Matthew Urango, the pop singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and vocal activist who made song as Cola Boyy, has died. “The only and handiest Cola Boyy a.ok.a Matthew Urango handed peacefully ultimate Sunday,” the musician’s label, Document Makers, mentioned in a remark. “He used to be rather a soul, a person without a age, a childlike spirit with the musicality of an previous legend. His lyrics, his melodies, the sound of his voice: each facet of his song used to be distinctive and undying.” Urango used to be 34 years previous.
“Any person who knew Matthew is aware of he had a bigger than existence character,” Cola Boyy’s supervisor, Jack Sills, wrote on Instagram. “He used to be at all times the lifetime of the birthday celebration and may chop it up with any person. He used to be additionally some of the proficient and all the way down to earth other folks I’ve ever met. His humor and herbal air of mystery endeared him to whoever he met. Matthew cared greatly for his circle of relatives, pals and group which he regularly expressed thru his song. He had simply completed his subsequent album and used to be excited to begin liberating new song this summer season. I can proceed to paintings along with his circle of relatives and @recordmakers to ensure this occurs. Love you homie. Cola Boyy Perpetually!”
Matthew Urango used to be born and raised in Oxnard, California. Rising up, he discovered himself enmeshed within the town’s punk scene, and, whilst he loved the group (“The punks that I met when I used to be in junior prime had been actually great to me,” he recalled), he used to be drawn extra towards Oxnard’s experimental pop choices, taking part in bass within the indie-pop workforce Sea Lions. “The ones had been very early life for me,” Urango mentioned of his Sea Lions days in a 2018 interview. “Enjoying song and touring. Getting out of Oxnard. However on the identical time pop song used to be actually what used to be in my head.”
After leaving Sea Lions, Urango signed a handle Document Makers, the French label co-founded through Air. He launched his debut EP, Black Boogie Neon, in September 2018. The disco-pop EP featured integrated the standout songs “Penny Woman” and “Buggy Tip” amongst its 5 tracks. “What driven me against disco had a lot to do with the songs simply being so excellent,” Urango defined of his style leanings. “Typically, nice songs had been being written throughout this period of song. Guy, the manufacturing used to be so nice. It used to be so cutting edge, funky and glamorous, however every now and then very boulevard in its personal bizarre approach.”
As his song grew in reputation, Urango maintained his paintings as an activist, imbuing his songs along with his politics. “There’s a type of little additional track on the finish of ‘Buggy Tip’ with piano and strings. That phase is set my female friend, and me announcing even supposing we’re in romance, we should stay devoted to our organizing,” he published. “The affection we now have must lengthen out and be part of what fuels us to stay suffering in a progressive sense.”
