Estelle Bennett, a member of the Ronettes and sister of their lead singer, Veronica "Ronnie" Bennett Spector, was found dead Wednesday (February 11) at her Englewood, New Jersey apartment. She was 67.        Vinnie Naccarato, baritone singer with the Capris of "There's A Moon Out Tonight" fame, has died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 66.         December 2008 Brooklyn Bridge and Crests lead singer Johnny Maestro is recovering in the hospital after having a heart stent replaced (from his 2000 angioplasty), Plans to build an Elvis Presley theme park in Las Vegas are in doubt after the developers-- which includes the company that owns the image and name of Elvis and oprates Graceland-- announced Monday (December 29) they had defaulted on a $475 million loan and may lose the 18 acres of land the park was to have been built on.

Jody Reynolds, whose dark classic about an almost-fatal love, "Endless Sleep", launched the wave of teen tragedy songs in 1958, died Friday (November 7) of liver and brain cancer in Palm Desert, California at the age of 75. Born Ralph Joseph Reynolds in Denver in 1932, he grew up in Oklahoma and formed a rockabilly band called the Storms in 1952 that toured the southwest. Jody submitted some of his compositions to a music publisher in Los Angeles who was impressed enough with "Endless Sleep" to bring the song and Jody to Demon Records there (the composition is credited to Jody and "Delores Nance", but Jody later admitted he used that pseudonym to look as if he was part of a songwriting duo). Using legendary guitarist Al Casey, Demon recorded Jody and the result was a #5 hit. But another song recorded at the same session as a follow-up-- "Fire Of Love"-- stalled at #66 and five other singles over the next two years failed to chart at all. Jody continued on, recording for five other labels (inclding a 1963 duet with a young Bobbie Gentry) before opening a music store in Palm Springs, California. (Jody gave fellow Palm Springs resident Elvis Presley the guitar the King used on his "comeback" TV special saying he had been inspired to write "Endless Sleep" by "Heartbreak Hotel"). He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1999, the same year he received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

Nathaniel Mayer, whose "Village Of Love" reached #22 on the pop charts in 1962, died Saturday (November 1) from complications of a brain hemmorhage he suffered April 13. He was 64. The Detroit native was a sensation at local record hops at the tender age of 15 and signed with tiny Fortune Records there in 1961. The following year (while still 18) Nathaniel and his backup group, the Fabulous Twilights, recorded "Village Of Love", borrowing Jay Johnson from labelmates the Diablos for the bass "Why don't you come" hook. Apparently unaware of the song's hit status, Nathaniel initially didn't believe a phone call asking him to fly to Philadelphia to appear on "American Bandstand". Unfortunately, that success was short-lived. Fortune, which had leased "Village Of Love" to a larger label for distribution, tried to handle his follow-ups -- including "Leave Me Alone" -- themselves, and "Nay Dog" (his nickname) never saw the pop or R&B charts again. He essentially retired from the music industry in 1966 (though he occassionally returned to recording, such as 1980's "Raise The Curtain High". His final album was "I Just Want To Be Held" in 2004). A November 30 fundraiser had been scheduled in Detroit to raise money for better rehabilitative care for Nathaniel. It will now offset his funeral costs.

Levi Stubbs, founder and lead singer of the Four Tops, died Friday (October 17) in his sleep at his Detroit home at the age of 72. He had been ill with cancer for quite some time. Levi (whose given name was Levi Stubbles), Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton were childhood friends in the Motor City who began to sing harmony together and started performing in 1953 at house parties as the Four Aims. They changed the name to the Four Tops in 1956 (after all, their "aim" was to reach the "top") to avoid confusion with the Ames Brothers and recorded for Chess, Columbia, Red Top and the jazz-oriented Riverside label before finally coming to the attention of Motown's Berry Gordy, Jr. in 1963. He also recorded them using jazz material before realizing their pop potential when they sang backup on such songs as the Supremes' "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes". The Supremes' songwriters-- Eddie and Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier-- gave the Tops one of their songs, "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" in 1964 and the result was a #11 song. It was followed by 23 more top forty pop hits, including the top five hits, "I Can't Help Myself" (#1-1965), "It's The Same Old Song" (#5-1965), "Reach Out I'll Be There" (#1-1966), "Bernadette" (#4-1967) and "Ain't No Woman (Like The One I Got)" (#4-1973 after a switch that year to the ABC/Dunhill label). The group also recorded for Casablanca Records before returning to Motown in 1983. Levi was the voice of Audrey II (the man-eating plant) in the movie musical version of "Little Shop Of Horrors." For forty years, the Tops continued with the same lineup, even after Lawrence's death in 1997. But Obie's death in 2005 and Levi's subsequent illness forced them to finally add replacements. The original four members were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.