Blackberri, a gay Black singer-songwriter whose music has been archived at the Smithsonian, died December 13 at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, friends announced on Facebook.
He was 76. Blackberri, who used one name, had been ill, according to posts by Kin Folkz, a member of his care team, and others.
In early October he suffered a heart attack, his care team wrote on Facebook December 9. Blackberri was a presence in the Bay Area LGBTQ community.
Tributes came in from many who were moved by his music and activism. "I first met Blackberri in 1989 at a Black Men's Xchange (BMX) meeting, an organization created by Cleo Manago to empower Black men who love men, that we both were members of at the time," Joe Hawkins, executive