From Berlusconi to Tina Turner and Delors: notable deaths of 2023

Silvio Berlusconi painted himself as the defender of the people – Copyright AFP/File Alberto PIZZOLI

From Italy’s ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi to rock queen Tina Turner and former European Commission President Jacques Delors, here are some of 2023’s most notable deaths.

– January –

– 07: RUSSELL BANKS, 82, US novelist who charted the lives of marginalised people

– 10: JEFF BECK, 78, British guitar virtuoso who rose to rock and roll fame with 1960s group the Yardbirds

– 10: CARDINAL GEORGE PELL, 81, Australian archbishop who was jailed for child sexual abuse but later cleared

– 12: LISA MARIE PRESLEY, 54, singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, of a bowel condition caused by weight loss surgery

– 16: GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA, 95, Italian film diva, one of the last icons of Golden Age Hollywood

– 17: LUCILE RANDON, 118, French nun, who was the world’s oldest known person

– 18: DAVID CROSBY, 81, American folk-rock pioneer

– February –

– 03: PACO RABANNE, 88, Spanish fashion designer famed for his eccentric designs and fragrances

– 05: PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, 79, Pakistan’s former military ruler

– 08: BURT BACHARACH, 94, legendary pop composer of “Walk on By” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”

– 10: CARLOS SAURA, 91, acclaimed Spanish director who critiqued Franco’s dictatorship

– 15: RAQUEL WELCH, 82, US actress and global sex symbol who famously donned a fur bikini in a 1960s caveman epic

– March –

– 03: KENZABURO OE, 88, Nobel-winning Japanese novelist 

– 12: DICK FOSBURY, 76, US athlete who revolutionised the high jump with a leap backwards over the bar, known as the “Fosbury flop”

– 21: CLAUDE LORIUS, 91, French glaciologist who helped prove humanity’s role in global warming

– 28: RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, 71, Japanese composer who pioneered electronic music

– April –

– 13: MARY QUANT, 93, rule-breaking British fashion designer and pioneer of the miniskirt

– 19: MOONBIN, 25, K-Pop megastar and member of boy band Astro, found dead at his home in an apparent suicide

– 22: BARRY HUMPHRIES, aka DAME EDNA EVERAGE, 89, Australian comedian who invented the bespectacled, lilac-haired parody of a suburban housewife

– 25: HARRY BELAFONTE, 96, superstar American musician and activist 

– 27: JERRY SPRINGER, 79, popular US talk show host, whose rowdy programme symbolised low-brow TV

– May –

– 19: MARTIN AMIS, 73, leading voice in modern British fiction

– 24: TINA TURNER, 83, US rock icon famed for her electrifying stage presence

– June –

– 05: ASTRUD GILBERTO, 83, Brazilian “Girl from Ipanema” singer

– 06: FRANCOISE GILOT, 101, French artist and longtime lover of Pablo Picasso, with whom she had two children

– 10: TED KACZYNSKI, 81, “Unabomber” who terrorised America with a two-decade bombing campaign

– 12: SILVIO BERLUSCONI, 86, larger-than-life, scandal-tainted former Italian premier and billionaire media mogul 

– 13: CORMAC McCARTHY, 89, titan of American fiction with novels including “The Road”

– 15: GLENDA JACKSON, 87, British Oscar-winning actress and politician

– July –

– 01: VICTORIA AMELINA, 37, rising star of Ukrainian literature, in a Russian missile attack

– 11: MILAN KUNDERA, 94, Czech-French novelist who criticised Czechoslovakia’s communist regime. Best known for “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” 

– 16: JANE BIRKIN, 76, British-born singer and actress famous for her relationship with French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg

– 21: TONY BENNETT, 96, last of the classic American crooners

– 26: SINEAD O’CONNOR, 56, iconoclastic Irish pop singer, best known for her 1990 global hit “Nothing Compares 2 U”

– August –

– 07: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, 87, US director of “The Exorcist” and “The French Connection” 

– 09: SIXTO RODRIGUEZ, 81, cult American singer-songwriter, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “Searching for Sugar Man”

– 23: YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, 62, head of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, killed in a plane crash after leading a mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership

– 30: MOHAMED AL-FAYED, 94, Egyptian ex-owner of Harrods whose son Dodi died alongside Princess Diana in a 1997 car crash

– September –

– 09: MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, 95, Zulu prince and veteran South African politician 

– 15: FERNANDO BOTERO, 91, Colombian sculptor famous for his voluptuous forms

– 25: MATTEO MESSINA DENARO, 61, one of the most ruthless Sicilian mafia bosses dies in prison

– 27: MICHAEL GAMBON, 82, British actor, played Albus Dumbledore in many “Harry Potter” films

– 29: DIANNE FEINSTEIN, 90, trailblazing politician dubbed the “Lioness of the US Senate”

– October –

– 13: HUBERT REEVES, 91, Canadian-French astrophysicist, renowned for popularising space science

– 13: LOUISE GLUCK, 80, American poet, winner of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes

– 16: MARTTI AHTISAARI, 86, Finland’s former president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate after battling Alzheimer’s disease

– 21: BOBBY CHARLTON, 86, English football hero, World Cup winner, Manchester United legend

– 27: LI KEQIANG, 68, Chinese premier during the first two terms of President Xi Jinping

– 28: MATTHEW PERRY, 54, US star who played Chandler Bing in hit sitcom “Friends” after a long battle with addiction

– November –

– 19: ROSALYNN CARTER, 96, former US first lady who championed human rights, democracy and public health

– 29: HENRY KISSINGER, 100, US diplomat whose unapologetic promotion of raw American power helped shape the post-World War II world

– 30: SHANE MACGOWAN, 65, Irish singer-songwriter and booze-fuelled bard who fronted Celtic folk-punk band The Pogues

– December –

– 01: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR, 93, the first woman to serve as a justice on the US Supreme Court, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981

– 08: RYAN O’NEAL, 82, US actor and heartthrob of “Love Story” and “Barry Lyndon” fame

– 11: BULELWA MKUTUKANA aka ZAHARA, 36, South African afro-pop sensation, who suffered from liver damage due to alcoholism

– 26: WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE, 81, one of the most important figures in German political life over the last 30 years

– 27: LEE SUN-KYUN, 48, South Korean actor best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film “Parasite”, found dead in Seoul

– 27: JACQUES DELORS, 98, former European Commission president and key figure in the creation of the euro