Don Newkirk, famed musician who collaborated with acts like De La Soul, 3rd Bass, and Prince Paul, has died. The New York City native was 56 years old. Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five shared the news via social media.

“It is with a heavy heart I announce the transitioning of my brother Don Newkirk,” Rahiem wrote on Facebook. “Fifty-six years young. Don Newkirk was among the first R&B artists signed to Def Jam records. My condolences go out to his family. S.I.P bro.”

Newkirk became famous for his appearances on classic albums. His distinctive voice served as the game show host on De La Soul's acclaimed 3 Feet High and Rising; and he also provided voiceover on the hit 3rd Bass song “The Gas Face” from the group’s 1989 debut,The Cactus Album.

Newkirk dropped the solo project Funk City in 1989; and he also teamed up with Prince Paul and Ladybug Mecca (of DIgable Planets) for the experimental supergroup BROOKZILL! in 2016. They dropped Throwback To The Future that year.

"Maybe I would have had more success If I had stuck to emceeing, being the 3 Feet High and Rising came out and ‘Gas Face’ was about to come out," he told AllHipHop in 2021. "And then I was in that whole camp, pretty much in the Native Tongues camp but not really a Native Tongue, more so because I was singing than spitting. But I’m glad that it it did go down the way it went down because it created this legacy that I’m only now realizing, has made an effect that I didn’t even know from back then because we didn’t have internet.”