On the evening of February 25, 1682, Alessandro Stradella was stabbed to death in a square in genoa, Italy…Stradella was a classical composer of some renown…it appears he was killed by three brothers looking to avenge the honour of their sister…and when the knives were put away, Stradella became the first documented case of the murder of a professional musician. 

Fortunately, the purposeful killing of musicians was a rare thing until we got to the 20th century…then came a string of shootings, stabbings, beatings, and strangling’s. 

Some of these killings were high-profile—Sam Cook, John Lennon, Tupac, and Biggie, for example, and we still talk about those murders…but what about all the others? 

Many have faded from memory because we’ve either moved on, the case didn’t get much attention, or the murder was solved and there’s nothing else to say…but the victims need to be remembered because they were human beings. 

This is episode 40 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry”…this time, it’s a survey of musicians whose lives were cut short by someone with a gun, a knife, and even torture devices…and wow: there are some wild stories here.

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