John Forté, the Grammy-nominated musician known for his collaboration with the Fugees, was found dead at his Massachusetts home on Monday, police said. He was 50.
Chilmark police Chief Sean Slavin said in a statement that there were no signs of foul play or “readily apparent cause of death.” The case is being investigated by the state medical examiner’s office, according to Slavin.
Police said a neighbor discovered Forté alone on the kitchen floor and called the police at 2:25 p.m. ET on Monday. By the time police arrived, he was unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Chilmark is a town on Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.
Forté is best known for producing two tracks on the Fugees’ signature album, “The Score.” He is featured on several songs by the hip-hop artists, ncluding “Family Business,” “Cowboys,” and the bonus single, “Fu-Gee-La.”
Forté was 21 when he received a Grammy Award nomination for his work on the record.
He also contributed to Wyclef Jean’s Grammy-nominated “Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival.”
Forté, a multi-instrumentalist and rapper, also released solo albums including “Poly Sci” and “I John.”
His final album, “Vessels, Angels & Ancestors,” was released in 2021.
Forté first visited Martha’s Vineyard in 1998 at the invitation of fellow musician Ben Taylor -- the son of singer Carly Simon. He moved to the island approximately 10 years ago and met Lara Fuller, a freelance photographer who would become his wife and the mother of their children, Wren, 10, and Haile, 7.
In 2000, Forté was arrested at Newark International Airport with liquid cocaine and charged with possession and intent to distribute. The following year, a judge sentenced him to 14 years in prison under mandatory minimum drug laws.
“I allowed elements to be near me — not drugs but people,” Forté told Rolling Stone in 2002. “That’s what caught me up. I was too accessible. I was too here, I was too there. The price the government wants me to pay for that is 14 years.”
The sentence was commuted after seven years in November 2008 by President George W. Bush.
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