Legendary R&B singer Peabo Bryson, the unforgettable voice behind two of Disney’s most beloved songs, has died at 75.
The Grammy-winning balladeer, best known for his soaring duets on “Beauty and the Beast” with Céline Dion and “A Whole New World” with Regina Belle, died Tuesday, June 2, surrounded by his family.
His death came just days after he suffered a stroke.
Bryson’s family confirmed the heartbreaking news in a statement, saying they had been overwhelmed by the love and support pouring in from fans, friends and fellow artists around the world.
“We are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,” the family said.
“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.”
For millions of Americans, Bryson’s voice was the sound of romance, hope and movie magic.
His 1991 duet with Céline Dion on “Beauty and the Beast” became an instant classic and helped introduce his velvet-smooth voice to a new generation of Disney fans.
One year later, he teamed up with Regina Belle for “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. The song made history when it became the first track from an animated film to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song remained the only animated movie track to reach the top spot until “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto achieved the feat in 2022.
Bryson and Belle also won a Grammy for the hit, while Bryson and Dion won a Grammy for “Beauty and the Beast.”
But Bryson’s career was much bigger than Disney.
Born Robert Peapo Bryson in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1951, he knew from an early age that music would be his life.
“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.”
His mother, however, was not so sure. Bryson once joked that she worried the music business would lead him down a bad path.
“She figured I’d turn into a drug addict or something like that,” he said.
Instead, Bryson became one of the most respected romantic singers of his generation.
He began performing professionally as a teenager, singing backup with a local group called Al Freeman and the Upsetters. He later joked that the band was “terrible.”
It was Freeman who struggled to pronounce “Peapo,” leading the young singer to adopt the name “Peabo.”
Bryson later toured the Chitlin’ Circuit with Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display before catching the attention of Bang Records. He released his first album, Peabo, in 1976 before moving to Capitol Records.
His breakout moment came in 1978 with “Reaching for the Sky,” which became his first Top 10 hit on the R&B chart.
From there, Bryson built a career on emotional ballads and unforgettable duets.
In 1979, he teamed with Natalie Cole for “Gimme Some Time,” which reached No. 8 on the R&B chart. They later released “What You Won’t Do for Love,” another hit.
Then came one of the most important musical partnerships of his career.
In 1980, Bryson recorded “Make the World Stand Still” with Roberta Flack. The two would go on to release several duets together, including “Love Is a Waiting Game,” “You’re Lookin’ Like Love to Me,” “I Just Came Here to Dance,” and their biggest hit together, “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love.”
Their 1983 album Born to Love cemented them as one of the great duet pairings of the era.
Bryson later revealed what he believed made a duet truly work.
“I think the secret to a really good duet is that you have to fall a little bit in love with your duet partner,” he told Tatler Asia in 2015.
He credited Flack with teaching him how to sing with another artist, not over them.
In 1984, Bryson scored his first Top 10 pop hit with “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again.” He later topped the R&B chart with “Show & Tell” in 1989 and “Can You Stop the Rain” in 1991.
That same year, Disney came calling.
Céline Dion had originally been selected to sing “Beauty and the Beast” solo, but executives reportedly wanted a more established artist to join her. Bryson got the call, and history was made.
He later said Dion was tentative at first, but the two built something special in the studio.
“I looked across at her, and she looked back at me,” Bryson recalled in a 2017 interview with CBC. “What went on from the point of becoming relaxed was extremely intimate. You can’t buy that. You can record it, though.”
The result was one of the most beloved movie songs of all time.
Bryson said he never got tired of hearing it.
After that triumph, Disney brought him back for Aladdin. His duet with Regina Belle on “A Whole New World” became even bigger, soaring to No. 1 and becoming a defining song of the early 1990s.
Bryson later said the song represented “every hope and every promise that you will ever have.”
He returned to Disney once more in 1997, singing “As Long As There’s Christmas” with Roberta Flack for Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.
Even with his success, Bryson was not afraid to speak out about how the music industry treated veteran artists. He believed MTV and other parts of the business often ignored talented singers simply because they were older or did not fit a youth-driven image.
“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.”
Over the course of his career, Bryson released 20 studio albums and earned eight Grammy nominations.
He suffered a heart attack in 2019 but later made a full recovery.
Away from the spotlight, Bryson was also a husband and father. He welcomed daughter Linda in 1968. In 2010, he married Tanya Boniface, a member of the British girl group The 411. The couple welcomed a son, Robert, in 2018.
Bryson is survived by his wife and children.
His voice carried some of the most romantic songs of a generation, but it was his Disney duets that turned him into a household name for families across America.
Now, fans are mourning the loss of a singer whose music helped define weddings, movie nights, first dances and childhood memories.
Peabo Bryson is gone, but for millions who heard him sing about beauty, love and a whole new world, his voice will never fade.