Liam Clancy, the last surviving member of the seminal Irish folk band the Clancy Brothers, died on Friday at a Cork hospital at age 74. The balladeer, who Bob Dylan described as “the best ballad singer I’d ever heard in my life,” suffered from incurable pulmonary fibrosis (which also afflicted his brother Bobby) for years. With his brothers Tom and Patrick as the Clancy Brothers, Liam Clancy helped spark the folk revival of the early ’60s, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and playing Carnegie Hall at the peak of the group’s fame. Clancy embarked on a solo career in 1973 and the Clancy Brothers split a year later, but Liam rejoined the group in 1996 for the album Older But No Wiser and a farewell tour. Clancy’s funeral was held today at St. Mary’s Parish Church Dungarvan in county Waterford. [SFGate.com, IrishTimes.com]

R.I.P. songwriter Aaron Schroeder, who wrote or co-wrote some of Elvis Presley’s biggest hits, including “It’s Now or Never,” “Good Luck Charm,” and “A Big Hunk o’ Love.” Schroeder also wrote songs for Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, and Nat King Cole, founded the independent label Musicor Records and was Gene Pitney’s manager. Schroeder, who died from complications from Alzheimer’s Disease, was 83. [NYTimes.com]

Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo was hospitalized on Sunday after a bus accident. Cuomo’s tour bus, which was transporting him, his wife, and his daughter, hit a patch of ice Sunday morning en route to Weezer’s Boston date from Toronto. The bus slid on ice, then went into the median and hit some reflective posts before crossing back over the highway, going over the guardrail and landing in a ditch. Cuomo was and another passenger were transfered to St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam, New York. The rest of Weezer’s December Raditude tour dates have been canceled. [CNN.com]

Billy Joel’s daughter, singer/songwriter Alexa Ray Joel, has been released from the hospital after an alleged pill overdose sent her to New York City’s St. Vincent Hospital this weekend. [PopEater.com]

Sigur Rós leader Jónsi Birgisson will release his upcoming solo album Go on March 23, 2010. The album, which features Birgisson singing in English instead of Icelandic or the made-up language he has used on Sigur Rós works, also includes Nico Muhly and members of the National, Riceboy Sleeps, and Múm. [Pitchfork.com]

Simon Reynolds muses on the 2000s as a “musically fragmented” decade. [Guardian.co.uk]

Billboard compiles a top 40 of the decade’s biggest one-hit wonders. [Billboard.com]