List of Famous people who died at 55

Valery Vladimirovich Obodzinsky was a Soviet and Russian singer (tenor), a holder of the title of Meritorious Artist Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1973). He gained wide popularity all over the Soviet Union when in 1964 Oleg Lundstrem invited the popular provincial singer to work as a soloist with his Moscow-based orchestra. A year and a half later, having recorded a number of big hits, Obodzinsky decided to split and continue his career independently. In the 1970s, in part because he only performed lyrical songs and his repertoire was therefore limited, he started experiencing an artistic crisis. He periodically fell into depression and eventually abandoned the stage for over 10 years.

Tim Maia was a Brazilian musician, songwriter and businessman known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and humorous musical style. Maia contributed to Brazilian music within a wide variety of musical genres, including soul, funk, bossa nova, disco, romantic ballads, pop, rock, jazz, baião and MPB. He introduced the soul style on the Brazilian musical scene. Along with Jorge Ben, Maia pioneered MPB's samba rock genre, combining samba, soul, and funk. He is internationally recognized as one of the biggest icons in Brazilian music.

Ali Kemal Sunal was a Turkish actor. With Hababam Sınıfı, Kapıcılar Kralı and Davaro, Sunal gained large popularity amongst Turkish cinema goers and was famed for his character "Şaban", a role he frequently played.

Angela Joyce "Big Ang" Raiola was an American reality television personality. She was the niece of Salvatore "Sally Dogs" Lombardi (1941–2009), a caporegime ("capo") and drug dealer in the Genovese crime family. Known as a "mob moll", Raiola dated gangsters and lived an opulent lifestyle.

Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky was a Russian operatic baritone.

Teresa Velázquez was a Mexican actress. She appeared in 86 films and television shows between 1957 and 1996. She starred in the film Young People, which was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival. She died on 7 January 1998 in Mexico City after a long battle with colon cancer.

Gauri Lankesh was an Indian journalist-turned-activist from Bangalore, Karnataka. She worked as an editor in Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada weekly started by her father P. Lankesh, and ran her own weekly called Gauri Lankesh Patrike. She was assassinated outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on 5 September 2017. At the time of her death, Gauri was known for being a critic of right-wing Hindu extremism. She was honoured with Anna Politkovskaya Award for speaking against right-wing Hindu extremism, campaigning for women's rights and opposing caste based discrimination.

Robert Michael Urich was an American film, television, and stage actor, and television producer. Over the course of his 30-year career, he starred in a record 15 television series.

Parveen Babi was an Indian film actress and model. Babi was best known for her roles in Hindi films throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Throughout her career, she was known as a glamorous fashion icon as well as an actress.

John Smith was a British Labour politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his death from a heart attack in May 1994.