In Memoriam: Legendary musician Roy Ayers (1940 – 2025)

Roy Ayers, the vibraphonist, composer and jazz-funk pioneer behind the iconic song “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” has died.

He was 84.

Details of Roy Ayers passing

The musician passed away Tuesday, Mar. 5 in New York City after a long illness, according to a statement shared by Ayers family on a Facebook post on Wednesday, Mar. 6.

“It is with great sadness that the family of legendary vibraphonist, composer and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4th, 2025 in New York City after a long illness,” the post read.

“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.”

Music career

Known as the “Godfather of Neo-soul,” Ayers had been in the music business for over four decades and was best known for his 1976 hit “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” released by his band, Roy Ayers Ubiquity.

Born in Los Angeles on Sept. 10, 1940, Ayers affinity for music started at a young age growing up in a musical family where his father played trombone and his mother played piano.

Ayers began to demonstrate his musical gift “by the tender age of five, by which time he was playing boogie woogie tunes on the piano,” it says. “He turned to the steel guitar by the age of (nine), had stints during his teens playing flute, trumpet and drums before embracing the vibes as his instrument of choice.”

According to his website, Ayers formed a music group in his early years in high school before studying advanced music theory at Los Angeles City College.

In the 1960s, Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk.

Ayers is best known for his compositions “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”, “Lifeline”, and “No Stranger to Love” and others that charted in the 1970s.

At one time Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers such as Kanye West.

He also made his imprint in cinema as the composer for “Coffy,” the 1973 blaxploitation film that launched the career of Pam Grier. He played Elgin in “Idaho Transfer” the same year

“Everybody Loves the Sunshine” has more than 130 million streams on Spotify and has been remixed and covered by artists like Mary J. Blige and Tupac.

In late 1979, Ayers scored his only top ten single on Billboard’s Hot Disco/Dance chart with “Don’t Stop the Feeling”, which was also the leadoff single from his studio album No Stranger to Love (1980), whose title track was sampled in Jill Scott’s 2000 song “Watching Me” from her debut studio album Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1.

Ayers is known for helping to popularize feel-good music in the 1970s, stating that “I like that happy feeling all of the time, so that ingredient is still there. I try to generate that because it’s the natural way I am”.

In the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, Ayers continued to release music founded two record labels, Uno Melodic and Gold Mink Records, and even dabbled in house music.

Rolling Stone magazine described Ayers’ music as sound “that wove lush soul, elastic jazz, and tight funk.”

“His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time,” the Facebook statement said. “A celebration of Roy’s life will be forthcoming.”