The Gap Band’s Ronnie Wilson died on Tuesday after suffering from a stroke last week, TMZ reports. He was 73.
Linda Boulware-Wilson confirmed her husband’s passing to TMZ and called Ronnie a “genius with creating, producing and playing the flugelhorn, trumpet, keyboards and singing music” in a post made to Facebook.
The Gap Band was formed in in Tulsa, Oklahoma and consisted of brothers Charlie, Robert, and Ronnie Wilson. The group was named for Greenwood, Archer, and Pine streets in Tulsa. They would go on to record classic songs like “I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!),” “Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me),” and “You Dropped a Bomb on Me.” The band released 15 albums together, their first being 1974’s Magicians Holiday. They released their last project, Y2K: Funkin’ Till 2000 Comz, in 1999. Charlie Wilson is now the only surviving member of the former band. Robert Wilson died in 2010 at the age of 53 after suffering from a heart attack.
The Gap Band’s music has also been sampled on tracks like Tyler, the Creator’s “911 / Mr. Lonely,” Nas’ “Life’s a Bitch,” Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton,” and much more. Speaking of 2014’s “Uptown Funk,” Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson were later added as songwriters to the track in 2015.
You can revisit The Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” and “I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)” below via YouTube.
