Musician. Born in Buffalo, New York, he was a brilliant saxophonist most noted as one of the first musicians to bridge jazz and funk music. He is also considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz, wrote much of his own material and later became an arranger. Throughout the 1970s to 1990s, he recorded many memorable hits, including "Mr. Magic", "Black Frost", "The Best is Yet to Come" and his versions of "Take Five" and "Soulful Strut". In 1982, he received two Grammy Awards for his songs "Just The Two of Us" Best R&B Song Award and "Winelight" Best Jazz Fusion Performance Award. On December 17, 1999, while waiting in the sound room at CBS Studios, New York, after taping four songs for "The Saturday Early Show", he collapsed and died.