Hawthorne Heights guitarist Casey Calvert was pronounced dead on Saturday, just outside of Washington, DC's 9:30 Club. The cause of death is currently unknown. He was 26.

Police arrived on the scene around 2:30pm, when Calvert was found unconscious in his tour bus. In a statement on Hawthorne Heights' website, the band said Calvert "passed away in his sleep," but police are awaiting the results of the autopsy. The Ohio-based group kicked off their Wintour 2007 run just one day prior.

"Today is probably the worst day ever," began the band's announcement. "It's with our deepest regrets that we have to write this. Casey Calvert passed away in his sleep last night. We found out this afternoon before sound-check. We've spent the entire day trying to come to grips with this and figure out as much as possible. At this time we're not sure what exactly happened. Just last night he was joking around with everyone before he went to bed. We can say with absolute certainty that he was not doing anything illegal. Please, out of respect to Casey and his family, don't contribute or succumb to any gossip you may hear. We don't want his memory to be tainted in the least. Casey was our best friend. He was quirky and awesome and there will truly be no others like him! His loss is unexplainable. As soon as we know more we will let you know."

I had the pleasure of meeting James Brown, who died Christmas Day at the age of 73, backstage at a Black Eyed Peas-organized benefit in L.A. in March 2005. At the time, Brown, whose contributions to popular music are immeasurable, talked about living up to his moniker as the "Hardest-Working Man in Show Business" well into his 70s.

"We just do all the things that we can to keep this going, because at this point we need to teach these young people," the Godfather of Soul said. "We gotta turn this music back around. If you don't, we can't keep on this. We're chaotic right now; that's gotta change. If we don't change nothing we're gonna destroy everything. We've got learn to love each other."

Did he believe music had that capability to make change? "That's the only way you're gonna do it," he said. "You can't learn if you pick up a gun. You can't make me love you and I can't make you love me. But we can love each other through the spirit." Brown also spoke about why he believed so many artists who followed him felt, and still continue to feel, his influence. "I enjoy working with the young people," he said. "The stuff they're doing is very elementary for me; I done did it so long ago. And I didn't have no help. We had to do it by hand. Somebody pull the plug on a computer it's gonna shut off, whatcha gonna do then?"

And about one of the major contributions Brown made to music, changing where the accents fall on the beat, he had this to say: "For all your life, most artists, people, Beethoven, Strauss, Bach, Chopin, you name them, they were two-and-four," he told me. "But music is a-one-and-a-two, bam, on the downbeat, instant. I was a computer by thought. Bam, right on it, what your computer is right there, that's where I was."

Ahmet Ertegun, who helped shaped American music as the founder of Atlantic Records in 1947 -- a label that was home to Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, among others -- died Thursday. He was 83.

The music pioneer remained steadfast in his love for music up until his last months. It was at an Oct. 29 New York Rolling Stones concert where Ertegun fell and suffered a head injury. Earlier this week, he went into a coma.

A private ceremony for Ertegun will be held in his native Turkey, while a memorial service will be conducted in New York soon after New Year's.

Read the full obit.

R&B singer Gerald Levert, founder of the groups Levert and L.S.G., died Friday morning from an apparent heart attack, as first reported by AOL Black Voices. He was 40.

A FAMILY AFFAIR: Levert's father Eddie Levert topped the charts as a member of the influential 70's group, The O'Jays. In the early '80s, Gerald and brother Sean formed Levert with their good friend Mark Gordon.

THE MUSIC: The group Levert scored five No. 1 singles including 'Cassanova.' Gerald went on to rack up the hits as a solo artist and alongside Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill as a member of the R&B super group L.S.G. 'Baby Hold on to Me,' recorded with Eddie Levert, went to No. 1 on the Pop charts.

THE LEGACY: In 2005, Gerald's daughter, Carlysia, performed songs from her own upcoming album on an episode of MTV's 'My Super Sweet 16.'

Watch 'Baby Hold on to Me'

Watch 'Private Line'

Watch 'Thinkin' About It'

Arthur Lee, the self-proclaimed "first black hippie" who led the influential L.A. group Love, died Thursday in Memphis of complications form a battle with leukemia. He was 61.

HEAVY INFLUENCE: Love's 1968 opus, 'Forever Changes,' is often hailed as one of the most creative rock records of all time.

POLICE BLOTTER: The mercurial Lee had several run-ins with the law in later life and spent some time in prison.

LEGACY: Huge fan Robert Plant headlined an all-star tribute to Lee in New York in June.

Read the obituary.

Syd Barrett, the troubled Pink Floyd co-founder who lived much of his life as a recluse, died Friday, July 7, of complications from diabetes. He was 60.

