Keyboardist and songwriter Richard Bell, one-time member of Janis Joplin's band, died one June 15 of multiple myeloma in a Toronto hospital. He was 61.

Bell, who began playing with Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band in 1970, was diagnosed with cancer one year ago. He received intensive treatment and made a comeback, despite his poor prognosis. This past spring, however, his cancer returned.

Bell is also known for his musical work with artists such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Joe Walsh, Paul Butterfield, The Cowboy Junkies, Bruce Cockburn, and Bonnie Raitt. His most recent gig was with the Toronto jazz and blue group Pork Bellies Futures.

He is survived by his mother, his sister, and his nieces and nephews.

Sunday, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Milan B. Williams, keyboardist and one of the original founding members of the Commodores, lost his life to cancer. The musicians who met in college at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in the late 60's, got together and formed a band later to become internationally famous and known as the Commodores.

Williams wrote the first hit for the band, Machine Gun. Later hits of the band included Brick House, Easy, and Three Times A Lady. When lead singer Lionel Richie left the band to strike out on his own, Williams remained with the original band members.

"He was once, twice, three times a brother and we love him. He gave all that he could give to the Commodores. He'll always be remembered," said Commodores band member Walter Orange. Williams was 58.

In 1998, Barenaked Ladies keyboardist and guitarist Kevin Hearn started to have pains and experienced rapid weight loss. At the time, the band was working on their next studio album Stunt. As soon as it was finished, Hearn went in for a medical checkup and was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. While Hearn underwent a bone marrow transplant, the band was forced to go on without him on tour to promote the new album. Cancer treatments and transplant required that Hearn spend time in an isolation room. During that time, he began writing what became the album H-Wing, named after the hospital wing, H-Wing of the Princess Margaret Hospital, where he spent so much of his time fighting cancer. Reviewers describe this album as, "a testament to the strength of the human spirit, transcending desperate situations, and dealing with one's mortality. The songs are filled with hope, fear, love, confusion, gratitude, sadness, and perhaps most importantly, a sense of humor."

Today, Hearn is cancer-free and back with Barenaked Ladies. Hearn has moved on but has not forgotten the cancer research and cancer community that made it possible for his life today. He is the honorary spokesperson for the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control. Hearn and Barenaked Ladies band members play charity shows and participate in cancer fundraisers. In addition to touring and recording music with both Barenaked Ladies, and his solo band from H-Wing, Thin Buckle, he has been composing music for Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, a children's television show. In the heart of a cancer survivor is profound gratitude -- for all the little discoveries that were made, and for all the people who worked diligently to make them -- that led to the better treatments, that allowed for another day of life. Giving back is a given.