Poet Gil Scott-Heron dies

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Jazz legend Sam Rivers died Dec. 26, 2011 from pneumonia. Rivers was 88 years old. (David Zentz/Chicago Tribune)

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the mercurial strongman extolled at home as the “Dear Leader” and reviled abroad as a tyrant, died at 69 on Saturday Dec. 17, 2011. No cause of death was reported, but Kim was believed to have suffered in recent years from diabetes and heart disease. (Sasha Mordovets/Getty)

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Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, a dissident playwright jailed by Communists who then became Czech president and a symbol of peace and freedom after leading the bloodless “Velvet Revolution,” died at 75. (Petr Josek Snr/Reuters)

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Literary critic and writer Christopher Hitchens (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

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Comedian Patrice O’Neal passed away on Nov. 28, 2011 at the age of 41. He struggled with diabetes and suffered a stroke in Oct. 2011. O’Neal was known for several appearances on “The Office” and “Chapelle’s Show,” as well as an appearance on “Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen.” (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

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The only daughter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Svetlana Peters, who denounced communism but later said she regretted coming to the United States, has died in Wisconsin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Long time New York Times journalist died at the age of 85. (Bloomberg/Getty Images)

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British playwright Shelagh Delaney, best known for her debut work “A Taste of Honey” from 1958, has died aged 71, her agent said on Nov. 21, 2011. Her words were a major influence on Morrissey, lead singer of indie band The Smiths, who also grew up in Manchester. He used lyrics from her plays, notably A Taste of Honey, and featured her in the artwork for the “Louder Than Bombs” album. (Evening Standard/Getty Images)

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Former heavyweight World boxing champion Joe Frazier died in Philadelphia a month after being diagnosed with liver cancer. He died at the age of 67 years old on Monday, Nov. 7. (Will Burgess/ Reuters)

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Andy Rooney (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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Dorothy Rodham, Hilary Clinton’s mother, died this morning at age 92. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

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Civil rights activist Shuttlesworth died at age 89. (Tami Chappell / Reuters)

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Steve Jobs shows off the new Macbook Air ultra portable laptop during his keynote speech at the MacWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. (TONY AVELAR/AFP/Getty Images)

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Nobel prize for medicine winner Ralph Steinman. (Ho New/Reuters)

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Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Maathai died in hospital where she was undergoing treatment for cancer; she was the founder of Green Belt Movement, a civil and women rights activist and also served as a Member of Parliament. (Scanpix Denmark / Reuters)

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Kennedy speaks during her father’s funeral service in Boston in 2009. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

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Actor Andy Whitfield, the former star of TV show “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” died on Sept. 11 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Sydney, Australia at 39 years old. (Michael Caulfield/WireImage)

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Grammy-winning Delta bluesman David “Honeyboy” Edwards died today at age 96. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

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Jani Lane, former lead singer of the 1980s glam-band Warrant, was found dead in a hotel room in California. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Grand Ole Opry star Billy Grammer, best known for his 1959 hit “Gotta Travel On”, died at age 85. (Redferns/Getty Images)

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Former Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield dies at 89 (Joyce Naltchayan/Getty Images)

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Actress Annette Charles, best known for playing Cha Cha DiGrigorio in the 1978 movie ‘Grease’, died at age of 63 from cancer. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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British singer Amy Winehouse was found dead at her home in north London on July 23, 2011. She was 27 years old. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images)

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Former UNLV star, and NBA basketball player Armen Gilliam died at the age of 47 while reportedly playing basketball at a gym in Pennsylvania. Gilliam was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft. (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP/Getty Images)

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Longtime NFL tight end John Mackey and the first National Football League Players Association president John Mackey died at the age of 69 after a decade long battle with rontal temporal dementia. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

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American painter and knight in France’s Legion of Honor Cy Twombly, famous for his large-scale abstract paintings and use of graffiti, died in Rome on July 5. He was 83. (FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)

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Famed British stage actress Anna Massey died July 2 of cancer at the age of 73. (David Montgomery/Getty Images)

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‘Jackass’ star Ryan Dunn died June 20, 2011, following a fiery car crash. He was 34. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

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Former NBA All-Star Mike Mitchell died June 9, 2011, following a long battle with cancer. A first round pick by Cleveland in 1978, the fan favorite spent 10 seasons in the NBA, the final six and a half with San Antonio. Mitchell was 55. (NBA Photos/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Former Detroit Tigers outfielder Jim Northrup died June 8, 2011, after having a seizure. His two-run triple in Game Seven of the 1968 World Series helped lead the Tigers to a 4-1 win. Northrup spent 12 seasons playing ball with Detroit, the Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles before moving into the broadcast booth. He was 71. (Louis Requena/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

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Stern, pictured with Marilyn Gleason and Jane Kean, was a television writer, director and producer for such programs as “The Honeymooners” and “Get Smart.” Stern was also the co-creator and publisher of Mad Libs. He died on June 7 at the age of 87. (RENE MACURA/AFP/Getty Images)

