Fugees collaborator John Forté has died at 50 years old.
The Grammy-nominated musician died at his home in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Jan. 12. A cause of death has not yet been determined.
According to the Martha Vineyard Times, Chilmark Police Chief Sean Slavin said that a neighbor discovered Forté on his kitchen floor, alone, at 2:25 p.m. on Monday (Jan. 12). He was pronounced dead at the scene, with no foul play suspected.
The publication says that family friends confirmed he’d had a serious health issue last year when he was hospitalized following a seizure. Since then, the musician had been taking medication to prevent the threat of a grand mal seizure.
Forté was a member of the musical collective Refugee Camp All-Stars, a group of musicians who worked with Wyclef Jean for his 1997 debut album Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival. Forté also both rapped and produced on the Fugees' breakthrough LP The Score, and appeared on the group's track "Rumble in the Jungle," which was on the soundtrack to the 1996 documentary When We Were Kings.
Jean posted about Forté’s death on Instagram, writing, “This one hurts my brother @john_forte has joined the Angels legends never Die look at the smile R I P my Refugee brother.”
Forté’s later music career consisted of him doing behind-the-scenes work as a producer and composer for the Sundance Film Festival, the Brooklyn Nets, the documentary series Brooklyn DA, and more. He also released a number of solo albums, the most recent of which came out in 2021.
