Hair Composer Galt MacDermot Dead at 89

Galt MacDermot, the Canadian-American composer best known for the music to Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona, has died, Playbill reports. A cause of death has not been revealed. He was 89 years old.

Galt MacDermot’s first major musical achievements came in the early 1960s when he won a pair of Grammy Awards for the composition “African Waltz.” A few years later, he moved to New York and wrote the music to Hair. Later, MacDermot composed Two Gentlemen of Verona, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1972. Galt MacDermot was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009, and, in 2010, he earned the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Galt MacDermot’s music became an early staple of hip-hop sampling. Gang Starr, Madlib, MF DOOM, Busta Rhymes, Run-D.M.C., J Dilla, and many others repurposed the composer’s work. “R.I.P. to Another Incredible Icon of Original Music,” DJ Premier tweeted. Questlove also paid tribute to MacDermot, writing, “King Galt. The Broadway community is mourning his passing this morning... but best believe he was the hip-hop community’s too.”