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Boxer Genero Hernandez (R) died June 7, 2011, from a rare form of cancer. The two-time world super featherweight champion retired in 1999 with a 38-2-1 record, 17 of those wins coming by knockout. Hernandez was 45. (Al Bello/ALLSPORT)

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World Series hero Jose Pagan died June 7, 2011. A two-run double in Game Seven of the 1971 series led his Pittsburgh Pirates to an eventual win over the Baltimore Orioles. Pagan spent 15 seasons in the big leagues with Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia Phillies. He was 76. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

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“Cosby Show” and “Sesame Street” actress Clarice Taylor died on May 30. She was 93. (NBC/Carsey-Werner Distribution)

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Pro football hall of famer Andy Robustelli died May 31, 2011. Small for defensive end position at six feet one inch, Robustelli was picked for the Pro Bowl seven times and a First-team All-Pro seven times over 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants. Robustelli was 85. (Michael P. Malarkey/Getty Images)

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Poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron died May 27, 2011, reportedly after becoming following a trip to Europe. Known for spoken-word poetry on such songs as “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” the Chicago-native put out a new album in 2010 following a 13 year hiatus. Scott-Heron was 62. (Samir Hussein/Getty Images)

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Margo Dydek, a 7-foot-2-inch Polish-born former NBA player, died May 27, eight days after suffering a heart attack. Dydek is the tallest woman ever to play in the WNBA, and is the league’s all-time blocks leader with 877 in 323 games. She was 37. (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Hall of Fame pitcher Paul Splittorff died May 26, 2011. He was being treated for oral cancer and melanoma. Splittorff was an announcer with the Kansas City Royals but was on limited duty for the last two seasons with speech issues. He was 64. (Rogers Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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Former professional wrestler ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage died after losing control of his car due to a heart attack on May 20. He was 58. (Tim Boyles/Getty Images)

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Oklahoma senior linebacker Austin Box has died after being found unconscious in his home. The cause of his death so far is unknown. Box was 22. (Jackson Laizure/Getty Images)

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Minnesota Twins great Harmon Killebrew died May 17 following a long battle with cancer. The hall of famer played for three teams over 22 seasons and is regarded by many as one of the best to ever play the game. Killebrew was 74. (Hannah Foslien /Getty Images)

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Rapper M-Bone, real name Montae Talbert, was killed in a drive-by shooting on May 15. He was 22. M-Bone was a member of the The Cali Swag District, which is most well known for the hit song “Teach Me How to Dougie” (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

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Former Dallas Cowboys running back Ron Springs died May 12, of a heart attack. Battling diabetes and other health issues much of his life, Springs had been in a coma since 2007. Drafted by the Cowboys in 1979 out of Ohio State, he spent his last two seasons in Tampa Bay. Springs was 54. (Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

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Former NBA player Robert “Tractor” Traylor was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his apartment in Puerto Rico, May 11. Known for his size, Traylor was the number six pick in the 1998 draft. His size contributed to health problems leading to heart surgery in 2005. Traylor was 36. (David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

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Dolores Fuller, the onetime actress-girlfriend of schlock movie director Ed Wood, who co-starred with Wood in his low-budget 1950s cult classic “Glen or Glenda,” died on May 9. She was 88. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

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Musician John Walker (born John Maus) of the power-pop trio The Walker Brothers, died on May 7. He was 67. (Keystone/Getty Images)

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Actress Mary Murphy died at her home May 4, from heart disease. Probably best remembered for playing the small-town girl opposite Marlon Brando‘s rebellious motorcycle gang leader in “The Wild One,” she would go on to do numerous movies and television shows. Murphy was 80. (John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images)

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Jackie Cooper, who came to prominence as a child star in the 1930s and went on to develop a long career as a director and character actor, died on May 3 in Beverly Hills. He was 88. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Grammy award and Broadway musical producer John Cossette died April 26 at the age of 54. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images for City of Hope)

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Singer/songwriter Phoebe Snow died April 26 at the age of 60. During her career in the mid-70’s she graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and was nominated for a Grammy. She stepped back from the spotlight when her daughter, Valerie Rose Laub, was born in 1975. (Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)

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Gerard Smith (far right), bassist and keyboardist for TV on the Radio died of lung cancer on April 20. He was 36. (G. Gershoff/WireImage)

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Michael Sarrazin, a tall, dark-eyed Canadian actor who starred opposite Jane Fonda in Sydney Pollack’s 1969 film “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, died of cancer on April 17 at a Montreal hospital. He was 70. (Ron Galella/WireImage)

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TV on the Radio bassist Gerard Smith died on April 20 of lung cancer, the band announced on its Web site. He was 34. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images)

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Sol Saks, a comedy writer who created the classic sitcom “Bewitched,” died in Los Angeles on April 16. He was 100. (Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

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Dot Records founder Randy Wood, whose practice of having white singers such as Pat Boone cover rhythm and blues hits by black artists is credited with helping black musicians -- and early rock music -- break into the commercial mainstream, died on April 9. He was 94. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Actress Yvette Vickers was found dead in her Southern California home April 27, 2011. The coroner for the case says she may have been dead for up to a year. Known for her roles in “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” and “Attack of the Giant Leeches,” she lived in seclusion for the last several years. Vickers was 82. (Bobby Bank/WireImage)

