Edwin Birdsong has handed away on the age of 77.
The experimental funk artist was nicely revered for his music, and though he didn’t obtain a substantial amount of chart success, his work has been sampled in lots of well-known tracks by the likes of Daft Punk, Kanye West, De La Soul and Gang Starr.
His 1979 tune ‘Cola Bottle Baby’ was prominently sampled in Daft Punk tune ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ and Kanye West’s hit ‘Stronger’, which additionally closely samples Daft Punk. And Birdsong’s 1980 single ‘Rapper Dapper Snapper’ was sampled by De La Soul and Gang Starr of their tracks ‘My Myself and I’ and ‘Skills’ respectively.
Birdsong launched 5 albums throughout his profession throughout 1972 to 1981, arriving on labels Polydor, Bamboo, Philadelphia International, Uni Records and Salsoul. He then stopped releasing his personal music, however labored as a session musician and produced alongside artists like Stevie Wonder, Roy Ayers and Funkghost.
The LA-born artist’s son Singh Birdsong and ex-wife Angela Birdsong confirmed his passing on Instagram and Facebook.
Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer, comply with him on Twitter