Roy Ayers

Roy Edward Ayers Jr September 10 1940 March 4 2025 was an American vibraphonist record producer and composer Ayers began his career as a postbop jazz artist releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s during which he helped to pioneer jazzfunk He was a key figure in the acid jazz movement and has been described as The Godfather of Neo Soul He was best known for his compositions Everybody Loves the Sunshine Running Away and Freaky Deaky and others that charted in the 1970s At one time Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers Description above from the Wikipedia article Roy Ayers licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia