founder member of the band, died yesterday after a two year battle with cancer, exactly four months to the day after the sudden death of the band's frontman Alex Chilton. Hummel was 59.

Hummel formed Big Star in 1971 with Chilton, guitarist Chris Bell (who died in a car crash in 1978) and drummer Jody Stephens. The band released their debut album, '#1 Record', the following year. Due to tensions within the band, the follow-up, 'Radio City', was not released until February 1974 after a number of break-ups and the departure of Bell. Hummel himself left the band before the album's release. Chilton and Stephens recorded a third album, but it was shelved after it failed to gain label interest and the band finally split in at the end of 1974.

Chilton and Stephens reformed the band in 1993 with The Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow taking the places of Bell and Hummel respectively. It was Stringfellow who yesterday broke the news of Hummel's death via Twitter, saying: "Another sad loss for Big Star fans as Andy Hummel passes away after long illness".

Media Relations Manager at Rhino Records, Big Star's current label, Jason Elzy then confirmed to MTV News: "Sadly, I can confirm this is true. Andy has passed away".
 
A memorial service is reportedly due to be held near Hummel's home in Weatherford, Texas tomorrow.

Songwriter Hank Cochran, perhaps best known for writing the Patsy Cline hit 'I Fall To Pieces', has died from pancreatic cancer aged 74.

After a traumatic childhood, Cochran scored an early hit, co-writing 'I Fall To Pieces' aged 24 just months after moving to Nashville in 1960. Two more of his songs resulted in hits for Cline - 'She's Got You' in 1961 and 'Why Can't He Be You' in 1962 - making him a much sought after songwriter in the country music community.

He penned many more songs for numerous other artists over his long songwriting career, while also enjoying some success as a recording artist in sixties and seventies. While working for Nashville music publishers Pamper Music he persuaded the company to sign a then young Willie Nelson, and more recently worked on projects with the likes of Natalie Cole and Lea Anne Creswell.

Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame way back in 1974, he once said in an interview for the Hall Of Fame's website: "I have a theory that somebody beside me must write my songs because half of the time I don't have the slightest idea where they come from. I even wake up out of a dead sleep and write a song completely".

The radio presenter who recently won an Arqiva Award for her 'Cancer Diaries' project has died from the disease she bravely documented for Oxford radio station JACK fm.

Ali Booker fell into radio by mistake, and had a long career with the BBC, working for local stations BBC Devon and BBC Oxford. She was first diagnosed with cancer in 2002, and subsequently with secondary breast cancer in 2006. Nevertheless, she carried on working and in 2008 joined Oxford-based commercial station JACK fm where she presented the news and a Sunday daytime show.

She also began appearing on the station's morning show discussing her cancer, a slot which became much acclaimed for its frankness and good humour. The 'Cancer Diaries' section won a Silver Sony earlier this year and was handed the Special Programme Of The Year Gong at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards last month. Booker had an audience beyond the reach of her radio station too, regularly writing about her life and treatment via a blog and Facebook page.

Her condition had worsened in recent months, so much so she wasn't able to accept her Arqiva award in person, but did send a video acceptance speech. She died on Thursday, aged 47.

Kevin Game, who fundraises for the Oxford hospice where Booker spent her final weeks, told the Oxford Mail last week: "Ali was a genuine inspiration to us at Sobell House. Her courage in refusing to be buckled by her illness and determination to continue to live her life to the full was astonishing. Not only was she a remarkable woman in her own right, but she was also a very good friend to the charity, helping us raise awareness of both Sobell House and hospice care in general. We will all miss her and our thoughts go out to her family".

French producer, label owner and music publisher Francis Dreyfus has died, aged 69.

Through his record and publishing companies, Dreyfus worked with the likes of David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Cat Stevens, and produced albums by big French artists like Alain Bashung and Christophe. Since the early nineties he concentrated on jazz releases, and worked with the likes of Marcus Miller, Steve Grossman, Richard Galliano and Alan Stivell. He also helped set up SPPF, the French independent labels collecting society.

But Dreyfus is probably best known for his long association with Jean-Michel Jarre. He published Jarre's seminal album 'Oxygene', and worked with the electronica icon of a range of recording and concert projects.

Paying tribute to Dreyfus yesterday, SPPF Director General Jerome Roger said, according to Billboard: "Way before anyone, [Dreyfus] had a global vision of the work of a music producer".

