Help Tyrone Steels' Family Afford a Funeral

On April 4, the great funk drummer Tyrone Steels, a lifelong musician and loving husband, father, and grandfather, died at age 72. I’m raising money so that Tyrone’s wife of 52 years, Theresa Steels, can afford funeral and burial costs.

Tyrone was a founding member of the legendary group 24-Carat Black (originally formed with his junior high classmates as the Ditalians). He performed on their widely sampled 1973 masterpiece Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth and spent years on the road with the group, touring up and down the Chitlin’ Circuit. He later toured the country with the funk-rock group Shotgun, which achieved moderate success and released a string of albums on ABC Records in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

In 1977, Tyrone lost his arm in an automobile accident while touring with Shotgun. After a lengthy recovery, he continued performing with Shotgun, contributing percussion and singing. He remained active in music later in life, leading a gospel group and mentoring young musicians.

You may not recognize Tyrone Steels’ name, but if you’re a hip hop fan, you’ve heard his grooves. Since their cultural resurrection in the early ’90s, 24-Carat Black’s music has been prominently sampled by Eric B. & Rakim, Jay-Z, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes, and countless other rap stars. Tyrone’s own breakbeat in the song “Foodstamps” was sampled by artists like Digable Planets, Wale, and Homeboy Sandman, and in 2018, Tyrone’s voice was sampled and looped throughout Pusha T’s song “Infrared,” produced by Kanye West.

Yet Tyrone was never able to get paid for the myriad samples of his music. In 2019, when I visited Tyrone while reporting a book about 24-Carat Black, he told me, “I haven’t gotten anything. Nothing.” Like many brilliant musicians of the funk and soul era, he was cheated out of deserved compensation and recognition while record companies profited from his music’s timelessness.

“My husband got really screwed in this business,” Theresa says. “He would sit and look at YouTube and watch all these people sampling his music, and he didn't get a dime.”

Late in life, Tyrone suffered from a range of health problems, including a hematoma and a mild stroke, and used a wheelchair to get around. In recent years, because of his preexisting conditions, he was unable to get life insurance coverage. “I just went through a bunch of places and they denied him,” Theresa tells me. “They gave me heck about it. I tried everything in my power.”

When I met Tyrone and Theresa in 2019, I was struck by their generosity. They welcomed me into their home, and Tyrone spent hours answering my questions about 24-Carat Black and telling his stories for my book.

Now Theresa is in need of funds so that her husband can afford a proper funeral and burial. Please donate whatever you can; every little bit helps.

All funds raised will go to Tyrone's widow, Theresa Steels.

Sincerely,

Zach Schonfeld