Roy Ayers, the pioneering jazz-funk musician and composer, has died.

A statement shared via the 84-year-old vibraphonist and composer’s official Facebook page confirmed that he passed away in New York City on 4th March after a “long illness”: “He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed. His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time, a celebration of Roy’s life will be forthcoming.”

Ayers was born to a musical family in Los Angeles on 10th September 1940, and started to play the vibraphone at the age of five. After spending his teenage years leading his high school band and singing in his school choir, he started to build a career as a session player in the city’s hard bop-scene. He released his debut album, ‘West Coast Vibes’, in 1963. 

The development of his signature fusion of jazz and funk came together on 1970’s ‘Ubiquity’ album, the title of which became the name of his band. His biggest hit, ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ was released in 1976 on an album of the same name. The mellow, instantly recognisable anthem has gone onto be sampled over 100 times, by artists including Dr. Dre, A Guy Called Gerald, Mary J. Blige, Mos Def, Larry June, Björk, Machinedrum and many more. 

In 2017, Ayers told The Guardian about how the track was recorded at Electric Lady studios in New York on a hot summer day: “I just got this phrase in my head, ‘Everybody loves the sunshine’. I started singing: ‘Feel what I feel, when I feel what I feel, what I’m feeling.’ Then I started thinking about summer imagery … It was so spontaneous. It felt wonderful. And I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound: a mix of vibraphone, piano and a synthesiser.”

Ayers remained prolific for decades to come, releasing multiple albums and touring regularly with his band around the world up until a run of farewell shows in 2023. Throughout his career, he collaborated with musicians from across the music world, including those in dance music. Among those he worked with were Erykah Badu, Kerri Chandler, Fela Kuti, Masters At Work and A Tribe Called Quest. His final album, ‘Roy Ayers JID002’, a collaboration with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, was released in 2020. 

Tributes have poured in for the visionary artist whose music came to define the arrival of summer, and became a testament to the promise of brighter, warmer days. Read some of those, and listen to ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ below.