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Farley Granger, who is best known for his work in the 1950s Alfred Hitchcock movies “Rope” and “Strangers on a Train” died of natural causes on March 27, 2011. He was 85. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Lanford Wilson, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of “The Hot L Baltimore,” “Burn This” and “Fifth of July” died on March 24 at his home in Sag Harbor, N.Y. He was 73. (Brian Ach/WireImage)

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Filmmaker and documentarian Richard Leacock (center) died March 23 in Paris. Leacock was one of the first filmmakers to embrace the “cinema verite” genre. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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American Film Institute “Female Legend” and three-time Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor died March 23. She was 79. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

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Loleatta Holloway, the disco singer best known for her 1980 hit ‘Love Sensation,’ died on March 21. She was 64. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Blues great Pinetop Perkins, who in 2011 became the oldest person to win a Grammy, died on March 21 in Austin, Texas. He was 97. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

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British musician Jet Harris, who enjoyed a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s with Cliff Richard’s band The Shadows, has died March 18 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 71. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Rapper Nate Dogg (Nathaniel Dwayne Hale) died at the age of 41 of unknown causes. He’s best known for his 1990s rap hit “Regulate” and working with rappers like Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. (Photo by Mark Sullivan/WireImage)

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“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Trolley Song” composer Hugh Martin Jr. died of natural causes on March 11. He was 96. Martin was a successful songwriter and composer for Broadway and film in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. (Jesse Grant/WireImage)

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Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist David Broder died on March 9th from complications due to diabetes. Broder was a political comlumnist for the Washington Post. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Comedian Mike DeStefano died of a heart attack on March 6 at the age of 44. He gained notoriety on season seven of NBC‘s “Last Comic Standing” and had since gone on to perform in his own popular stand-up shows in New York. (Brian Ach/WireImage)

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Director Gary Winick (pictured here with actress Amanda Seyfried) died Feb. 27 after a battle with brain cancer. He was 49. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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Leading home run hitter and Hall of Fame baseball player Duke Snider died Feb. 27 at the age of 84. Snider played for the Brooklyn Dodger teams in the 1940s and ‘50s. (Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

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“Spider-Man,” “Dark Knight” and “The Tick” comic writer Dwayne McDuffie died Feb. 22 at the age of 49. McDuffie is also well known for co-creating the Emmy Award-winning animated TV series “Static Shock.” (Rodney Williams-Itier/WireImage)

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Hall of Fame football star Ollie Matson died Feb. 19 of respiratory failure in Los Angeles. He spent 14 years in the NFL playing on both sides of the ball. Despite spending most of his seasons on terrible teams, Matson was NFL Rookie of the Year in 1952, made All-NFL four times and was a six-time Pro Bowl selection. Matson was 80. (Vic Stein /Getty Images)

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Former NFL defensive back Dave Duerson died Feb. 17 from a self-inflicted gun shot. The four-time Pro Bowl safety won Super Bowls with the 1985-1986 Chicago Bears and the 1990-1991 New York Giants. Duerson was 50. Duerson is shown in the photo in 2005. (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune) (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune))

CNN

May 27, 2011 9:03 PM PT

CNN

(CNN) -- Gil Scott-Heron, dubbed the “godfather of rap” for his mix of poetry and music, died Friday in New York, his publicist at XL Recordings said. He was 62.

It was not immediately known what killed Scott-Heron, who was best known for the 1970 song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” a politically and socially charged song that examined the African American condition in America at the time. The song was banned by some radio stations.

Scott-Heron died at 4 p.m. at a New York hospital, said Lisa Gottheil, his publicist at XL Recordings.

Scott-Heron defined the genre, long-time friend and former bandmate Charlie Saunders told CNN. Saunders worked on Scott-Heron’s 1970 debut album “Small Talk At 125th & Lenox.”

Saunders, a percussionist, said the last time he saw Scott-Heron was about two years ago when he needed a place to stay.

“He came by our house to get himself together. He spent 4 to 5 days and then moved on,” Saunders said.

Much of Scott-Heron’s poetry and music reflected his struggles with drugs and alcohol.

Born in 1949, Scott-Heron first gained fame for his poetry and spoken word performances in the late 1960s. By the mid-1970s, he had published two books of poetry and recorded four albums, including “Small Talk At 125th & Lenox.”

His early albums, “Pieces of a Man” and “Winter in America,” have been credited with influencing other musical genres, such as hip hop. But it was the song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” that put Scott-Heron on the musical map.

His music has been sampled by everyone from Kanye West, who sampled “Comment #1” for his 2010 song “Who Will Save America,” to Common’s sample of “No Knock” on his 2008 hit “Universal Mind Control.”

After a 13-year hiatus from making music, Scott-Heron put out a new album last year called “I’m New Here.”

In a 2008 interview with New York magazine, Scott-Heron revealed he had contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, after years of batting drug and alcohol addictions. In 2001 and 2007, he was jailed on drug charges.

Poet Gil Scott-Heron dies

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