Key Points
- Peabo Bryson died June 2, 2026 at 75, days after suffering a stroke.
- He won two Grammys: "Beauty and the Beast" (1993) and "A Whole New World" (1994).
- His hits ran from "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" (1983) to "If Ever You're in My Arms Again."
- He released roughly 20 albums and charted 17 Top 20 R&B hits across 50 years.
Peabo Bryson, whose pristine tenor turned movie love themes into wedding-dance standards and won him two Grammys, died Tuesday, June 2, at 75. He had suffered a stroke days earlier and died at 5 p.m. ET surrounded by family, according to his representatives.
The voice on two Disney anthems
Bryson is the rare singer who anchored two of the most-played duets in modern pop. He sang "Beauty and the Beast" with Celine Dion in 1991 and "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle in 1992 — both Disney title themes, both winners of the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Both reached the top of the pop charts. For millions of listeners, his is the voice attached to a first dance.
A career built on the slow song
Born April 13, 1951, in Greenville, South Carolina, Bryson built a five-decade catalog on a sound that ran against every passing trend — unhurried, full-throated romantic soul. "Tonight I Celebrate My Love," his 1983 duet with Roberta Flack, remains a quiet-storm staple; "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" and "Can You Stop the Rain" stacked up alongside it. He released roughly 20 albums and charted 17 Top 20 R&B hits, three of them certified gold.
Still working at the end
2026 was meant to be a victory lap. Bryson was closing out his "Golden Touch" tour marking 50 years in music and had a new album, "Grace," in the works with the production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Like the recent death of jazz titan Sonny Rollins, Bryson's passing closes a chapter on a generation of Black American musicians who treated craft as the whole point — no gimmick, no reinvention, just the song delivered cleanly enough to last.
Source: Rolling Stone, SoulTracks
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