Multi-awarding winning musician Joy McKean has at age 93. She wrote many of her husband Slim Dusty's most famous songs.
Rock stars and politicians, movie icons and sporting legends, here are some of the notable people who have died in the past year.
Multi-award winning Australian songwriter and musician Joy McKean OAM died at the age of 93 on May 25 after a long battle with cancer.
McKean wrote many of her husband Slim Dusty's most famous songs and won the first Golden Guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival for the song 'Lights on the Hill'.
Her musical partnership with Slim, in which she was his manager, produced more than 100 albums, sold more than eight million albums and earned 45 Golden Guitars.
Rock icon Tina Turner died at home aged 83 on May 24.
The legendary singer sold more than 200 million records and won 12 Grammys in a career that spanned more than five decades and produced a catalogue of hit songs including River Deep (Mountain High), What's Love Got To Do With It, and The Best.
Her death after a long illness has prompted a deluge of praise and tributes for the woman dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".
Convicted paedophile and disgraced former entertainer Rolf Harris died at his home in Bray in Berkshire, south-east England on May 10.
Harris was jailed in 2014 on 12 counts of indecently assaulting four women and girls dating back as far as the late 1960s.
He never apologised to his victims.
Harris died of neck cancer and "frailty of old age".
Celebrity chef and MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo died in Melbourne on May 1, aged 46.
The family of the Scottish presenter have paid tribute to the father-of-four, saying they're devastated by his shock death.
Zonfrillo was announced as one of the three new hosts of MasterChef back in 2019.
Throughout his career, he worked with famous chefs and in restaurants all over the world.
After moving to Australia, Zonfrillo opened Bistro Blackwood and Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, which was recognised with the coveted distinction of three hats in both 2019 and 2020.
He also received global accolades, accepting the prestigious Basque Culinary World Prize in 2018.
Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96.
Belafonte died on Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Ken Sunshine, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit Banana Boat Song (Day-O), and its call of "Day-O! Daaaaay-O".
But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson's decree that artists are "gatekeepers of truth".
Belafonte stands as the model and the epitome of the celebrity activist. Few kept up with his time and commitment and none his stature as a meeting point among Hollywood, Washington and the civil rights movement.
Belafonte not only participated in protest marches and benefit concerts, but helped organise and raise support for them. He worked closely with his friend and generational peer the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, often intervening on his behalf with both politicians and fellow entertainers and helping him financially.
He risked his life and livelihood and set high standards for younger Black celebrities, scolding Jay Z and Beyonce for failing to meet their "social responsibilities" and mentoring Usher, Common, Danny Glover and many others.
In Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, he was fittingly cast as an elder statesman schooling young activists about the country's past.
Victorian jockey Dean Holland died at the age of 34 after a fall during race one of a courtry meet on April 24.
Holland won a Group 1 Newmarket Handicap and had more than 1000 career wins to his name, totalling more than $32 million in prizemoney for connections.
Legendary Australian entertainer Barry Humphries has died aged 89.
Humphries was behind the iconic character Dame Edna Everage.
The comedian and actor passed away in Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital on April 21 following complications from hip surgery.
Father Bob Maguire, the beloved social justice campaigner and Catholic priest, died aged 88 on Wednesday, April 19.
Known as the "people's priest", Father Bob dedicated his life to charity and helping poor and marginalised members of society in Melbourne.
A statement from the Maguire family said his physical and mental health had been "deteriorating for some time" but his preference was always to help others and not himself.
"Father Bob was not just a much-loved family member but was loved by all Australians for what he stood for," the Maguire family said.
"He has fought bravely for the underprivileged and homeless all his life.
"He represented the highest of principles, and he fought to actively live those principles."
Ryuichi Sakamoto, a world-renowned Japanese musician and actor who composed for Hollywood hits such as "The Last Emperor" and "The Revenant," has died. He was 71.
Japan's recording company Avex said in a statement Sunday that Sakamoto died on March 28 while undergoing treatment for cancer.