BEGINNINGS: Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour were schoolmates at Cambridge High School in England. Barrett suggested the band name the Pink Floyd Sound, borrowed from two bluesmen, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

RISE AND FALL: Barrett was the principle songwriter on the band's debut album, 'The Piper At the Gates of Dawn,' but heavy use of hallucinogens rendered him nearly catatonic and he left the band in 1968.

POST-PINK: Barrett released two solo albums, 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett,' in 1970.

TRIVIA: The Floyd song 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' was a tribute to their former band mate; he attended the recording session.

Read the obituary.

Read a classic Rolling Stone interview with Barrett.

Listen to 'Arnold Lane'

Listen to 'See Emily Play'

Listen to 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'

Milan Williams, a founding member of the Commodores, the R&B group that had 17 Top 40 hits, died Sunday at age 58 in Houston after a bout with cancer. "He was once, twice, three times a brother," said band mate Walter "Clyde" Orange.

BEGINNINGS: The original members of the group, including future solo star Lionel Richie, met as students at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and got started in music as the opening act for the Jackson 5.

BREAKTHROUGH: Williams, a keyboardist, wrote the band's first hit, 'Machine Gun.'

TRIVIA:  Like the Grateful Dead, the Commodores chose their name by  making a random selection in a dictionary.

Read the obituary.

Paul Nelson, a first-generation rock critic who knew Bob Dylan before he left Minnesota and became a longtime editor and contributor with Rolling Stone, Circus and Musician magazines, was found dead last week in his New York apartment. He was 69.

NOTABLE: Nelson founded the Little Sandy Review, an influential folk-revival magazine, edited Rolling Stone's review section and co-wrote a Rod Stewart biography with Lester Bangs.

SECOND CAREER: As an A&R man for Mercury Records, he signed the New York Dolls. He was also an early supporter of Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne.

FILMOGRAPHY: Nelson appeared in 'No Direction Home,' his friend Martin Scorsese's Dylan documentary.

Read the Rolling Stone obituary.

Songwriter Willie Denson, who wrote songs recorded by Aretha Franklin, the Ronettes and Gene Pitney, died of lung cancer Saturday at his Columbus, GA home. He was 69.

BREAKTHROUGH: Denson co-wrote 'Mama Said' with Luther Dixon. The Shirelles version of the song climbed to No. 4 in 1961.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Published more than 250 songs and made appearances on TV shows such as 'Soul Train' and 'American Bandstand.'

DID YOU KNOW?: Denson won the Georgia Lotto in 2001, opting for a $1.29 million cash payment on a $3 million jackpot.

Read the full story. 

Johnny Jenkins, a left-handed guitarist who influenced Jimi Hendrix and was one of the first artists to record for Capricorn Records, died Sunday of complications from a stroke. He was 67.

BEGINNINGS: A young Otis Redding was a driver and gofer for Jenkins' Macon, GA band, the Pinetoppers, when he got his break: He used some of the band's recording time at Stax to cut his first hit, 'These Arms of Mine'

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: His swampy 1970 solo album 'Ton-Ton Macoute!' featured Duane Allman and other members of the Allman Brothers Band

DID YOU KNOW?: 'Ton-Ton Macoute!' was originally conceived as Allman's first solo album

Read the obituary.

Producer Arif Mardin, whose long, eclectic resume includes landmark recordings by Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 74.

BEGINNINGS: Met Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones at a concert in his native Istanbul in 1956; first recipient of the Quincy Jones Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music (1958); started at Atlantic Records in 1963

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 11-time Grammy winner, including two awards for Producer of the Year, and winner of the Trustees Award in 2002

DID YOU KNOW?: Mardin produced Norah Jones' blockbuster album 'Come Away With Me,' after "retiring" from Atlantic in 2001

Read the obituary.

Co-founding Kool & the Gang member and guitarist Claydes (Charles) Smith died Tuesday in Maplewood, N.J., after a long illness. He was 57.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Smith co-wrote many Kool & the Gang hits, including 'Celebration,' 'Jungle Boogie' and 'Hollywood Swinging.' His slow jam 'Joanna' was a No. 2 hit for the group in 1983

DID YOU KNOW: One of the dominant R&B groups of the '70s and early '80s, Kool & the Gang actually started as a jazz act called the Jazziacs. The group went R&B by the late '60s, first as the Soul Town Band, then Kool & the Gang 

QUOTE: James Brown once called Kool & the Gang "the second baddest out there"

Read the obituary.

Listen to 'Joanna'

Listen to 'Celebration'