TMZ is reporting that former N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller has died at the age of 75. Billboard has confirmed the news.
Heller was a controversial and groundbreaking figure who co-founded Ruthless Records and helped launch the careers of Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube, but in the '60s and '70s also worked with Elton John, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Who, and others. Heller was portrayed by Paul Giamatti in last year's N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton, and filed a $110 million lawsuit against its producers over that portrayal, claiming he was misrepresented and that his likeness was used without his permission. Most of the case has been thrown out, but two defamation allegations are still pending.
No cause of death has been reported as of Saturday morning. Heller died yesterday, September 2, according to reports.
More on Heller from Complex:
Heller was born on October 6, 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio. He broke into the music agency business in the early 1960s carving out a pretty successful career helping out acts like The Who, Black Sabbath, Van Morrison, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Humble Pie, and Grand Funk Railroad.
In 1986, Heller met Eazy-E for the first time. They founded a company together, Ruthless Records, and once Eazy hooked up with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and MC Ren, got the ball rolling on N.W.A. After releasing their blockbuster album Straight Outta Compton which changed the trajectory of gangsta and West Coast rap, Ice Cube bolted from N.W.A over a dispute about money, for which he held Heller personally responsible. He would eventually attack Heller in the famous diss track "No Vaseline." After handling production on the follow-up Eazy Duz It, Dr. Dre split too.
Despite the acrimony Eazy stuck with Heller until the end of his life in 1995 after a short battle with AIDS. "I was with him until the day of his untimely death," Heller remembered. "I still think about him every day. He was like my son. He was a visionary. He was the greatest, and I've always believed that only he and I really understood the significance of what N.W.A was."
More to come. In the meantime, reaction online has been understandably mixed. Here's a sampling: