Music

Williams died on Saturday at the age of 66. Her trademark, a long-lasting high A-flat "whooo," has been adopted by most gospel singers and soul singers like Little Richard and Aretha Franklin. A pioneer of gospel music, she started singing with the Clara Ward Singers, the first gospel group to perform outside the church. A self- proclaimed "Holy Roller", in 1993 WILLIAMS received the MacArthur Foundation grant and the Kennedy Center Honars Award in Washington for her lifetime achievement in the arts.We replay out 1993 interview with her.

Television and movie score composer Henry Mancini, who died of cancer on Tuesday. He is best known for composing "Moon River" for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and the title theme to the movie "The Pink Panther." In 1954 he received his first Academy Award nomination for his score to "The Glenn Miller Story," and in 1961 his score for the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" won that year's Academy Award.

Cahn died last Friday at the age of 79. We rebroadcast an interview Terry Gross recorded with him in 1985. Cahn wrote many of the songs that Frank Sinatra recorded, including Come Fly With Me, Teach Me Tonight and High Hopes. He also wrote the scores for many Broadway shows including Walking Happy and Skyscraper, and for the movies Come Blow Your Horn, Robin and the Seven Hoods, and A Pocketful of Miracles.

Astor Piazzolla died Sunday at the age of 71. He was an Argentinian composer whose updated tangos were a hybrid of classical music, jazz and rock. He was also a gifted player of the bandoneon, a kind of accordion that gives tango its distinctive sound. Piazzola had suffered a stroke nearly two years ago, from which he never recovered. We present a rebroadcast of our 1988 interview with him.

Shabalala, who died Feb. 11, fronted of the South African a capella group. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1991 about collaborating with Paul Simon on Graceland and growing up on a farm.