Homeless US house music pioneer Colonel Abrams dead at 67

Singer Colonel Abrams has died at the age of 67. It was revealed last year that the once famous pop star was ill and living homeless on the streets of New York.

The death of the US singer was announced on Facebook by DJ Tony "Tune" Herbert, who said, "Now he is at peace". According to Herbert, the singer died on Thanksgiving (25 November).

"Just got word that Colonel Abrams has past away on Thanksgiving, one year to the date that I... and a host of his biggest fans fought to get him to let us help him," Tony said.

"Now he is at peace and our condolences go out to his family, and fans world wide, he is no longer suffering or Trapped!!!" he added.

Abrams was born in Motown, Detroit in 1949 but moved to New York as a child. The singer was best known of his club single Trapped, which reached the number three spot in the UK in 1985.

The pioneer of house and dance music, Abrams told the Associated Press in the 1980s that his music was inspired by melodies and street rhythms of New York City.

"I studied all the people on Motown, and I studied the music and listened to the lyrics Smokey Robinson used to write, and just craved the opportunity to be on Motown," he had said. (Via The BBC)

"But after my family moved to New York, I studied street music, and I sort of combined them both: The Detroit sound and the street sounds of New York."

Last year, when it emerged that Abrams was ill and living homeless in New York, friends Herbert and house DJ Marshall Jefferson launched a fundraising campaign to help support the singer.

"The Colonel is very ill with no permanent place of his own to live at this time and limited financial resources. Those of us who have listened to his awesome music and know of his plight, have banded together to try and help him through this rough patch," they had said.