James “Mtume” Forman, who is best known for writing and producing the intergenerational smash hit “Juicy Fruit,” has died. He was 78.
No cause of death has been revealed.
Forman, who mostly referred to his Swahili name “Mtume” and then named his band after it in the early 1980s, was a prolific singer, composer and producer. His “Juicy Fruit” song was introduced to a new generation thanks to then-Sean “Puffy” Combs. Now called “Diddy,” Combs sampled the song in 1994 for Christopher “Notorious B.I.G” Wallace’s single “Juicy” that also became an international smash hit.
Forman, who was reared in Philadelphia, joined the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s where he assumed the surname Mtume, which means prophet or messenger. Mtume later launched the eponymous band in the 80s with singer-songwriter Reggie Lucas and vocalist Tawatha Agee. Their Juicy Fruit album shot to the top of the Billboard R&B charts and also included the hit songs “You, Me and He,” “Would You Like to (Fool Around)” and “Breathless.”
The versatile Mtume also created hit songs for for the likes of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway on “The Closer I Get to You” and Stephanie Mills’ Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Never Knew Love Like This Before,” which won a Grammy for best R&B song and best female vocal R&B performance.
Mtume had also contributed melodies and scored several films and television shows, most notably 8 Mile and Notorious.
