Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
Founding member of The Gap Band, Ronnie Wilson, passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 2 after suffering a stroke in late October. The iconic musician was 73.
Linda Boulware-Wilson, Ronnie’s wife, shared details about the R&B musician’s passing while speaking with TMZ. Her account detailed that after the stroke, Ronnie was in a semi-coma but unable to fully recover.
He passed away peacefully as she held his hand at 10:01 AM on Tuesday, in his Tulsa, Oklahoma, home.
Boulware-Wilson shared that Ronnie tragically suffered several strokes throughout the years, proceeding the one he last suffered.
The widow further described her late husband as a “genius with creating, producing and playing the flugelhorn, trumpet, keyboards and singing music” in a statement shared to Facebook.
“Please continue to pray for The Wilson, Boulware, and Collins family, while we mourn his passing,” Boulware-Wilson wrote. “He will be truly missed!!! ðŸ™ðŸ½ðŸ’”🙋ðŸ½â™€ï¸.”
Ronnie started The Gap Band with brothers Charlie Wilson and Robert Wilson in the late 1960s. The Tulsa natives named their musical group as an abbreviation for the street names Greenwood, Archer and Pine, which were prominent in the city’s Black neighborhood and targeted during the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. Notably, the brothers grew up just a block away from the area, according to Pitchfork.
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The Gap Band released their first album, Magicians Holiday, in 1974. Their feel-good combination of R&B, funk and soul kept the group prolific — particularly through the late 70s and 80s — as the band’s name became as well known as those of Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire and more.
As a group with hits such as “Outstanding,” “September,” and “You Dropped A Bomb On Me,” The Gap Band and Ronnie’s contributions to the industry as a whole have impacted generations — especially in the Black community.
RIP
