John Forté, the musician known for his work with Fugees and Wyclef Jean, has died. He was 50.
Massachusetts’ Chilmark Police confirmed to Variety that Forté died yesterday at approximately 2:25 p.m., when officers were dispatched to see to an unresponsive male. Forté was identified as the man who lived at the address and was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation was referred to the Massachusetts State Police-Cape and Islands Detective Unit, and authorities claim that there were no signs of foul play or an immediately apparent cause of death.
Forté had been taking medication to control seizures after suffering a serious health setback one year ago that required hospitalization. Family friends confirmed that he had been managing the condition with medication since the initial episode. Chilmark Police Chief Sean Slavin said a neighbour found Forté unresponsive on his kitchen floor Monday afternoon and called 911 at 2:25 P.M.
Lauryn Hill paid tribute to longtime friend and creative partner John Forté following his unexpected death at age 50, describing their early bond and shared rise in Hip-Hop as “surreal” and unforgettable. Lauryn, who introduced Forté to Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel in the early 1990s, reflected on their early days together in New York City, when Hip-Hop was still finding its voice and the Fugees were just beginning to shape theirs. Lauryn remembered him as “a gentleman and a scholar with a strong pen, deep soul and kind heart.” She added, “Part Brownsville, part prep school, he had access to a way of expressing himself with a vocabulary and fluency that was very rare for the time.”
Forté’s breakthrough came when Hill introduced him to the Fugees. He went on to co-write and co-produce several tracks on their 1996 Grammy-winning album The Score, which remains one of the best-selling Hip-Hop albums of all time.
Officers arrived at his Hewing Field home seven minutes later but could not revive him. Slavin pronounced Forté dead at the scene and said no foul play was suspected, and a cause of death has yet to be confirmed. The Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit will investigate the case as standard procedure for unintended deaths, pending a medical examiner’s report.
The Grammy-nominated producer and rapper left behind two young children and a legacy that stretched from Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhoods to Hip-Hop’s biggest stages. Forté was born on January 30, 1975, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where violence and poverty shaped his early years. His mother encouraged him to learn the violin to stay focused and stay off the dangerous streets that claimed so many young lives in his neighbourhood.