List of Famous people who died in 2016

Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.

Betty Gleadle, known by the stage name Liz Smith, was an English character actress, known for her roles in BBC sitcoms, including as Annie Brandon in I Didn't Know You Cared (1975–1979), the sisters Bette and Belle in 2point4 Children (1991–1999), Letitia Cropley in The Vicar of Dibley (1994–1996) and Norma Speakman ("Nana") in The Royle Family. She also played Zillah in Lark Rise to Candleford (2008) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1984 film A Private Function.

Denise Katherine Matthews, better known as Vanity, was a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, model, and actress who turned away from her music and acting career to concentrate on evangelism. Her career lasted from the early 1980s until the early/mid-1990s. She was the lead singer of the female trio Vanity 6 from 1981 until it disbanded in 1983. They are known for their 1982 pop hit "Nasty Girl". Vanity's music career also included two solo albums on the Motown Records label, Wild Animal and Skin on Skin, as well as the minor hit singles "Pretty Mess", "Mechanical Emotion", "Undress", and "Under the Influence". She also had a successful film career, starring in the movies The Last Dragon, 52 Pick-Up, and Action Jackson. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Vanity appeared in many magazines around the world. She died on February 15, 2016, at the age of 57, due to kidney failure.

Nelle Harper Lee was an American novelist best known for her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature. Lee published only two books, yet she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 for her contribution to literature. She also received numerous honorary degrees, though she declined to speak on those occasions. She assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood (1966). Capote was the basis for the character Dill Harris in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Roger Marcel Cicero Ciceu was a German jazz and pop musician.

Maja Maranow was a German actress. She appeared in more than 60 films and television shows between 1983 and 2016.

Alfredo Darrington Bowman, better known as Dr. Sebi, was a Honduran herbalist and self-proclaimed healer, who also practiced in the United States for a period in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Bowman claimed to cure all disease with herbs and a vegan diet based on various pseudoscientific claims, and denied that HIV caused AIDS. He set up a treatment center in Honduras, then moved his practice to New York City and Los Angeles. Numerous entertainment and acting celebrities were among his clients, including Michael Jackson, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, and John Travolta.

Craig Graham Sager Sr. was an American sports reporter, covering, from 1981 until the year of his death, an array of sports for CNN and its sister stations, TBS and TNT.

David Michael Mirra was an American BMX rider who later competed in rallycross racing. Mirra held the record for most X Games medals in BMX Freestyle, and medalled in every X Games from when they started in 1995 up to 2009. As a BMX rider, he was known primarily as a vert ramp and park rider. He had also competed for several years with the Subaru Rally Team USA as a rallycross driver. He rode for and was fully sponsored by Haro Bikes from the mid 1990s until starting his own bike company. Mirra was a member of the team which won the 2014 Race Across America four-person male category. Mirra died by suicide on February 4, 2016. He was inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame on June 11, 2016.

Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez (19 March 1964 – 9 November 2016), better known as La Veneno ("Poison"), was a Spanish singer, actress, sex worker and media personality. Considered one of the most important and beloved LGBT icons in Spain, she rose to fame in 1996 after briefly appearing on the late-night talk show Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi, broadcast on Telecinco between 1995 and 1997 and hosted by the journalist Pepe Navarro. She would later appear regularly on the show as well as on La sonrisa del pelícano.