Gap Band member Anthony Walker – who also went by the nickname Baby Gap – has died at the age of 60.
His younger brother Dr Eric Walker told TMZ on Tuesday that the star passed away at an Ohio hospital last Monday.
The artist had been enduring complications from a neck surgery he was undergoing and died as a result of it.
Anthony had worked for years as a break dancer, starting in the 1970s, and his routines likely had taken a toll on his body.
His sibling told the site that Walker would be ‘celebrated’ in his hometown of Chicago later this week.
Gap Band member Anthony Walker – who also went by the nickname Baby Gap – has died at the age of 60. His younger brother Dr Eric Walker told TMZ on Tuesday that the star passed away at an Ohio hospital last Monday; seen in 1982
The artist had been enduring complications from a neck surgery he was undergoing and died as a result of it
Anthony was with the band for a long time: a stunning 23 years.
The band formed in 1967 but Anthony joined in 1979.
Her served as a songwriter as well as a dancer and choreographer.
The Gap Band was a Tulsa, Oklahoma soul/funk group which was fronted by three Wilson brothers: Charles, Ronnie and Robert. The band was named after an intersection; Greenwood, Archer, and Pine streets in the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Anthony also collaborated with music legends Rick James and George Clinton and was on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
His percussion skills on Snoop Dogg’s single Snoop’s Upside Ya Head.
Before he worked with Tehe Gap band, he was part of the break-dancing group Tidal Wave in the 1970.
He was performing with GapX a group formed by other former members of the Gap Band.
Anthony had worked for years as a break dancer, starting in the 1970s, and his routines likely had taken a toll on his body. His sibling told the site that Walker would be ‘celebrated’ in his hometown of Chicago later this week
The Gap Band’s first hit was the song I’m in Love and then Shake from 1979.
Later that year, the group released I Don’t Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!) on their album The Gap Band II.
The song Steppin’ (Out) also reached the top 10 R&B.
The band reached fame in 1980 with the release of the number 1 R&B and number 16 Billboard 200 hit, The Gap Band III.
That album had soul ballads such as the number 5 R&B song Yearning for Your Love, and funk songs such as the R&B chart-topper Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me) and Humpin’.
On the album Gap Band IV in 1982their hits were Early in the Morning, You Dropped a Bomb on Me and Outstanding.
Singers and musicians Ronnie and Charlie Wilson of The Gap Band, and Anthony ‘Baby Gap’ Walker performs at the U.I.C. Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois in January 1983
Their 1983 album, Gap Band V: Jammin’ had the hits Party Train and Jam the Motha.
The album’s closer Someday featured Stevie Wonder as a guest vocalist.
Their next work, Gap Band VI included Beep a Freak and I Found My Baby.
The Gap Band VII had the hit Big Fun in 1986; 1988’s Straight from the Heart was their last studio album with Total Experience.
The Gap Band caught a small break in 1988 with the Keenen Ivory Wayans film, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka with You’re So Cute.
During the 1990s, the band released three non-charting studio albums and two live album.
