John Dawson - Songwriter

John "Marmaduke" Dawson, leader of the 1970's psychedelic country group "New Riders of the Purple Sage" died on July 21, 2009 from stomach cancer at the age of 64.

He was a longtime collaborator with the Grateful Dead. He co-wrote "Friend of the Devil" with Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.

He founded New Riders, along with Jerry Garcia to showcase his songs, along with Garcia's pedal-steel guitar playing. The band toured with the Dead from 1971-1976 and released eight albums. The group also included two other members from the Dead: bassist Phil Lesh and drummer Mickey Hart.

The New Riders received a gold record for their 1973 hit "Panama Red." He retired several years ago and was living in Mexico.

John Barry - Marketed WD-40

John Barry, 84, former CEO of WD-40 Co. died on July 3, 2009 in LaJolla, California. He started working for a company in the 1950's that was trying to produce a rust-preventer for missiles. The product was used to prevent corrosion on the outer layer of the rockets.

The product worked so well that employees stated to take cans of it home for personal use. The WD stood for "water displacement" and the 40 was in reference to the 40th attempt at making the final product.

Mr Barry changed the name of the company to WD-40. Initially the product was sold by salesmen traveling between hardware stores. Sales continued to mushroom for the product. Today the company has $300 million in sales in over 160 countries.

Michael Klenfner - Record Executive

Michael Klenfner was a former Atlantic Records music executive who helped transform the Blues Brothers from a skit on "Saturday Night Live" into the successful band they became. He was 62 and died of congestive heart failure on July 14, 2009 in New York City.

In the 1970's, he helped comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi transform their band act which eventually lead to a series of recording hits, as well as the successful "Blues Brothers" movie.

Over a 30 year span, he promoted the careers of hundreds of other musicians and was the producer of Cher's mega hit "Believe" in 1998.

Wiiliam Reedy - Driver

During the early afternoon of Christmas Day 1989, William Reedy was driving a truck that was involved in a fatal accident. His passenger was Billy Martin, the former New York Yankees manager. Martin died at the scene and Reedy suffered a broken hip.

Reedy was convicted of DUI . He was fined $350 and his licence was suspended for 6 months. At his trial, he denied being the operator of the vehicle, although the jury felt otherwise.

Reedy, 72, died at his home in Milford, Michigan on June 28, 2009 from pancreatic cancer. He owned two bars in the Detroit area and met Martin when he managed the Detroit Tigers from 1971-1973 . He remained close friends with Martin.

Bob Bogle - Member of "The Ventures"

Bob Bogle,the co-founder and lead guitar for the 60's rock group, The Ventures died on June 14, 2009 at the age of 75 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The group was most noted for their "surfing music" with their two greatest hits; "Walk Don't Run" and the theme song from the television series "Hawaii Five -O".

Mr Bogle co-founded the band in 1959 with Don Wilson. They were both working together at the time doing masonry work. "Walk Don't Run" made it to #2 on the Billboard charts in 1960. The "Hawaii Five-O" theme peaked at #4 in 1969. Between 1960 and 1972, they had 37 albums in the top 200.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.