List of Famous people who died in 1997

Betty Shabazz, also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was married to Malcolm X.

Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 60 million records worldwide and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001. He was the lead singer and lyricist of INXS from 1977 until his death.

Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn (October 16, 1948 – June 8, 1997) was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire who specialized in toxic metal exposure. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the organic mercury compound dimethylmercury (Hg(CH₃)₂). Protective gloves in use at the time of the incident provided insufficient protection, and exposure to only a few drops of the chemical absorbed through the gloves proved to be fatal after less than a year.

Bijayananda Patnaik, popularly known as Biju Patnaik, was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. As politician, he served twice as the Chief Minister of the State of Odisha.

Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed, better known as Dodi Fayed, was an Egyptian film producer and the son of billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed. He was the romantic partner of Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was one of America's best-selling performers, and AllMusic has described Denver as "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".

Jeanne Louise Calment was a French supercentenarian from Arles, and the oldest human whose age is well-documented, with a lifespan of 122 years and 164 days. Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle.

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (1921–1997) was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy. He is best known for his influential work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which is generally considered one of the foundational texts of the critical pedagogy movement.

Gulshan Kumar Dua, was an Indian businessman who was the founder of the T-Series music label, and a Bollywood movie producer. He founded T-Series in the 1980s and established it as a leading record label in the 1990s.

Deng Xiaoping, also spelled as Teng Hsiao-ping was a Chinese politician who was the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 until his resignation in November 1989. After Chairman Mao Zedong's death in 1976, Deng gradually rose to power and led China through a series of far-reaching market-economy reforms, which earned him the reputation as the "Architect of Modern China".