Bobby Caldwell, oft-sampled soul singer who enjoyed great success in the late 1970s, has died at the age of 71.
Bobby Caldwell, often-sampled blue-eyed soul singer behind the late 1970s hit ” What You Won’t Do for Love “, died at the age of 71 years.
” Bobby died at homeTo tweeted Wednesday Mary, Caldwell’s wife. I held him tight in my arms as he left us. My heart is forever broken. Thank you all for your many prayers over the years. »
Although no cause of death was provided, Caldwell had battled health issues for the past six years stemming from an adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic.
Caldwell was best known for his 1978 hit “ What You Don’t Do for Love ‘, a soulful single which rose to number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, in part thanks to its appeal to a large audience: indeed, at the start of his career, Caldwell’s label, TK Records, concealed the fact that he was a white singer, which helped the single chart high on R&B-dominated radio stations. However, when Caldwell began making public appearances to promote the track, the single’s commercial success with black audiences was not diminished.
” What You Don’t Do for Love was later covered by artists such as Boyz II Men, Natalie Cole & Peabo Bryson, Michael Bolton and Jessie Ware, and sampled by Tupac Shakur for the rapper’s posthumous single ” Do for Love “.
In fact, much of Caldwell’s contemporary success comes from the fact that his catalog is a reference for hip-hop producers: J Dilla sampled his title ” Open Your Eyes “for the single” The Light by Common in 2000, and Kendrick Lamar used the same song for his title ” ROTC ” The song ” MyFlame by Caldwell was used on the track ” Sky’s the Limit » by Notorious BIG with 112, and its title « carry-on was sampled by A$AP Rocky and Lil Nas X, the latter of which was the subject of a $25 million lawsuit filed by Caldwell over the internet-only track.
Although Bobby Caldwell never matched the solo success of ” What You Don’t Do for Love “, he wrote the tube” The Next Time I Fall in Love for Peter Cetera and Amy Grant, a Grammy-nominated song that reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1986.
In 2015, Caldwell introduced himself to young audiences as Cool Uncle, working with producer Jack Splash, an admirer of Caldwell. ” I thought that was a little weirdCaldwell told RollingStone at the time. Because he’s 20 years my junior. My wife encouraged me to call her. We got on well on the phone. »
Splash added that he hopes Cool Uncle will encourage young fans to ” search the catalog [de Caldwell] until the first two albums. There are real gems in there. »
Daniel Kreps
Translated by the editor
Bobby Caldwell, singer of ‘What You Won’t Do for Love’, is dead