Peter 'P. Fluid' Forrest, a founding member of New York funk-rock band 24-7 Spyz vocalist and the Black Rock Coalition, was murdered in the city on Monday, January 13.
According to news reports, Forrest, 64, was found face down in a pool of blood in the back of the ambulette bus he was driving on Monday morning, after being badly beaten. His colleagues at the Long Island-based company Marquis Ambulette called 911 after he missed pick-ups and did not answer phone calls.
The New York Police Department are investigating his death as a homicide: no-one has yet been arrested for the killing.
Forrest co-founded 24-7 Spyz with guitarist Jimi Hazel, bassist Rick Skatore and drummer Kindu Phibes in 1986. The group mixed hard rock with funk, soul, hardcore, jazz and reggae, and were often bracketed alongside their friends Living Colour by the media.
Forrest recorded two albums with the band, 1989's Harder Than You, and 1990's Gumbo Millennium, but left the group before they signed a major label deal with East West Records, who released their third album Strength in Numbers in 1992. The quartet's original line-up reunited for 1995's Temporarily Disconnected, after which Forrest quit once more.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Jimi Hazel has paid tribute to his former bandmate.
“What an interesting dude,” he says. “I’m grateful to him because if we had not met up on the street in 1986, 24/7 Spyz would not have happened. You either loved him or hated him, but if you loved him, you loved him unconditionally. He was a motherfucker, but he was a good motherfucker.”
