Funk maestro Ronnie Wilson, co-founder of The Gap Band, RIP

Ronnie Wilson, co-founder of legendary R&B-funk group The Gap Band, died yesterday at age 73. A fantastically talented artist, Wilson wrote music, sang, played flugelhorn and trumpet, and keyboards for the group.

From Rolling Stone:

Ronnie was the oldest of the three Wilson brothers Ronnie, Charlie, and Robert with the siblings forming the Gap Band in the mid-Seventies; their band name was an acronym for Greenwood, Archer, and Pine streets, site of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and the section of the Oklahoma city where the brothers grew up.