John Forté, a Grammy-nominated recording artist best known for his work with the Fugees and who made his home on Martha’s Vineyard, died suddenly Monday. He was 50.
The father of two was found at his home in Chilmark; his cause of death has yet to be determined. Chilmark Police Chief Sean Slavin said there were no signs of foul play.
“It is such a small community, this death hits close to home,” said Slavin, who knew Forté socially. ”It’s the upside and the downside to living on such a small island.”
According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times, family and friends confirmed that Forté suffered a serious health setback a year ago when he was hospitalized after a seizure. Forté had since been taking medication to control the threat of a grand mal seizure. He would have been 51 on Jan. 31.
The Brooklyn, N.Y., native was best known for his contributions to the Fugees’ second studio album “The Score.” It was released in February 1996 and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Forté co-wrote and produced several songs on the breakthrough album and was featured on two tracks.
Forté also collaborated with the Refugee Camp All-Stars, a musical collective associated with the Fugees and their extended creative circle.
Pras, one of the founders of the Fugees, lamented Forté‘s passing an email to the Globe.
“John was more than just a collaborator. He was family. We came up together in an era when hip-hop was about pushing boundaries, telling real stories, and creating something that mattered,” Pras wrote.
“His talent as a writer, producer, and artist was undeniable,” he said. “Anyone who heard his work knew they were in the presence of someone special. I’m glad I got to share the stage with him one last time.”
“The hip-hop community has lost a real one. I’ve lost a brother,” Pras wrote. “Rest in power, John. Your music and your spirit live on.”
It was Ben Taylor, the son of singers Carly Simon and James Taylor, a fellow musician, who first invited Forté to visit Martha’s Vineyard in 1998.
Forté fell in love with the island and its sense of community and moved there a decade ago. He married Lara Fuller, a freelance photographer, and together they had two children, Wren and Hale, now 10 and 7.
Forté was a musical prodigy who took up violin in grade school and went on to become a multi-instrumentalist and rapper. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire in 1993.
Forté has said it was a bit of a fluke that he opted for the violin at age 8. When they were handing out musical instruments at his elementary school, he said he debated his options.
He could wait on the long line outside the rock band room and risk going home empty-handed or make the less popular choice, Forté said in a 2024 interview with The Exeter Bulletin, an alumni publication of the prestigious New Hampshire prep school.
“I walked into the orchestra room, and I walked out with a violin,” he said. “I took that home and it changed my whole trajectory. Music gave me the ability to participate in a way that made me feel so empowered, and like I belonged.”
Forté’s trajectory hit a snag in 2000 when he was arrested at Newark International Airport and charged with possession of liquid cocaine and drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but after serving seven years, President George W. Bush commuted the sentence.
Simon and her son were among those who advocated for Forté’s release. In a profile in New York Magazine in 2009, Forté called Simon his “spiritual godmother.”
More recently, Forté helped write the score for a documentary film about the beat writer Jack Kerouac called “Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation.”
And in 2024, Forté completed work on the score for a six-part HBO series that revitalized “Eyes On the Prize,” the award-winning documentary series that began on PBS in the 80s. The series chronicles the Black experience in America in the wake of the Civil Rights era.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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