Influential funk musician Roy Ayers has died at 84 after a long battle with a serious illness. Best known as a vibraphone player and record producer, Ayers's work heavily impacted genres like disco, ...

The foundations of funk were laid down in the mid-1960s, when James Brown began to emphasize the first beat of each measure in his stage-tested and frenzy-inducing R&B songs. Before the decade’s end, ...