List of Famous people who died in 2018

Zena Ray "Zeke" Upshaw was an American professional basketball player. He began his college basketball career with the Illinois State Redbirds. After playing sparingly for three seasons, he transferred to join the Hofstra Pride, where he led the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in scoring and was named second-team all-conference. Upshaw played professionally in Slovenia and Luxembourg before returning to the United States and joining the Grand Rapids Drive of the NBA Development League. In the Drive's regular season finale in 2017–18, he collapsed on the court in the game's final minute and died two days later.

Janice Elaine Maxwell was an American stage and television actress. She was a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award winner. In a career spanning over thirty years, Maxwell was one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed stage actresses of her time.

Somnath Chatterjee was an Indian politician who was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for most of his life, though he had been a non affiliated independent during his last decade. He was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009.

Yukiji Asaoka was a Japanese singer and an actress from Chūō, Tokyo. She was the daughter of a famous Japanese painter of shin hanga style prints, Shinsui Itō, and her second husband was actor Masahiko Tsugawa.

Jabulani Tsambo, better known by his stage name Hip Hop Pantsula, later shortened to HHP, was a South African Motswako rapper (Motswakolista) who performed in several languages, mostly in Setswana. He was prominent in bringing South African hiphop and motswako rap to the mainstream world. After his death, the African National Congress called him a "music icon who became a beacon of hope and inspired many artists, and individuals in our country".

Didier Lockwood was a French jazz violinist. He played in the progressive rock/jazz fusion band Magma in the 1970s and was known for his use of electric amplification and experimentation on different sounds on the electric violin.

Oscar Charles Gamble was an American professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 17 seasons, from 1969 to 1985, for seven teams: the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees ; as well as the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, and Texas Rangers.

John L. Sullivan was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, Johnny Valiant. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the World Tag Team Championship two times. The first run was with his first and most famous storyline brother Jimmy Valiant over Tony Garea and Dean Ho on May 8, 1974; his second title run was with his second storyline brother Jerry Valiant over Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko on March 6, 1979.

Barbro Margareta Svensson, better known as Lill-Babs, was a Swedish singer, actress and television presenter. From the early 1950s until her death in 2018, she was one of Sweden's best known and popular singers. She represented Sweden in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes with the song "April, april". She was also well-known for the song "Är du kär i mej ännu Klas-Göran?".

Li Ao was a Chinese-Taiwanese writer, social commentator, historian and independent politician.