Coolio Dies: Grammy-Winning “Gangsta’s Paradise” Rapper Was 59
deadline.comCoolio, the Compton-raised rapper with the trademark braids who won a Grammy in 1996 for his No. 1 smash “Gangsta’s Paradise” from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer-starring film Dangerous Minds, died Wednesday in Los Angeles, his manager Jarez Posey told Deadline.
He was 59.No cause of death has been determined. Posey told TMZ that Coolio went to the bathroom at his friend’s house, but when he didn’t come out after a while he went in and found the rapper on the floor.Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo GalleryCoolio had been playing concerts over the summer in South America and in Europe and as recently as last week in Chicago.Born Artis Leon Ivey Jr.
in Pennsylvania, Coolio was a volunteer firefighter for a time before turning to music. Coolio released a few non-charting singles in the early 1990s before hitting it big in 1994 with “Fantastic Voyage,” a rap remake of the 1979 Lakeside song.
It spent five long weeks at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and pushed his Tommy Boy LP It Takes a Thief into the Top 10. The album and single, which also made the Top 10 in New Zealand, both went platinum.“Gangsta’s Paradise,” the title track from the late-1995 album, was an international smash.
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