Iconic New Orleans r&b pianist Allen Toussaint died on Monday night, the Associated Press reported. The Grammy Award-winning artist suffered a heart attack after performing a concert in Spain and passed away at 77 years old.
Emergency services arrived at Toussaint's hotel in Madrid on Tuesday morning and were able to revive the singer after his heart attack, spokesman Javier Ayuso told the AP. But the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer stopped breathing en route to a nearby hospital and workers could not revive Toussaint a second time.
"He was a legend in the music world," Quint Davis, producer of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, told the AP.
Born in 1938, Toussaint grew up in the working class New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town where he taught himself how to play piano, the New York Times reported. In the 1960s,Toussaint started working at the Minit record label as a house producer and songwriter and penned hit songs like Ernie K-Doe's "Mother in Law," Lee Dorsey's "Working in the Coal Mine" and Benny Spellman's "Fortune Teller."
He would go on to open his own studio, Sea-Saint, with business partner Marshall Sehorn in New Orleans, where he worked with other music legends like Dr. John, the Neville Brothers and Paul McCartney. Toussaint's songs have also been covered by other artists, like Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia's cover of "I'll Take A Melody," Bonnie Raitt's recording of "What is Success" and the Rolling Stones' rendition of "Fortune Teller," according to Rolling Stone.
"I was so glad when the Stones recorded my song," Toussaint once said in an interview, as reported by the Telegraph. "I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank."
