Jazz-funk musician Roy Ayers died on Tuesday after a "long illness," his family announced in a statement shared to his social media accounts.

He helped introduce a funkier strain of the music in the 1970s. He also had an impact on hip-hop: His “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” has been sampled nearly 200 times.

Roy Ayers, the 1970s jazz and neo soul artist behind the hit 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine,' has died at age 84.

From Mary J. Blige's "My Life" to Naughty by Nature's "Sunshine," here are 21 hip-hop and R&B songs that have sampled the 1976 Roy Ayers Ubiquity classic.

Vibraphonist and soul jazz pioneer Roy Ayers died on Tuesday at age 84. His stunning 1976 anthem "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" has been sampled hundreds of times by artists from Tupac Shakur to Mary J.

Roy Ayers, the composer, producer, and jazz-funk trailblazer behind the classic, ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine,’ has died at age 84. Roy Ayers died Tuesday in New York City after a long illness, according to a statement on his Facebook page.