16 Best Albums Released By Musicians After They Died
- Posted by Jen Zoratti
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Hulton Archive | 2Pac Facebook
Posthumous album releases carry a lot of weight. It's a gravitas that comes from the context of their releases -- see post-suicide works such as Nirvana's Unplugged in New York or Elliott Smith's From a Basement on a Hill -- but also from their striking finality. This is the last we'll hear from Biggie, Ian Curtis, Amy Winehouse. For fans, that's a hard pill to swallow.
These are recordings that have the power to leave indelible legacies; The Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous sophomore album -- fittingly titled Life After Death -- stands as one of the most important hip-hop albums of the '90s. Other final sessions may never be heard; cult icon Harry Nilsson recorded the vocals for his last album just hours before he died of heart failure in 1994 and the record (tentatively titled Papa's Got a Brown New Robe) has yet to be released.
In honor of Broadcast's release, here are 16 of the best posthumous records -- and no, they're not all from Tupac.
- Joy Division 'Closer'
- Amy Winehouse 'Lioness: Hidden Treasures'
- The Notorious B.I.G. 'Life After Death'
- Elliott Smith 'From a Basement on the Hill'
- Johnny Cash 'My Mother's Hymn Book'
- Bob Marley & The Wailers 'Confrontation'
- Joey Ramone 'Don't Worry About Me'
- Otis Redding "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay"
- Janis Joplin 'Pearl'
- John Lennon 'Milk and Honey'
- Makaveli (a.k.a. 2Pac) 'The Don Killuminati: The 7-Day Theory'
- Michael Hutchence 'Michael Hutchence'
- Nirvana 'Unplugged in New York'
- Ray Charles 'Genius Loves Company'
- Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros 'Streetcore'
- Sublime 'Sublime'
- Dead Musicians Resurrected
- Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole
- The Beatles
- Kenny G and Louis Armstrong
- Celine Dion and Elvis Presley
- Kurt Cobain
- Scarlett Johannson and Dean Martin
- Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur
- Musicians With Mysterious Deaths
- Robert Johnson
- Sam Cooke
- Bobby Fuller
- Brian Jones
- Jim Morrison
- Marvin Gaye
- Kurt Cobain
- Richey James Edwards
- Tupac Shakur | Notorious B.I.G. | Jam Master Jay
- Michael Hutchence
- Elliott Smith
- Musicians Who Died on Stage
- Tiny Tim
- Mark Sandman
- Johnny "Guitar" Watson
- Walter "Crash" Morgan
- "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott
- Spade Cooley
- Ty Longley
- Lee Morgan
- Antony Wheeler
- Philippe Wynne
- Johnny Ace
- Jackie Wilson
- Micki Harris
- Judge Dread
- Curtis Mayfield
- Country Dick Montana
- Devon Clifford
- RIP: Music Legends Who Died In 2012
- Adam "MCA" Yauch
- Whitney Houston
- Donna Summer
- Kitty Wells
- Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees
- Etta James
- Don Cornelius
- Earl Scruggs
- Dick Clark
- The Band's Levon Helm
- Donald "Duck" Dunn
- Men at Work's Greg Ham
- The Monkees' Davy Jones
- Dave Brubeck
- Fontella Bass
- Hal David
- Marvin Hamlisch
- Ravi Shankar
- Andy Williams
- Bob Babbitt
- Herb Reed
- Bob Welch
- Chris Lighty
- Jim Marshall
- Scott McKenzie
- Tony Sly
- Filed under: News, Exclusive, R.I.P., The Hit List, Music Appreciation, New Releases




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