Ralph MacDonald
Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011)[1] was an American percussionist, steelpan virtuoso, songwriter, musical arranger, and record producer.
Ralph MacDonald
Ralph Anthony MacDonald
March 15, 1944
Harlem, New York, U.S.
December 18, 2011 (aged 67)
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
His compositions include "Where Is the Love", a Grammy Award winner for the duet of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway; "Just the Two of Us", recorded by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr.; and "Mister Magic" recorded by Grover Washington Jr.
Later life[edit]
MacDonald regularly travelled back to Trinidad and Tobago, where he renewed his work in the steelpan, particularly on the hills of Laventille, Trinidad with the multiple Steelband Panorama champions Desperadoes Steel Orchestra, whose shows he attended and with whom he played whenever he got the opportunity, "beating iron" in "The Engine Room" (as a steelband's rhythm section is often called). Calypso and the steelpan were Ralph MacDonald's roots. He recorded a song called "You Need More Calypso", written by William Eaton to articulate how he felt the music world could more benefit by the genre his homeland had given to the world.
On December 18, 2011, MacDonald died of lung cancer. His wife, Grace, and four children Jovonni, Anthony, Atiba and Nefra-Ann survive him. MacDonald was cremated, with his ashes buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. [6][1][7]