R&B and Jazz star Angela Bofill dies at age 70

 

Today we received the news we didn't want to hear. Angela Bofill, one of the great R&B and Jazz vocalist of our time, has died at age 70. The news was confirmed on Angie's Facebook page. Angela was a friend to us here at SoulTracks, and one of the truly courageous stars we knew.

In a career spanning four decades, Angie graced both soul and jazz with a level of excellence that kept so many of her song on “spin” years after they were originally released. And the health problems that plagued her beginning in the mid 00’s perhaps made her longtime fans appreciate her even more, even as she courageously and successfully fought physical limitations.

Raised in New York by a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother, Angela Bofill was a student of many styles of music, from the latin sounds played regularly by her family to the soul and jazz sounds of her neighborhood in the Bronx.  She began singing professionally as a teenager as a member of New York's All City Voices and as featured lead soloist for the Dance Theater of Harlem.

After completing her studies in California, Bofill was introduced by her friend, jazz flutist Dave Valentin, to Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen of GRP records, and they signed her for her 1978 debut, Angie. The album was a breakout smash on contemporary jazz radio and the tastefully arranged jazz vocal disc showed a gifted young artist with a rich voice beyond her years and real talent as a songwriter.  Featuring a number of great cuts, including most notably a cover of Gwen Guthrie's "This Time I'll Be Sweeter," Angie became one of the year's biggest jazz albums.  She followed it in 1979 with the even better Angel of the Night, a more muscular album that showed she had the chops to handle upbeat material like the title cut and the fantastic "What I Wouldn't Do" as well as softer tracks such as her own composition, "I Try" (later beautifully remade by Will Downing).  

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Bofill suffered a stroke on January 10, 2006, and was paralyzed on her left side. She convalesced at Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa, California, and was released from intensive care on January 15, requiring speech and physical therapy. Bofill lacked health insurance, and a benefit concert was organized to pay her hospital bills.

The show was planned by Rich Engel, her manager, and the New York radio stations Kiss FM and WFAN-FM. It took place on March 11, 2006, at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Similar events followed, and other aid was sought from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Her album Live from Manila (recorded in September 2004) was released during this time. Bofill suffered a second stroke in July 2007, which required therapy and left both her speech and mobility impaired.

Bofill died on June 13, 2024, at the age of 70 at her daughter’s home in Vallejo, California, as announced by Engel in a post on her Facebook page.