Dead Celebrity Alert

PETALUMA, California (AP) — Alton Kelley, an artist who helped create the psychedelic style of posters and other art associated with the 1960s San Francisco rock scene, has died. He was 67.

Kelley died Sunday of complications from osteoporosis in his Petaluma home, according to his publicist, Jennifer Gross.

Kelley and his lifelong collaborator, Stanley “Mouse” Miller, churned out iconic work from their studio, a converted firehouse where Janis Joplin first rehearsed with Big Brother and the Holding Company.

The pair created dozens of classic rock posters, including the famous Grateful Dead “skull and roses” poster designed for a show at the Avalon Ballroom, as well as posters and album covers for Journey, Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. … Read full obituary

Mel Ferrer, the tall, darkly handsome star of such classic films as “Lili,” “War and Peace” and “The Sun Also Rises,” as well as producer and director of movies starring his then-wife, Audrey Hepburn, died Monday at age 90.

Ferrer died at a Santa Barbara, California, convalescent home, his son Mark Ferrer said Tuesday. He had been in failing health for the past six months and had recently moved to the home from his nearby ranch in Carpinteria, his son said.

Ferrer’s most impressive film role came in 1953 in “Lili.” He played a disabled carnival puppeteer with whom a French orphan (played by Leslie Caron) falls in love.

In later years, he turned more to directing and producing for movies and TV. …

Ferrer … produced one of Hepburn’s greatest film triumphs, 1967’s “Wait Until Dark,” a thriller in which she portrays a blind woman terrorized by drug dealers who break into her home. … Read full obituary

Hugh Jarrett’s distinctive bass voice imbued Elvis Presley classics with unparalleled richness.

Mr. Jarrett, a member of the famed Jordanaires quartet, sang backup for Mr. Presley on “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” “All Shook Up,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.”

Mr. Jarrett and the Jordanaires recorded 50 albums with Mr. Presley. He toured with the king of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s and in 1970 and acted in his movies. He was part of Mr. Presley’s famous waist-up appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1956. A skinny, beaming Mr. Jarrett wearing a plaid sport coat can be seen just over and behind Mr. Presley’s left shoulder, hand-clapping, finger-snapping and swaying to the music. … Read full obituary

December 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008

“I don’t sound like nobody!” was Bo Diddley’s maxim in the 1950s, but over the decades dozens have tried to sound like him. Often imitated but not always acknowledged, the influence of the Bo Diddley beat — driving and relentless like the chant of a chain gang — is heard clearest and most famously on the Rolling Stones’ Not Fade Away. But that sound, which Bo Diddley called his “tradesman’s knock”, is just as discernible on U2’s Desire, or versions of the garage classic I Want Candy recorded by the Strangeloves and Bow Wow Wow two decades apart, or on George Michael’s Faith.

Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry aside, arguably none of the first generation of American rock’n’rollers had a greater impact on the subsequent course of popular music. Along with Berry, Diddley was also one of the first black performers to “cross over” and enjoy success in the predominantly white pop chart of the time. Among the classic singles to his name, all driven by the primitive but irresistible beat he likened to a freight train, were Diddy Wah Diddy, Who Do You Love?, Mona, You Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at its Cover, Road Runner and Say Man. The latter gave him his biggest American hit, but he also had a huge influence on the British beat boom of the 1960s. In addition to the Rolling Stones, those who covered his songs included the Kinks, the Animals, Manfred Mann and the Yardbirds, while the Pretty Things named themselves after one of his songs. … Read full obituary

Yves Saint Laurent, one of the top French designers of the 20th century, has died in Paris, aged 71.

The death was announced this morning by the Pierre-Berg-Saint Laurent Foundation.

The reclusive French maestro, who had retired from haute couture in 2002 after four decades at the top of his trade, had been ill for some time. He died on Sunday. …

After taking over the Christian Dior fashion house following the death of its founder in 1957, Saint Laurent founded his own company in the early 1960s.

He made his own name on the back of the rise of the youth market and pop culture, fuelled by the economic boom of that decade, when women suddenly had more economic freedom. …Read full obituary