Latest news with #RoyAyersUbiquity
Los Angeles Times
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Roy Ayers, jazz-soul legend whose music was heavily sampled by younger artists, dies at 84
Roy Ayers, the 'King of Neo Soul' who was born and raised on Vernon Avenue just south of downtown Los Angeles and saw more than 60 of his songs sampled by a who's who of hip-hop and soul artists, died Wednesday in New York. The bandleader and vibraphonist was 84. 'It is with great sadness that the family of legendary vibraphonist, composer and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4th, 2025 in New York City after a long illness,' his family said late Tuesday in a statement on social media. 'He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed. His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time, a celebration of Roy's life will be forthcoming.' 'I grew up listening to the legendary Roy Ayers,' former Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday on X. ''Everybody Loves the Sunshine' is one of my favorite songs, and it has scored some of the most important moments in my life. When Doug [Emhoff] and I were dating, one of the first things Cole [Emhoff] and I bonded over was our love for Roy Ayers.' Ayers' 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' a minor hit when first issued, has been a Southern California anthem since its release in 1976. The longevity of the jazz-driven soul song is largely due to its use in hip-hop and soul tracks, with snippets of the song sampled by Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, J Dilla, 2Pac, J. Cole and dozens of others. Hundreds of other artists including Tyler, the Creator, Jill Scott and Madlib sampled Ayers, earning him a vaunted place among music producers and DJs. His work in the 1970s as bandleader of the six-piece band Roy Ayers Ubiquity helped spawn the subgenre called acid jazz. 'If I didn't have music, I wouldn't even want to be here,' Ayers told The Times in 2011. 'It's like an escape when there is no escape. An escape for temporary moments.' He said he was happy that he never asked anyone to sample his music, though he thought at the time that about 60 artists had done so. 'They just started doing it,' he said. 'It's been wonderful hearing people put their own spin on my sounds.' Roy Edwards Ayers was born Sept. 10, 1940, in south Los Angeles to a musical family — dad played trombone, mom played piano. He was raised against the backdrop of the storied Central Avenue Jazz scene during the 1940s and '50s. The area (known then as South Park) was a relatively peaceful beacon of African American culture, fostering luminaries including revered musicians Dexter Gordon and Charles Mingus. Ayers told The Times in 2011 how as a 5-year-old in the crowd at the Paramount Theater he received his first set of mallets from the great Lionel Hampton. 'At the time, my mother and father told me he laid some spiritual vibes on me,' Ayers said. They became his weapon of choice after picking up the vibraphone as a Thomas Jefferson High School student at age 17. Ayers released his debut album, 'West Coast Vibes,' in 1962. He relocated to New York City in 1966 after he dropped out of Los Angeles City College and began touring with flute player Herbie Mann. With Argerie Ayers, whom he married in 1973, the musician had son Mtume and daughter Ayana, who later became his manager. He also had a son, writer Nabil Ayers, with ballerina-turned-waitress Louise Braufman. As a bandleader, Ayers' albums include 20 studio records, nine collaborative releases and six live ones. He released 17 singles, primarily in the 1970s and 1980s, including 'Don't Stop the Feeling,' 'Hot,' 'Running Away,' 'Get on Up, Get on Down' and 'In the Dark.' He did the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation movie 'Coffy,' which was co-written by its star Pam Grier and director Jack Hall. Quentin Tarantino's Vista Theater retro cafe, Pam's Coffy, pays homage to the 1973 project, and Tarantino used the music from 'Coffy' in his 1997 Grier film 'Jackie Brown.' 'The president of PolyGram came to me in 1973 and said, 'Roy, can you do a soundtrack?' I said, 'Of course.' I had never done a soundtrack in my life,' he told musician Stephen Titmus in 2014. 'So they sent me out to California and showed me the movie and showed me everything I had to do and I did it.' His experience working with big bands made for easy work, he said. Ayers' career got a significant revival in the 1990s when, during hip-hop's Golden Era, sample-minded emcees plumbed his ample catalog and worked his music into theirs. His 'King of Neo Soul' title came from singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, one of the artists who partnered with him on his 2004 record 'Mahogany Vibe.' 'I wrote the song because I felt it,' Ayers told The Times in 2020 via email when asked about the place of 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' in Southern California culture. 'Perhaps because it is sunny and lovely out on the West Coast, that came through.' Times deputy editor Nate Jackson and former staff writer Randall Roberts contributed to this report.
