The rapper and producer who animated the Bay Area crew had a huge hit in 1990 with "The Humpty Dance," introduced the world to Tupac Shakur and was a foundational figure in West Coast hip-hop.
Closely associated with Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman also wrote over-the-top hits for Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply and Celine Dion, as well as music for the stage.
Dan Pitts, who retired from a 39-year high school football coaching career with the most wins in Georgia history, died Tuesday, Monroe County Schools announced. He was 88 and battling Stage 4 lung cancer.
The Minnesota Democrat was President Jimmy Carter's vice president and the Democratic nominee for president in 1984. He's lauded for humor and transforming the vice presidency, but also for decency.
Madoff died Wednesday in a North Carolina federal prison, where he was serving a 150-year sentence. He defrauded thousands of investors out of tens of billions of dollars over nearly two decades.
The musician spent a decade homeless in San Francisco before making records, but left a much longer legacy by bringing his knowledge of bebop and blues, and an innate soulfulness into jazz music.
The bombastic conservative, who became a popular talk show host, reveled in his reputation as a man willing to go to any lengths to reelect Nixon, saying, "I'd do it again for my president."
In over 30 novels and across dozens of screenplays, nonfiction works and memoirs, McMurtry became a beloved yet unsentimental chronicler of the American West.
Best known in the U.S. for his jazz film Round Midnight, Tavernier directed some 40 features and documentaries. He was also a noted film historian who wrote a book about American cinema.