Peabo Bryson, Grammy-winning voice behind Disney ballads, dies at 75
Peabo Bryson, the two-time Grammy winner whose Disney duets filled weddings and radio, died at 75 after a stroke and days under medical care.
Peabo Bryson, the smooth-toned R&B singer whose voice helped turn Disney ballads into cross-generational hits, died on June 2 at age 75. His family said he died peacefully at 5:00 p.m. ET in Marietta, Georgia, surrounded by loved ones, days after suffering a stroke and receiving medical care.
Bryson’s best-known recordings came through two duets that became fixtures of American popular music: Beauty and the Beast with Celine Dion and A Whole New World with Regina Belle. The Recording Academy lists both songs as winners in the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal category, and both were also nominated for Record of the Year. For a Black R&B singer to become so closely associated with blockbuster Disney romance was unusual, and it helped place Bryson’s voice inside both the Black pop tradition and the family entertainment mainstream.
That crossover reach was central to Bryson’s career. Born Robert Peapo Bryson on April 13, 1951, in Greenville, South Carolina, he was performing professionally while still a teenager. He sang backup at age 14, and by 1967 he was working as a lyricist, arranger and producer for Bang Records. He released his first album, Peabo, in 1976, signed with Capitol Records in 1977 and followed with Reaching for the Sky and Crosswinds in 1978. Later reporting said he ultimately released 20 albums across more than five decades.
Beyond the Disney songs, Bryson built a durable catalog of adult contemporary and R&B standards, including If Ever You’re in My Arms Again, Can You Stop the Rain and Reaching for the Sky. Those ballads gave him a rare kind of longevity: his records were not just radio hits, but songs that followed listeners into weddings, anniversaries and family celebrations. That emotional afterlife is part of why his death resonated so widely.
His family asked for privacy while thanking fans, friends and colleagues for their love, prayers and support. With Bryson gone, one of the last great crossover male vocalists of his era leaves behind a body of work that linked Southern soul roots to the polished sheen of mainstream American pop.
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