US rapper Coolio, best known for his hit song Gangsta’s Paradise, has died aged 59.
His longtime manager Jarez Posey told US media Coolio was found dead in the bathroom of a friend’s home in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The rapper, whose real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr, performed in WA as recently as 2019 for Groovin the Moo. He was among the biggest names in hip-hop in the 90s.
He won a Grammy for best solo rap performance for Gangsta’s Paradise, which was the 1995 hit from the soundtrack of the film Dangerous Minds.
He was nominated for five other Grammys during a career that began in the late 1980s.
Coolio was born in Pennsylvania in 1963, and moved to Compton, California, where he went to community college.
He kicked off his career in 1994 with the release of his debut album on Tommy Boy Records, It Takes a Thief. The record’s opening track Fantastic Voyage hit number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
RIP Coolio (1963-2022).
