Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020
The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.
Country star and hit Elvis songwriter Mac Davis dies at 78
FILE - Musician Mac Davis performs at the Texas Film Awards in Austin, Texas on March 6, 2014. Davis, a country star and Elvis songwriter, died on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 after heart surgery. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country star Mac Davis, who launched his career crafting the Elvis hits “A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto,” and whose own hits include “Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me,” has died. He was named 1974’s entertainer of the year by the Academy of Country Music and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “A small town boy who’d achieved the greatest kinds of fame, he remained a good guy, a family man,” said country star Kenny Chesney.