Ken Brown, a guitarist on the Liverpool music scene in the early sixties, has died aged 70. Brown didn't enjoy a huge amount of success as a musician, but retains a place in rock n roll history for being an original member of The Quarrymen, the band that became The Beatles.

Brown was originally in a band with George Harrison, but when that outfit fell apart with a gig already booked to be played at Liverpool club the Casbah Coffee Club, they asked John Lennon and Paul McCartney to make up a new four piece which went by the name The Quarrymen.

It was a short lived musical collaboration because Brown broke his leg and couldn't play. Legend has it that when Brown's bandmates discovered the owner of the Casbah, one Mona Best, had paid him for a gig he hadn't played (as a result of his leg) arguments ensued and the guitarist was kicked out of the band.

Brown formed another short lived band with Mona's son Pete , but when The Beatles were offered a residency in Hamburg they invited Best Junior to join them, leaving Brown without a band. He subsequently moved to London and made a life outside of music, though in his later years posted a few songs to his website, and started to write a book about his time with the band that became The Beatles.

He had been suffered from emphysema, and it is thought that caused his death.

Jazz man Fred Anderson has died aged 81. According to the LA Times, he suffered a heart attack on 14 Jun, his sons Eugene and Michael confirmed this weekend. 

Born in Louisiana in 1929, Anderson was a tenor saxophonist, and worked as a jobbing musician for years, before coming to wider attention more as a club owner. He opened the Velvet Lounge in Chicago in 1982, the name based on a review of his own saxophone playing, which described his sound as being "velvety smooth".

The club became a key institution in the Chicago jazz scene, and became particularly known for its championing of contemporary jazz and new talent, many of whom were personally coached by Anderson, who also oversaw the management of the venue on a day-to-day basis, even as far as manning the bar on occasion. 

Anderson became better known as a musician in his own right in the 1990s when recordings of his performances started to be released. As a result, he became a regular on the jazz festival circuit.

Known for his innovative style and passion for more cutting edge jazz - a passion which arguably commercially hindered his own career in the early days - veteran alto saxophonist Jimmy Ellis told The Chicago Tribune newspaper last week that Anderson was "the essence of music in Chicago", while jazz guitarist George Freeman said: "Fred has always been different. He was doing his own thing, he did it his way".

Kinks co-founder Pete Quaife has died aged 66. Although the exact cause of his death has not been announced, he had been undergoing kidney dialysis since 1998 after suffering renal failure. Quaife co-founded the classic British sixties group in 1962 with the Davies brothers, Ray and Dave, and drummer Mick Avory. He played bass. He briefly quit the band in 1966 because a car accident meant he was unable to play, though it wasn't until 1969 that he properly left the outfit, being replaced by John Dalton.

Post-Kinks he set up another band called Mapleoak, before quitting music and pursuing a career as an author and graphic artist. He occasionally returned to the stage with the rest of the Kinks, most recently when they were inducted into the US Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990, though when he was approached by Ray Davies about a reunion in 2008 he declined to get involved, instead announcing his intent give up performing in public for good.

Davies paid tribute to his former bandmate while playing at Glastonbury this weekend, telling his audience: "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for him".

Scottish actor and blues singer Tam White, who performed with the likes of BB King and Eric Clapton, has died, seemingly on his way home from a gym session in Edinburgh. He was 68.

White began his musical career in 1964 when he formed The Boston Dexters. The band played a six month residency at London's Pontiac Club, which is where White first met Clapton, who played in another band resident at the venue. The Dexters split in the late 1960s and since then White played on and off as a solo artist.

However, White actually enjoyed more success as an actor, appearing in various British TV shows including 'Taggart', 'River City', 'Rebus' and, perhaps most notably, he spent a year as a recurring character in 'Eastenders'. One of his early TV projects involved providing the vocals for Robbie Coltrane to mime to in the seminal late 80s TV series 'Tutti Frutti'.

A statement posted on his official website yesterday reads: "It is with great sadness to announce that Tam passed away today. May our thoughts be with his wife Moira and children".

The man inside the papier mache head of comedian Frank Sidebottom, Chris Sievey died yesterday at Wythenshawe Hospital after collapsing at his home in Hale, Greater Manchester. He had been recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his chest. He was 54.

Frank Sidebottom became a familiar character on TV in the 80s and 90s, instantly recognisable by his massive head and unshakable enthusiasm for everything. He first appeared on one of a number of tracks by Sievey's band The Freshies, which came free with a videogame he designed for the ZX Spectrum called 'The Biz'. Originally the Sidebottom character was meant to be a one off creation as a fan of The Freshies, but he quickly became hugely popular and took on a life of his own.

