List of Famous people who died at 53

Didi Kempot was an Indonesian singer and songwriter in the campursari style. He wrote some 700 songs, mainly in his native Javanese language. Apart from Indonesia, Didi was also popular in Suriname and the Netherlands, both of which have significant Javanese diaspora population.

Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, known by the stage name Poly Styrene, was a British musician, singer-songwriter, and frontwoman for the punk rock band X-Ray Spex.

Alfredo Enrique Nalib Yabrán was a businessman in Argentina, with close links with the government, in particular with the administration of Carlos Saúl Menem.

Shawn Smith was an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was a member of the Seattle-based alternative and indie rock bands Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed, and The Twilight Singers, and also performed as a solo artist.

John "Hot Rod" Williams was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1986 to 1999.

Masami Tsuchiya was a senior member of Aum Shinrikyo, responsible for the deaths of a combined 19 people and for the production of sarin, VX nerve agent, PCP and LSD. He is also notable for not showing remorse at the trials and remaining loyal to cult leader Shoko Asahara. He was member of the Ministry of Health of the cult, with prosecutors calling him "the second most important figure involved in the gas attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, after cult leader Shoko Asahara himself."

Pieter Hintjens was a Belgian software developer, author, and past president of the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), an association that fights against software patents. In 2007, he was nominated one of the "50 most influential people in IP" by Managing Intellectual Property magazine.

Alvin Keith McCants was a professional American football linebacker and radio broadcaster who played for six seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Houston Oilers, and the Arizona Cardinals from 1990 to 1995. He was selected by Tampa Bay in the 1st round of the 1990 NFL Draft.

Pedro Reyes was a Spanish comedian, humorist, actor and television presenter. He was known for his surreal humour and collaboration with Pablo Carbonell in the 1980s.

William Sampson Jr. was a Native American painter, actor, and rodeo performer. He is best known for his performance as the apparent deaf and mute Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as Crazy Horse in the 1977 western The White Buffalo, as well as his roles as Taylor in Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Ten Bears in 1976's The Outlaw Josey Wales.