{"id":840826,"date":"2026-06-03T05:59:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/840826\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T05:59:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:59:21","slug":"peabo-bryson-dies-rb-singer-known-for-disney-classics-was-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/840826\/","title":{"rendered":"Peabo Bryson dies: R&B singer known for Disney classics was 75"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Peabo Bryson, a Grammy-winning R&B singer known for his duets from Disney classics \u201cAladdin<\/a>\u201d and \u201cBeauty and the Beast,<\/a>\u201d has died. He was 75. <\/p>\n

His family confirmed to The Times that he died Tuesday in Marietta, Ga. The cause was complications from a stroke he suffered over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,\u201d the family shared. \u201cWhile our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit. His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryson was a fixture on the R&B scene for decades, scoring with such hits as \u201cTonight I Celebrate My Love\u201d and \u201cIf Ever You\u2019re in My Arms Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Peabo <\/p>\n

Peabo Bryson, pictured performing in Washington, D.C., in 2016, won Grammy Awards in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994.<\/p>\n

(Teresa Kroeger \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In a career peak in 1992, the singer was featured on recordings that topped four separate charts: \u201cA Whole New World,\u201d a duet with Regina Belle from the Disney animated movie \u201cAladdin,\u201d topped the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts; \u201cThe King and I\u201d album, featuring Bryson, was No. 1 on the Classical Crossover charts, and Kenny G\u2019s \u201cBreathless\u201d album, featuring Bryson on \u201cBy the Time the Night Is Over,\u201d topped the Contemporary Jazz charts. <\/p>\n

He nabbed two Grammy Awards back to back in 1993 and 1994 for his performance of \u201cBeauty and the Beast<\/a>\u201d with C\u00e9line Dion, and his performance of \u201cA Whole New World<\/a>\u201d with Regina Belle. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything I can\u2019t do,\u201d Bryson told The Times<\/a>. \u201cI see myself as a true Renaissance man. I don\u2019t like one-dimensional concepts of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Peapo Bryson was born on April 13, 1951, in Greenville, S.C. He grew up attending concerts his mother would bring the family to, and by the time he was in high school, he knew he wanted a career in music. <\/p>\n

In 1978, he told David Nathan<\/a>, an editor for Blues & Soul magazine, that his mother wasn\u2019t thrilled about the prospect of him chasing his dreams in the rhythm-and-blues biz and worried he\u2019d get into trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far back as I can remember, I\u2019ve always been into music,\u201d Bryson said. \u201cIt\u2019s all I ever wanted to really deal with. … I had to make that decision, when I was around 14, as to what I was going to get into, career-wise. Well, I\u2019d thought about being a doctor or something like that, but I really felt that music was my thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

He cut his teeth as a backing vocalist in various groups, but none of his bandmates could properly pronounce \u201cPeapo,\u201d his French West Indian name, so he changed up the spelling to make it simpler. The stage name Peabo was born. In the late 1960s, he linked up with \u201cMy Elusive Dreams\u201d hitmaker Moses Dillard. \u201cI started out just singing, although I progressed into percussion, guitar and, much later, playing piano \u2014 that was basically when I started getting into songwriting,\u201d he told Nathan. <\/p>\n

In 1967, he signed his first record deal, with Bang Records, and in 1976, he made his solo debut with the single \u201cUnderground Music\u201d and his eponymous album, \u201cPeabo.\u201d The next year, he hit it big time and signed with Capitol Records, where he put out back-to-back gold-selling albums: \u201cReaching for the Sky\u201d in 1977 and \u201cCrosswinds\u201d in 1978. <\/p>\n

\"Peabo <\/p>\n

Peabo Bryson performs at the Centennial Olympic Park\u2019s Fourth of July Celebration in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

(Robb D. Cohen \/ Invision \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

By the \u201990s, Bryson was at a career high, collected Grammy nominations and became the definitive voice of Disney duets. But the music scene was changing, and Bryson wasn\u2019t keen on the new direction. He told The Times in 1994 that MTV had stopped considering talent as the criteria to be played on the music channel and that he thought mainstream music had taken a hostile and negative turn. <\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I [tick] people off because I don\u2019t go away,\u201d he said with a chuckle. \u201cI\u2019m like a tenacious forest fire \u2014 you snuff me out over here, and I\u2019m still burning down the back 40 just when you think it\u2019s over. I have a great faith in God, and because of my great faith in God, I have faith in the self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for legions of fans of the soulful balladeer, Bryson was right and he wasn\u2019t going anywhere for another couple of decades. The Grammy winner continued to grace stages with his flashy blazers and smooth baritone, and recently performed a concert with Jeffrey Osborne at Trilith Live in Fayetteville, Ga. <\/p>\n

The event in early May was a standalone performance, apart from the crooner\u2019s Golden Touch tour, which he announced last year, amid his celebration of 50 years in the music industry. <\/p>\n

In recent years, Bryson said he had been hitting the gym and prioritizing his health after a scare seven years ago when the artist suffered a heart attack at his Georgia home. He told the Soul Train Cruise 2020<\/a> that he flat-lined for nearly 30 minutes, \u201clong enough to make friends on the other side.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt turns out that dying is not that hard,\u201d Bryson said. \u201cDidn\u2019t hurt that much. It\u2019s the living afterwards that\u2019s the really difficult part. I mean, why are you still here? You have to ask yourself those hard questions: Are you a good father? Are you a good husband? Are you a good friend? Are you a good brother? Are you a good human being?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryson said he was able to answer yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you have to ask yourself the question that makes the answer null and void \u2014 can you be better?\u201d <\/p>\n

Bryson is survived by his wife, Tanya Boniface Bryson; son Robert Bryson (who goes by Kit); daughter Linda Bryson; and three grandchildren. <\/p>\n

Memorial arrangements will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peabo Bryson, a Grammy-winning R&B singer known for his duets from Disney classics \u201cAladdin\u201d and \u201cBeauty and the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":840827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[92797,6561,344326,72792,171,246,1532,17505,13940,4818,142500,975,344325,344327,35155,67,132,68,9953],"class_list":["post-840826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-aladdin","tag-celebration","tag-disney-classic","tag-early-may","tag-entertainment","tag-family","tag-friend","tag-ga","tag-last-year","tag-love","tag-many-life","tag-music","tag-peabo-bryson","tag-rb-singer","tag-stroke","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-weekend"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116684651590840755","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}