Music they say is food for the soul – it’s effect sometimes eliciting strong emotions in humans, among them love, joy, hate, regret or anger.

As music has become an essential part of living, we do not only enjoy the soothing sounds that is pleasing to our ears but also idolize the person (or people) behind the music.

Rock bands in Europe and America have a cult like following, selling out concerts to star struck die-hard fans and in Nigeria, the likes of Don Jazzy and Yemi Alade have used the fame found from music to position themselves as influencers to win corporate endorsements.

What am I driving at? There’s a strong attachment between a musician and his audience and the loss of one musician is often seen as a great loss to the people who listen to his or her music (remember Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston’s death?).

As the year 2016 comes to an end, we look at Five iconic singers that died in 2016.

Prince

Born Prince Rogers Nelson, the ‘Purple rain‘ singer died on April 21, 2016 and was 57 when he passed away, in his Paisley Park Minnesota recording studio. Autopsy reports showed that Prince died from fentanyl (a very powerful painkiller). Prince had a flamboyant dress style and sex appeal and was regarded as a true American icon.

David Bowie

English singer, songwriter and actor. He was active in music for over five decades. Bowie who died on January 10th 2016 received 9 platinum album certifications, 11 gold and 8 silver in the UK and 5 platinum and 7 gold certifications in the US where he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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