Barry White

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Velvet-voiced R&B crooner Barry White, renowned for his lush baritone and carnal lyrics that oozed sex appeal on songs such as "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe," died Friday morning, his manager said.

White, who had suffered kidney failure from years of high blood pressure, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center around 9:30 a.m., said manager Ned Shankman. He was 58.

Whit had been undergoing dialysis treatment and had been hospitalized since last September.

White's work epitomized seductive disco music, also known as "make out" music. The heavyset musician enjoyed three decades of fame for songs like "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" and "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me."

White's canyon-deep, butter-smooth vocals and throbbing musical tempos emphasized his songs' sexually charged verbal foreplay. His 1975 song "Love Serenade" began with the purring, first-person lyrics: "I want you the way you came into the world/ I don't want to feel no clothes ..."

Although his popularity peaked in the 1970s, White received belated recognition for his work in 2000 when he won his first two Grammys for best male and traditional R&B vocal performance for the song "Staying Power."


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