Peabo Bryson, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘A Whole New World’ Singer, Dies at 75

Bryson died Tuesday, June 2, surrounded by family, just days after suffering a stroke.

“We are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,” Bryson’s family said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit. His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.”

Peabo Bryson.Marselle Washington for Marco Imagery

Bryson was born Robert Peabo Bryson in Greenville, S.C., in 1951. “And, as far back as I can remember, I’ve always been into music,” he told Soul magazine in 1978. “It’s all I ever wanted to really deal with, and of course, like everyone else, I had to make that decision — I guess when I was around 14 — as to what I was going to get into, career-wise. Well, I’d thought about being a doctor or something like that, but I really felt that music was my thing.”

His mother was concerned: “She figured I’d turn into a drug addict or something like that!” he told the outlet.

Peabo Bryson in 1975.Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty

Bryson began performing professionally as a teenager, singing backup with a local group called  Al Freeman and the Upsetters, an outfit he described as “terrible” in the Soul interview. Freeman had trouble pronouncing Peapo, and Bryson began using the name Peabo instead.

Later, Bryson toured the Chitlin’ Circuit with Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display. Bang Records heard them perform and was impressed with Bryson. He released one album, Peabo, with the label in 1976 before moving to Capitol Records.

Peabo Bryson.Julie Yarbrough

His first Top 10 hit on the R&B chart was 1978’s “Reaching for the Sky.” In 1979, “Gimme Some Time,” his duet with Natalie Cole, hit No. 8 on the chart, a preview of his duet success to come. They released “What You Won’t Do for Love” a year later, and it reached No. 16. Bryson also had a Top 20 hit with “Minute by Minute,” a cover of the Doobie Brothers song. 

Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack on ‘The Tonight Show’ in 1983.Gene Arias/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

 

In 1980, he released his first duet with Flack, “Make the World Stand Still.” It hit No. 13 on the R&B chart. They would also release the duets “Love Is a Waiting Game,” “You’re Lookin’ Like Love to Me,” “I Just Came Here to Dance” and their most successful, “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100. They also released the 1983 duets album Born to Love.

“I think the secret to a really good duet is that you have to fall a little bit in love with your duet partner,” Bryson told Tatler Asia in 2015. “I was very fortunate in finding a duet partner in Roberta Flack who really knew what a duet was and knew how to play to a person’s strengths and weaknesses equally. I learned how to do a great duet from working with Roberta Flack because she’s that great.”

Peabo Bryson and Celine Dion performing ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in 1992.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

In 1984, “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again” was Bryson’s first Top 10 single on the Hot 100. He released “Show & Tell” in 1989, and it hit No. 1 on the R&B chart; he scored another R&B chart-topper with 1991’s “Can You Stop the Rain.”

1991 also brought “Beauty and the Beast.” Initially, Dion had been chosen to sing the song solo, but execs worried that she was too new and wanted a more established artist. “When you’re a great singer like [Dion], oftentimes you find yourself in situations where you have to dial back,” Bryson told the CBC in 2017. “I learned that from doing duets. The key to it is to play to your duet partner’s strengths and weaknesses equally. So essentially that renders into a situation where there are no weaknesses because you’re playing to them both equally.”

He said Dion was very tentative at first, but they slowly built a rapport in the studio. 

He remembered, “I looked across at her, and she looked back at me, and what went on from the point of becoming relaxed was extremely intimate. You can’t buy that. You can record it, though.”

Their duet became a massive success, reaching No. 9 on the Hot 100 and winning them both a Grammy. Bryson told the CBC, “I never ever got tired of listening to it.”

Disney turned to Bryson again for 1992’s “A Whole New World,” which he sang with Belle. Bryson and Belle had also worked together on the song  “Without You” for the 1988 movie Leonard Part 6, and she wanted Bryson to join her on the track because she knew they worked well together.

“That ‘Whole New World’ concept… that is what really took us over the top,” Belle told AC Radio in 2019. “Because when you think about it, a ‘whole new world’ can be ascribed to most… everything… that has made a difference in your life.”

Peabo Bryson in 1994.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Bryson added, “It’s a song that represents every hope and every promise that you will ever have. I sang it in South Africa for the first time they allowed Black South Africans to enter into the Miss South Africa beauty pageant.”

Their version of the song hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 and would remain the only song from an animated film to do so until “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto in 2022. Bryson and Belle also won a Grammy.

He returned to Disney again in 1997 and sang “As Long As There’s Christmas” with Flack during the end credits of Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, a direct-to-video sequel.

Bryson at times felt dissatisfied with how the music industry prized youth over experience. He and singers like Flack were never played by MTV, which he believed was “detrimental” to the industry.

“I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “I see myself as a true Renaissance man. I don’t like one-dimensional concepts of myself.”

Peabo Bryson in 2019. Paras Griffin/Getty

In total, Bryson released 20 studio albums. He was an eight-time Grammy nominee. 

Bryson suffered a heart attack in 2019 but made a full recovery. 

Bryson welcomed a daughter, Linda, in 1968. He wed Tanya Boniface, a member of the British girl group The 411, in 2010, and they welcomed a son, Robert, in 2018. 

Bryson is survived by his wife and children.