Deaths, Celebrity Deaths | featured news

British singer Beryl Davis, who sang with Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman, dies aged 87.

Davis was hired as coach and general manager of the Oakland Raiders at the age of 33 and later became principal owner.

Michael Jackson's fingerprints were not on any of the syringes, vials or other medical paraphernalia that littered the scene of his death, attorneys said in court Thursday, undercutting the defense theory that the singer had given himself the drug that killed him.

Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died, Apple said. Jobs was 56. "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," read a statement by Apple's board of directors. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, died after a long struggle with cancer, the environmental organization she founded said Monday. She was 71....

Arch West, a retired Frito-Lay marketing executive credited with creating Doritos as the first national tortilla chip brand, has died in Dallas at age 97.

Author and folklorist Stetson Kennedy, who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan six decades ago and exposed its secrets to authorities and the public but was also criticized for possibly exaggerating his exploits, died Saturday. He was 94. Kennedy died at Baptist Medical Center South near St. Augustine, where he had been receiving hospice care.

Esther Gordy Edwards, who helped build Motown Records alongside her brother Berry Gordy Jr. and led efforts to turn its original Detroit headquarters into a museum, has died. She was 91.

The death of the Warrant singer is being investigated as a possible accidental overdose but may also have been from natural causes, the site reported.

Former NFL defensive star Bubba Smith, who found a successful second career as an actor, has died in Los Angeles at age 66.