Each year we must say goodbye to some of our favorite people. Sadly, 2025 was no exception.

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

Join us as we tip the cap to a few of the many who left their mark during their time in music.

Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy has always been hard rock’s great paradox: the shambling shuffling frontman who somehow turned chaos into a platinum career that outgrew the legendary band that he helped make famous. As the oddly adorable wail at the center of Black Sabbath’s early‑’70s ascension, he shape what would become heavy metal and then got booted in 1979 when drugs, booze and disarray, finally caught up with him.

For many what would have become a final chapter, turned into a rebirth thanks to a devoted wife and talented new guitar hero at his side. When Blizzard of Ozz (1980) was released, his debut solo LP loaded with hits that are still played around sports arenas across the globe, dropped, he quickly eclipsed the Sabbath moon he barked at.

As he aged, his lore only grew thanks to tales like Tommy Lee’s claim that Ozzy once snorted a line of ants when they ran out of drugs. Then when he took Howard Stern's advice to capture his family life into a reality MTV show, his legend only intensified beyond the music.

This year he got a sendoff like no other, and not only got to attend but star in it. The Back to the Beginning farewell at Villa Park (7/25), featured a cast of disciples including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, and Tom Morello who lined up to salute him in song, turning one last Sabbath night into a nine‑hour testament to how far that howl from Birmingham had carried.

Sly Stone

Sylvester Stewart, did not just ride the late Sixties revolution, he rewired it from the inside out, injected the funk, and floored it.

Miles Davis said Sly “was my only peer.”

At the helm of Sly and the Family Stone, he turned a scrappy, integrated San Francisco band into a technicolor machine that mixed funk, rock, soul, and psychedelia into a brand new sound the people had never heard before and immediately embraced. Later his style and essence were echoed by the likes of Prince, Michael Jackson, and everyone who dared to be funky.

Groundbreaking albums like Stand! (1969), There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971), and Fresh (1973) moved millions of units, soared to the top of the charts, but most importantly showed that soul music with a message could be both popular and eternal.

Brian Wilson

The masterfully creative force behind the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson grew up in Hawthorne, California (like Tyler, the Creator), where his talents blossomed in spite of his jealous father who tried repeatedly to sabotage his early success.

Wilson was another unlikely rock star who neither looked or sounded the part, but whose words and music rivaled the Beatles and Stones in the charts and hearts of both fans and fellow musicians.

In the midst of the British Invasion was happening, Brian was churning out hits like no big deal.

"Surfin' U.S.A." – #3 (1963) "Be True to Your School" – #6 (1963) "Fun, Fun, Fun" – #5 (1964) "I Get Around" – #1 (1964) "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" – #9 (1964) "Dance, Dance, Dance" – #8 (1964) "Help Me, Rhonda" – #1 (1965) "California Girls" – #3 (1965) "Barbara Ann" – #2 (1966).

You know you've written a great tune if it's 60+ years old and pretty much everyone can sing its melody simply by seeing its name.

Roberta Flack

Like many, Roberta found her voice in church where she was raised on hymns. She was so good and sharp she received a full ride to Howard University at 15.

Once she graduated she taught music in public schools around DC and at night found steady work in the clubs as an accompanist where she gained the attention of jazz great Les McCann who helped her get signed at Atlantic Records who released her 1969 debut, First Take.

That record’s sleeper cover “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” took a while to germinate, but in 1972 it appeared in Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty for Me and shot to #1 on the Hot 100 for six weeks. The Grammys awarded it both Record and Song of the Year.

The momentum didn't slow. “Killing Me Softly With His Song” arrived in 1973 and spent five weeks at #1 which turned the album of the gold and made Flack the first artist ever to win back-to-back Grammys for Record of the Year.

The following year she struck gold again with “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” another #1 across pop, R&B, and easy-listening charts.

Her songs have been covered by countless acts, most notably “Killing Me Softly With His Song” was reborn thanks to the Fugees’ 1996 version became a global hip‑hop anthem and hit #1 in more than a dozen countries.

Marianne Faithfull

Speaking of the British Invasion, Marianne Faithfull was educated in a convent and almost overnight crowned one of Swinging London’s coolest after a fateful Rolling Stones launch party.