He was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014. In 2022, he revealed that he had terminal cancer, a year after he disclosed suffering from rectal cancer.
Sakamoto was a pioneer of the electronics music of the late 1970s and founded the Yellow Magic Orchestra, also known as YMO, with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi.
Takahashi died in January.
He was a world-class musician, winning an Oscar and Grammy for the 1987 movie "The Last Emperor."
Indigenous leader Yunupingu has died aged 74. Yunupingu, a Yolngu man and the Gumatj clan leader, was a longtime advocate for Indigenous Australians, particularly on land rights.
The influential leader was one of the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which called for Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, as well as the Voice to parliament.
He was named Australian of the Year in 1978, and made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1985.
He was made an honourary Doctor of Laws by Melbourne University in 2015.
Yunupingu was the first chairman of the Northern Land Council in 1977, and was re-elected to the position in 1983, which he held until his 2004 retirement.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the ABC Yunupingu was an "extraordinary leader".
Rugby league icon John Sattler died at the age of 80 on March 20.
Sattler had suffered from dementia for a number of years.
He played 195 games for South Sydney in the 1960s and 70s, and famously led the Rabbitohs to victory in the 1970 grand final despite breaking his jaw in the first few minutes of the game.
Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialised in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including "The Wire," ″Fringe" and the "John Wick" franchise, died of natural causes on March 17.
He was 60.
One of many faces behind Australian television that you may not recognise, Brian Walsh died aged 68 on March 17.
Walsh helped launch the careers of stars such as Kylie Minogue, Hugh Jackman and Guy Pearce and was one of the key creative leaders and pioneers of Australian television over the last three decades.
He was most recently executive director at the Foxtel Group.
Actor Peter Hardy gained popularity for his roles in McLeods Daughters and the Mamma Mia! musical.
He died while snorkelling in Perth on March 16.
You may never have heard his name before, but his life's work is found on almost every corner.
Japanese billionaire Masatoshi Ito, the man who helped turn convenience store 7-Eleven into a global, mega-brand died at age 98 on March 10.
Seven & I Holdings, the corporation Ito founded, that acquired majority control of 7-Eleven, confirmed the death in a statement yesterday.
With now more 87,000 branches around the world - including one quarter of those located in Japan - Ito is credited with transforming the brand into the juggernaut it is today.
In 2022, the company recorded almost $90 billion in revenue.
Paco Rabanne, the Spanish-born designer known for perfumes sold worldwide and his metallic, space-age fashions, has died, the group that owns his fashion house announced on its website Friday, February 3.
"The House of Paco Rabanne wishes to honor our visionary designer and founder who passed away today at the age of 88. Among the most seminal fashion figures of the 20th century, his legacy will remain," the statement from beauty and fashion company Puig said.
Le Telegramme newspaper quoted the mayor of Vannes, David Robo, as saying that Rabanne died at his home in the Brittany region town of Portsall.
Australian TV legend Diana Fisher has died, aged 91, after a two-year battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
She passed on the evening of Thursday, January 26, after being admitted to St Vincent's Private Hospital in Sydney three days earlier.
The beloved screen veteran was best known for her role as agony aunt on TV series Beauty and the Beast.
The man who founded Sesame Street and co-founded Sesame Workshop died age 93 on January 25.
Lloyd Morrisett died this week, with the Sesame Workshop – the non-profit organisation behind Sesame Street that helps children become smarter and stronger through its educational programs – delivering the news in a statement.
"Lloyd leaves an outsized and indelible legacy among generations of children the world over, with Sesame Street only the most visible tribute to a lifetime of good work and lasting impact," read part of the statement, as obtained by Variety.
Morrisett had the idea for the children's series in 1965 when he noticed how engaged his three-year-old daughter was to the TV, causing him to wonder if it could be used as a means to educate children.
The following year, in November 1966, he created the Sesame Workshop, which launched the now-legendary show Sesame Street.