NEW YORK (AP) – The legendary jazz vibraphone player, keyboard player, composer and vocalist Roy Ayers is known for his Spacey. Funky 1976 hit “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” was played by Mary J. Blige, NWA, and Dr. Sampled by such R&B and rap heavyweights as Dre, 2pac, Ice Cube, Died. He was 84 years old.
The Ayers family said in a Facebook post that he died Tuesday in New York City after a long illness. “He has lived beautifully for 84 years and will be seriously overlooked.”
Ayers has 12 album land on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and is the best in 1978 No. 48, “You're the best of “You” 'You'.
His music never sings out, and he appeared in 2019's Queen & Slim: The Soundtrack. His song, “Runing Away,” promoted the 1989 Tribe Called Quest's 1989 Opus “Description of a Fool,” and was sampled by Big Daddy Kane and Common. Ayers was heard on Tyler, the creator's album “Cherry Bomb” and Erika Badu's “Mama's Gun.”
“Well, I sample more hits than anyone else,” he said in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics Magazine. “I may not have more samples than James Brown, but I sampled the hits. Ah, guys, and there are some that I don't know.”
One of Ayers' most popular albums was “Lifeline.” This reached number 9 in what became the top R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 1977 and peaked at number 19 on the R&B chart, becoming a massive club hit.
During a 2017 visit to Johannesburg, Ayers provided rhythmic advice to young people in the city's Soweto area. Get serious, be inspired, rap, go on, and eventually get it.”
“Everyone, you have to choose your plateau. You'll take everything seriously,” Ayers said. He also named Nigerian Fella Kuti (“He was really like a genius”), Harvey Mann (“He taught me business”), Miles Davis (“He was the coolest. He was a grandmaster. He couldn't see”), and several musicians who inspired him.
After making his record debut with the hard-bop tenor saxophonist Curtis Amy Group in 1962, he worked with the Jazz Fultist Man to record three albums from Atlantic Records, “Verfago Vibe”, “Stone Soul Picnic” and “Papa Bug”, and wrote and produced the soundtrack for the Black Sploe film “Cofy”. He also went on to work with David “Fathead” Newman, the mainstay of Ray Charles' Great 60s orchestra's tenor.
In 2017 he appeared at the eclectic Arroyo Seco Festival in Los Angeles alongside acts such as Tom Petty, Singh, Alabama Shake, Charles Bradley, and William Bell.
Ayers is survived by his wife, Algerie and children, Mchum and Ayana Ayers.
