Every year we have to say goodbye to some of our favorite people. This year is no exception.

While this list could have gone on and on, and no disrespect to those not on here, but these are 11 we choose to spotlight today whose contributions to music we are grateful to.

Jimmy Buffett

The man who was rarely without a smile or a Hawaiian shirt, Jimmy Buffett the good-time singer/songwriter played his last show in July and passed away in September.

His biggest song, "Margaritaville" peaked at #8 on the charts in 1977. He named restaurant chain after it, poetic as it was at an eatery where he received his inspiration.

Robbie Robertson

Imagine a life where Bob Dylan chooses you to be his lead guitar player once he decides to go electric and then hire your entire band to back him on his historic tour? That was just a sliver of Robbie Robertson's unparalleled life as member of the least Google-able rock group, The Band.

"The Weight," “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “The Shape I’m In” and “It Makes No Difference," were joyous Americana tunes one could sing around a campfire with friends or rock out to audiences of tens of thousands, as best seen on the incredible rock doc, The Last Waltz.

Sinead O’Connor

The edgy, clean-shaven angelic-singing rebellious singer who took an obscure Prince tune and made it her own will be known by some as ripping a photo of the Pope up on TV, and by fans for always keeping it real.

Dig as deep as you can in Sinead O'Connor's catalogue and you will find jewels. Old ones, new ones. Even her duet, "Haunted," with The Pogues' Shane MacGowan will be something generations will adore.

Shane MacGowan

If you think it's hard to get thrown out of an Irish band like The Pogues for having a drinking problem, just think how hard it would be to be in one of the most popular Irish bands of all and thinking about tossing Shane MacGowan out. It would be like having to fire Michael Jordan from your basketball team for shooting too much.

Shane was not only a talented, soulful singer, and mesmerizing frontman, but he could write. "If I Should Fall From Grace With God," "A Pair of Brown Eyes," "Fiesta," and his biggest Christmas hit "Fairytale of New York," were unmistakably Irish as well as being universally mainstream, especially when he delivered the lyrics.

Sixto Rodriguez (Sugarman)

Sixto Rodriguez was simply known by his last name for those who knew him, but outside of South Africa he wasn't known at all. This was uniquely odd since he spent most of his life in Detroit.

Rodriguez, as the Oscar-winning documentary about his life Searching For Sugarman (2012) revealed, was an enormous star in South Africa, a country who assumed he was dead because he never toured or put out new albums. Luckily his daughter learned of his popularity decades after he stopped recording, and he was able to bask in the limelight around the world the last 11+ years of his life.

Tony Bennett

One of the coolest characters in jazz who delighted audiences with that sweet smile for decades despite having lost his heart in San Francisco in 1962, was introduced to new audiences in his 90s when he teamed up with Lady Gaga.

Well before Gaga, Tony Bennett sang alongside Sinatra, Sammy Davis, and even Amy Winehouse. He's received 20 Grammys and sold over 11 million albums. Fun fact: he recorded "For Once in My Life" a year before Stevie Wonder.

Tina Turner

The little girl from Nutbush city limits inspired superstars from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé with her style, energy, and strength. Tina Turner was a superstar who had few peers who could sing, dance, and pack 'em in regardless the size of the venue. When she covered "Proud Mary" in 1971, she made many forget CCR had a #1 hit with it in 1969.

Her Private Dancer comeback album was inspirational in itself. She was 44 and many in the industry claimed she was washed up. But that 1984 album, first LP after being dropped from her original label and picked up by Capitol, sold 12 million copies and won four of the six Grammys it was nominated for.

Harry Belafonte

The singer, human rights activist, and EGO winner, Harry Belafonte was such a trailblazer that when he guest hosted The Tonight Show in 1968 he had on Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy and Aretha Franklin. Who would decline an offer to chat with such a gentleman?

But perhaps the biggest compliment he got from his peers was in 1985 during the recording of the We Are The World album when Ray Charles and then Smokey Robinson started singing Belafonte's "Day-O" classic from 1956. Soon the entire room of stars were belting out the tune, most enthusiastically by Al Jarreau. Even a clearly frazzled Bob Dylan had to laugh.

David Crosby

Starting off with The Byrds; and then with Crosby, Stills & Nash; and then Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, David Crosby spent his life surrounded by and contributing to the sweet sounds of the day.

A staple of the Laurel Canyon scene of the '60s and '70s, in the '80s Crosby and his wife took care of a 14 year-old Drew Barrymore who was recently emancipated and needed a sober home to stay in. He not only sang about teaching the children well, he did it.

Burt Bacharach

The prolific songwriter who even Austin Powers had on his romantic evening playlist, has written songs that have been covered by over 1,000 artists from Elvis Costello to the Flaming Lips, from Dionne Warwick to Barbra Streisand.

When assigned the task to write an original song for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Burt Bacharach and his partner Hal David gave the world "Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head" which added a deeper layer to the film, sold millions of records and won the pair an Oscar.

But most importantly now everyone knows the way to San Jose.

Jeff Beck

He holds the guitar like it's a Tommy Gun and sometimes Jeff Beck can make it sound like ten of them. One of the original guitar heroes, Beck's sister introduced him to Jimmy Page when they were teenagers by telling him, "there's a weirdo at school, he's got a weird guitar like yours."

Beck and Page joined The Yardbirds in the mid 1960s for a short stint. Afterwards Pink Floyd wanted to bring him on, but were scared to ask. His friends The Rolling Stones were interested in having him replace Brian Jones. Instead he went solo and changed styles at his whims, was his own boss, and guested alongside the greats for decades. Not sure what happened to Page.