House Peters Jr., a television actor who was the original Mr. Clean for Procter and Gamble, died Wednesday at the age of 92.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Peters Jr. played the bald-headed, hoop-earring wearing, grime-fighting Mr. Clean to advertise the household cleaner with the trademark jingle, “Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute, Mr. Clean will clean your whole house and everything that’s in it. Mr. Clean Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean.”

In his television career, Peters Jr. appeared in shows like “Perry Mason“, “The Twilight Zone“, and “Gunsmoke“.

The animated version of the Mr. Clean image is still used today.

Keyboard player and founding member of Pink Floyd, Richard Wright, died today in Britain after struggling with cancer. He met fellow band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason white attending Regent Street Polytechnic (now The University of Westminster) in 1965 and played on every album except The Final Cut.

Though dominated by Roger Waters and later, David Gilmour, Wright had a heavy influence on the band’s sound and wrote songs as well. Some of his more recognized compositions, like “Us And Them” from Dark Side of the Moon as well as his early keyboard and synthesizer work introduced the rich synth sound to other bands in the 60s and 70s.

From the New York Times

A Pink Floyd spokesman says founding member Richard Wright has died. He was 65. Wright died Monday, September 15, 2008 after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. His family did not want to give more details about his death… He wrote “The Great Gig In The Sky” and “Us And Them” from Pink Floyd’s 1973 “The Dark Side Of The Moon.” He left the group in the early 1980s to form his own band but rejoined Pink Floyd for their 1987 album “A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

Jerry Reed, the Eastbound and Down scene-stealer in Smokey and the Bandit, also starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, died this past Sunday, August 31st, in Nashville, TN. He was 71.

Besides his films, Reed was an accomplished guitarist with a successful music career, winning a Grammy in 1972 for best male country vocal performance for his song, When You’re Hot, You’re Hot.

He also, of course, wrote the theme song to Smokey and the Bandit, Eastbound And Down. Here it is in this great scene/montage from the movie:

R.I.P., Snowman.

A voiceover master, Don LaFontaine recorded countless movie trailers, commericals, programs, files and other presentations. He was arguably the most successful voice actor of all time. Monday, September 1st, 2008, LaFontaine died at the age of 68 following complications from a collapsed lung.

Here’s a good retrospective on his career.

From LaFontaine’s website:

Over the past 25 years, LaFontaine cemented his position as the “King of Voice-overs.” Aside from his continuing work in the trailer industry, he has also been the voice of NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and UPN, in addition to TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network. By conservative estimates, he has voiced hundreds of thousands of television and radio spots, including commercials for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Budweiser, McDonalds, Coke, and many other corporate sponsors. At last count, he has worked on nearly 5000 films, including appearances as the in-show announcer for the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards. Based on contracts signed, he has the distinction of being perhaps the single busiest actor in the history of SAG.

Due to the sheer number of trailers he recorded, Don LaFontaine became known for his “In a world….” phrase. He poked fun of his cliche phrase at various events, and of course, in this great Geico commercial.

Saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, Leroi Moore, died yesterday, August 19th, 2008 in Los Angeles.

In June, Moore severely injured himself in an ATV accident in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jeff Coffin, took his place for the remainder of the DMB tour. In July, Moore was re-hospitalized for “complications related to the accident”.

From the Dave Matthews Band official website:

We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.

Read the obit at L.A. Times. Our thoughts go out to all the DMB fans, the band, as well as Moore’s family and friends.

The news hit Songspeak early today that Issac Hayes is dead at age 65. He was found collapsed near a treadmill in his Memphis, Tennessee home by his wife, young son, and cousin after they returned home from the grocery store.

Hayes was most famous for 1971’s “Theme From Shaft” for the movie, Shaft, but was also part of John Singleton’s 2000 version of Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson and also Bernie Mac, who also died suddenly recently.

Shaft was originally released in 1971. Here’s the 2000 version of Theme From Shaft, with clips of the movie:

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Issac Hayes, who also brilliantly provided the voice for Chef on South Park for many seasons. He provided much wisdom to the children of South Park before leaving the show after Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s episode poking fun at Scientology.

One of our favorite Chef song is probably Chocolate Salty Balls. Classic.