Such was the appeal of the Frank Sidebottom act, he went on to appear on both adult and childrens' TV and radio shows, including Channel 4 gameshow 'Remote Control', hosted by Tony Wilson, and on various radio stations with Mark & Lard, including Radio 1.

As well as his comedy career, Sievey was also heavily involved in music. He formed DIY record label Razz Records in 1974, putting out over 60 releases. In the late 70s he formed The Freshies, who released a string of EPs mainly through Razz, though he did sign to MCA and later Stiff Records in the early 80s. Their best known song, 'I'm In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk', reached number 54 in the singles chart in 1981.

As well as this, Sievey released records as Frank Sidebottom, most recently a World Cup single, 'Three Shirts On My Line', which he launched just last week.

Journalist and musician Rhodri Marsden, a current member of Frank Sidebottom's Oh Blimey Big Band, wrote on the Guardian website this morning: "I've never played on stage with such a buoyant, upbeat bloke. If we hadn't managed to learn the songs he wanted to play, well, that was funny. If we didn't have time to soundcheck - which, in already-busy venues, he would do while hiding behind an amplifier with gaffer tape wrapped around his face - that was 'brilliant'".

He adds: "Any pre-gig discussions would inevitably be concluded by Chris saying 'Don't worry, it'll be fine!', accompanied by a wide, reassuring grin. And it always was, because even after we'd all had a few drinks, he was an utter professional. Blundering, unpredictable, impulsive, but a professional. And incredibly funny. So funny. The repetition and apparent simplicity of Frank's stage act masked some off-the-cuff comic timing that would leave me agog".

Garry Shider, longtime guitarist and singer with George Clinton's funk collectives Parliament and Funkadelic, has died after losing a battle with brain and lung cancer. He was 56.

Born in New Jersey, Shider moved to Canada aged sixteen and set up a funk group called United Soul. Clinton, living in Toronto at the time, heard about the new group and took them under his wing, and collaborated with the outfit in the early seventies.

He subsequently invited Shider and his United Soul co-founder Cordell Mosson to join his Parliament/Funkadelic collective, and Shider played a key role in those groups through to their conclusion in the early eighties. He continued to play with Clinton as part of the P-Funk All Stars even after Parliament and Funkadelic had been officially wound up.

When performing alongside Clinton, Shider was known for wearing an oversized 'loincloth', a fashion statement which earned him the nickname 'diaper man'.

His cancer was diagnosed earlier this year. A tribute in the local paper of his home town of Plainfield, New Jersey reads: "He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Linda, and mourned by the city of Plainfield and wherever the language of funk is spoken".

Andy Cash, who ran three independent record shops in the Midlands from the early eighties through to 2007, all bearing his name, has died, aged 56.

Cash, who began his music retail career at Birmingham record shop Tempest in the seventies, before a stint as a rep at EMI, became a well known figure in the Midlands music scene, particularly once the Andy Cash Records mini-chain was established.

His shops were a key part of the independent retail scene in the region for well over twenty years, until the slump in physical record sales at the start of the last decade forced him to cut back the scale of his business, shutting the final of his shops in 2007.

Dave Williams, a school friend of Cash who helped him set up his first shop, told Music Week this week: "He was like an English gent. He was a record man really. He had a good knowledge as well as being good with the customers, getting on with people".

Country singer Jimmy Dean, best known for his big hit 'Big Bad John', has died, aged 81.

Dean started his career in the entertainment industry in the late 1940s after a time in the US Air Force. He hosted a radio show in Washington DC in the early 1950s, and scored one hit during that time in the form of 'Bummin Around', though it was when he started working for US broadcaster CBS and signed to its then sister record company Columbia Records that his music career started to take off properly. He had a number of hits in the sixties and seventies, though his 1961 hit 'Big Bad John' remained his most famous.

Although his music career grew, Dean continued to work in TV - including some stints on 'The Tonight Show' and some memorable sketches with Rowlf the Dog on 'The Muppet Show' - and later turned to acting. Also a business man, in 1969 he founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company, and became the face of his product by appearing in numerous TV ads. He sold the sausage company in 1984, though stayed involved in its running until the start of the last decade.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame earlier this year. He is survived by his wife, Mary Sue, and three children.

