Five Artists Who Released Popular Posthumous Albums

On Monday, it was announced that Alan Vega, former frontman of pioneering punk band Suicide, would be releasing his first posthumous album. ‘IT’ has been in the works since 2010 and was recorded with his wife and music partner Liz Lamere, who continued working on it following his death in 2016. This is Vega’s 19^th studio album.

There have been a lot of artists who were in the process of creating an album when they unexpectedly passed away. These albums often get released posthumously, either by the label or the artist’s estate, leaving the world with one last glimpse into the artist’s world. Sometimes, a posthumously released album can do really well in sales, as fans mourn the artist by purchasing their final works.

Inspired by the news of Vega’s upcoming album, Vinyl Bay777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at other artists whose albums were released posthumously. Here are five popular albums that were released after their artist’s untimely demise.

1.       Notorious B.I.G., ‘Life After Death’: The follow-up to Biggie’s debut album, ‘Ready to Die,’ in 1994, ‘Life After Death’ was meant to be a continuation of the prior album’s story. He started working on the album in 1995 with the goal of releasing it in the fall of 1996, but the album’s recording took longer than expected and its release was pushed back to the spring of 1997. Backed by two massive hit singles, “Hypnotize” and “Mo Money Mo Problems,” this album made Biggie one of the biggest rappers ever. Unfortunately, Biggie never got to see the album succeed; he was shot two weeks before its release.

2.       Marvin Gaye, ‘Vulnerable’: It took 20 years for Marvin Gaye’s ‘Vulnerable’ to see the light of day. After the success of singles like “What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On,” Gaye was worried that the album wasn’t pop-y enough and wouldn’t sell, shelving the project many times. When ‘Vulnerable’ came out in 1997, Gaye had already been deceased for 13 years.

3.       Roy Orbison, ‘Mystery Girl’: Orbison’s career had gotten a second wind when he started recording ‘Mystery Girl’ in 1988, with covers of his songs giving more exposure to his originals and the Traveling Wilburys debut album doing so well. Unfortunately, with all the renewed success, Orbison didn’t take very good care of himself and passed away from a heart attack that same year. The album being complete before his passing, it was released two months later. It was his first charting album in decades.

4.       Janis Joplin, ‘Pearl’: Joplin’s most well known and highest-charting album, ‘Pearl’ was recorded at the height of her career, as well as the height of her drug and alcohol addiction. One month into the recording of the album, the singer overdosed on heroin at the age of 27. ‘Pearl’ was released four months later, earning rave reviews from critics and becoming an instant classic.

5.       Elliott Smith, ‘From a Basement on the Hill”: Intended to be a double album during the recording process, it became a single album upon release. That’s because Smith passed away during the album’s recording with only half of it finished. ‘From a Basement on the Hill’ was released in 2004 at his family’s request, having hired former producer Rob Schnapf and ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme to finish it. The album ended up being his most successful and highest-charting, hitting number 1 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and 19 on the Billboard 200.

When an artist passes away, there is often an inclination to release their final work into the world, especially when that work was being created at the time of their death. Artists like Elliott Smith, Janis Joplin, Notorious B.I.G, Roy Orbison and Marvin Gaye have all put out albums posthumously that have achieved massive success in sales and popularity. Alan Vega now joins that list of artists with posthumously released albums. Hopefully its release will put Vega and Suicide back in the spotlight.

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