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Dr. John, born Malcolm John Rebennack Jr, has died.
The New Orleans musician and pianist best known for songs such as “Right Place, Wrong Time” transitioned on Thursday due to a heart attack after years of declining health.
Dr. John was a New Orleans rebel through and through whose social responsibility to his hometown swelled after the events of Hurricane Katrina and even led rallies against the BP oil spill.
Throughout his decades-long career, Dr. John released albums that were essential to New Orleans and when Disney came calling, he even sang for them with songs such as “Down In New Orleans” for The Princess and The Frog and a version of “The Bare Necessities” for the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book.
“What goes around slides around, and what slides around slips around,” Rebennack said in 2011, just before his Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction. “As long as it’s slippin’ and slidin’ around, we ain’t got to trip through the shortcuts of life. We can take the long way around. It’s the shortcuts that kill you. The best thing you can be ‘like’ in music is yourself.”
Dr. John was 77.
