Hair Composer Galt MacDermot Dies At Age 89

Rolling Stone reports:

Galt MacDermot, who composed the hit Broadway musicals Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona, died Monday, a day before his 90th birthday. His death was confirmed to Playbill by his granddaughter, though a cause of death was not revealed. With a plot that questioned the Vietnam War, the production of Hair was a timely smash and earned two Tony nominations and won the Grammy for Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album.

MacDermot’s music, both from his stage productions and non-Broadway albums, had an immense impact on hip-hop. Samples of “Space,” from his Woman Is Sweeter soundtrack, have appeared in tracks by Snoop Dogg, Faith Evans and Busta Rhymes (“Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check”). Additionally, Madlib, MF Doom, Run-DMC and Public Enemy, among many others, have all sampled his music in their recordings.

 

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King Galt. The broadway community is mourning his passing this morning (#Hair will love forever) but best believe he was the hip hop community’s too. Name em: #WhoHah from @bustarhymes #Mash from @officialjdilla #DownWithTheKing from @revwon & @kingdmc #CmonWitDaGitDown by @ElDaSensi & @reallyTame1 —-so many more @therealfaithevans @xplargepro @mfdoomofficial @madlib @specialedmusic @publicenemyftp @bambambaklava @dilatedpeoples —-so many classics rip to #GaltMacdermot & peep all his classics!! It fed 90s hip hop something crazy!

A post shared by Questlove Gomez (@questlove) on Dec 17, 2018 at 11:11am PST