List of Famous people who died at 79

Nunzio Gallo was an Italian singer. He was born in Naples and represented his country in the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest, coming 6th. The song he performed, "Corde Della Mia Chitarra", is famous for being the longest song ever played for Eurovision at 5:09 before the new rules came into place. Gallo was also an actor appearing in over 20 films. Gallo suffered severe brain haemorrhage in September 2007 from which he never fully recovered. He died on 22 February 2008 in Telese Terme.

Charles Barton was an American film and vaudeville actor and film director. He won an Oscar for best assistant director in 1933. His first film as a director was the Zane Grey feature Wagon Wheels, starring Randolph Scott, in 1934.

Pál Kadosa was a pianist and Hungarian composer of the post-Bartók generation. His early style was influenced by Hungarian folklore while his later works were more toward Hindemith and expressively forceful idioms. He was born in Levice. He studied at the national Hungarian Royal Academy of Music under Zoltán Székely and Zoltán Kodály. He was appointed to the faculty of the Fodor School in 1927 where he taught until 1943 when he was forced out due to wartime political issues.

Reijo Toivo Taipale was a Finnish pop singer since the 1950s specializing in Schlager music and tango. Many of his albums have gone gold and platinum.

Ray Jui Wu was a Chinese-born American geneticist. A pioneer of plant genetic engineering, Wu was Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biology at Cornell University.

Steve Hiett was an English photographer, musician, artist and graphic designer based in Paris.