List of Works Published Posthumously - Music

Music

• Frédéric Chopin's opuses 66-74 contain more than twenty posthumous works.
• "Beautiful Dreamer", published in 1864, shortly after the death of songwriter Stephen Foster; it was the last song he wrote before his death, and is widely acclaimed as one of his most celebrated works.
• The phonautograms of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville were not able to be played back, using digital technology, until long after his death in 1879.
• Turandot, a three-act opera by Giacomo Puccini, was finished by fellow composer Franco Alfano and premiered, almost two years after Puccini's death, on April 25, 1926.
• "Your Cheatin' Heart" "Kaw-Liga", and "Take These Chains from My Heart", three singles released after Hank Williams's death from a heart attack in January 1953, brought on by a fatal combination of alcohol, chloral hydrate, vitamin B12, and morphine.
• Last Recordings, released just days after Billie Holiday's death from heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver in July 1959.
• "Lonely" and "Weekend", two singles released after Eddie Cochran's death in a taxi accident in April 1960.
• Several of Patsy Cline's singles and albums were released after her death in a 1963 plane crash; most importantly the singles "Leavin' on Your Mind", "Sweet Dreams (Of You)", and "Faded Love" became hits, and the albums The Patsy Cline Story, A Portrait of Patsy Cline, That's How a Heartache Begins, and Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits were released.
• The single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released a month after the plane crash that killed singer Otis Redding.
• "I'm Sorry" and "Seabreeze" by Frankie Lymon were released in 1969, a year after Lymon's untimely death from an accidental heroin overdose.
• Most of the extensive catalog of American guitarist Jimi Hendrix; in his lifetime, Hendrix only saw the release of three albums by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, a compilation by the same group, and a live album by the Band of Gypsys.
• Janis Joplin's Pearl (album) was released in February 1971, four months after her death. Joplin had recorded all the vocals for all the songs (expect "Buried Alive In The Blues") before she died. Her band, the Full Tilt Boogie Band, recorded the music.
• Several of Jim Croce's singles and albums were released after his 1973 death in a plane crash.
• Various home recordings by Nick Drake have been released since his death in 1974 to satisfy growing interest in his work.
• Various live recordings and studio outtakes by Tim Buckley have been released following his death 1975 from an accidental overdose of both heroin and alcohol.
• Two songs performed by Donny Hathaway (in collaboration with Roberta Flack) - "Back Together Again" and "You Are My Heaven" - were released in 1980, two years following his death.
• Closer, in August 1980, after the suicide of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis on May 17 of that year. The remaining members of Joy Division later went on to form New Order.
• John Lennon's hit singles "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels" were released shortly after his murder. The album Milk and Honey, which includes the song "Nobody Told Me", came out two years later.
• Coda by Led Zeppelin was released two years after the death of John Bonham.
• Four albums by The Carpenters have been released since the death of Karen Carpenter: Voice of the Heart, An Old-Fashioned Christmas, Lovelines and As Time Goes By. Her aborted solo album has also been released, simply titled Karen Carpenter.
• The Marvin Gaye albums Dream of a Lifetime (1985, Columbia), Romantically Yours (1985, Columbia) (the single "Sanctified Lady" became a modest international hit when it was released in 1985 reaching number two on the American R&B charts and number fifty-seven in the UK.) and Vulnerable (1997, Motown) (which was the aborted The Ballads album) were released after his death in 1984.
• My Place, a solo album by Australian guitarist Guy McDonough (Australian Crawl), was released in 1985 after his death.
• The live album Ballot Result by the punk band The Minutemen was released two years after the death of lead singer/guitarist D. Boon in a van accident.
• The song "To Live Is to Die" on heavy metal band Metallica's fourth studio album ...And Justice for All (1988) was written by Cliff Burton, the late bass player whose untimely death occurred in Sweden while he was on tour supporting Ozzy Osbourne in 1986.
• Divine died in 1988, followed by the release of The Best Of and the Rest Of (1989) (compilation), 12 Inch Collection (1993) (compilation), Born To Be Cheap (1995) (live), Shoot Your Shot (1995), The Originals and the Remixes (1996) (2-CD compilation), and The Best of Divine (1997) (compilation).
• Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison; it spawned a hit single in "You Got It".
• Apple, the sole album by grunge band Mother Love Bone, was released days after lead singer Andrew Wood's death.
• De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas was released following the murder of Mayhem's guitarist, Euronymous, and the suicide of vocalist Dead.
• MTV Unplugged in New York, on November 1, 1994 after singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt Cobain's death on April 5 of the same year; also From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, With the Lights Out and Sliver: The Best of the Box. There was also a single, "You Know You're Right", recorded on January 30, 1994 at Bob Lang Studios during Nirvana's final studio session; it was finally released on the band's compilation album, Nirvana, eight years after Cobain's death.
• Dreaming of You, the only English album by Selena.
• Queen album Made in Heaven was released four years after the death of frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991.
• Eazy-E's album Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton was released months after his death.
• Antonio Brasileiro and Tom Jobim were both released after Antonio Carlos Jobim's death from cardiac arrest on December 8, 1994.
• The Beatles' songs "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", wherein the three surviving Beatles overdubbed onto home recordings by John Lennon.
• The self-titled album from California ska group Sublime was released after singer/songwriter/guitarist Bradley Nowell's 1996 heroin overdose death.
• The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, R U Still Down? (Remember Me), Still I Rise, Until the End of Time, Better Dayz, Tupac: Resurrection, Loyal to the Game, and Pac's Life were all released after Tupac Shakur's death on September 13, 1996.
• Eva by Heart (1997), Time After Time (2000), Imagine (2002), American Tune (2003), Somewhere (2008), and Simply Eva (2011), all after Eva Cassidy's death from melanoma in 1996.
• Mystery White Boy and Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk were released after the death of Jeff Buckley.
• The Notorious B.I.G.'s albums Life After Death, Born Again and Duets: The Final Chapter were released after his murder in 1997.
• Michael Hutchence, a self-titled album by the original frontman of INXS, was released after his 1997 death of autoerotic asphyxiation.
• California session singer Warren Wiebe has been featured on various compilation albums following his suicide in 1998 as well as several demo recordings.
• Rapper Big L's album The Big Picture was released in 2000, a year after he was shot to death in his own neighborhood; the murder is still unsolved.
• Kevin Gilbert's concept album, The Shaming of the True, released in 2000, four years after his death from autoerotic asphyxiation.
• Aaliyah's music video for her song "Rock the Boat" was completed the morning of her death. Her album I Care 4 U was released posthumously, with six previously unreleased tracks.
• Don't Worry About Me, the only solo album by Joey Ramone, was released a year after Joey's death in 2001.
• Brainwashed by George Harrison, completed by producer Jeff Lynne and son Dhani Harrison.
• Streetcore, the third and final album by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, was released a little less than a year after Strummer's death.
• The Shining, by J Dilla.
• From a Basement on the Hill and New Moon were released after Elliott Smith's death.
• Rebel Meets Rebel, a collaboration album by David Allan Coe and Pantera, released over a year after Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered.
• Two albums, Katorz (2006) and Infini (2009), by thrash metal band Voivod were released after the death of lead guitarist Denis D'Amour in 2005.
• American V: A Hundred Highways and American VI: Ain't No Grave were both released after Johnny Cash's death in 2003.
• Korean singer U;Nee's last album, Habit, was released five days after her death in 2007.
• Gerald Levert's In My Songs was released after his death.
• Lisa Lopes's Eye Legacy was released after her death in 2002.
• Toše Proeski's album The Hardest Thing was released posthumously in 2009, two years after his death in a car accident.
• Michael Jackson's song "This Is It" was released after his death in 2009.
• Nightmare, the fifth album by metal band Avenged Sevenfold, was released on July 27, 2010, almost 7 months after the death of drummer The Rev on December 28, 2009.
• Michael, a collection of formerly unreleased tracks by Michael Jackson, was released on December 14, 2010.
• Black Beauty, an unreleased album by the group Love shelved 38 years ago, was finally released in 2011 — five years after the death of its frontman, Arthur Lee.
• Luther Vandross's single Shine was released in 2006, the year following his death.
• Several albums by Stevie Ray Vaughan were released after his death in 1990.
• Brother by Boyzone was released in March 8, 2010, months after member Stephen Gately's death from natural causes on October 10, 2009.

Note: Records released after the split of a band are also sometimes referred as "posthumous", even if all members are still alive.