CNN
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Roy Ayers, legendary musician behind hit song ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' dies at 84
Roy Ayers, the legendary American vibraphonist, composer and pioneer of jazz-funk, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 84. The producer passed away in New York City after a long illness, the family announced on Facebook. A specific cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Ayers 'lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed,' his family said. Known as the 'Godfather of Neo-soul,' Ayers had been in the music business for over four decades and was best known for his 1976 hit 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' released by his band, Roy Ayers Ubiquity. A Los Angeles native, Ayers had a natural affinity for music from a young age. His mother, Ruby Ayers, was a piano instructor, while his father, Roy Sr., was a trombonist, according to a biography on his website. Ayers began to demonstrate his musical aptitude 'by the tender age of five, by which time he was playing boogie woogie tunes on the piano,' it says. 'He turned to the steel guitar by the age of (nine), had stints during his teens playing flute, trumpet and drums before embracing the vibes as his instrument of choice.' By the 1960s, Ayers was a well-rounded professional musician, frequently collaborating with groove pioneer Herbie Mann. Ayres took the glassy, elongated tones of the vibraphone – the percussion instrument resembling a marimba or xylophone – and moved away from the uptempo jazz sound pioneered by Lionel Hampton. With Ayres' hands at the mallets, the vibes were remolded into a tool of spacy musical exploration. 'There was no written music, scores or charts,' Philip Woo, who played keys on 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' told The Guardian in 2017. 'He had one chord, which he would move around all over the place, very intuitively.' Until recently Ayers had been a frequent collaborator with contemporary hip-hop heavyweights such as Kanye West. Ayres also left his stamp on cinema as the composer for 'Coffy,' the 1973 blaxploitation film that launched the career of Pam Grier. 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' has more than 130 million streams on Spotify and has been remixed and covered by artists like Mary J. Blige and Tupac. Rolling Stone magazine described Ayers' music as sound 'that wove lush soul, elastic jazz, and tight funk.' 'His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time,' the Facebook statement said. 'A celebration of Roy's life will be forthcoming.'
CNN
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Roy Ayers, legendary musician behind hit song ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' dies at 84
Roy Ayers, the legendary American vibraphonist, composer and pioneer of jazz-funk, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 84. The producer passed away in New York City after a long illness, the family announced on Facebook. A specific cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Ayers 'lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed,' his family said. Known as the 'Godfather of Neo-soul,' Ayers had been in the music business for over four decades and was best known for his 1976 hit 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' released by his band, Roy Ayers Ubiquity. A Los Angeles native, Ayers had a natural affinity for music from a young age. His mother, Ruby Ayers, was a piano instructor, while his father, Roy Sr., was a trombonist, according to a biography on his website. Ayers began to demonstrate his musical aptitude 'by the tender age of five, by which time he was playing boogie woogie tunes on the piano,' it says. 'He turned to the steel guitar by the age of (nine), had stints during his teens playing flute, trumpet and drums before embracing the vibes as his instrument of choice.' By the 1960s, Ayers was a well-rounded professional musician, frequently collaborating with groove pioneer Herbie Mann. Ayres took the glassy, elongated tones of the vibraphone – the percussion instrument resembling a marimba or xylophone – and moved away from the uptempo jazz sound pioneered by Lionel Hampton. With Ayres' hands at the mallets, the vibes were remolded into a tool of spacy musical exploration. 'There was no written music, scores or charts,' Philip Woo, who played keys on 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' told The Guardian in 2017. 'He had one chord, which he would move around all over the place, very intuitively.' Until recently Ayers had been a frequent collaborator with contemporary hip-hop heavyweights such as Kanye West. Ayres also left his stamp on cinema as the composer for 'Coffy,' the 1973 blaxploitation film that launched the career of Pam Grier. 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' has more than 130 million streams on Spotify and has been remixed and covered by artists like Mary J. Blige and Tupac. Rolling Stone magazine described Ayers' music as sound 'that wove lush soul, elastic jazz, and tight funk.' 'His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time,' the Facebook statement said. 'A celebration of Roy's life will be forthcoming.'
