A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
As we end this 12 months, let’s hearken to among the musicians we misplaced in 2025. Sam Moore was half the R&B powerhouse Sam & Dave. He sang on smashes comparable to “Maintain On, I am Comin’,” “I Thank You” and this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SOUL MAN”)
SAM AND DAVE: (Singing) I am a soul man. I am a soul man.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We additionally misplaced the guitarist on that tune, Steve Cropper. He outlined the sound of Memphis soul with the Stax Information Home Band. He appeared on hits by Otis Redding, Booker T. & The M.G.’s and Wilson Pickett.
MARTÍNEZ: Sly Stone was one of many forefathers of funk. With the Household Stone, he performed Woodstock and the Summer time Of Soul. They scored three No. 1 songs, together with this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EVERYDAY PEOPLE”)
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: (Singing) I’m on a regular basis individuals. Yeah, yeah.
MARTIN: Nonetheless a should at each cookout.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, yeah.
MARTIN: No relation to Sly, Angie Stone helped usher within the age of neo soul within the 2000s. She died in March.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WISH I DIDN’T MISS YOU”)
ANGIE STONE: (Singing) I want I did not miss you anymore.
MARTÍNEZ: A one-time companion of Angie Stone’s, D’Angelo solely launched three albums in his lifetime, however he modified the sport every time, and he was simply 51.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “UNTITLED (HOW DOES IT FEEL)”)
D’ANGELO: (Singing) How does it really feel?
MARTÍNEZ: And, Michel, I feel he impressed thousands and thousands of males to start out doing sit-ups.
MARTIN: The final unique member of The Band died in 2025. Garth Hudson performed keyboards from their early days backing up Bob Dylan, all the way in which to their induction into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WEIGHT”)
THE BAND: (Singing) Take a load off, Fanny. Take a load without cost.
MARTÍNEZ: One of many main girls of the British Invasion, singer Marianne Faithfull, died initially of the 12 months on the age of 78.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “AS TEARS GO BY”)
MARIANNE FAITHFULL: (Singing) I sit and watch as tears go by.
MARTIN: As one-third of Peter, Paul And Mary, Peter Yarrow was a serious a part of the people music revival of the Sixties.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PUFF, THE MAGIC DRAGON”)
PETER PAUL AND MARY: (Singing) Oh, Puff, the magic dragon lived by the ocean.
MARTÍNEZ: Musical satirist Tom Lehrer died this 12 months on the age of 97. The Harvard educated mathematician discovered humor in nearly any topic, together with nuclear annihilation.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WE WILL ALL GO TOGETHER WHEN WE GO”)
TOM LEHRER: (Singing) We are going to all go collectively once we go. All suffused with an incandescent glow.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: One other nice who fused music and comedy, Alf Clausen was the longtime composer and arranger for “The Simpsons.”
(SOUNDBITE OF THE SIMPSONS’ “$PRINGFIELD (MEDLEY)”)
MARTÍNEZ: This subsequent composer wrote many themes for movie and tv, however Lalo Schifrin will at all times be remembered for “Mission: Unimaginable.”
(SOUNDBITE OF LALO SCHIFRIN’S “MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE”)
MARTIN: We misplaced an important Broadway composer. Charles Strouse wrote the music for “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Annie.” And by the way in which, good luck getting this out of your head for the remainder of the day.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “TOMORROW (FROM “ANNIE”)”)
ANDREA MCARDLE: (Singing) The solar will come out tomorrow. So you have to grasp on until tomorrow.
MARTÍNEZ: I simply bought to play it on a loop to try to get it out. Now, Connie Francis scored greater than a dozen High 10 hits within the Nineteen Fifties and the early ’60s. Then she had a shock resurgence earlier this 12 months on TikTok. She was 87.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHO’S SORRY NOW”)
CONNIE FRANCIS: (Singing) Who’s sorry now?
MARTIN: We’re listening to a couple of the musicians who died in 2025. One of the celebrated reggae musicians of all time, Jimmy Cliff, discovered worldwide fame with the music from his movie “The Tougher They Come.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE HARDER THEY COME”)
JIMMY CLIFF: (Singing) Oh, the more durable they arrive, the more durable they fall. Every one.
MARTÍNEZ: We additionally misplaced two musicians who have been important elements of the Nineteen Seventies rock scene in New York Metropolis. Drummer Clem Burke stored the beat for Blondie.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DREAMING”)
BLONDIE: (Singing) We simply carry on dreaming.
MARTÍNEZ: And singer David Johansen impressed punk with the New York Dolls.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PERSONALITY CRISIS”)
NEW YORK DOLLS: (Singing) About her character disaster. You bought it whereas it was sizzling.
MARTIN: Two legends of laborious rock additionally handed just lately. KISS guitarist Ace Frehley died simply a few months earlier than his band acquired a Kennedy Heart Honor.
(SOUNDBITE OF KISS SONG, “ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE”)
MARTIN: And the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, died simply weeks after his ultimate stay efficiency along with his outdated band, Black Sabbath.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRON MAN”)
BLACK SABBATH: (Singing) Iron man lives once more.
MARTÍNEZ: One of many producers who labored with Ozzy through the years additionally bought this large sound out of Queen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY”)
QUEEN: (Singing) Beelzebub has a satan put apart for me, for me, for me.
MARTÍNEZ: I want I might hit that observe. Roy Thomas Baker produced a lot of Queen’s albums, together with data by The Automobiles and Journey He died in April.
MARTIN: Two of the drummers who supported Miles Davis through the years left us. Al Foster joined him as he returned to recording within the Eighties, and the person behind Miles on the legendary B****es Brew album, Jack DeJohnette, died in October.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS’ “SPANISH KEY”)
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you did not hear quite a lot of flugelhorn on the pop charts in 1978, however Chuck Mangione scored a serious hit “Feels So Good.” He died on the age of 84.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHUCK MANGIONE’S “FEELS SO GOOD”)
MARTIN: She was the primary individual to win the Grammy for Document of the Yr in consecutive years, and he or she was the soundtrack to my younger maturity, Roberta Flack. She died in February.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “KILLING ME SOFTLY”)
ROBERTA FLACK: (Singing) Killing me softly along with his tune. Killing me softly along with his tune, telling my complete life…
MARTÍNEZ: We simply realized yesterday in regards to the dying of an enormous on the planet of gospel music. Richard Smallwood led award-winning choirs and wrote timeless odes to worship. His work was coated by Whitney Houston and Future’s Little one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “TOTAL PRAISE (WITH VISION)”)
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) You’re the supply of my power.
MARTIN: And eventually, the architect of some of the influential bands in American rock historical past, Brian Wilson of The Seaside Boys.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “CALIFORNIA GIRLS”)
THE BEACH BOYS: (Singing) I want all of them may very well be California women.
MARTIN: Wilson introduced an orchestral method to the manufacturing of their songs about women, surf and solar. His genius reached its peak with Pet Sounds, usually cited as one of many biggest albums of all time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOD ONLY KNOWS”)
THE BEACH BOYS: (Singing) In case you ought to ever go away me, nicely, life would nonetheless go on, imagine me.
MARTÍNEZ: And people have been only a few of the musicians we misplaced in 2025, and we’re actually sorry if we left off somebody you liked.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOD ONLY KNOWS”)
THE BEACH BOYS: (Singing) God solely is aware of what I would be with out you.
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