His daughter Angela Birdsong said Tuesday that the cause was not certain but that Birdsong had suffered several strokes in the past and had congestive heart failure.
Edwin Birdsong released a handful of solo albums, among them “What It Is” (1972), “Super Natural” (1973) and “Edwin Birdsong” (1979), but they achieved only limited success, and he turned to working as a sought-after session musician and producer for better-known acts.
In the late 1980s, however, sample-hungry producers rediscovered Birdsong’s work, notably the songs “Rapper Dapper Snapper” and “Cola Bottle Baby.”
The percussion and bass line of “Rapper Dapper Snapper” were an important part of “Me, Myself and I,” the breakout hit on De La Soul’s debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising” (1989). The song was also sampled on the Gang Starr song “Skills” in 2003.
)
)
)
“Cola Bottle Baby,” an energetic tribute to women of a certain shape, became the basis of a very different kind of dance music when French electronic duo Daft Punk used it for the hit “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” on their second album, “Discovery” (2001).
Kanye West repurposed “Cola” yet again when he sampled Daft Punk’s single to make an even bigger hit, “Stronger,” on his third album, “Graduation” (2007).
In an interview with online audio program “Jazz Under the Bridge” in 2016, Birdsong said he felt “blessed” to see his creations reinvented, adding, “God gives the music to all of the musicians around the world.”
Edwin Lee Birdsong was born Aug. 22, 1941, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Sidney and Josephine (Page) Birdsong. His father was a Baptist minister, and Edwin grew up playing the piano in church.
The family moved to Los Angeles when Edwin Birdsong was young, and he graduated from high school there in 1959 before serving in the Army. For a time he was stationed in Germany, where he played piano in bars. After returning to the States, he studied music at the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School without graduating from either.
Birdsong worked with Stevie Wonder and was a frequent collaborator with Roy Ayers, the jazz, funk and soul vibraphone player. One of his collaborations with Ayers, “Running Away,” was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on “Description of a Fool,” the last song on their first album, the hip-hop classic “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” (1990).
Birdsong’s three marriages ended in divorce. He lived in Victorville, California.
In addition to his daughter Angela, he is survived by five other daughters, Linda Owens and Robin, Tia, Shebibah and Candice Birdsong; three sons, Sterling, Singh and Anthony; three sisters, Linda Ticer, Elzater Williams and Lemonia Golden; a brother, Sheldon; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.