Jewell Caples, dubbed “The First Lady of Death Row Records” and known for her work on The Chronic, Doggystyle and All Eyez on Me, has died at the age of 53, her manager shared in a statement with Entertainment Tonight.
Caples’ manager Timothy Beal called her “a very special woman with a big heart” and that said over the years she “transformed her life from hardcore gangsta rap to faith-based gospel singer and songwriter.”
“We have been working diligently on her comeback, we wish we could have seen her make her big comeback,” he said. “I will personally miss her a great deal. Goodbye to a great great friend and a very loving woman … RIP to her, gone but not forgotten. Her spirit will live on through her music for generations to come. Rest In Peace and Power.”
Caples, who went simply by Jewell during her Death Row days, was hospitalized with a heart condition earlier this year, but her cause of death remains unknown. Vibe first broke the news of her death, and noted that she passed Friday at around 5 a.m.
The vocalist, outside of her work with Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre, signed to Death Row Records in 1992 and saw success in her cover of Shirley Brown’s “Woman to Woman,” which peaked at No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100, alongside a music video starring Regina King.
“Sending love from Snoop and the whole Death Row family,” the label wrote in an Instagram Story Friday.
