Roy Ayers dead at 84: The multi-genuine music legend has been sampled in hip-hop classics

A multi -genuine musical legend, known as The Godfather of Neo Soul is dead at 84.

Roy Ayers, jazz vibraphonist best known for the 1976 hit “Everybody Loves the Sanshine”, died on Tuesday in New York, according to Variety. A cause of death was not announced, but his family said he had “a long illness”.

Ayers started his career in the 1960s, jazz-Fork pioneering sounds that led to the Neo-Soul movement with its R&B mix, disco, post-Bop and jazz acid. He has released dozens of albums, both solo and like Roy Ayers Ubiquity, and collaborated with a variety of artists Rick JamesKanye West, Whitney Houston and The Roots.

His iconic vibraphon sound influenced the generations of artists and became one of the most sampling hip-hop musicians. Ayers can be heard on classics like Mary J. Blige“My Life”, naughty of “Hip Horay Hooray” of Nature, a tribe called “Bonita Applebum”, “the first days of the new school” Junior Mafia“Get Money” and “Passin me by (Fly as Pie Remix), plus newer songs like Tyler,” Pothole “by Creator and Weiss’ Edm hit” Feel My Needs “.

Ayers also worked as a film composer, writing and producing the soundtrack for the 1973 Blaxploitation film, “Coffy”, with Pam Grier. He hosted the fictional radio station “Fusion FM” in the 2008 video game “Grand Theft Auto IV”.

In the last two decades, he has thrown himself into home music, founded several disc labels and collaborated with artists like Erykah Badu, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (from ATCQ) and Tyler, the creator (“Find Your Wings”). He received a life -rendering prize from the Congress of racial equality in 2011.

Survivors include Ayers’ wife, Argerie and two children.