Her version of “As Tears Go By” was released first, her debut single, in June 1964, where it became a top 10 hit that fall. Her recording introduced the song to the public before the Stones ever cut their own, even though Jagger and Richards co‑wrote it.

She moved effortlessly between recording studios and sound stages, starring in films like Girl on a Motorcycle, all while intertwined with Mick and earning a co-writing credit on “Sister Morphine.”

But by the end of the decade the pendulum swung the other way due to addiction, homelessness, and poor health. It took her a while, but she rebounded.

In 1979 she resurfaced with Broken English, a jagged little gem where her ingénue pout was replaced with the voice of a woman who had seen a few things and wanted to share.

The record earned a Grammy nomination and led to a new chapter that included: art-rock, and collabs with the admirers from Nick Cave to PJ Harvey, and Metallica.

Ace Frehley

Born Paul Daniel Frehley in the Boogie Down Bronx in 1951, The Spaceman first picked up a guitar when he was 13 after watching and hearing Hendrix, Clapton, and the Stones.

Ace joined KISS when he was just 21 after answering an ad placed by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Peter Criss, in the Village Voice who were seeking a lead guitarist to complete their lineup.

What they got was a guitar hero who co-designed the lightning-bolt KISS logo, created signature riffs and solos to classics like “Deuce,” “Cold Gin,” and “Shock Me,” and became a literal poster boy for a generation would-be axe wielders who learned vibrato and pinch harmonics by studying his licks.

"My first guitar hero, Ace Frehley, has passed away," Tom Morello tweeted in October. "The legendary Space Ace Frehley inspired generations to love rock n roll and love rock n roll guitar playing. His timeless riffs and solos, the billowing smoke coming from his Les Paul, the rockets shooting from his headstock, his cool spacey onstage wobble and his unforgettable crazy laugh will be missed but will never be forgotten."

Sam Moore

Sam Moore was the high-voltage tenor at the heart of Sam & Dave, without whom there would have been no Blues Brothers... or many others.

The church-raised Miami singer never lost his gospel intensity as he transitioned from Southern chitlin’ circuit to the pop charts. On those Stax sides, Sam & Dave lock in with Booker T. & the M.G.’s churning rhythm section and the Memphis Horns’ hair raising blasts.

During their two decades together, Sam & Dave churned out one hit after another including “You Don’t Know Like I Know” (1966), the #1 charting “Hold On, I’m Comin’” (1966), “Soul Man” (1967) which brought them a #1 R&B hit and made it to #2 on the pop chart and earned them their sole Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance.

Other chestnuts included “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby” (1967) went to #5 on the R&B chart, and “I Thank You” (1968) climbed to #4 on the R&B list and #9 on the Hot 100. If you like good music, that sweet soul music, you have heard Sam and Dave, you just may not have known it was them.

Mike Peters

One of the '80s bands who are criminally overlooked is The Alarm whose 1984 debut Declaration bangers like "Marching On," "Where Were You Hiding," and their hit "Sixty Eight Guns," were so strong it was no surprise that U2 invited them to support them on the War Tour before the album was officially released.

According to singer/songwriter Mike Peters, Bono & the Edge even helped them move their equipment on the stage like roadies.

From '85-'86 they released even more anthems: "Absolute Reality," "Strength," "Spirit of '76," and "Knife Edge." Even Neil Young wanted to jam with Peters and the band in '89.

Peters fought and beat lymph cancer in the '90s but was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2005. He co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation to promote cancer awareness and bone marrow donation.

In 2023 he visited the Setlist studios to participate in a Setlist Insider episode.

"We do a thing in The Alarm where we don't play the same set twice if we can help it, so we always shuffle things around, put some songs in people didn't hear the night before, have a different opening song," he said.

"Sometimes I have to go set on Setlist.fm, I think, 'What did we play last week? I can't remember.' It's been interesting to see what songs get played the most on the setlist, and obviously 'Sixty Eight Guns' is right there as song number one, which it shows we've played it 445 times, so that'll be 445 concerts that we've played that song at, which is an incredible statistic.

"The songs we've played the most go back to the earliest days. Top three are all from the very first album we ever made, Declaration."