Matthew Urango, the Oxnard- raised song, multi- instrumentalist and advocate who performed as Cola Boyy, has died. He was 34.
The Times received a statement from Cola Boyy’s control to confirm the dying. No cause of death was given, but Urango passed away on Sunday at house in Oxnard.
In a common speech, Cola Boyy’s brand, Record Makers, said,” The one and only Cola Boyy a. k. a. Matthew Urango passed peacefully next Sunday. He had a lot of mind, he had no age, he had a young soul with the melody of an old legend. His songs, his music, the sound of his voice: every part of his songs was unique and amazing”.
Urango, who was of Chumash, Egyptian American and Mexican heritage and personal identified as a Afro- Latino, was born with spina bifida, kyphosis and spine, which informed his engagement and outspokenness as a handicapped musician playing some of the world’s most cherished stages.
” Society wants us to sit inside and to be frightened and docile, and to not feeling comfortable, or great, or hot. They just do n’t want us to feel any of that, you know”? he told , tmrw magazine , in an exam. ” So, in my life, that often weighed me down, but it did n’t ever stop me”.
” People who knew Matthew knows he had a larger than life personality”, director Jack Sills , wrote on Instagram. He was “always the life of the party and had chop it up with people,” he said. One of the most talented and genuine people I’ve ever met was likewise him.
Urango started out in song in Oxnard’s rock picture, where he later played bass for the indie-pop group Sea Lions. Shortly after signing a package with Record Makers, the brand founded by people of the French combo Air, he gravitated toward dancing and funk-infused pop music. His 2018 album Album,” Black Boogie Neon”, yielded the status- making hits” Penny Girl” and” Buggy Tip”, and created enough excitement for him to do at Coachella in 2019.
His 2021 album record,” Robotic Boombox,” celebrated his apparent disability with deeply grooving synthesizer funk in a style that influenced Zapp and the Gap Band.
Urango was a favorite partner who performed and recorded alongside key functions including the Mudslides, the Clash’s Mick Jones and MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden.
” We are profoundly saddened to learn of the departure of our friend and colleague Matthew Urango”, the Avalanches , wrote on social media. Matthew was the most charismatic, accomplished, and passionate person you could possibly meet. He lived up to his expression and his beliefs. Some people will miss him considerably, so we express our love to his family and friends today.
Urango paired heartfelt communism and community activism with his seriously catchy music. He was engaged within communist and employee organizing, and he was featured in the video for his one” All Power to the People” where he was filmed teaching schoolchildren communist history about Che Guevara and Karl Marx. He was described by Mills as” a community organizer who supports local immigrants and, if necessary, agricultural workers.”
Cola Boyy” just finished his next album” and was looking forward to releasing new music this summer,” Sills claimed. To ensure this happens, I’ll work with his family and the record producers.
Urango is survived by his mother, Lisa, father, Joseph, younger brother, Noah, and fraternal twin brother, Marcus.
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