By Bianca Sierra

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Roy Ayers (September 10, 1940 — March 4, 2025) was an American vibraphonist, record producer and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk. He is a key figure in the acid jazz movement, and has been described as “The Godfather of Neo Soul“. He is best known for his compositions “Everybody Loves the Sunshine“, “Lifeline”, and “No Stranger to Love” and others that charted in the 1970s. At one time Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers.

Ayers is a recipient of the Congress of Racial Equality Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ayers married his wife Argerie in the early 1970s and together they had three children. He also had a son, the writer Nabil Ayers, from an earlier relationship. His daughter Ayana had also been managing him recently until his death.

Ayers died on March 4, 2025, at the age of 84 after suffering from a long illness.