Recording artist John Forté, who was an affiliate of platinum-selling act The Fugees, has been reported dead at the age of 50.
According to the Vineyard Gazette, the Martha’s Vineyard resident was discovered dead at his home after police officers were summoned to the house Jan. 12. Officers and paramedics arrived at the home around 2:25 p.m. after getting a call of an unresponsive man. There has not been a cause of death listed for the Chilmark resident, but Police Chief Sean Slavin stated there is no foul play suspected.
There is an ongoing investigation being led by the state police with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office.
The artist, who had recorded several albums and appeared on The Fugees’ 1996 debut album, The Score, served time in prison four years after the album’s release. After being arrested on drug possession charges and being sentenced to a mandatory 14-year prison sentence, he was released in 2008 after President George Bush commuted his sentence.
During his lengthy career, he recorded songs for his own projects and contributed to those of other artists. In recent years, he has been working primarily on scores for several projects.
Last year, he was involved in a Civil Rights documentary, Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest (1977-2015), that aired on HBO. He worked with fellow island resident Dawn Porter on the project.
After visiting the island in 1998 and staying there during the pandemic, he thrived in the industry. In an interview he did
last year with MV Arts and Ideas, he said, “For two decades, I’ve been contributing to soundtracks,” he told the publication. “But scoring, scoring really happened for me because I’ve been hunkering down here on the Vineyard, being able to have a project that would require going in my studio for three months at a time.”Forté is survived by his wife, Lara Fuller, and their two children, Haile and Wren.
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