Bob Power, Hip-Hop Producer, Dies at 73

Bob Power, the acclaimed producer, engineer, and composer whose work defined the sound of hip-hop and R&B through collaborations with artists including A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, and The Roots, died on March 1. He was 73.

New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where Power served as a professor, confirmed his death. A funeral listing noted the date but provided no cause.

Born on April 9, 1952, in Chicago, Power grew up in the New York City area before studying music theory at Webster College in St. Louis. He earned a master's degree in jazz from Lone Mountain College in San Francisco, where he remained through the late 1970s and early 1980s. During that time, he composed music for television and advertising, including the Emmy-winning PBS series Over Easy and jingles for brands such as Coca-Cola, Hardee's, and the United States Postal Service. His early television credits also encompassed themes for Disney's The Scheme of Things and contributions to projects funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Power relocated to New York in 1982, taking on diverse gigs that ranged from corporate scoring to performances at unconventional...