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Ohio Players frontman, Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner, died in Trotwood-Dayton, Ohio on Friday (January 25) after a battle with cancer. He was 69.

Bonner’s family posted the following message on his Facebook page:

“Yesterday, Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner passed away quietly in his hometown of Trotwood-Dayton, OH. While his family, …friends, colleagues, and fans mourn his passing they celebrate fondly his memory, music, and legacy. Sugarfoot, or Foot, or Sugar, was the founding and cornerstone artistic talent of OHIO PLAYERS and the face and sound of the OHIO PLAYERS brand, which he knit together and launched in 1964 with former members of The Ohio Untouchables. With a career spanning 56 years, he passed barely short of his 70th birthday.

Humble yet charismatic, soft spoken and of few words, the weight of his thoughts, lyrics, and music has influenced countless other artists, songs, and trends. He will be missed but not forgotten as his legacy and music lives on.”

Bonner co-founded the Ohio Players in 1964, along with former members of the Ohio Untouchables which had broken up the previous year. After a period as the house band for Compass Records, and several line-up changes, the group finally scored a big hit with “Funky Worm” in 1973. Several hit singles followed, most notably “Fire” and “Love Rollercoaster,” which both topped the Billboard’s Hot 100 and R&B charts. Their last significant chart success was “Who’d She Coo?” in 1976, and this was also the group’s only successful single in the UK where it reached number 43 on the singles chart.

“Fire” – The Ohio Players

The music that Bonner created with the Ohio Players had a significant influence on subsequent generations of musicians, with “Love Rollercoaster” resurrected in the 1990s by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and “Funky Worm” sampled in over 200 rap songs, including on N.W.A.’s “Gangsta Gangsta” in 1988 and more recently on Kendrick Lamar’s “m.A.A.d City.”

Bonner continued to tour with the Ohio Players until recently.