Grammy Award-winning musician JJ Cale, right, whose best-known songs became hits for Eric Clapton with After Midnight and Lynyrd Skynyrd with Call Me the Breeze, has died. He was 74.
The performer and producer’s manager Mike Kappus said the architect of the Tulsa Sound died on Friday night of a heart attack at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California.
Born John Weldon Cale in Oklahoma City, he cut a wide path through 1970s rock ’n’ roll, influencing some of the most famous musicians of the time.
Neil Young, Mark Knopfler and Bryan Ferry were among his many fans in the music world. Cale’s fingerprints could be heard all over the genre in the 1970s, and his music remains influential.
His album with Eric Clapton The Road to Escondido won a Grammy for best contemporary blues album in 2007.