It was confirmed yesterday that former Stereophonics drummer, broadcaster and one time CMU columnist Stuart Cable had been found dead at his home in the Welsh village of Llwydcoed. He turned 40 last month. No cause of death has yet been announced.

Cable played in a number of bands in his home town of Cwmaman in Wales prior to forming Stereophonics with schoolfriends Kelly Jones and Richard Jones in 1992. In 1996, they became the first band to sign to Richard Branson's then newly formed V2 record label, releasing their debut album, 'Word Gets Around', the following year. Cable went on to record three more number one albums with the band, but was sacked in 2003, apparently due to a "lack of commitment", via a statement posted on the band's website. The drummer only learned that he was no longer a member of the band when journalists and friends began ringing to ask if it was true.

He later wrote in his autobiography that his problems with drink and drugs had in part led to his departure from the band, saying: "We went from a tight-knit rock band who were the best of friends to the two musketeers against the hyperactive junkie clown. The more we started to drift apart the more I rebelled and went my own way". He also described the split as "the darkest time of my life".

At this time, Cable was also presenting a TV chat show on BBC Wales called Cable TV, and this was also cited as a reason for his sacking, with his bandmates claiming the drummer's commitment to the Phonics waned as he focussed on a media career. That new part of his life continued after leaving the band - he went on to present for BBC Wales, BBC Radio Wales, Kerrang! 105.2 and Xfm South Wales - through he continued to drum also, forming a new band in 2006 called Killing For Company, who were due to perform at this weekend's Download festival.

Kelly Jones paid tribute to his former bandmate yesterday, telling reporters: "I sent him a text last week to say happy birthday and he replied, 'I never thought I'd make it to 40'. I texted him back and I said, 'You will live to be 100, mate'. I'm in total shock. It was about 8.30am and I was getting ready to go to my uncle's funeral when Stuart's brother Paul rang. I was going to see Stuart today for a pint and wish him happy birthday as well".

Jones added that, despite tensions around the time Cable was sacked from the band, the pair had patched up their differences in recent years: "We have been speaking to each other for the past five years. When people break up in bands no one really knows what it's all about. But, between me and Stuart, all our disagreements were solved within one year".

Eddy Temple-Morris, who was an early champion of Stereophonics via his MTV show 'Up For It' in the late 90s, writes in his column on theCMUwebsite.com this week: "I got to meet, know, hang with Stuart and his wonderful family a lot in those days; and after he was sacked from Stereophonics by Kelly, we both produced TV programmes in the same building in South Wales. So, I knew Stuart before he was famous, during the height of his fame, and afterwards".

He continues: "And here's the point, in all that time HE NEVER CHANGED. Stuart was a colossal character. The embodiment of everything that is great about the Welsh. That huge, booming, baritone voice, the big smile, the cheeky banter, and the ability to light up a room when he entered it. He was a great hair-bear of a Celtic man-god. I was looking forward to his becoming a Welsh version of Brian Blessed, universally loved for his cartoon like character, positivity and ability to take life on with a lightness of heart".

He concludes: "The entertainment industry is famous for being full of sharks, hyenas, snakes, vermin and pond-scum. Stuart was proof you didn't have to follow suit. You could be, if I follow this animal analogy, a giraffe. Giraffes have the biggest hearts in the animal kingdom. Stuart's was huge. He was a genuine, loving, lovable, huggable great galoot with comedy hair and a smile that could light up Wembley Stadium. That's what he leaves behind, a legacy of niceness".

Stuart Cable is survived by his two sons, his mother Mabel, and his brother Paul.

Ali-Ollie Woodson, the songwriter and singer who led the eighties and nineties incarnation of The Temptations, co-writing their hit 'Treat Her Like A Lady', has died, aged 58. Bill Wilson, President of the Motown Alumni Association, confirmed the singer had died this weekend, after losing his fight with cancer.

Born in the hometown of The Temptations franchise, Detroit, Woodson joined the vocal group in 1984 when their fame was on the wane. His contributions to the hit 'Treat Her Like A Lady' - as co-writer, co-producer and vocalist - ensured the band stayed in the spotlight for another decade. He performed with the band through to 1996 with a two year break in the late eighties, and later appeared in The Temptations Revue with Dennis Edwards, who had been a key Temptation in the seventies.

After leaving The Temptations, Woodson pursued a solo career, and also toured with a Temptation-style revue show billed as Ali-Ollie Woodson & The Emperors Of Soul (named after a Motown box-set of Temptations music released during his tenure in the band). More recently he toured with Aretha Franklin.