CNN
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Roy Ayers, legendary musician behind hit song ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' dies at 84
Roy Ayers, the legendary American vibraphonist, composer and pioneer of jazz-funk, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 84. The producer passed away in New York City after a long illness, the family announced on Facebook. A specific cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Ayers 'lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed,' his family said. Known as the 'Godfather of Neo-soul,' Ayers had been in the music business for over four decades and was best known for his 1976 hit 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' released by his band, Roy Ayers Ubiquity. A Los Angeles native, Ayers had a natural affinity for music from a young age. His mother, Ruby Ayers, was a piano instructor, while his father, Roy Sr., was a trombonist, according to a biography on his website. Ayers began to demonstrate his musical aptitude 'by the tender age of five, by which time he was playing boogie woogie tunes on the piano,' it says. 'He turned to the steel guitar by the age of (nine), had stints during his teens playing flute, trumpet and drums before embracing the vibes as his instrument of choice.' By the 1960s, Ayers was a well-rounded professional musician, frequently collaborating with groove pioneer Herbie Mann. Ayres took the glassy, elongated tones of the vibraphone – the percussion instrument resembling a marimba or xylophone – and moved away from the uptempo jazz sound pioneered by Lionel Hampton. With Ayres' hands at the mallets, the vibes were remolded into a tool of spacy musical exploration. 'There was no written music, scores or charts,' Philip Woo, who played keys on 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' told The Guardian in 2017. 'He had one chord, which he would move around all over the place, very intuitively.' Until recently Ayers had been a frequent collaborator with contemporary hip-hop heavyweights such as Kanye West. Ayres also left his stamp on cinema as the composer for 'Coffy,' the 1973 blaxploitation film that launched the career of Pam Grier. 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' has more than 130 million streams on Spotify and has been remixed and covered by artists like Mary J. Blige and Tupac. Rolling Stone magazine described Ayers' music as sound 'that wove lush soul, elastic jazz, and tight funk.' 'His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time,' the Facebook statement said. 'A celebration of Roy's life will be forthcoming.'
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Roy Ayers, Everybody Loves the Sunshine singer and jazz-funk pioneer, dies at 84
Influential soul, jazz and funk producer and composer Roy Ayers has died at the age of a statement posted on Facebook, his family said: "It is with great sadness that the family of legendary vibraphonist, composer, and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4 2025 in New York City after a long illness."They described him as "highly influential and sought after as a music collaborator."Ayers' own biggest hit was the mellow track Everybody Loves the Sunshine, which was covered by artists like d'Angelo and sampled by others including Mary J Blige and Tyler, the Creator. But he was so much more than his best-known record. A pioneer of nu-soul and jazz funk, he was a key figure in the 90s acid jazz movement. Happy and Blurred Lines singer Pharrell Williams has described him as one of his greatest musical inspirations. Ayers had a huge influence on many RnB and hip-hop stars, particularly in the 90s, with artists like Tribe Called Quest, Mary J Blige and Jill Scott sampling his earlier work on tracks like Bonita Applebaum, My Life and Watching also worked with Guru and The Roots. Erykah Badu called him "the king of neo soul".More recently, Calvin Harris told BBC Radio 2 that Ayers "just stood out, his music is amazing and just so intricate... everything just sounds so rich and warm". Ayers performed at Glastonbury several times; his last performance there was in also wrote and produced the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Coffy starring Pam could play several instruments, including the flute and trumpet but he became synonymous with the vibraphone, a percussion instrument that looks similar to a xylophone but has a set of metal bars rather than other hits include Running Away and Searchin', with his band Roy Ayers Ubiquity, who were also behind Everybody Loves the Sunshine. Musical family Roy Edward Ayers Jr was born into a musical family in Los Angeles on 10 September 1940. His mum Ruby was a school teacher and piano teacher, while his dad, Roy Sr, was a parking attendant and began playing the piano at the age of five and went on to play several instruments and sing in the church choir before plumping for the star Lionel Hampton may have had something to do with that. Ayers attended a Lionel Hampton Big Band concert when he was just five. Quite taken by Ayers's enthusiasm and delight at the performance, Hampton gifted the youngster a pair of vibe mallets. Ayers formed his first group while at Jefferson High School, aptly named the Jefferson Combo, and later studied advanced music theory at became a professional musician in went on to record three albums with jazz flautist Herbie Mann before forming Roy Ayers Ubiquity and landing the hit Everybody Loves the Sunshine in 1976, from the album of the same last solo album, Mahogany Vibes, featuring Badu, came out in is survived by his wife Argerie, and their children Mtume and Ayana Facebook post on Ayers's page added: "His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time, a celebration of Roy's life will be forthcoming."
