R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Poet And Musician Dead At 62

Influential musician, author and poet Gil Scott Heron died Friday, May 27th at the age of 62.

According to New York Times reports:

A friend who answered the telephone listed for his Manhattan recording company confirms he died Friday afternoon at a hospital. Doris C. Nolan says he died after becoming sick upon returning from a European trip.


Born in Chicago on April 1, 1949 Gil Scott-Heron was the son of Jamaican soccer player Gilbert “Gil” Heron and singer Bobbie Scott-Heron, who performed with the New York Oratorical Society. Scott-Heron spent his early childhood in Jackson, Tenn where he was raised by his grandmother Lillie Scott, who introduced him to the work of Langston Hughes. After her death Scott-Heron moved to the Bronx with his mother, where teachers recognized his talent as a writer early on. Scott-Heron later attended Lincoln University, largely because it was the same college Hughes attended. Scott-Heron left school after only two years and went on to write his first book The Vulture at the age of 19. The book was published in 1970, the same year that he recorded his first album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox. Over his 40+ year career Scott-Heron would go on to record over a dozen albums and author several more books. He is renowned for his outspoken political tone in his music and poetry, particularly for “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” which has been referenced repeatedly since he recorded it in the 1970′s in Harlem.

Scott-Heron’s life was marked by legal troubles (primarily arrests for cocaine possession) and struggles with alcohol and drug addiction — problems that he spoke openly about in his music. Considered by many to be a Godfather of Hip-Hop Scott-Heron’s work influenced rappers including Common, Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Brand Nubian.

He will be missed.