List of Famous people who died in 2021

Karan Armstrong was an American operatic soprano, who was celebrated as a singing actress. After winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1966, she was given small roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and appeared in leading roles at the New York City Opera from 1969, including Conceptión in Ravel's L'heure espagnol, Blonde in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and the title roles in Verdi's La traviata, Offenbach's La belle Hélène and Puccini's La fanciulla del West. After she performed in Europe from 1974, first as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, and then as a sensational Salome at the Opéra du Rhin, she enjoyed a career at major opera houses, appearing in several opera recordings and films. Armstrong was for decades a leading soprano at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where her husband Götz Friedrich was director. She appeared in world premieres, including Gottfried von Einem's Jesu Hochzeit, Luciano Berio's Un re in ascolto and York Höller's Der Meister und Margarita. She was awarded the title Kammersängerin twice.

Omar Antonio Malavé was a Venezuelan professional baseball player, coach and manager. The first base coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball in 2010, Malavé spent the 2013 season as the coordinator of Latin American operations in Toronto's player development system. At the time of his death, Malavé was the manager of Mexican League team Algodoneros de Unión Laguna.

Klaus Gustav Heinrich von Beyme was a German political scientist who was Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg.

Dennis John Franks was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL). He was a center and played on special teams for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1976 to 1978 and for the Detroit Lions in 1979. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1972 to 1974. He was the starting center in all 11 games for the 1974 Michigan Wolverines football team that began its season with ten consecutive wins before losing to Ohio State 10–12 in the final game of the season. Franks was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference center in 1974.

Major General Matthew John Holmes, was a British senior Royal Marines officer who served for more than three decades in the armed forces. After studying economics at the University of Exeter, he joined the Royal Marines and made early tours of duty to Norway, the Far East, Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe. After being deployed to Kosovo and Afghanistan, he commanded 42 Commando Royal Marines from 2006 to 2008 and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his leadership in Afghanistan. Holmes served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 2019 to 2021.

Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, raised in Austin, Texas, who lived in Nashville, Tennessee. Griffith appeared many times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985. In 1990, Griffith appeared on the Channel 4 programme Town & Country with John Prine, where she performed at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, along with Buddy Mondlock, Robert Earl Keen, and Barry "Byrd" Burton.

Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola was a Spanish architect and urban planner, known for his work in the modernization of Barcelona.

Shawn Lamont McLemore was an American gospel musician and leader of New Image. He started his music career in 1997 with the release of Wait on Him by Verity Records, and this placed on the Billboard magazine Gospel Albums chart. His second album, Sunday Morning: The Live Experience, came out in 2007 with Worldwide Music, yet this did not chart. The third album, Stand: The Shawn Mac Project, released in 2010 by Black Smoke Music alongside Worldwide Music, and this album did not chart. His fourth album, One Percent Miracle: Any Minute Now, was released in 2011 with Black Smoke Music along with Worldwide Music.

G. K. Govinda Rao was a writer, intellectual, professor of English and Kannada film actor from Karnataka, India.

Stephen Critchlow was a British actor, known for his work in the theatre and appearances on radio series such as Truly, Madly, Bletchley, The Way We Live Right Now, and Spats, along with radio episodes of Torchwood, and Doctor Who. He has also appeared in Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! as Kenneth Horne and appeared in the West End version of The 39 Steps.