Grammy nominated Jazz singer Andy Bey, has died at the age of 85. The legendary star's death occured on Saturday April 26 but is only just being made public now. The news was confirmed by BBC Radio 6 star Giles Peterson in a Facebook post. "Sad to report the passing of the truly gifted Andy Bey," he wrote. "John Coltrane’s favorite singer and the voice that graced so many of our jazz classics. From the early days with his sisters and tracks like ‘A Taste of Honey’ to his work with Horace Silver (‘I’ve had a little talk’), Max Roach (‘Members don’t get Weary’) and those incredible features such as ‘Celestial Blues’ with @bartzoyo …
"One of my dreams was bringing him to the UK to play with Gary at @weoutherefest, but already back in 2019 he was too frail to travel - you could still catch him if fortunate at places like Smalls or Birdland until a few years ago where he would perform with piano and play songs like his beautiful version of Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’ which brought him a whole new legion of fans.
Rest in Power Andy Bey," he concluded.
Fans imediately flooded the comments with tributes to the jazz icon. " Oh, this is just awful news. What a talent, with human warmth radiating from every note. A great loss to the world," one wrote.
"A beautiful voice musician another great who will be much missed ," another added. A third chimed in: "Sad …I only recently discovered his amazing music …it’ll live on …love and respect."
"I always loved Andy Bey's voice, from those early works with his sisters through the fantastic 'cosmic' 70s material to those latter 'stately' albums... Irreplaceable, eternal... RIP," a fourth penned.
A fifth commented: "I just heard the sad news on the radio on my way home. I'm so glad I discovered Andy Bey (also on the radio playing River Man) while he was still alive and even more glad that I was able to see his 80th birthday tribute and 30 minute set at Birdland. He truly was one of the great jazz vocalists, probably the best male vocalist in my opinion."
Meanwhile a sixth shared: "Absolutely incredible singer and musician. I found out about him when I saw him live in New York in the 2010's-went back and filled in the blanks on his career, then caught him every time I could over the next few years. He was tremendous working his way through standards in Andy Bey fashion. Even got to shake his hand once or twice. Unsung doesn't even begin to say it. What a loss, RIP to Mr. Bey."
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