American bandleaders

Joe Adams (April 11, 1924 – July 3, 2018) was an American actor, disc jockey, businessman and manager. He was manager to Ray Charles and won a Golden Globe — the first African-American to do so.

Thomas O. Hancock (March 25, 1929 – January 1, 2020) was an American musician widely regarded as the godfather of West Texas music.
Hancock was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, and his grandmother had him classically trained in violin. At age 16, Tommy joined the military and traveled overseas as a paratrooper and military policeman, serving in the Pacific towards the end of World War II. Upon his discharge at the end of the war, he returned to Lubbock, where he led a popular swing band called the Roadside Playboys. The Playboys had various members over time, including performers such as guitarist Sonny Curtis and fiddler Benjamin "Tex" Logan.: 69 In the late 1940s, Hancock hired Charlene Condray as a singer; they went on to marry. Together with five of their children, they toured the Rocky Mountains as "The Supernatural Family Band". Today, three of their children still tour as the "Texana Dames."
In the early 1970s, Hancock was introduced to fellow performer Jimmie Gilmore. They bonded over a desire to seek out new spiritual experiences. Hancock noted that "my whole thing with taking acid was I want to know God. If there's a god, I want to know him. And Jimmie was the first intelligent person I'd ever run into who was searching for God." Hancock played fiddle for Jimmie Dale's band, The Flatlanders.During the 1970s, Hancock and his family became followers of Guru Maharaj Ji.In 1980, the Hancock family settled in Austin, Texas.
In March 2000, Tommy was inducted into the Austin Chronicle Music Awards Hall of Fame. In 2002, The Supernatural Family Band was inducted into the Country Music Association of Texas Hall of Fame. In 2012, Tommy was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame in Lubbock, TX.
On January 1, 2020, Hancock died at age 90.

Conrad Oberon Johnson (November 15, 1915 – February 3, 2008) was an American music educator, long associated with the city of Houston, who was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame in 2000.
Born in Victoria, Texas, Conrad Johnson was nine when his family moved to Houston. Following studies at Yates High School, he attended Houston College for Negroes and graduated from Wiley College. He was an active member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He started his career in music education in 1941 and, following a thirty-seven-year career, retired from his position at Kashmere High School in 1978, but continued to remain active in shaping music in Houston by conducting summer programs and in-home tutoring.
Johnson was a proficient musician in his own right and, at one point, played with Count Basie[1]. Erskine Hawkins tried to convince him to join his orchestra, but Johnson declined, citing a love of teaching and obligations to his family. Later, Johnson made his lasting contribution to music by forming the Kashmere Stage Band, a renowned school orchestra that won a number of awards during its decade-long run.
The Conrad O. Johnson School of Fine Arts at Kashmere High School is named after him.
Conrad O. Johnson died in Houston days after his former students staged a celebration in his honor. The gala Saturday night concert, which was filmed by a documentary crew, was described by the students as "the greatest 92nd birthday gift that he could have ever requested."